Any Cacti Nurseries in the Houston Area

[GardenBed]

I am wondering if there is any Cactus/ Succulent Nursery in the Houston area ( like a 40 miles radius ) I am looking forward to expanding my collection and learning more. Thanks for any input.

[Moonbeam]

No, not that I'm aware of. There is a place called the Cactus King, but I've heard it's more art than cacti. The website is kinda vague. http://www.bluesguy.com/cactusking/index.html
If you're into misc. abstract art, and have alot of money, this may be the place. We haven't made the venture out there to look around. All the nurseries around here don't carry cacti and succulents...they say they don't grow around here.

[GardenBed]

Yeah, I was searching too, and that was the only place that I have found. I heard the owners were very rude, and they didn't really have good stuff. The only place is Home Depot, I guess.

[Moonbeam]

Every now and then you will find something good, or something you don't already have at Home Depot and Lowe's. You can always shop online, but it's not as fun. I've been to all the nurseries on this side of town, and there are no cacti/succulents to be found.

[GardenBed]

Yeah. I have gotten all of my collection from Home Depots or Lowe's.

[CactusJordi]

No, not that I'm aware of. There is a place called the Cactus King, but I've heard it's more art than cacti. The website is kinda vague. ...

By my own recent experience with Cactus King I have to add:

Very disappointed by the style of his mail order business:
-Asks by far too much for shipping
-Doesn't know how to pack stuff properly
-Sends totally different and cheaper species than offered and ordered
-Is cheating by sending stuff COD though shipping was paid in advance
-Is not willing to reimburse price for wrong plant and cost of COD

Over all, I can't recommend doing business with this swindler!!

[Harriet]

If you are relegated to shopping on line there are a bunch of folks here on the forum that can help you. But there is also a Texas nursery - YuccaDo.com - that has a small selection of cactus, mostly ferros, and a big choice of agaves and yuccas. I have no idea if they are anywhere near you, but if they are they might be worth a visit. The website is worth checking out.

[m4rkz0r]

I've been to Cactus King in person. It's not much in the way of looks to say the least. There's tons of large Trichocereus Peruvianus there. They have some other tall columnars there too. Lots of Opuntia species, and large Golden Barrels. Some large Agave americana. I could see how they could suck to order from. That places is kind of shady. They have good prices if you go in person though.

[peterb]

I thought their "return and refund policy" web page was interesting:

http://www.thecactusking.com/content/re ... und-policy

peterb

[Shmuel]

Just a thought, but maybe you could get different plants through the Grow / Trade lists or the Plant Swap section here in cactiguide. Might be fun.

Shmuel

[CactusJordi]

Peter, I recently found that out also: All sales are final no refunds or returns.

Why I ordered from them is a longer story. Europeans found out CK offers Backebergia militaris and asked me to order and forward the plants to them. When I checked their web site I saw CK is also offering "2 gallon-pot size Micropuntia barkleyana " for $ 22.-. So I ordered in June thinking $ 25.- shipping is much but for a 2 gallon Micropuntia and Priority Mail I can except it and paid by PayPal. After several reminders there finally arrived this parcel:

No Micropuntia in it and dehydrated and hardly -if at all- rooted Backebergia(?) cuttings. I complained and was told after a while that cuttings usually dehydrate during the rooting process and Micropuntia is out and can be mailed end of August. I gave in and said ok. Nothing happened end of August, after reminding and threatening, end of September (when I was in Europe) the allegedly Micropuntia arrived by COD of $ 16.50 (paid by friends). The plant seems to be Grusonia vilis, i.e. kind of a noxious weed.
Because there is no reaction to my complaint I decided to make this public in several sites.

Jordi

[m4rkz0r]

Wow that packing looks pretty ridiculous. Sorry for the bad experience.

[CactusJordi]

BTW here is the photo of the so-called Micropuntia:


I have to apologize that my old brain doubled the paid shipping cost. It was 'only' $ 25.- and NOT $ 50.-.
Jordi

[charlpic]

Sorry but I did laugh when I saw those packaging.

You probably had a hard time cleaning the first one. And how the hell the foam is supposed to protect the second one ? Looks to me like they were only dipped in foam and then packaged.

Packaging cacti is clearly not an easy thing to do. But seriously, if you're charging that much for it... at least try to do it right.

[desertlove]

The Cactus King-
The previous comment about it being mostly art is false. There is no art there, only cacti. It's basically a big outdoor plot of land with greenhouse enclosures for the more sensitive plants and the rest outdoors. I loved The Cactus King. It had a huge variety of all kinds of cacti and succulents. We had to hunt down the guy working out there, but once we did he was very helpful. Our cactus was really healthy looking and beautiful. We got a 9 foot San Pedro for around 100 bucks. He cut it for us and helped us pack it into our car and answered all of our questions. (sadly we had to cut it to fit it in the car, so now we have two plants). They aren't much for bargaining. We tried to haggle a little bit.

I think it has become more than apparent NOT to order anything online from this place. Go in person or not at all. We are very happy with our experience here. I haven't been able to hunt down any other cacti sales in Houston, which is surprising. Anyone else know of a different place?