The Cactus Shop

Recently I noticed that Home Depot was carrying a selection of Cacti & Succulents that were branded with the name "The Cactus Collection" I asked on the C&S forum of GW and discovered that it was part of Altman's Plants. Little did I know but they'd been supplying the C&S to Home Depot I'd been buying for a while now and this "new" selection was just an extension of their plants.

I think this line of Cacti & Succulents being made available in a major retailer is a good thing for the C&S enthusiasts and for houseplant collectors in general. When you buy one you get a plastic stake that has the name and area of origin of the plant and some details on cultivation. If you're luck the tags haven't been moved by customers or employees and you ID tag will be right. But once you get it home take the tag with you to your computer
and do a Google search for the plant's name and make sure it's
correct. If there are any discrepancies or you can't arrive at a proper ID for you plant look for a Cacti & Succulent forum like the
one on GW and see if you can get some help.

Two of my most sought after plants came from this new line. I had been looking for Echeveria 'Black Prince' and for a start of Senecio Rowleyanus for about a year and had no luck finding them in a store near me. I had seen them offered on-line but I wanted to buy these two plants in person. And I'm glad I stumbled into the store the days I found these because they're pretty cool plants.

If you can't find this collection near you, you can always order from the website above but I can't really tell you how good the shipping or plants are because I've only ever picked them up at a Home Depot. The website is also a good resource for people looking for information because the names are matched up with photos. I've used it a couple of times to get plant IDs for people on gardening forums.

I have to give The Cactus Collection ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ out of 5 stars because they have expanded the variety of Cacti & Succulents made available to enthusiasts like myself who have a hard time finding interesting plants in a retail setting that are affordable. I know you can easily find these plants on-line but to me part of the joy is being able to see a plant before you actually buy it.