Now living in the Southwest, it’s been necessary to bend my mind away from the spring ephemerals and woodland shade lovers that thrived after seventeen years of tending.

Inside, it’s not fair to try to coax humidity loving ferns or aphiphites that loved Virginia, but rather I’ve grown fond of the coral-like qualities of cactus.  Their exotic shapes and prickly personalities, their surprisingly brilliant blooms contrasting the predominately brown landscape have captured my fancy.  Plus they are waterwise.

In the midst of an El Nino winter with lots of moisture wicking into our clay soil, I’m focussing on inside gardens creating some vignettes of sea floor coral cactus.  For the topping, I use sand gathered from any colonies in the fields.  The sand they place around their burrows is lovely and the ants don’t mind sharing a little.  I collect in the winter in order to avoid any direct confrontations.  Thanks to Newman’s Nursery in Santa Fe for the plants and the ant tips…