An Australian cactophile in America

[zed240]

I am coming over to North America for a holiday very soon, (I fly out in about a week), and am very keen to get some suggestions of cactus related places to see from some locals whilst I'm over there.

If anyone happens to live nearby to where I'm passing through and feel like showing me their collection I'd also appreciate that very much! It will be great if I get the opportunity to see some of the US plants I've seen in pictures for ages in person for a change.

Where I will be:

NY city and Washington DC for the first week, (where I don't expect there to be much cactus action, but you never know!)

Canada, Vancouver Island for a week. (hoping to do some mushroom hunting whilst here too)

California + Arizona for the last 2 weeks of the trip. Will be driving around from San Francisco down to LA then over to Phoenix and surrounds before heading up to the grand canyon then to Vegas for a few days before flying back out of LA to go home.

Ideas I've had so far:

Saguaro national park

Sacred Succulents (Their PO Box address looks close to where I'll be but I'll need to get their real address)

Poots House of cactus

CactusStore in Arizona (Phoenix Desert Nursery)

Botanical gardens (I'll need to check where some more are, but maybe Berkley and possibly Huntington but would like other suggestions)

Please feel free to add suggestions to this thread or PM me if you have suggestions you may not want to make public or if you are offering a possible tour of your own cactus paradise.

PS, I also love hunting mushrooms and will gladly take suggestions to help with that too.

(and no, I'm not asking for psilocybe hunts, just edibles and mush hunting in general)

[bardo]

Sounds awesome, I hope you have great one : )

[highdesertcacti]

the Huntington Botannical Gardens is a NO miss! I promise you, you'll be glad you went! If you can make it down to San Diego there are miles of cactus nurseries around the fallbrook area. have fun!

edit: i believe hbg is larger then disneyland even, and the cactus garden is the whole east side of it...

Edited October 2, 2015 by highdesertcacti

[Evil Genius]

Hey Zed, sounds like a great trip will be ahead of you! Come back in one piece!

Oh, and it may be a good idea to take pics of everything you see. Maybe you can write a little trip report (not that type of trip!) here or/and on the trichocereus website. I´d love to read about that.

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Hi zed, I can meet you in NYC, I will be there shortly too for a while

[spooge]

have a great time man, send back seeds if you can and i hope you find as many psilocybes possible

Edited October 2, 2015 by olive

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Hey olive any cool mushrooms around ny and Brooklyn to check out? It would be a total spin out to catch up with zed in the states

[spooge]

P. cyanescens

for loloscopy only

[zelly]

California + Arizona for the last 2 weeks of the trip. Will be driving around from San Francisco down to LA then over to Phoenix and surrounds before heading up to the grand canyon then to Vegas for a few days before flying back out of LA to go home.

hot damn son, you'll be comin thru just in time to do some ladder duty & pick some trich fruits.

highly recommend you stop by Huntington Botanical Gardens in Pasadena on your way down to my cactus patch, also you may want to snag a phone with a usa based area code, handy for texting etc.

hit me with a pm if you want my cell #

[highdesertcacti]

Thats 2 votes for the huntington. Dont miss it. If youre serious about going pm me and i'll send you a pass- i have two left, so if you want one too zelly to roll with him, its yours.

(can you tag people on SAB?)

[spooge]

Just so you guys know I've known Zed in real life for 2 years and the guy is solid, true and is 100% honest.

hesa great guy who is very interested in cacti

he just may be late getting there, hahahhahahahaha, Zed understands this

Edited October 4, 2015 by olive

[MrDoRight]

I'll be in Berkley on Halloween and I haven't explored the entire Botcanical garden out there . I'm going to be down there fo trick or treating with my family ,bike around and go mushroom hunting ,and maybe see a few friends.

Enjoy your vacation zed

[zed240]

Thanks for the replies so far guys. I am getting pretty excited for the trip!

I will be getting a US sim card when I get in to NY for easy communication. I have a friend whos lived in NY for the last 5 years or so who is going to show me around the city for a couple of days and she said she can take me in easily to grab a sim card first up.

Zelly, I'll happily get up a ladder to harvest some fruits for you if it means getting to check out some of your wonderful plants. I will PM you soon.

And yes, As Olive knows, my time management when it somes to arriving on time is not exactly perfect..... But I'll always message to let people know when I'll be arriving! I blame the long lines at the bakery that's in the country town on the way to Olive's place for making me late to his though.... ;)

Sounds like Huntington BG is a definite must see then. I may not get to go to Berkley as am only really going to see Alcatraz whilst in San Fran before I head straight out to Yosemite NP for a bit before heading down the coast rd toward LA.

It will after the 25th Oct when I'm heading south towards the LA area I reckon. After LA will be heading over to Phoenix area and will hopefully get to catch up with a SAB member who lives and grows there as well as seeing some of the desert national parks that surround the area.

[Kykeion]

In Phoenix there is the Desert Botanical Garden. I have not been, but it looks pretty cool. I'm sure there are some other cool places in Phoenix as well.

About 2 hours to the southeast of Phoenix is Tucson where there are a couple places I'd recommend. First is the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, it is kinda of a cross between a zoo and a botanical garden. Lots of native plants, cacti and at least one, but I think two crested Saguaro cacti. There is also the Tucson Botanical Gardens. They are relatively small, but beautiful with an interesting collection. They also have a really cool butterfly house that just opened for the season on Oct 1st.

[Terrapin]

Hey mate,

When I was over in those parts I spent a few nights in Joshua Tree NP. Cant remember too much going on cacti wise but the desert scapes blew my mind. Beautiful. Especially at dawn and dusk if you can get hold of a tent or camper.

We had the campsite to ourselves during the week as well, got a bit busy on the weekend.

Have a safe trip mate.

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Hi zed. When you are in NYC, over near alphabet city (on e housten) is a heap of "secret gardens". They are little community projects that are like little jungles! Very neat to walk thru and have a few one hitters.

also while your there, if you head to "ave a" up near e housten end there's a bar called double down saloon, the arvo drinkers are hell friendly and can help you out with other places to go (2 beers for $5 too, get the double down brown!)

Over towards/in Chelsea is a lot of cool florists/garden centres. They have awesome succulent and cactus arrangements for cheap, Im tempted to pull a few apart if you get my drift... Heaps of unique plants I haven't seen in Aus. There's one place with a wall of euphorbia crests of different varieties but I forget where, but def in Chelsea.

Brooklyn is fairly neat too, if you can get to the flea market on a satdy there was a San Pedro stall selling cuts and tips but that was about it, nothing looked too special, but it didn't look PC either.

That's all I've seen round Mate, make sure to hit the Brooklyn and NYC botanic gardens too, they were both awesome but lacking in cactus.

[Spanishfly]

I think you may need more than just a SIM card - the US ´cell´ phone system uses different frequencies to the rest of the civilised world.

Sounds like a dream trip though !!

Edited October 13, 2015 by Spanishfly

[zelly]

I think you may need more than just a SIM card - the US ´cell´ phone system uses different frequencies to the rest of the civilised world.

Sounds like a dream trip though !!

scroll to the bottom of this link to see whats compatible cell phone wise, country by country....

http://www.worldtimezone.com/4g.html

[zed240]

I have had a very nice time over here so far. I have seen some wonderful plants and mushrooms but not many cactus yet.

I did find this one in New York which may be a tricho, he was very small.

I have many pictures of other lovely plants I've found but they probably don't belong in this thread.

So far have visited New york and Washington DC. I am currently in Victoria which is a Canadian city on Vancouver island. It is amazingly beautiful over here, absolutely love it.

[zelly]

An Australian cactophile in America

Bushmaster Zed Rocks the Huntington !

[mysubtleascention]

[highdesertcacti]

i know that Huanucoensis!!! All the tersches and robinsoniana's are in flower right now too, yeah??

[Evil Genius]

Glad to have you back! Cant wait to see your pictures.

[_Cursive]

In Phoenix there is the Desert Botanical Garden. I have not been, but it looks pretty cool. I'm sure there are some other cool places in Phoenix as well.

About 2 hours to the southeast of Phoenix is Tucson where there are a couple places I'd recommend. First is the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, it is kinda of a cross between a zoo and a botanical garden. Lots of native plants, cacti and at least one, but I think two crested Saguaro cacti. There is also the Tucson Botanical Gardens. They are relatively small, but beautiful with an interesting collection. They also have a really cool butterfly house that just opened for the season on Oct 1st.

I concur on these! When I was over there I visited all of these and they are awesome!! Allocate 3 hours at least for the Desert botanical garden! I got caught out. Hang around for the sunset after, it is amazing.

PS: You can actually wander off into the desert, from here if you feel like

Edited October 31, 2015 by _Cursive

[zed240]

I have to extend a big thanks to Zelly for being very hospitable a few days ago. I had a wonderful time.

Also to Nitrogen for popping in for a chat for a while.

It was absolutely fantastic to be able to meet you both. If either of you are to come to Australia I will very happily show you some spots and open my house to you.

And to Highdesertcacti for providing some guest passes for me and Zelly to go to the Huntington. Wonderful place it is too. Could have spent longer there but they're only open for 4.5 hours on a weekday.

I have LOTS of cool cactus pics to share with you all. And I will, but most likely not for a week or so until I'm back home and can spend some time resizing and uploading them. I am seriously behind on my SAB-ing so will get back into it as soon as I can. I will also be creating a mushroom thread to document the first 2 weeks of my trip when I spent much time in forests and had some great and exciting finds. Including a Boletus edulis, (porcini), on Vancouver island.

I'm in Scottsdale at the moment, (near Phoenix). And am heading down to Saguaro national park and probably one of either the Phoenix desert botanical gardens of the desert botanical gardens at Tucson. We shall see how early I get up and get on with the day as I have a bunch of dricing to get done to complete my mission.....

How's this for a pic from the kitchen window of the place I'm staying at? (excuse the overexposed pic - trust me, the view from the kitchen is amazing, multiple saguaros out each window, and every other window of the house!)

And the Cac-Stang has been treating me well. Thought I'd get one of these as all the Americans drive them, (and by that I mean all the tourists rent them....)