i have no luck with cactus. i can grow a few succulents indoors (like christmas cactus) but the true cacti, i love to death. i have one that survived all winter outside and has actually grown a bit. i have two in a glass vase that i keep in a northern window. they're actually growing too. but i practically ignore them.

find you some natives, and let nature take care of them for you...

i know of no louisiana cacti natives. and i keep them in a dish garden. i have seen some texas varieties grown in the yards, but as my daughter says, i've already got thorn bushes (my roses)!

not to mention the thorns in your sides...

a crown of???

sure, why not?

how bout a briar patch... you could be brer rabbit!

who's gonna be the fox?

(besides, physically, I resemble brer bear more...)

but he was kinda doofusy... it just wouldn't work...

put it on the list...

i have successfully overwintered a few cacti. they spent most of the winter outside and the coldest part inside. but they're back out. the barrel types really did well with the coolness. have a few more now including the starfish cacti (the blooms are out of this world and are supposed to have a disgusting odor). mine had buds but the one in bloom didn't stink at all. the hen and chicks did well outside all winter long. (i remember ours doing just fine in kansas so i figured they'd do well here too)....picked up a couple more of them. i love hen and chicks!

I have a jillion Crown of Thorns plants, two large Desert Roses and a dumb little real cactus in a pot which does not like all the moisture we get. Oh yeahm,, I have aloe vera growing all over the place, too

Oh, and Christmas cactus in all sorts of colors blooming all sorts of times of the year...and a tinker-toy plant which is trying to be a tree.

i learned that the adenium (desert rose) needs to be watered well and not treated like a cactus at all in order to ensure strong growth. mine is at the office in a southern window so i can enjoy her oddity! the one and only aloe that i have is growing well but rather strange with her twisting and turning. don't know if i can put her outside....

My aloes divide and make babies all around themselves. Lop off the large ones which hang crazily out of the pot or just put it outdoors that way. You could put up a wire armature to keep it upright. Your pineapple might just need one, too - similar to a tomato cage.

Btw, my adeniums live outdoors under the open sky all year long. They are huge and in gigantic pots...and get the most of our 150+ inches of rain per year.

Oh...and they are both full of blooms.

i wish mine would bloom. can they handle full sun? (adeniums)

Mine are in the full tropical sun all of the time! Just make sure they get enough water!

cool beans!

I must have about 20 buds and flowers on the smaller of the two adeniums and more than that on the large one which is also putting out new branches with buds from its obese trunk. They are so spacey-looking they are maxed-out cool.

they are some of the strangest looking plants i've ever seen which was why i felt compelled to buy it. then seeing how big they can get via my internet searches, i am amazed! mine is only a foot tall and i limited the water at first, but once i learned they really like to be wet, i let it have as much as it can take!

If yours is in a pot, just wait till you repot it. There is a huge bulb of root under the soil which stores water, too. They are so improbable-looking, especially with those brilliant dark pinkish-coral trumpet flowers sticking out all over the place. I could never have dreamed up a plant which looked like that!

They respond nicely to mild fertilizer formulated to make plants bloom. Just go easy on it if they are in pots.

this one's still in the pot it came home in. so it has another bulb under the soil? and i thought the one on top was enough!

I think you should repot it. It will be so thankful for being able to wiggle its toes it will do nice things for you! (You're gonna be amazed!!!)

so it doesn't care to be bound in the pot? it's in a six inch pot with about an inch space between the rim and the bulb all around. does it prefer cacti soil or just regular old houseplant soil?

Mine is in mixed volcanic cinders and Jungle Growth (or some such bagged growth media for plants). Now, I realize you are semi-short on your supply of volcanic cinders (though they may be dropping in from Japan eventually!) so you can use sand or whatever to break up and drain the soil more efficiently. It is pot bound and would probably love cacti soil. Repot it and you will see how ecstatic it will be when you do. It will reward you only like a Deaser Rose can.

Adenium...cannot spell Desert anymore.

*laugh* i knew what you meant!

I know...but, it was one of those awful moments when Yapp takes over and you just stare in disbelief at the goof which escaped your notice not moments before. Talk about time standing still...!

I just checked my adeniums and the small one has 20 flowers on it! I questioned the resident male about it and he said he put some Miracle Grow Bloom Booster on them as well as my pathetic roses and Christmas Cacti collection (I have some blooming now which blooms every months but December, and others which only bloom then) and on my Dancing Ladies Orchid, and they are all full of blossoms. That is really good stuff!

my adenium is thriving in the all day sun but no blooms yet. you have oncidiums (dancing ladies)? cool. i have one.

Yup! Oncidiums and there are three sprays of fragrant little yellow orchids about 3 feet long each just covered with the dime-sized orchids with the brown markings on the yellow orchids. First thing in the morning it is wonderful to see them and inhale some of the good Hawaiian air...

i know. they do give off the lightest fragrance!

Yup, they do, but the ademias do not. Missed taking a great picture for you by one day. Next bloom you get to see the picture!

My small ademia two days after maximum bloom

MMM worth looking for your pix!

wow!!!!!!

Yours does not bloom like that??? Put that Miracle-Gro stuff on it. There is hardly enough plant to sustain that many flowers. I just had to take the digital out and show you what it looked like! My other one (the BIG one)has paler pink flowers on it. Will photograph that when it is in full flower.

no blooms yet but i think it's still too young. it has grown quite a bit with the new pot and full sun. lots of leaves and the branches are darkening up and more leaves are sprouting.