A Dozen Reasons I Love Cacti
It's a natural progression: As we gain appreciation for the lines, textures and shapes of succulents, we arrive at those that exhibit elegant simplicity—never mind that they have spines (in fact, sometimes because they do).
Note I’m not talking about common prickly pear—the plant most of us have bad childhood memories of. (Ow!) There are SO many other kinds of cacti. Why do I love them? These photos illustrate a dozen reasons.
In a word: symmetry. Mammillarias in particular have it nailed.
They offer astonishing textures. I mean, c'mon, fur? Opuntia sp.
Endearingly, cacti don't take themselves too seriously. Echinocactus pectinatus rubrispinus.
Some think they're snowflakes.
Others, waterlilies (Trichocereus hybrids at left)
And brains (Mammillaria elongata crest)....
Or birds. (Cleistocactus strausii)
A few are in touch with their feminine side (roses at left, opuntia at right).
Others, not so much.
More than a few are darn cute. Each of these thimble cacti is less than an inch in diameter.
But here's what I like best about cacti: How they glow when haloed by the sun. The spinier the better.
This portrait shows me surrounded by columnar cacti with spines that glow yellow-orange in the late-afternoon sun. Yep, I wore turquoise on purpose.
See how I assembled this cactus container garden
Related info on this site:
Cactus: Details, Photos and Varieties
Cactus Care, Gallery and Names All cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti. They’re not for everyone, but once hooked (forgive the pun) you’ll collect more and more. See All Succulent Types Aeonium Agaves Aloes Cactus Crassula Echeveria Euphorbias Ice Plants Kalanchoe Portulacaria Senecio About Cacti Native to deserts and dry regions of…
Debra, this was a wonderful blog post. I didn’t know anything about these beauties! Thanks for sharing, as always.
We are in Placer County and garden on decomposed granite with a shallow topsoil ….on a hill…..no problem with drainage. Harder to keep moisture in the soil! We have lately experienced VERY HIGH TEMPS 108-112. Greenhouse was at 119 with everything open…..baby cactus in there didn’t seem to mind. But out in East facing cacti-succulent garden is really suffering with sunburn. Best I can do is cut large palm fans and lay over to block intense sun heat. That seems to be helping. The shade cloth seems to hold in the heat like a cooker. …Survivor mode prevails!!
Thank you for sharing your expertise, Miss Debra. As I was reading the content, now I truly understand the reason why a single cactus could bring so much joy –how much more if you are collecting a lot of them. 🌵❤️
Thank you, Cherry! I’m so glad I managed to convey a collector’s pleasure.
Debra,
Nice website! Good job. I am doing a video project for kids about the botanist Helia Bravo Hollis and stumbled across your site. I would love to share a couple of your images on my video with your permission. I’m particularly interested in tiny cacti. Todd
Hi Todd — Certainly. Happy to help. Please credit Debra Lee Baldwin and link to my site if possible. And—if you don’t mind my mentioning it—please don’t recommend to children those “cute” cacti that have glochids (like fetchingly named bunny ears cactus, which is a horror). Opuntia microdasys.
Thank You for this! I really love cactus and succulents. I just love looking at them and collecting more and more. Such hidden beauty that develops over time. The picture you took is also very beautiful. 🌵🌸🌺 I am going to take a picture in a similar manner. 🥰
Thank you for a wonderful comment, Meena. It made me happy to read it!