Cactus

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Cacti are the ideal introductory plant. They offer a variety of shapes with the majority having abandoned traditional leaves in favour of one or more stems, useful for retaining water in the dry deserts. They can tolerate infrequent watering but shouldn't be neglected! 

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Some cacti will flower! Flowers are often small and short lived but beautiful all the same. Although most cacti have spines they are easy to avoid and using a towel to hold the plant when repotting will solve any issues. Cacti generally stay quite small but can be known to grow up to 3m tall!

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Cacti can actually cope rather well in cooler temperatures, particulaly at night as it would be in the desert.

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With their range of simple, compact shapes cacti look great grouped together on a shelf (top or backlighting will really show off their dramatic spikes and fluffiness) or planted together in a low level planter and used as a table centrepiece.

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Growing Conditions:

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Light: Bright, with sun.

Temperature and humidity: Warm, but cool to moderate in winter. Low humidity.

Feeding: Monthly, using fertiliser for cacti and succulents.

Watering: When compost surface dry. Water sparingly in winter.

Propagation: Offsets.