Guest blogging at Garden Rant
March 01, 2007
Check out my guest post over at Garden Rant. I’m ranting about mixing cacti and agaves into the garden: “Just Deserts? No way! Cacti are for every garden.”
cool gardens in a hot climate™
Wonderful rant over there at Garden Rant! I actually have some prickly pear cactus, but I sort of hide it up by the side of the house. It spreads a little each year – not so fast that I can’t keep up with it, and it turns to mush in the winter. And I’ve made the mistake of trying to handle it without thick gloves and ended up with all those pricklies in my hand. But it has such pretty bright yellow flowers for a few weeks each year that I can’t bear to get rid of it.
My own prickly pears have yet to bloom. But their form is wonderful. I do shape them, however, and like you, I am definitely in the market for some spine-proof gloves. —Pam
I don’t have a choice about having prickly pear. It comes up on its own in any sunny bare spot.
That would be too much of a good thing, I suspect. Are there organic ways to keep it at bay? Flame-throwers? 😉 —Pam
You did an awesome job, Pam! As I mentioned over there, you were pretty persuasive. I’ve always turned my nose up at cacti and succulents because I had no desire to have my yard resemble a desert. I’m thinking now I might actually have to give some a try 🙂
Thank you, Colleen. I’m glad that you’re rethinking cacti for your garden. Have fun with it! —Pam
Very good post at the GRant Pam. Sorry I have been too scatter brained in the last week to leave a comment there.
I live in a desert so of course I have succulents mixed into the jungle. Like everything else here they can get monstrous in size quickly so it is best to choose wisely.
Yes, here too, for some of them. Prickly pear can turn into a bear if you don’t watch it. And those gigantic American agaves . . . awesome in the right spot, but, please, not in the middle of the lawn. —Pam