DUNEBIN GARDENING CLUB

Evening Star, Issue 25227, 14 July 1944, Page 6

DUNEBIN GARDENING CLUB

CULTIVATION OF THE CACTUS Mr Tannock presided over a good attendance at the fortuigntly meeting of the Dunedin Gardening Club, when Mr .1. Passmore exhibited a comprehensive collection of cacti and succulents, and described in detail their characteristics and cultivation. America, said the speaker, was the natural home of cao tus, specimens being found from the Canadian Rockies to Cape Horn. Contrary to the general opinion that cactus occurred only in dry, arid places, only 15 per cent, were desert "plants. Some were found high in the Andes, where they were covered by snow and ice in winter. Others had developed their peculiar habit in salt marshes. Some cacti revelled in sunshine, and these were usually clothed in. spines. Cactus could be divided into two types stem-succulent, which varied in height from l'ft to 50ft, and leaf-succulent, which included the piny sedums, remarkable for. the number, size, and colour of their Mowers.- All cactus were perennial, and could bo propagated by seed, cuttings, and offsets.

To cultivate plants of such varied character and location one required to study the natural conditions under which each group was found, and the rooting habit of the plants. The soil must he porous, and the drainage perfect; The standard soil mixture recommended by the John limes Institute appeared to suit the requirements: Seven parts turf, three parts humus, and two parts of sand. In the growing season (October to March) plants might be watered freely, but in tlio resting season in winter water should be withheld, and plants might be occasionally lightly sprayed.