Hi, I am interested in the tomatoes,peppers, and the gourds. I have some of the herbs that you want and also some hen and chicks. Let me know if this would be a good trade for you, Suzy

Don't expect them to play nice in the same bowl for long. You've got two clumpers and two columnars, and if they like where they are they'll be competing for room pretty quickly. The bowl itself can be used if you hide a separate pot for each cactus inside it, and it'll make separating them easier as well. What sort of potting mix do you have? Most of the stuff off the shelf is not good for cacti, though the ones you have are pretty tolerant as long as they're not overwatered. Nice little starter pack you've got there though. Here's hoping you keep the four of them going throughout the rest of your collecting career.

Actually, it is me who is a bit envious of you folks who live down south. You can grow quite a bit more than we can. I had no idea there were that many more varieties which can grow up north. We'll see how many actually fare the winter sans shade and shelter. Ever been to that 'park' owned by the chocolate factory in LV? Very nice. I put in an optional link for some of the cacti I picked up. A lot of the cacti notolover has, she keeps in a sun room when winter temps get intolerable. It must take several hours to move all that cacti. I got a couple virtually sticker-free cacti which would probably do quite well down south. There are also a couple really malevolent looking charachters which fortunately look to be relatively small... I also picked up an opuntia from Iowa, which was growing all over the place. One of the three pads now has what looks like black spot - never seen that before. The other two seem to be in culture shock. It should be interesting. Dan Here is a link that might be useful: New Cacti

Thanks cactus dude! I was worried about the cold and large cacti, but thought I'd ask anyway. I'm in Santa Fe, and I've seen the many beautiful trunked yuccas around... I especially like Y. elata and Y. faxoniana. Do you know of a place in Albuquerque where I could get these (say at two or three feet tall) for a reasonable price? Oh, and I would absolutely love to have a Joshua Tree, even a tiny one without branches, but I haven't seen them for sale here in Santa Fe (I've seen the others plenty, but they're always very pricey). If you're ever in Santa Fe, the following are a few plants you might want to check out that will probably surprise you with their hardiness or size (if you haven't seen them already): - AZ Barrel Cactus (in yard of Tropic of Capricorn at Southeast edge of town along Old Las Vegas Highway) - White Sands Claret Cup (several very large ones at Santa Fe Greenhouses/High Country Gardens display garden on Rufina St., lots of cool succulents) - Unknown Agave (right side of Camino Carlos Rey two blocks north of Zia)... this plant is big and beautiful, and definitely not one of the usually considered hardy agaves, such as A. havardiana or A. parryi. - Huge Yellow Bird of Paradise (Osage St. between Cerrillos and Agua Fria). Well, thanks again, and enjoy your gardening... Chris