Cactus Blogs Hosted By Women

When I think of gardeners that grow cactus and succulent plants I don't always think of women. For some reason I always assume that cactus plants are grown mostly by men. Perhaps, I associate men with cacti and succulent plants because I see more men on forums and websites about these unusual plants. Or maybe it is the fact that cactus and succulent plants aren't always pretty looking plants on the surface. Gardening as a whole seems to be dominated by women where the subset of cacti and succulent plants to me seem to be dominated by men.

But on the blogosphere I've discovered two female gardeners that have helped shape my ideas of who grows cacti and succulent plants. Since I started a gardening blog I've become acquainted with two of them through my blog. While both women host blogs about the same plants and share valuable information on how to grow cacti and succulents their blogs are different. The biggest difference results from geography, one woman grows cacti in Arizona and the other grows cacti in Jamaica.

Jade blogs at "Sticky Fingers" where she shares photos and information on growing cacti plants in Jamaica. Her perspective and information is unique because she lives in a climate that doesn't always suit itself to growing cacti plants. Take her Cereus pernambucensis thats she grew from seed in 2003 that was damaged after Hurricane Dean passed through her area in August. One of the things I really admire about Jade and her cactus collection is that she does grow a lot of her plants from seeds as you can see in the entry on repotting her cacti. Jade's cactus blog is a treasure of information for those looking to identify a cactus or succulent plant in their collection.

The second female blogger that grows cacti and succulent plants is Aiyana from Arizona. Her blog "Water When Dry" is also about cacti and succulent plants but I've only recently become familiar with her blog after we exchanged comments. She too takes some nice pictures of plants and writes detailed information about the cactus and succulents in her collection. As an urban gardener with limited space I'm amazed at the amount of plants she has in her collection. What I particularly like about her blog is that her garden is low water use and great for the Arizona climate. I lived in Arizona for a while and was always amazed at the people who moved there from areas like the Midwestern United States and forced the ideas of lawns on an environment that can't sustain them. I met a lot of gardeners in Arizona who could benefit from reading Water When Dry and taking the plants she profiles and importing them into their gardens.

I have to give these two garden blogs 5 out of 5 stars because they are good resources for people who want to grow cacti and succulent plants. Stop by and be inspired by these garden blogs and be amazed by the variety of colors that a cactus can produce. Yes, cacti do flower.