Fact 1: Sold for $120,000. Some years ago a unique collection of cacti was sold at the Sotheby’s auction in New York. The starting price of the item was $35,000, but the price rose up to $120,000 during the bidding. The lucky winner was one of the owners of Daimler-Benz (currently Daimler AG), a German automobile manufacturer.

Fact 2: More than 2,500 cactus species. In the ancient Hellas any prickly plant, such as burdock or artichoke, was called cactus. The taxonomic classification of plants was not developed yet. And only in the XVIII century the famous Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus first used the word ‘cactus’ to describe a particular genus of plants. Nowadays more than 2,500 cactus species are distinguished.

Fact 3: Champ in endurance. With the air temperature of 37°С a cactus can reach the temperature of 52°С. A cactus can grow up to 15 meters and can stay alive for a long time even without its roots. Luther Burbank, а renowned horticulturist, left a cactus hanging upside down on a tree for six years for the sake of experiment. Then he successfully planted it again and the cactus continued to grow.

Fact 4: So various in size. The smallest cactus in the world is called Blossfeldia. It is so small that can be comfortably put in a teaspoon. And the world’s largest cactus is Californian giant Cereus. It resembles a chandelier by its shape and its stem can store up to 2 tons of water. The tallest cactus of this species grew up to 150 years and reached the height of 24 meters.

Fact 5: Most beautiful cactus. The flower of Cereus serpentinus is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the world. This cactus blooms only at night. The flower has the size of a large plate, almost 30 cm in diameter. It consists of 75 golden scales, 25 long pointed snow-white petals arranged spirally, and 600 luminous stamens. This cactus is very fastidious and the only place where it took root and now continues to grow is the cactus garden in Monte Carlo. This garden is situated on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and in some its places there are natural “bridges” made of cactuses that hang over the coasts and precipes and can serve the visitors of the garden.

Fact 6: Beware of cactus handshake. If you walk barefoot or with unprotected hands and there are cactuses nearby, you’d better think twice. Cactus experts say that a human hand can catch more than about a hundred sharp spines after an incautious “handshake” with a cactus. And those who had such an acquaintance know how painful it is to pull those spines out. The record in this respect was made in 1956 – 267 spines were stuck into the hand of an unfortunate Brazilian.

Fact 7: Australian cactus terror. But the most numerous victims of cactus sharp hospitality are Australians. Opuntia was brought to Australia from Brazil and in a short period of time got widely spread all over the continent. Soon almost all the cattle was nearly extinguished: cows ate cactuses and died suffering from sharp spines in their stomachs. Australia was saved from Opuntia by Argentine moth, a cactus pest that was dispersed from planes. There is even a monument to Argentine moth in Australia that is, in fact, the only monument ever set up to a butterfly.

Fact 8: Mexican top secret. Do you know what carmine, a unique bright red dye, is made of? By the way it was the state secret of Mexico until 1785. But now we know that it is made of cochineal insects that were once found only in this country. Mexicans used squirrel tails to sweep the insects from cactuses, then steamed and dried them to prepare the dye.

Fact 9: Most dangerous cactus. They belong to the genus Lophophora, or peyote, and their cultivation is strictly prohibited in all countries because of strong hallucinogens they contain. While converting Aztecs to Christianity the Catholic priests asked them strictly two questions: “Have you tried human flesh?” and “Have you tried peyote?” Common Aztecs were prohibited to pick peyote under death penalty. Only the Aztec priests had the right to do it.

Fact 10: Cacti are delicious. Some of them really are. For example, slices of the so called candy cactus are favorite food of Mexicans. Some cacti are perfect to make jam of. Some of them are eaten fresh. Some are stewed with meat. Some are salted and pickled. And this list seems to be endless. It’s interesting to note that in the XIX century by crossing many species of cacti breeders raised a new spineless cactus that tasted like orange.

Have you ever been to or have you ever seen the pictures of the Andes or the Cordilleras? These are the places of such cactus types as astrophytum, cleistocactus, echinopsis, lobivia, notocactus, oreocereus, rebutia and others. Naked, forbidding rocks rise above stony gorges, and huge woolly blooming cereuses grow on these rocky walls. It seems incredible, as you can never tell what they cling to and how they survive: at a daytime they are scorched by the bright and merciless sun, at night they freeze in the cold mountain air. These types of cactus would die, if they had no means of protection as attire of fuzz, prickles and setae. The dense woolly cover protects the green stalk from sunburns and supercooling.

Mountain cacti – pillar-shaped oreocereus and spherical lobivia – suffer from the lack of the sunlight even more than desert cacti. They quickly start “to grow bald”, losing dense prickles and fuzz. They can frequently perish from rotting of the stalk. Damp humus soil is especially baneful for these types of cactus. The dwarf rebutia growing on mountain meadows and in intermountain troughs endures it much better. Many of these cactuses are dressed in a proofing of white or golden setae.

If you keep these cactus types dry and cold (3-5 °) in winter and give them enough sunlight in summer, they will excellently grow and blossom already at the age of two years.

When we hear the word “desert” we usually imagine Sahara or Kara-Kum with their scorching sand-dunes devoid of any vegetation. But the soil of stony deserts of Central and South America is very rich in all necessary salts for cacti. Though its contains very little amount of humus, water dissolves salts and the plant can absorb them.

But if rains are extremely rare here, where does water comes from? Plentiful dews, falling at night and flowing down between ribs of cacti, the night fogs accumulating on prickly stalks – this is a poor water diet of desert types of cactus growing in Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador.

Roots of many cacti of these places are radish-shaped and are capable to save water within, or ramify widely near the surface. To reduce moisture evaporation, cacti aspire to curtail the area of the stalk surface. That’s why they have either spherical or a short cylindrical form.

Desert cactus types are not afraid of burning sun: some of them have thick and dense thin skin, which becomes flat and “hides” in the ground for the period of droughts; some have high sharp ribs causing shade; others are covered with dense prickles or setae, looking like a brush.

For their correct development desert types of cactus require much sun, soil containing little humus and careful watering. They can easily die because of water stagnation in the ground even during summer heat.

The word savanna usually means vast territories of grass plains, covered with herbage, isolated islets of undersized trees and bushes. Its distinctive features are a long dry period without rain falling on winter and spring months, and plentiful rains and thunderstorms in summertime. Fluctuations in temperature reach 20 °C and more.

Such climate is considered to be the most favorable for cactus types growing on these plains. The most popular of them are coryphanta and mammillaria. These types of cactus excellently bear dry and cool winter and need a lot of warmth, sun and watering in summer, but they are afraid of water stagnation near their roots. The soil for these cacti should contain less humus, than the soil for forest cactus species, and it should have an admixture of loam.

By the way, the majority of savanna cacti, especially undersized ones like mammillaria, grow well in penumbra. In natural conditions they hide from the sun in thick grass.

Growing just by the sea, very close to the surfs, such types of cactus as melocacti are sometimes washed and taken away by the water. You can find them along warm coast of Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela, Cuba, but most of these cactus types grow on the islands of West Indies. One legend says that the first melocacti come exactly from those places. Caught from the sea by sailors, they quickly spread in Europe.

As a matter of fact, melocactus was one of the first cacti got to Europe and described in botanical books.

The roots of seashore cacti extend far under the surface of sand ground to gather more fresh rainwater. All year long these cacti need warmth (about 20°C) and humid air; therefore it’s extremely difficult to grow them as houseplants. They prefer mainly sand soil with an admixture of loam and humus, and they can’t bear alkalic soil.

Saguaro cactus requires much sun in all seasons. I keep my plant in the strong sun without any harm for them, but it is necessary to take into account that in spring you should accustom your cacti to sun gradually to avoid burns. Young exemplars need shading as well. In summer I expose the pots to the light and sprinkle the stalks in the evening with hot water to wash away dust. But if you have no possibility to give your plant enough light, you shouldn’t be sad because saguaro cactus can grow in the lamplight. Fresh air is also necessary for all the species, so I try to air the room as often as possible.

Usually saguaros don’t give a lot of troubles and grow quickly. Another condition you should consider to keep your cactus plant healthy is the proper amount of water. In spring and summer I water my plants gently – the soil must be sufficiently moist. In autumn watering is to be reduced and in wintertime don’t water it at all, except when the pot stands in a warm place: you can water it a little once a week.

And here comes another question: does saguaro cactus require warmth all year long? If you’ve already looked into the section True and False about Cactus, you should know that like all xerophilous it needs a period of rest. At this time the year growth ripens and a cactus musters its strength to vegetate well in spring. I made sure from my own bitter experience that in winter saguaros must be kept dry and cold – about 10-15C. Earlier my plants stood on the windowpane just above the central heater. The soil became dry fast and I watered them from time to time, fearing that my little friends would perish. It wasn’t very dangerous for cacti but they didn’t grow properly and didn’t bloom at all. When I found out that a period of winter rest is urgent for saguaros, I’ve built special glass shelves to protect my cactus plants from heat emanating from radiator. Now I admire beautiful cream-coloured flowers opening at night every year.

Soil is also of no small importance. Not everyone knows that saguaro cactus can’t bear alkaline soil at all. They prefer acidic soil. My recipe is: turf soil, leaf mold, garden loam, coarse sand (2:2:1:2) mixed with slack lime, broken brick and charcoal. I transplant my young plants every year, grown-up ones – in 2-3 years.

Saguaros grow quickly, that’s why they need not only a rich watering, but also an additional fertilizing in the period of their rapid vegetation (end of spring – middle of summer). I usually buy cactus fertilizers in the shop, there are some good ones on the market.

For example, one book said that epiphytic cacti (growing on trees) couldn’t bear lower temperature and overdry conditions. But I had several Selenicereus cactuses, that were typical epiphytes, which could stand cold and dry wintering without much trouble. Why? I did not understand.

Another book advised not to subject cacti “originating from tropical forests of Brazil” to difficulties of severe wintering. I had some cactuses which native land was Brazil, but I did not know whether they were tropical or not.

The third author warned against overdrying of “tillered wood cactuses”, but some pages on he advised to keep Chamaecereus “as chilly as possible” during wintering. But as far as I know this type of cactus is both wood and tillered! Where should I search for the keys to all these riddles?

The first gleams of understanding came unexpectedly. Some friends of mine gave me several photos of cactuses that they had by chance and didn’t need anymore. Somebody of them advised me for fun to arrange a photo album of “thorny friends”, and this idea turned to be very fruitful. I picked more and more photos, but I pasted them not in the album, but on separate sheets of dense paper where I could also write down everything, that I learned about this or that cactus: the name, the description, data on culture and, of course, the native land.

And when I collected several hundreds of these cards, I often went through them and it served me right: soon I could those cacti? which suffered from dry cold. Some names were similar, some were different, but the outward similarity of certain cactus species was evident. Yes, they all were epiphytes and they all tillered. The majority of them really originated from Brazil, though for the some of them the native land was Jamaica, West Indies and even Mexico.

But the most surprising fact was that despite different names and places of origin all these tillered epiphytes had one common feature – they all had bare stalks. Their bright green thin skin was not protected by neither hairs, nor thorns, nor grey wax film. Only several tiny and thin seti. They all looked rather defenseless in comparison with other cactus species.

And this very defenselessness turned out to be the key to the riddle that I could not solve. I understood why this feature was developed – because of tropical forest conditions.

I believe that almost every man has something of a collector inside. It is always interesting to collect things. If it is not done mechanically it can be very useful: how many new things people collecting stamps or coins can learn out of their hobby!

Each collector has a goal – to find this or that item that is missing in his collection. And at the same time when this goal is achieved, the collector starts looking for another item that can be even more difficult to get. Ad infinitum.

From the point of view of the collector, cacti represent the greatest interest: in fact there are more than three thousand cactus species, so there’s always something to look for. By the way, still nobody has a complete cactus collection at present.

If we take cognitive value of cactus collecting , perhaps, cacti have no contenders in this respect. In contrast to coins or stamps they are alive, they require a closer and more careful approach. It is necessary to understand their needs, “tastes”, even “whims”, and for this purpose you will need a great experience and knowledge.

That fact that a cactus lover deals with alive plants seems to me very important also because everyday care for cactuses, observation of different phases of their development, germination of seeds or unwrapping petals help the person to get closer to nature, to get to know pleasure of a gardener, and this pleasure can be yours everyday throughout the whole year. Cactuses don’t require much space and can grow in room conditions. A large collection of cacti can be easily placed on a window-sill.

It is impossible to ignore the aesthetic side of collecting cacti. I don’t know why cactuses are sometimes called “green freaks”, but I know for sure that those who call them so never saw cactuses as they really are: all what they saw is just emaciated echinopsises and clumsy prickly pears. I’m delighted with cactus plants – they have sculptural cleanliness of the form, generous richness of colours and filigree and lacy patterns of fuzzes and thorns! To say nothing of flowering: cactus flowers are the finest in the world: they have characteristic metal shine and a nacreous transparency of edges.

The most interesting thing is that the beauty of cactuses is not seasonal, as it is in case of deciduous plants. Cactuses are equally beautiful throughout the whole year, if kept and cared properly.

And last but not least, there’s one thing that makes collecting cacti pretty much different from, say, collecting postcards, ancient porcelain or Chinese masks. You can look for, buy, exchange, classify and describe all these items, you can become a real expert in the given area, but you will never feel happiness of creation that every cactus collector can feel. And it’s a real happiness when you have the opportunity to create a beautiful plant from a tiny seed or a cutting, and the entire process of such creation is in your hands.

Just have a look at this marvellous and charming cactus! You can see it in bloom around the Christmas season (that’s why it has this name). Its beautiful intricate flowers range in color from yellow, salmon, pink, fuschia and white or there may be combinations of these colors. What a nice present it could be for a dear person on the Christmas eve!

Christmas cactus is included in the group of holiday cacti (it has been kept as a holiday plant since 1800′s) which also comprises the Thanksgiving cactus and the Easter cactus. In terms of taxonomy this cactus plant belongs to the subfamily Cactoideae (see Three cactus subfamilies). Its botanical name is Schlumbergera bridgesii, i.e. it belongs to the genus Schlumbergera and its species name is bridgesii. Breeders crossed Schlumbergera truncata with Schlumbergera russelliana creating the beginnings of the hybrid plants that we can see today. Let’s have a close look.

The height of Christmas cactus ranges between 18 to 24 inches and its spacing is about 24-36 inches. Its foliage is evergreen and smoothly textured. As I have already said, it blooms in early winter with flowers of different colors and a fancifull shape. Christmas cactus propagates from leaf cuttings. It can be grown indoors in the acidic or mildly acidic soil. Christmas cactus needs average amount of water but it should be watered regularly. It requires direct Sunrays but can be also kept in patial shade.

Next time I’m going to tell you about how to take care of Christmas cactus in detail. You will see it’s not that difficult to raise and keep this miraculous plant at home.