A Newly Planted Cactus Cutting – 3 Years Later
Drive through any Southwest neighborhood and you are highly likely to see cacti growing alongside shrubs and groundcovers.
I must admit that I don’t have a lot of cactus in my own landscape – there are three to be exact. But, the few that I have, I find myself particularly attached to.
This is my Mexican fence post cactus (Pachycereus marginatus), which I brought home as a single cactus cutting over 10 years ago. As you can see, it has grown a lot since then, growing taller and producing new stems.
Three years ago, we took a cutting from this cactus and gave it to our friends and neighbors, who live kitty-corner from our house.
Newly planted – March 2013.
Every since then, I’ve kept my eye on this newly planted cactus watching with interest as it grew.
November 2013
Eight months later, two new stems began to emerge. You can see the parent cactus in our yard in the background.
March 2014
A year later, the new stems were becoming more noticeable.
March 2015 – 2 years later
I was surprised at how quickly it grew.
Three years after planting.
Today, as I was driving home, I noticed a new little stem beginning to emerge.
Many different types of cacti can be planted from cuttings and it has been so much fun watching this one go from a single ‘spear’ to one with multiple stems.
Have you ever planted a cactus cutting? If so, what kind and how did it grow for you?
Click here, to read how to plant a cactus cutting.
Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."
