There’s no great mystery to growing cacti and succulents, it’s mostly common sense, although it can seem a little confusing at first when faced with a huge array of different species. There is a lot of information available in books and on the internet, and growers are always keen to impart their wisdom on you, but while there are some definite dos and don’ts, growing cacti and succulents is something you need to work out for yourself.
There is a vast amount available for free online so I don’t want to replicate this or my website will simply become an exercise in plagiarism. Instead, I will instead direct you to external sources where appropriate.
My aim is to provide some interesting tips to start you off in the hobby. I will help you to appreciate the differences between cacti and succulents and to identify the most common genera and species. You can find advice on cultivation and propagation and I will guide you on where to buy plants, seeds and growing paraphernalia, based on my personal experience.
I live in the south east of the UK so most of my comments relate to the growing conditions in a temperate climate, a rather artificial environment for plants from hot, arid regions. However, I hope that you will find this website interesting and informative, whether you live in the UK or elsewhere in the world.
Through this website I hope to share my love of these plants and to engage with the many thousands of people around the world who have the same passion. Please do get in touch if you have any questions or comments as I’ve love to hear from you.
This is a general look at cacti and succulents, what makes them what they are and how botanists view them. There are two tables which give overviews of the taxonomy of cacti and other succulent, but I will not be describing all the various genera. If you want to read a little more about some of them, take a look at the galleries section.
There are also resources for identification, starting a collection, and buying plants, which I will keep adding to.
IN THIS SECTION
What makes a succulent a cactus?
. . . . Cacti
. . . . Other succulents
Taxonomy: A rose by any other name . . .
ID websites
Starting a collection
Where to buy plants
Societies and interest groups
Publications