How a hobby became something more.

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Growing any plants from seed can be especially rewarding and cacti are no exception. We have found that raising cacti from seed is  a good way to increase the variety of plants within our collection. We bought cactus seeds from numerous suppliers in the UK, Europe and the USA. Most packets contain at least 10 seeds and sometimes a lot more. They were sown, they germinated and grew on, but then one day only a single plant was selected for our collection. So what do you do with the rest? They were too nice just to be sent to the compost heap in the sky. When it was just a small quantity, we were able to find homes for them at local cactus events; however a move in 2012 led to more space being available and over subsequent years the amount of seed sowing dramatically increased.

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With space at a premium in 2017, the decision was made to start selling plants further afield by attending marts and shows to make space for the next lot of seedlings coming along. So C & V Cacti was born! Over time the number of events increased and 2020 was set to be another busy year, then 'lockdown' happened but the plants were still growing and to grow well they needed more space, so we decided to start this website to offer plants by mail order. Since then we have provided fellow collectors with thousands of our seedlings. We hope you like our selection.

 

Vicky is also one of the main organisers of the very popular Cactus at the Castle event which takes places annually at Lullingstone Castle, Kent. She regularly writes for the Cactus and Succulent Review, the free online magazine and also has a small selection of talks which she is willing to give to BCSS branches and gardening clubs.

 

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