My Heart Needs Cacti To Survive

These are my small cacti that don't stab/stick/poke me. Using
a letter punch set, I made each of my cacti a name stake that
has their Latin name, and their common name listed. Now I'll
never forgot what kind of cactus they are.

I'm totally and completely obsessed with cactus and I've been deeply and madly in love with them for about 38 years. My dad bought me my very first cactus when I was around 15 or 16 years old and that was all it took to get me hooked. Since then, I've been poked, stabbed, scraped and gouged a thousand times. I've spent many hours trying to get tiny cactus spines out of my hands and arms. I've re-potted so many cactus that I can't possibly remember them all, and I got my fair share of battle wounds in the process. But still, I love cactus. I've become an expert at potting the prickly little things, and have developed my transplanting technique so well that I only get stabbed a few times while placing each cactus in its new pot. But the end product is well worth the pain.

This is Godzilla. He's a Stetsonia Coryne, (A.K.A. Toothpick
Cactus). My husband bought him for me in august 1992. I've
raised him in the house since I got him. Last year I finally got
brave and put him outside in my fountain and in the Spring he
was 31 inches tall and was a single column cactus. By the time
I took him in the house last Winter, he was 35 inches tall
and had three new arms. Imagine my surprise when he
suddenly grew arms, of all things. I was stunned. I can't wait
to see how tall he grows this year...and how many more
arms he grows. (If you look at my blog post titled "Babies
and Spikes" on June 17, 2012, you'll see Godzilla when
his arms were tiny nubs). Proud mama here.

Over the last couple of years I forced myself to really toned down my cactus affection and completely stopped buying new cactus. During the last few years, when I would love my cacti too much and they would subsequently die from over-watering, I haven't been replacing them. Last year I realized I only had six cacti left, and, oddly enough, it really hurt my heart. So I decided to do a little heart therapy and went to the store and bought a cactus. Now, a year later, I have 27 cacti and I'm happily contemplating another one...or two...or ten...I can't get enough. I completely forgot how exciting it was to play with my cactus and move them around the yard. And I forgot how fun it was to go set by them and just look at them and appreciate their beauty. Or how beautiful they were when they got their very first flowers of the year.
Now I'm in a dilemma, as I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all these cacti this winter because they can't stay outside, which is the main reason I stopped buying cactus in the first place. They'll all have to come in the house.

My fountain. Godzilla is at the back left. I have 15 cactus
in my fountain right now. The rest of them are on the porch
or in hanging baskets. If you can't tell, I also love rocks. I
can't get enough of them.

What I need/want (and this is the reason for this post) is a greenhouse. That's my dream, a cactus greenhouse. If I had a cactus greenhouse, I'd spend half the winter in there staring at my babies, and I'd even try my hand at growing cactus from seeds. I'm determined to have a cactus greenhouse this winter, and I know I'll have one. Now I just have to convince my husband that a cactus greenhouse is an urgent necessity, because he'll be the one building it after all. Luckily, he likes for me to have what I want almost as much as he doesn't want all those cacti in the living room for months, so it shouldn't be too hard convincing him. Wish me luck in my endeavor.