I was driving by the Wallmart this morning in Simi Valley Ca when I saw a garden center. Curiosity took over. I never knew Wallmart sold cactus and at half the price of other retailers. So I bought these 4 at $3.50 each.
They were in 3" plastic pots, root bound and soaked. When I unpotted them the soil was dripping.
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Sometimes you do find decent cacti at low prices at unexpected places. The trick is to go there, before the well-meaning, but inexperienced people taking care of the plants have killed them, usually by overwatering. It seems, like you got there just in time!
Back when newer Haworthia cultivars were $500 each, I also found a cute plant at Walmart and bought it for some un-remembered low amount. Some time later, I shared pictures and somebody told me it was identical or similar to "Mirrorball." Now that cultivar is really common, but at the time it had only been available for a couple years, and I found it at Walmart.
I think Costa Farms and Altman Plants sometimes just put stuff in pots, label it (correctly or incorrectly) and send it on its way. It's not often, but it does happen. I always look at every Walmart I visit. Sometimes, the stores will put the plants inside the store (not in the garden center) so you have to check there, too. My whole family thinks I'm crazy, but that's because I'm crazy.
Altman has hired Kelly Griffin and he has started growing many new and rarer species there.
Atman's plants are everywhere, I bought 2 flowering Royal Flush at my local Home Depot just to cross them to get more seeds.
Also they had a Trichodiadema densum that was a different clone than mine, so I bought it too for seed production.
My understanding is that the gowers will sometimes throw a few left over plants in with a regular shipment just to get them out of the system. I explains the occasional finding of a more valuable plant. I did notice a flood of Royal Flush at a few Lowes in the last few months.
Mike M
