CactiGuide.com

Flipping the coin over always reveals a different side.

She's got some very enviable character traits "The thing is that my girlfriend doesn’t really fancy shoes, bags and clothing... She’s a very simple person." Mine, too.

My girlfriend is okay with my hobby pursuits and supports my interest in them. So no golf...ever.

And I think I'm contentedly maxed out on the cactus count, too. My collection is narrowing its focus to Utah/Southwest desert native and very cold hardy species.

Otherwise, I'll have to build a greenhouse or more probable an overwintering in the ground insulated bed for the less hardy ones. And there's a grow shelf in the laundry room which we both use for plants.

I loved reading everyone's comments in here, this is probably one of the best and funniest threads in here

I got my first three cacti in 2015, from Homebase. Got a few more in the next couple of years, then, relationship issues, moving out, lost a lot of my cacti (and other plants) over the winter due to not being able to recover them from my ex-boyfriend's place in time and there was too much going on to be able to pay too much attention to my cacti.
Then, last year, when I moved in with my current partner, I had 16 cacti. Just a little over a year later, I have 90 cacti, few succulents, numerous seedlings and cuttings and there's more on the way

The thing with removing the price off the label really got me laughing as I do the same
Since the quarantine, I started buying online, so of course, extra care was taken for the invoices not be seen
Although he doesn't mind them(as long as they don't interfere with his space for tools and diy), he likes to joke that he will eradicate all of them someday
He was actually funny one day when he went through the conservatory, stopped, looked at the cacti and said 'You have more now than you had when we moved here first, isn't it?' Uhm...

Lovely backstory, Diana. Hope you stay in your good place a long, mutually enjoyable time. And that your current partner also enjoys the time. lol jk..hahaha

This thread is great!

wow! i am far from alone here
i have already heard so many people in the last few weeks say they sneak cacti past their wives hahaha. i am lucky, my wife loves them too!
my daughter laughs at me about it though -_-

as far as i know there are no clubs near me. that is probably just because i am new to the scene though. i think i will find that there are plenty more people like me now i have my eyes open to them.

@diana.v
i have 4x E. Grusonii. i have, of course, named them all. one of them is named diana

@aloha916
what is in your profile picture? it looks very interesting but i cant see a bigger version.

thanks for all the replies everybody! its nice to know i am not alone in this

There is no real special syndrome for Cacti and Succulents, it's just called "Collectors Syndrome" and applies to many forms of collecting where you must have more.

As to girlfriends, with all these modern dating sites new girlfriends are far easier to obtain than the more uncommon cacti.

With clubs somebody always has to start them. In the UK it was usually done by somebody putting an advert in the local paper saying they would like to get in touch with any other local cactus enthusiasts. Usually then it resulted in going around each others greenhouses and eventually became a formal local club.

Thank you Steve-0! Fingers crossed!

@diana.v
i have 4x E. Grusonii. i have, of course, named them all. one of them is named diana

I shall honour you in return and name my one and only E. grusonii Prickle!

As to girlfriends, with all these modern dating sites new girlfriends are far easier to obtain than the more uncommon cacti.

When you start growing them from seed then it gets really bad

DaveW wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 9:36 am
With clubs somebody always has to start them. In the UK it was usually done by somebody putting an advert in the local paper saying they would like to get in touch with any other local cactus enthusiasts. Usually then it resulted in going around each others greenhouses and eventually became a formal local club.

its so much easier these days with forums like this

diana.v wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 11:01 am
I shall honour you in return and name my one and only E. grusonii Prickle!

haha i feel so honoured!

keith wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 5:25 pm When you start growing them from seed then it gets really bad

i have been thinking about that too maybe i shouldnt?..
naahhhhh! im definitely going to!

"its so much easier these days with forums like this"

To a certain extent, but forums are just a new addition to the hobby, not a replacement for clubs or Societies. They can never reproduce the face to face contact with other enthusiasts that clubs give. Also it is far easier to get plants identified if the person you are asking can actually handle them since a photo is two dimensional.

Again you do not get to see the slide shows and talks clubs provide, or even their shows. In many cases speakers bring several boxes of plants for sale, usually the type of plants you will not get at the Garden Centres or stores, or often from cactus nurserymen who do not find them a commercial proposition to grow anymore.

You also get to know when collections are being broken up and can get large or rare plants you would pay a fortune for on EBAY. There are also the Conventions that Societies often organise as enthusiasts weekends and bring overseas speakers, usually experts in their field, to talk about their trips to habitat etc and show slides of it.

You have no excuse Prickle since there is a very good cactus Society in the UK and usually has branches in the reach of most people. Admitted in lockdown at the moment plus they put on the National Show though that has been postponed until next year.

http://society.bcss.org.uk/index.php/hi ... s-a-k.html

http://society.bcss.org.uk/index.php/hi ... s-l-z.html

The National Show is held every four years.

Note on the left of the aisle in this clip the dozens of dealers stands, some from the EU. More cactus and succulent plants than you will ever find just visiting one dealer. The sales section is as large as the exhibits section.

https://youtu.be/wBrkDXbbpFk

Do you suffer from cactomania?
https://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/cac ... id=1070602

toadstar wrote: ↑Sat Jun 13, 2020 9:16 pm Do you suffer from cactomania?
https://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/cac ... id=1070602

Luckily I am at stage 3 for over twenty years now. I doubt I ever get to stage 4...

^^^^^ fantastic!!