I brought 50 of the later Schicks from the Huntington years ago, after they'd stopped exporting and thought they'd be a good commercial investment for propagation. They just sat there, year after year, flowered well and stubbornly refused to offset. When they're not in flower they look like a 'Branc...

Doug Sizmur usually has a good assortment of Schicks, he'll be at Spalding Cactus Mart in April. Bryan from Southfields will also be there and his Echinopsis hybrids are just as good as the Schicks.

Stuart

Spalding Branch will be having their 16th Cactus Mart on Saturday 20th April at the usual venue - Holbeach Community Centre in Holbeach, just a few miles from Spalding. All sales tables were reserved many months ago and all the main nurseries will be there as usual. 16th Spalding Cactus Mart 20 Apr ...

A couple of 'trees' added, any better?

Stuart

How does Gasteria Thunbergii sound?

Stuart

The last time I checked with DEFRA, they were charging £60 for each 15 minutes plus travel costs to issue a phyto. This is around the same costs that I pay in Holland. For a commercial shipment £200 to £300 for a phyto can be absorbed into costs, for a UK cactus nursery sending a small box of plants...

It's correct that since Brexit, anyone buying plants by post from abroad or coming through UK Customs with plants is risking having them taken if there's no accompanying Phyto, and CITES if necessary. Without going into commercially sensitive details, Brexit should make no difference to nurseries ot...

I've always known it as Ladismithiensis and having looked at the Ernst vJ book it suggests there's not much to choose between this one and Tomentosa, he describes it as 'Very variable with intermediate forms between the two species'. It's generally seen in the trade as Ladismithiensis. I have a vari...

US photo was taken at Poway, a few miles NE of San Diego.

Stuart

Agave Kichiokan.JPG Once they reach their maximum diameter, they just seem to go upwards. This one is in Bob Kent's garden in the US. Agave Kichiokanb.JPG These are all Chinese plants at a wholesale nursery in the EU, they've been held in a dormant state while they were shipped in a sea container a...