Cactus Planting Day

Peruvian Apple CactusAfter our usual Monday morning activities were complete, Damsel and I decided it was time to put some of the potted cacti sitting in the side courtyard into the ground. We should have done this a long time ago, since a couple of the cacti had started sending roots into the courtyard ground through the drain holes in the bottom of their pots.

Today’s weather was Arizona perfect for these outdoor chores. It was mostly overcast with the temperature in the high sixties, nearly perfect conditions for digging a hole.

The first cactus to go into the ground is pictured on the right. The label on the pot said it was a “cereus peruvianus montrose,” or, as I learned from the internet, a Montrose Peruvian Apple Cactus. This cactus has been doing well in the courtyard in its pot and has given us numerous flowers typical of night-blooming cereus.

In addition to the cereus, we had three one-gallon pots, each containing a golden barrel cactus. These three were added in the rock slope in front and to the side of the house where we already had planted five other golden barrels a while back.

There are three or four more potted cacti in the courtyard which we didn’t get to today. But, now that the weather is going to be like this or cooler for a while, we will try and get to the others in the weeks ahead. Of course, we probably won’t stop there as the landscaping is an on-going endeavor that we may never finish.

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