It’s Not Gardening, It’s Cactomania

Y'all please welcome Friend of Rant Scott Calhoun, author of a new book called The Gardener's Guide to Cactus. Read on for the chance to win not just a book, but an actual cactus. I have to say, this is a totally amazing and really fun book.  Gardening with surgical instruments?  Japanese plant smugglers?  Cacti that are so rare that the only remaining specimens wear metal tags in the wild?  Cacti bred by Luther Burbank?  Who knew? Oh, and after reading his book, I now know how to select a cactus that is seed-grown, not poached from the wild, except when poaching is a good thing,which involves conservations groups grabbing rare cacti from sites that are about to be strip-mined or drilled for oil.  There's a lot of international intrigue in this book, is what I'm saying.  But let's let Scott say it: 

 Why cactus?

I tend to specialize in horticultural lost causes, and cactus are the outcasts and misfits of the gardening world. While I was photographing gardens around the U.S. for my book, Designer Plant Combinations, it occurred to me that most home gardens contain exactly zero species of cactus. In my estimation, they are the most underrepresented group of plants in gardens, nurseries, and plant books.

As I stewed over this injustice, my own cactus collection expanded. I grew a species of pincushion whose flowers smell exactly like Lemon Pledge, and a prickly pear cactus whose fruit makes alluring magenta lemonade and margaritas. I added the totem pole, whose spineless skin looks like melted wax, and the feather cactus whose furry spines feel like the hair of a terrier. I became ensnared in a love affair with spiny plants. I caught, and still have, an STD (spine transmitted disease) called cactomania.

An impressive pot of twin-spined pincushion (Mammillaria geminispina) growing with the wildflower sundrops (Calylophus hartwegii).

I began taking long dangerous trips into the Mexican backcountry with succulent plant explorers. I became acquainted with a vast subculture of spiny plant enthusiasts and cactus traders across the globe: a Bangkok peyote grower, a Tokyo executive who collects living rock cactus, and a young Czech organizing a Prague conference called “Spiny Perspectives”. I lusted after artisan made pots fashioned to resemble meteorites and sea creatures.

A display of otherworldly Mike Cone spiny pots and assorted cactus and succulents at Sticky Situation nursery.

Got Weirdness?

The gardens cactomaniacs cultivate are hardly traditional. Their plants are not potted, but rather “staged”. They plant cactus among knobby rocks to approximate their natural habitats and the most discerning collectors apply a final top-dressing of micro-gravel collected from special anthills whose locations they keep secret. As a final flourish, wildflower seeds from the same range of the staged species are sprinkled over the gravel. Many cactus species are exceptionally slow-growing and long-lived—some so much so that they will be passed down to the next generation. They more closely resemble sculptures set on plinths than plants. I’m not even sure if what cactus growers do with their plants can be called gardening, but don’t care because it is so weirdly beautiful! I’ve decided that weirdness is a greatly undervalued quality in gardens. In my horticultural pursuits, I aspire to high weirdness.

A grouping of the aptly named Bishop’s Cap cactus in a mid-century modern Vessel Pottery container.

Prickly and Tasty

The ethno-botanical history of cactus is deliciously culinary. It is full of marvelously tasty but strangely packaged fruit absent from the produce aisles of the First World: hedgehog cactus fruits are encased in a web of spines that magically fall off when the fruit is ripe, revealing a strawberry-like nugget; the whortleberry, whose grape-sized fruit has the acid-sweet zing of a cranberry-blueberry cross; the organ pipe, whose golf-ball sized gems are said to be the tastiest of all cactus. The organ pipe’s fruit are eaten fresh, and turned into wine by the native Seri in a wild bacchanalia celebrating their New Year. The organ pipe fruit, which is full of tiny seeds, is so prized that the Seri historically enjoyed it twice—picking through their own feces to reclaim the nutty high-fat seeds in a “second harvest.” This is not a practice I recommend for the home gardener, but to each his own.

The fruit of the dinner plate prickly pear is delicious and mysterious.

Kings of Xeriscape

And then there are the practical reasons for growing cactus. Cactus are the undisputed grand champions of drought tolerance. If climate doomsday scenarios prove true, neither watering restrictions nor hotter temperatures should prevent gardeners from planting cactus. When climatologists speak of desertification, I think, more cactus! As a person who is occasionally forced to live a life outside my garden, to hit the road and sell some books, I find it comforting to know that my cactus collection will be stoically enduring whatever the Mother Nature dishes out in my absence.

They are the ideal antidote to fussy perennials that wilt in a warm breeze or trees insistent on dropping their leaves around the yard. Cactus, on the other hand, are nearly perfectly clean, dropping almost no annoying leaf litter on your patio. They also require less watering than any kind of plant that isn’t plastic. When I walk by my cactus, they seem to say, “By the way old chap, would you mind giving me a sprinkle of water when you think of it, it is bloody hot out here. No rush, don’t trouble yourself, just next time you have a watering can at the ready.” Yes, my prickly ones speak to me with British accents. In fact, my cactus sound like Keith Richards.

Manliness

To me, cactus are more masculine than any other plant group. Even those with stunning flowers (and there are many), avoid prissiness by arranging them in a snarl of thorns. The sort of frilliness associated with cottage gardens is nowhere to be seen in the cactus world. When garden clubs ask me to speak, they often say something like, “you can speak on any of your areas of expertise, but please, no cactus.” I usually sneak some cactus in anyway.

It is hard to get manlier than a Totem Pole cactus in front of a tangerine colored wall.

Beyond Ouch!

The pain factor is way overblown. With good gloves and a little technique, you hardly ever get poked. And when you do, it is just not a big deal. Take it from someone who is horrified by needles. In fact, the pain you share with your cactus may further endear you--a sort of horticultural Stockholm syndrome. You too may contract an STD in these intimate interactions with your plants, but the symptoms are largely manageable and not completely debilitating. Buy some long tweezers, a set of welding gloves (for the very prickliest species), and you are pretty well set. For small plants, regular gardening gloves work fine. You can also handle many species by their roots without gloves at all.

But I live in Zone 5?

Well, yes, you cannot grow as many species outdoors in the coldest parts of the country, but in a sunny windowsill, you can grow a host of potted cactus plants that you can bring onto the patio during the warm months. And if you want to grow cactus in the ground, there are a few hardy species to choose from. Consider the following: Potato cactus (Opuntia fragilis) is the most cold-hardy cactus and grows well into Canada. It is low growing, forming a mat of little round pads, blooms pink or yellow, and is hardy to Zone 1. Beehive cactus (Escobaria vivipera) grows from Mexico to southern Canada, and sports hot pink flowers and fruit with a strawberry-kiwi flavor. It is hardy to Zone 4b.

A Beehive cactus in all its pink glory near Denver, Colorado.

Obsession with spiny plants is not limited to the desert Southwest. Just ask the Oregon-based author of the Danger Garden blog, whose mantra is, “Nice plants are boring – my love is for plants that can hurt you.”

Okay!  We promised you some free stuff.  Any cactus-related comment will get you the possibility of winning Scott's book.  But wait, that's not all!  He'll send a purple fishnet prickly pear pad (or a more cold hardy species) to the reader who posts the most interesting cactus love tweet to his twitter account: @scottcalhoun.

Comments

[Kiko]

True, cacti sure are very persistent. I am keeping some in my garden and they have been there without me noticing them sometimes. When guests come to my garden, sometimes they would tell me, "oh, i didn't know you have a cactus in your garden." and that's the time i would remember them. They really just don't require that much maintenance and I'm glad my guests love them. It was a nice change for typical gardens.
I have found this website where you could find great gardening tips for those who would like to start taking care of a cactus or have their own garden. http://danthegardener.com/

[Craig]

I live in New England and I have many indoor potted cacti. I had no idea there were cold hardy cultivars! I want them and I want this book!

[Deirdre]

Scott, my husband is a Scott, too.

[Andre]

Interesting
I never realized their was
that many kind of cactuses

[nancy baumeister]

You gotta admire a plant that does this http://www.flickr.com/photos/nancybeetoo/6889541177 in December. I bought the other cactus in bloom years ago and live in hope that it will bloom again someday.

[Scott Calhoun]

Craig, there are for sure some plants you can grow outside.

Deirdre: We must be googlegangers.

Andre: There are around 2500.

Nancy: Beautiful, I think it is Echinopsis x 'LA'

[Molly]

As a professional gardener who kills every houseplant I've ever owned because of a stubborn refusal to water, I think this book may be a breakthrough for me.

[GreeneGirl]

Having just moved from Maryland to Florida, I'm looking forward to expanding my cacti/succulent collection. Love these plants! This book would be a fabulous addition to my library!

[Debra Lee Baldwin]

I think we all remember our first run-in with a cactus. I know I do. I've respected them ever since, but only recently had any interest in growing them. (I know, me of all people.) It's their exquisite geometry that seduced me, and even those with pads are gorgeous--especially purple Opuntia 'Santa Rita' which graces gardens all over your area (Tucson). And when it sends forth satiny yellow flowers, OMG.

Btw, I have a great shot of a chic-looking member of the garden-club set holding a soccer-ball-sized golden barrel cactus. She's wearing tough gloves and cradling it in newspaper in preparation for transplanting. When I show the photo at my presentations, I ask, "If she can do it, why not you?"

[Gerhard / Bamboo and More]

I went from 0 to 100 (cacti) in less than a year. I'm proud to say I'm addicted, and I'm working hard on getting others hooked as well. Now if I could only convince my wife to paint some part of our fence orange!

Gerhard
Davis, CA (zone 9b)
:: Bamboo and More ::

[thistleandthorn]

'They' say that women love succulents, and men love cacti. 'I' say, would you rather be poked, or succ(ed)? Nonetheless, I'd settle for a nice cactus, which I would promptly give to my DH.

[Candy Suter]

I will be adding this book to my collection for sure! Great article on some of my favorite prickly friends! I am with you the weirder the better! I will be adding this link to my Facebook page Sweetstuff's Sassy Succulents and will add the book to my reading list! Awesome, can't wait to read! I should do a blog post on that idea too hmmmmm great idea!