Both the Tucson Cactus & Succulent Society and the Central Arizona Cactus & Succulent Society do cactus rescues where they try to save cactus about to be bulldozed for new developments. They then sell the cactus for the price of the permit plus a little extra to fund the cause - still cheaper than a nursery and helps save native plants. http://tucsoncactus.org/ or www.centralarizonacactus. sam

I came from Illinois, also, in May of 2000. I've learned much since moving here; about illegals, snakes and native plants. Sometimes I learned the hard way. For example, getting too close to the cactus that will jump on you, if you get too close! Ouch! (I forgot the name of that one). The needles are very hard to extract from your skin! I think I suffered more from trying to remove them, than actually having them in my skin. We get several rattlers in our yard, every year. As a matter of fact, one has taken up residence under our home. But, I don't mind, for it has cut down the amount of field mice who like to come into our home in the fall/winter. One time, a rattler was cornered in a hole, from my dogs, a hole my shepherd mix had dug, earlier in the week. All three of my dogs barked a warning to us, keeping a good distance from it, themselves. My fiance' tried to get it back into the desert. But, it was too close to a place where it could get under our house and there it went. Does it bother me that we have a resident snake? Well, if I had young children it would. But, since I've learned about snakes in AZ, how shy they are and how the rattlers make their rattle sounds to warn, not necessarily to attack, unless they felt they had to, I am not as afraid as when I first moved here. When my dog, (two had passed away last year), warns me, now, I just bring her in and let the snake go where ever it wants. Hopefully back out to the desert that backs up to my backyard. Like the others, posting here, I just keep an ear/eyes open and try to avoid them. After all, they were here first and they are good for eliminating mice, etc. As far as the African bees, I can tell you one thing. If you find them in or near your yard, it is best to call a professional. The bees don't like any noise and loud colors on a person. Especially yellow, it seems. Some colors seems to anger them. I was weed wacking one day, (wearing a yellow top), far from their nest,(about 1/4 acre away), when they came after me. Thankfully, I was right near my back door and was able to duck inside before I was hit by many. Only one stung me, so I had to take medication because I'm allergic to bees. If you think you are near those bees, keep quiet, try to wear soft colors, when working outside and keep your ears open. You can hear the bees in their nests, for their buzzing is loud, and when they are traveling, looking for a new hive to start. If they don't pass by, but settle near your home, then call a professional, definitely. They are very aggressive and once they start after you, they won't quit! For more information about these bees, check out: http://phoenix.about.com/cs/desert/a/killerbees01.htm

Well, I took pictures with my phone, both of Old West and also of my "treasures" because I wanted to share them on the Cactus & Succulent forum, came home and downloaded them to my laptop, but never could figure out how to get them on here. For starters, I couldn't find the JPG ...I'm pretty bad when it comes to computers. I got an astrophytum ( I LOVE them!), a mammillaria with a ring of buds starting to open, two really cool variegated fish-hook cactus (I think that's what the guy said they were- funny aside: the guy was surprised to see the two variegated ones-didn't know they were back there lol), a nice-sized melocactus, an echinofossulocactus lamellosus or multicostatus and one more one-gallon that I have no idea what it is. I also got two small ones that I don't know the names of. Today I planted two 5-gallon barrel cactus I bought from them in November. They are replacing two I lost last year - I had three in my front yard and lost one of them a few years ago, replaced it, then last year lost two of them. Hopefully I'll do better with these. I hope I can get the pictures loaded because I'd love to give people a glimpse of that place.

M. luethyi is not offered as seeds yet! And when seeds will be offered within some years, they will be expensive as the fruits stay in the plant body (like M. theresae). Here in Europe, the grafted plants are dropping in prices the last couple of years. Three years ago, you still payed about 20 euro for a small grafted plant. Now you can find these for about Â3. And some nurseries here are offering them as rooted plants as well now (but still very expensive). Rooting this species is not very difficult. About as easy as M. theresae. Pieter