Deborah Woehr

I’m amazed if I can keep a regular houseplant alive for longer than two weeks. My mother-in-law dubbed me a black thumb when I managed to kill a cactus (ten years ago) by overwatering it. She would be thrilled to know that I’ve been watering her overgrown garden for the past few weeks while she’s been on vacation. This will be our little secret, okay? Yes, the plants are still alive, but only because we’ve had cool weather.

Although I’ve gotten better with not killing houseplants outright, I haven’t mastered the watering technique (too much or too little). This is why I prefer cactus because they are such a low-maintenance plant. The one on the right is a Moon Cactus. I picked up two of these yesterday on our family outing. One looks like the picture, and the other is yellow with fingers instead of bulbs.

I also picked up one of these. They’re called String of Pearls. I would have never considered them a part of the cactus family, but apparently they are. They’re supposed to bloom into fragrant white flowers. When they will do this, I don’t know. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep this plant alive long enough to find out.