Thursday 17 March 2016 – around El Cahon
The approaching end to this trip follows the pattern of its predecessors: find a convenient Motel 6, visit friends, admire collections and visit a shopping mall to get those last minute essentials – in this case an additional suitcase (carry on luggage size) for my new boots and to hold the rucksack etc.
But first, in the ‘visit to friends’ category we met up again with Juergen Menzel at his home, to see the latest cactus novelties and to see the progress of plants photographed on previous occasions. Many plants are outside in the yard where nature takes care of the watering. There is a shade house to protect the smaller plants from the intense sun and heat. After 45 minutes in there It was just too hot for me so I escaped to cool down and to admit that I had failed to find the new Mam that I knew was hiding there somewhere. Once my body temperature was back to approaching ‘normal’, Juergen took me back in and allowed me to photograph his two plants that came from Europe.
It certainly is a very attractive and unusual plant that should be available at ELK next year, no doubt at a steep price.
I sat in the shade under a tree, mesmerised by the large group of Stenocereus eruca, the creeping devil, that started as two 1 m long stems some 15 years ago. These are facts that can not be found along plants in nature.
Juergen concentrated on showing Jonathan the mature Ferocacti planted around the garden – we need not have travelled all around Baja for 18 days – they were all here! But plants in habitat have an additional charm that is difficult to capture even in the best of gardens.
Thank you, Juergen!
The Cactus Trip Diaries 