A Cactus Garden To Perk Up The Inside Of Your Home
A Cactus Garden To Perk Up The Inside Of Your Home
Cactus comes from the succulent family of plants which store their water in their leaves during particularly arid times. While cacti are traditionally a desert plant, you can create a lovely cactus garden inside your home as it will provide a relatively even climate in which to grow. The great thing about a cactus garden is that the cacti are rather forgiving with rough or forgetful handling and bounce back quickly.
Types Of Cacti To Incorporate
There are plenty of species of cacti which would make lovely additions to your indoor cactus garden. However, some are more popular than others because of their color, blooms or ease of growth. The Christmas cactus is by far one of the most attractive and popular because of its pretty colorful blooms around the holiday season. This cactus enjoys light shade but can also thrive under artificial lighting with its pink, red or white hued blooms.
A fashionable addition to your indoor cactus garden would be the old man cactus, aptly named because of the bunch of white hair encompassing the spines. The white hair protects the cactus from overheating in the sunlight and while this cactus does bloom, it may not do so for a number of years. Barrel cactus is particularly easy on beginners with its yellowish spines and barrel shaped body. You can incorporate these cacti in both large and small containers.
Contain It
Your cacti will determine what type of container you will need for your cactus garden to ensure proper growth patterns. While some cacti show off shallow roots, some still need plenty of growing room. Height can play a part in what container you use for your cactus garden just as weight can also dictate what you can and cannot use.
Choose a container for your cacti that won't dry out fast, but can retain some heat and can endure sunlight. Mexican clay fired pots, unglazed, are the best choice for a cactus garden as it will absorb sunlight and maintain warmth for the root system. Make things interesting and use every day household items to hold your cactus garden like pots, an oversize margarita glass, old shoes, bedpans, baskets, galvanized buckets or even plastic beach pails.
Additions
Choose a variety of cacti for your cactus garden and consider adding a few of its succulent cousins like the jade plant or even Aloe Vera. Place some pretty rocks in the container cactus garden for an attractive ambience or even some fake butterflies or a rubber snake for first glance jolts.