Any plans to speak at any of the Yorkshire branches, Paul? And any news on the book?! At the moment Macclesfield is the furthest north I will be travelling next year. :smile: Book is shaping up nicely, thanks. The text is written and being proof read by our very own Sheila Cude, who is translating ...

Hi Geoff It wasn’t a BCSS event (as I understand) so it wouldn’t necessarily be mentioned on a BCSS Forum. Surely to goodness a massively successful event celebrating cacti and succulents is EXACTLY what should get mentioned on the forum, irrespective of who organised it? :shock: The society isn't ...

I can't quote facts and figures, Geoff, but according to Tom it was the busiest and best yet, with higher visitor numbers than before - especially BCSS non-members. I understand the vendors took lots of money. The weather could not have been better. Speaking personally, I went on the Saturday andI h...

There are hardy species that will survive year round and different to the greenhouse ones. Anyone who has got close up and personal with a phormium, assuming they are still alive after last winter, will have seem massive accumulations of them in the leaf bases. Whether these hardy species will do in...

When I looked at the picture at first, I saw the pale thing top left and thought 'vine weevil'. Then I remembered how to zoom in and saw the sciarid larvae all over the rest of it!! Yuck. The pale thing top left is a red (or pale thing) herring.

Bit of an optical illusion/red herring there in as much as the flower spikes belong to a different agave behind. Those in front look like Agave attenuata or one of its hybrids.

Trichocereus pasacana was my thought, too. it does vary a lot - I have a few and a couple are just like that one.

Gosh. Kind of thought John was going to live forever. RIP.

Easier to pollinate, too

I'd say you are both lucky in being at the start of the hobby. If I were starting from scratch I would choose plants that can take an unheated ventilated greenhouse to make up the bulk of your future collections. Heating costs have spiralled beyond the realms of belief and are only going to get wors...