In the early days

IN THE EARLY DAYS

Whilst a youngster the plants were kept on south facing window cills in the house.

After a few years my father bought a greenhouse 6'x8' for growing tomatoes and I was allowed to share it for my cacti. Eventually my collection increased to such an extent that the tomatoes were being edged out. Father kindly bought a second greenhouse for his tomatoes and allowed me to keep the original for my own collection I was about 12 years old at this time.

With more space I could increase my collection and started to specialise in particular species that appealed to me. Up until this time I had collected both Cacti and Succulents I would now concentrate on Cacti alone.

As a youngster I would visit local Florists, Garden Centre's did not exist in those days, I would carefully examine the latest group of cacti on offer before making my purchase. I was known and remembered by the sales assistants because I was probably one of only a few of their child customers. Children I suppose aren't usually interested in flowers.

I joined the 'Cactus & Succulent Society of Great Britain' in 1969, and with this newly found source of information and contacts my interest and knowledge rapidly increased.

The biggest change was the discovery of specialist Cactus nurseries who supplied plants by mail order. This allowed me to obtain the more difficult and rare species not found locally. I remember going on holiday, during the school summer holidays and staying with my aunt and uncle in Crowborough, Sussex. A good deal of my time and all of my pocket money was devoted to the local florists and I would always return home with new plants.

A lot of my spare time in the early days and indeed now was devoted to my interest. As the collection increased in number and grew in size there was more to do in caring for them i.e. watering, re-potting, checking for pests & diseases, and cleaning / weeding the greenhouse. Now with my larger collection watering takes about one hour to complete and re-potting is an ongoing process throughout the growing period but concentrated around spring and autumn.

I have been an enthusiastic collector since 1961 and my interest in Cacti is as keen as it ever was. With space now at a premium as my greenhouse fills up I only buy particular plants of certain genera such as Astrophutum, Arocarpus and other slow small growing species. My particular favorites however are Turbinicarpus, these are generally small and slow growing and often difficult to keep, which is their main attraction to me.