Ever popular with gardeners having a cool greenhouse or conservatory, cacti and succulents offer great diversity of form and often very beautiful flowers.
RHS Tender Ornamental Plant Committee
The RHS Committee assessing cacti and succulents for award is the Tender Ornamental Plant Committee. This meets at the RHS Westminster and Chelsea Shows to judge plants normally grown in a protected environment.
RHS Award of Garden Merit
This award, given to plants of outstanding excellence, has been made to nearly 100 cacti and numerous succulents. Examples of awarded plants are to be found in the cactus genera Cleistocactus, Gymnocalycium, Hatiora and Sulcorebutia, while AGM succulents include species and cultivars of Aeonium, Echeveria, Faucaria and Pleiospilos.
For a list of Award of Garden Merit cacti and succulents click here
Conservation
Being mostly small plants, and tolerant of drought, cacti
are especially vulnerable to over-collection in the wild.
Moves to protect wild populations of these and other organisms
culminated in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Links
to conservation of garden and wild plants
Further reading
This is just one topic covered by the Society's monthly journal for members, The Garden, and recent articles of interest are listed below. The latest thinking from the best minds in horticulture today is to be found in the RHS journal, The Plantsman: some recent relevant articles are suggested here.
Billington, J. & J. Finlay. 1999, December. Under the volcano. The Garden (RHS) 124(12): 892-897. Cactus garden at Guatiza, Lanzarote.
Land, M. 1999, July. Rank deceivers. The Garden (RHS) 124(9): 534-537. Dramatic flowers of stapeliads.
Rodriguez. A. 2000. Growing and displaying caudiciform plants. The New Plantsman 7(1): 45-54.
Rodriguez, A. 1999. Discovering more caudiciform plants. The New Plantsman 6(3): 166-184; 6(4): 227-242.
Rodriguez, A. 1999. Elephants' feet and monkey bread: an introduction to caudiciform, pachycaul and other succulent plants. The New Plantsman 6(2): 109-125.
Rodriguez, A. 1995. Airplants: a survey of the genus Tillandsia. The New Plantsman 2(2): 72-88; 2(3): 162-181.
Trager, D. 1995, December. Thorns and all. The Garden (RHS) 120(12): 753-757. The Huntington Desert Garden, California.