Cacti

I've been growing cacti & succulents for about 20yrs now, not show specimens by any means, but I've got some pretty big ones. Does any body know of anywhere that will 'take on' large sub tropical plants that have out grown their owners greenhouses etc. Seems a shame to leave them outside winter time to die because I cant accomidate them anymore especially when there perhaps 20yrs old.

 

Nathan
I have approached, not large but smaller, garden centres and the're not really interested. They seem to leave a lot of there own stock outside to the elements during the winter prefering to buy in new next year. Need the space for the xmas decorations I suppose.
Yes I do have some lithops, not a great collection, interesting just the same, looking pretty shrivelled at the moment.

 

So is it Cereus, opuntia, carnegia or the golden barrel thats huge then

You should have stuck to mammillarias and rebutias

 

Ferrocactus, Stenocereus, Aloe ferrox plus strelitzia, brugsmania a flowering Jacaranda was left out last winter with the expected result.Even one mammillaria is getting a bit heavy. Anybody want a pair of Washingtonia fillifera. Frost has'nt got them yet.

 

Pete,

Is the Strelitzia the bird of paradise?

I used to have a good collection of cacti including some of the rarer astrophytum, strombocactus, lophophora, pelecyphora, leuchtenbergia, ariocarpus etc

I still have edgar and brian lambs 6 volumes the complete works on cacti and succulents, that must be worth a bob or two on ebay

 

Steve
Yes bird of paradise.
Sounds like you were really into cacti at one stage. Me I cant concentrate on one thing for long and tend to pass onto something different.
Is Brian Lamb still with us? He used to be in Hove I believe, but I found a book of his, some years ago, in a shop, in Moab Utah which said he had moved to spain.
You had better sell them volumes if you're not using them anymore.

 

Nathan,
What a coincidence! I have that book here behind me and also Cacti from seed by Edgar Lamb

Pete,
I believe Edgar was the elder of the two and died in the early eighties? Hove sounds about right, I think when they had their collection together it was based in Worthing.
Just checked the books and it was actually 5 volumes..they did 4 originally and then did a 5th later to include some of the newer discoveries (melocactus etc) I also have Borgs book on cacti which was the bible before the Lambs work

I was into them in a big way in the eighties/nineties but lost interest and ended up keeping anything that would survive in a cold insulated greenhouse...which wasn't many

Speaking of books does anyone have the thick volumes of plants and flowers, Herbs, and Gardening from the RHS.....I saw these as offers at ridiculous prices to get you to join a book club, which I did..bought the minimum and quit

 

PS

Meant to say, not sure on whether Brian is still alive

 

Steve
The exotic collection I believe, and it was Worthing, (knew it was down there somewhere).
I have the RHS Plants & Flowers book. Not the one on herbs.
Yeah I wonder if he is still alive and writing books. First book I bought on cacti was one of theirs, still got it.
I see your into reptiles as well. Dont know anything about them myself but I nearly bought some of those cicadas they sell in pet shops last summer, just to let them go in the garden, to give a tropical sound to the evenings.

 

Pete,

Would that be to remind you of an holiday abroad

I have sometimes lost a cricket while trying to put it into a tank and the noise they make when in a house near your bedroom can drive you crackers

Ever tried bringing seeds or bits of plants back off holiday....(Highly illegal in some cases and if any custom men are members here I can say I have never done it ) but I don't mean like habitat protected specimums...more something thats caught your eye round the pool or seeds dropped from a tree...(those long been pod type seeds that I have never brought back)

 

No, I mean yes, I haven't brought lots of things back from holidays, much. Did those long bean pod type things that you didn't bring back grow?

 

they did germinate, the ones that I didn't bring back through customs..and they have grown into small trees

One I am keeping small bonsai fashion and the other i am letting grow, they seem to cope with our winters ok so far