Cactus Crazy

Posted on by Louise Bunting

I had planned to write a short story today but then I noticed the cacti around our house were flowering and became a little distracted by photographing them. I thought I’d share a few of the better pictures here.

Cactus flowers
Cactus flowers closing as the light fades

My family have always kept cacti. When I was a child my dad had a greenhouse full of them, though back then there weren’t quite so many in the house – not really surprising with six of us kids running around! We learnt quite early that you don’t touch them. A hand full of cactus spines is never a pleasant experience.  Nowadays we all have them in our own homes. Pretty much every window ledge has one. Or two. Or more.

Furry cactus
Cactus with red spines
A very hairy cactus

I bought my first cactus when I was a student in Wales back in the late 1990s. There was a tabletop sale in the local scout hall with a tray of tiny ones that didn’t look particularly healthy. I bought one for 50p. I still have it now and it flowers nearly every year.

My first cacti
My first cacti , fifteen years later

A lot of the cacti around our place at the moment actually belong to my youngest brother. He’s currently working abroad so had to leave them somewhere while he was away. I’m hoping he forgets we have them – they’re some of the nicest ones we have.

Halo of flowers
Halo of flowers

Cacti are not, of course, native to the UK. If you live in more arid areas of the world you may well be used to seeing much more impressive examples than these. Our biggest is only about a meter tall – they can grow much larger than that! But we’re happy with what we have.

Budding cactus
Cactus in flower

12 thoughts on “Cactus Crazy”

  4. They are beautiful, and if they are hard to kill, that is the perfect plant for me! Neither of my thumbs are “green” , so I need all the help I can get to keep a plant living!

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