Classic Hifi Care

The BIL had his cactus trimmed and gave us a start off it. The start is about 18" long and maybe 8" in diameter. We are supposed to let the cut end "scab over" then plant it. I don't remember the name of the cactus, but it grows out and up, kind of like a prickly pear, but without the pears. You are supposed to keep the part that grows out trimmed so the cactus won't split. His prickly pear fell over about a year ago, so he just left it. Now it has babies growing out of the old plant. He will wait until the babies are big enough, then he'll have the old cactus cut out and removed.

I had to trim about 3/5ths of it. The lobes were bent over and not recovering so I trimmed all the ailing ones. the remaining ones are straightening up somewhat and are not as drawn as they were. These cactus are resourceful plants. My grandmother told me to lay a lobe on the soil and put a sharp stick through the center into the soil and it would start from there. She could get a yardstick to grow.

This cactus has a large trunk that is about 4 to 5 inches in diameter that is always sending up more lobes.

There was a lady back home, Miss Myrtle, who was a "witch". She could witch a water well. If you had the miseries, she would say an incant over you and you'd be better. She had a poltice for everything. She could make corn grow on stone, I think. The magic-est magic thumb I ever saw. She was an amazing lady, she had terrific insight on almost everything, very religious. Very reclusive, lived like a pauper, although she had means. She had cactus. They would get snow on them and they'd still be okay.

My grandmother could plant a toothpick and end up with a tree. Only thing she couldn't grow was money.

She had poppies along the house. She pulled them out when the news had a story about opium.

We have a fan palm in our front yard that a friend started from a seed. When we got it, it was in a 3-pound coffee can, about 8 inches tall. Now it is about 12 feet tall, beautiful.

It's nice bringing a frail plant to yard size.