Certainly plant sales sponsored by clubs in Austin, San Antonio, and Houston offer opportunities to find interesting plants including rare species and horticultural forms. However, these events happen only a few times each year and for relatively short periods. Some plant dealers in larger cities offer a better selection of cactus species than one might expect to find at the local discount store chains or garden centers. But here too, these specialized out-lets require traveling significant distances and fac-ing “big-city” traffic challenges (There are those that would rather jump into a patch of prickly pear in their birthday suits than drive through Houston traffic). Some of us have limited opportunity to travel far or spend a lot of time away from home in search of new specimens to add to our collections or plant in our yards. Mail-order sources also offer an interesting selection of plants, but they usually require buying plants we have not personally seen or selected and usually come with some hefty ship-ping charges as well.

This brings us to the garden departments of big box stores like Walmart, Lowe's, and Home Depot. Do they carry cacti at all? Yes, they do. Is their selec-tion of plants worth considering? Again, yes, but with some major considerations.

First, we need to dismiss the unfortunate groups of cacti and succulents they carry that that have been painted (Fig. 1). Painted! Yes, they actually sell

plants that have been painted. Now, one would think that even someone that had been through a fifth-grade general science class would recognize that green plants need sunlight to support photosynthesis to keep them alive. Paint blocks light and without which plants die. Still, some individuals seem to have not been paying attention in class or have long-term memory issues. And, those individuals either place plant orders for these stores or are the people that actually buy these pre-euthanized plants for some puzzling reason.

The second consideration is the unexplainable need for some suppliers to glue dead flowers to otherwise healthy cactus specimens (Fig. 2). Glue globs are usually added to the critical growing point and thus may guarantee either deformed growth, physical damage, or eventual death. An addi-tional interesting aspect to these botanically mu-tilated plants is the dye used to color the dead flowers. The water-sol-uble pigment readily runs when the plants are watered and then stains the living portions of the plant below. Although this dye readily bleeds out of the dead flower, almost nothing can remove it from the plant itself. Once the plant is stained, that color may last for months or longer. In some cases, the dead flowers and dollops of glue can successfully be removed and the plant saved. The glued-on flowers can sometimes be re-moved safely from species with small spines and hard stems with little damage. However, taxa with dense or fragile spines or soft tissues will almost al-ways be badly disfigured or even killed by removal

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WHERE TO BUY CACTI: DO THE LOCAL BIG-BOX STORES REALLY CARRY WORTH-WHILE PLANTS? Robert G. Howells, Kerrville, Texas – January 2016

attempts. Most of us would be willing to pay more for a plant if some fool stopped cementing dead flowers on live plants, but may not always get the option.

All this said, normal cacti are actually available at these stores. But here too, finding a really unique species can also be a challenge. Cactus species de-livered for sale are usually those that are most common, most easily propagated at nurseries, and most abuse tolerant (to survive their tribulations in store environments). In addition to the vast num-bers of unidentified opuntias and cereus types for sale, plants are often presented to the public on wooden or metal stands (fig. 3) where they are packed in like preverbal sardines. Some displays

are so high that only professional basketball players can see the top shelf or two. Other stands are de-signed with lower shelves that actually sit on the ground (precluding anyone over five years old from being able to get low enough to see the specimens there…let alone see or reach specimens on the back of the shelves).

How various stores place these cactus-bearing plant stands is also a point of commercial-sales curiosity. Some opt to locate some plants in the darkest area of the garden center, but others place delicate spec-imens directly in the hot Texas sun next to their Boston ferns (assuring sunburn that will scar plants for years…if they survive at all). Even plants that are able to live in the face of these affronts to con-tinued life then have to face the employees with

garden hoses that fail to distinguish between water requirements of waterlilies and a desert-dwelling cactus, especially when freezing temperatures are approaching.

Despite the long list of problems often associated with plants often found in big-box stores, deliveries occasionally include some highly-desirable speci-mens. These are worth watching for. Following are a few examples of plants found locally.

Brazilian Old Man Cactus (Espostoopsis dy-bowskii) – This plant was found in a Home Depot and is the only specimen of its kind I have ever en-countered.

Flower of Prayer Cactus (Setiechinopsis mirabilis) – This species appeared twice in the local Home De-pot in Kerrville several years back, but has not ap-

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peared again since. Its flowers are impressive, but this species often has a short life before turning roots up and heading to that great compost pile in the sky.

Narrow Candle Cactus (Stenocereus hollianus) – This cristate form has been offered this past sum-mer in both Home Depot and Lowes locally and seems moderately hardy and fairly fast growing.

Sakta Torch (Trichocereus thelegonus) – This ex-ample found its way to Lowes locally along with a related species, T. macrogonus, that is among the trichoerids actually blue in color.

Golden Cob Cactus (Lobivia famatiemensis) – This cristate specimen appeared in a Lowes garden center some weeks back. It is sensitive to over-watering and so likely to survive only a short time under the care of a zealous employee with a garden hose.

Lady-finger Cactus (Echinocereus pentalophus) – This is a cristate form of a native species that ap-peared at Walmart this summer.

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Golden Saguaro (Neobuxbaumia polylopha) – This rarely-seen cristate example was found at Lowes.

Blue Torch Cactus (Browningia hertingianus) – This seedling was found locally at Walmart last fall. It is among the most blue-colored of the columnar cacti, is rarely seen, and becomes a truly impressive plant, so it pays to recognize what early life stages can eventually morph into.

So, do local big-box stores carry interesting and unique cacti worth taking home? Yes, indeed. But, be prepared to:

• Wear old clothes so you can lie on the ground to examine lower shelves.

• Bring leather gloves and Kevlar shirts so you can reach through the narrow space between plants and the shelf above, so you can reach plants in the back of the shelf.

• Bring the tallest person you know to examine up-per shelves of displays and reach into the back of shelves built so deeply that individuals of normal reach can only glimpse the plants at the back. Per-haps a camera-phone and long selfie stick could work as well.

• Stop by stores every week or ten days so plants can be selected shortly after their arrival at the store and before they have been kept in the dark too long, sunburned, or the staff has had time to either water-board them to death or withhold fluids longer than the average Egyptian mummy has re-mained dry.

• Be able to quietly grit your teeth, smile, and say nothing when the checkout clerk drones on about how lucky you are to have found a plant (with a glue-on dry flower) that was actively blooming as you purchased it. You may recognize that the plant being purchased will not actually flower until it reaches 20 feet tall and long after your own obitu-ary has been published (but don’t burst the clerk’s bubble… there’s no point).

So, in summary, some really interesting cacti can oc-casionally be found in local big-box stores. It defi-nitely pays to keep looking. You can get lucky.

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