Thousands of plants will be in San Juan Bautista this
weekend
Thousands of plants will be in San Juan Bautista this weekend
San Juan Bautista – Some have spikes, some flowers and fuzz and they’re all for sale this weekend in San Juan Bautista.
Cactus and succulent plant owners from all over California have brought thousands of different plants, of all different varieties, to the Monterey Bay Cactus and Succulent Show and Sale at Jardine’s Restaurant. The plants range in price from $2.50 to hundreds of dollars, and grower Elton Roberts said people buy them for many reasons.
“I think some people buy them because there is a strange curiosity about them,” he said. “They come in so many different shapes, and forms and colors.”
Whether shoppers are looking for a flowering cactus like the Christmas Cactus, or an inert cactus like the Living Rock, Roberts said they’re all easy to maintain, which makes them good plants to have for people on the go.
“If you have one on your kitchen counter and you go on vacation, you don’t have to have your strange neighbor come in and water it,” he said. “And when you return from vacation, it will still look as good as it did when you left it.”
Depending on the varietal, Roberts said cacti and succulents can be grown in different temperatures. The key to their survival is planting them in soil that can drain quickly, Roberts said. Otherwise, the roots will rot.
The Monterey Bay Cactus and Succulent Society holds two show/sales a year. There’s one in the spring and one in the fall, and visitors can stroll through the rows of cacti all weekend from 9am to 5pm. Roberts, who owns more than 120,000 cacti himself, said many cactus lovers begin their hobby by coming to a show and buying one.
“They’ll come to a show just to look and then they see one they think is strange,” he said. “Then as they see more, they just become more and more interested in them, and then they wind up with thousands like me.”
Admission to the sale is free. For more information, call 831-758-6645.
Christine Tognetti covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330, or [email protected].
