Succulents and More™

⮌   Click here to read part 1 of this post Our tour of the Poots' private greenhouse was led by Roelyn Poot, the matriarch of the family.  Roelyn Poot talking about the beginnings of the nursery I don't know how many plants are in the greenhouse, and I'm fairly sure the Poots don't either. Easily thousands. A good half are cacti, the rest euphorbias, caudiciforms, and succulents like agaves, aloes and haworthias. While there are some fairly common plants, albeit mature specimens, many are true collector's items. There was a lot of oohing and aahing as we were walking through the aisles. This is the very definition of “packed” I felt overwhelmed at the thought of having to take care of such a large collection. Watering alone—a task performed by the Poots' daughter—looks to be an exceedingly time-consuming affair. The collection is very well maintained. I saw no weeds and virtually no damage. Rats are a problem, but the packets of poison I spotted in many places s...

If you live in Northern California and have even a passing interest in cacti and succulents, you've probably heard of Poot's Cactus Nursery . And if you’ve ever taken Highway 120 east to go to Yosemite, you've driven right past ( here's a Google map ). Poot’s is located outside of Ripon, between Manteca and Escalon, surrounded by fields and orchards. The sign is impossible to miss: The nursery was started in 1994 by Bill and Roelyn (pronounced “Ro-Ellen”) Poots. It’s still in the same location, and Bill and Roelyn still live in the house on the 1-acre property (you can see it in the next photo). Their son, Brian, is managing the day-to-day operations, with 10 part-time employees helping out in propagation, sales, and online marketing. I visited Poot’s last Saturday on a field trip organized by the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society . We were given a special tour of the Poots’ private collection ( see here ). This installment is about the public areas. The first thi...