The Story of Three Cactus

Today is the first day since our move that I felt like a REAL Arizona gardener -- I planted 3 different Cactus species in our from yard. Until a few days ago, our front yard had a couple of Rosemary plants, a couple of Lantana (the butterflies have really enjoyed these!), two Canary Island palms, a needle-leaved Agave, and a humongous amount of ground cover. Now, let me reiterate again that I do not like ground cover 'cause that's just what they do -- cover all the ground anywhere within reason (and sometimes beyond reason). The ground cover was pulled out by our landscapers last week, so off to Avocado Nursery in Casa Grande we headed on Saturday afternoon in quest of the "perfect" cacti for our front yard!!
This morning I pulled on my pruning gloves and headed out to garden! Here is the cutest little Rainbow cactus. It is only about 6" tall, but within a few years will reach its full potential of 12"!! It is the beginning of my mini cactus garden and is located at the beginning of the sidewalk to our front door. I am so excited about adding to this little cactus garden and my vision is that it will happily greet the guests to our desert home:-)

Don't you absolutely love this little "fellow" -- a purple Prickly Pear cactus that goes by the cultivar name of Santa Rita. Doesn't it just remind you of a Mickey Mouse hat with one "ear" askew?!! I knew I wanted one of these because the fruits are favored by the Desert tortoise. I will glad share with any hungry tortoise that visits my front yard! It will be the larges of the three that I planted today, growing many more sections with time. I am looking forward to its beautiful flowers gracing my front yard each spring.
I love the Barrel cacti, and the Golden is native to the Sonoran desert. In the Mojave desert you mainly see the Red barrels. I am hoping it sets lots of "pups" while we live in our home, so that we have a large mound of this glowing cactus. It will reach a mature height of about 24". So it isn't large, but still makes a statement in spite of its diminutive size. This one was the most challenging to plant because of the needles. Again, I was thankful for the protection of my pruning gloves!
Here is a view of our front yard with the Santa Rita and Golden barrel, with a purple Lantana beyond. As you can see, there is plenty of room for them to grow and mature as the years go by. Hope many of you reading my blog can pay us a visit here in our desert home and see these desert delights for yourself!