Latest news with #cacti
ABC News
5 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Kim and April Hamilton
We meet cacti lovers Kim and April Hamilton, and visit their specialist nursery about 50km west of Sydney. Kim runs the nursery, helped by her mother April, who has officially retired. The family business was started by April and her husband Kevin in the backyard of their suburban home in 1973. Their collection – and number of greenhouses – kept growing so they kept moving. When Kevin passed away, he and April had been married for 57 years. Kim still has plants that Kevin grew from seed, a few of them in the genus Copiapoa , which are native to the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. Cacti have spines and succulents have thorns, but both are used to catch precious water in dry environments, and as protection against being eaten. 'If you love them, you don't mind getting spines in your fingers,' says April. 'If you hate them, that's the one thing you hate the most.' Both cacti and succulents like a lot of light but it doesn't have to be full sun; protection from late afternoon sun is needed for some. Some cacti have hair because they grow at altitude, and they can be covered in snow over winter. Other have hair to insulate them from the heat. Lithops or living stones are succulents that grow among other rocks in their natural environment. When it's hot they pull themselves down into the ground. April shows how to remove a seed pod from a Lithops that has flowered; in nature the rain hits the seed pod and washes the seed out. To simulate that effect, April drops the seed pod into some water; you may get up to 100 tiny seeds from each flower. 'Kevin wouldn't sow seeds on a windy day because half of it would end up in Penrith!' April transfers the seed to a paper plate to dry. When the seeds are dry enough to separate out, she sprinkles them onto a punnet filled with free-draining mix of coarse sand and waters them lightly. 'Within a week to a month we'll have some little babies popping up.' Kim can still remember her first cactus that she got at 7 years old – an Astrophytum myriostigma that she still has. 'It's had a hard life – it's 50 years old,' she says. 'I wouldn't put it in a show – except maybe as ugliest survivor! but it still flowers for me.' Kim is a qualified judge for the Royal Horticultural Society of NSW and does a lot of work with the cactus society. While she loves the plants, Kim says it's the lifelong friends she's made in the cacti world that mean the most to her. One such friend is Ian Hay, who used to drive up from Canberra for the NSW cactus shows 'and scoop all the prizes'! Now he lives in Woolloomooloo but has no room for his plants there, so he stores them at the Hamiltons' nursery. 'I've always collected the most colourful plants that I can get,' he says, 'and I collect every genus I can get my hands on.' Copiapoa cv. LIVING STONES Lithops sp. BISHOP'S CAP CACTUS Astrophytum myriostigma Filmed on Dharawal Country | Illawarra Region, NSW Useful Links Cacti and Succulents
The Guardian
12-08-2025
- The Guardian
Brisbane woman sentenced to prison for importing illegal cacti and plants in fake lingerie packages
A Queensland woman caught importing illegal cacti and other plants in packages purporting to contain lingerie and shoes has been sentenced to six months in prison. Kirsten Mae Fearn pleaded guilty to 14 biosecurity charges at Brisbane magistrates court in July after she repeatedly imported illegal plants to sell online. Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry officers discovered the scheme after packages arrived in Sydney via air cargo from Hong Kong between February 2021 and March 2024. Sign up: AU Breaking News email The packages were declared to contain lingerie and shoes but when they were opened, biosecurity officers found 57 cacti and succulents. Investigators then found another 50 illegal succulents at Fearn's Brisbane home nursery. The deputy secretary of Biosecurity, Operations and Compliance, Justine Saunders, said Fearn was repeatedly warned about the behaviour but she continued the illegal activity. 'The department elected to deal with this via criminal prosecution because of the seriousness of the matter,' Saunders said. 'Our biosecurity laws are vital to the health of Australia's economy and environment. 'Those who risk Australia's environment by deliberately trying to bypass our strict requirements will be caught and face the consequences.' During court proceedings, Fearn admitted to the ongoing illegal false declarations and importation of the plants, which she intended to sell online through her business. She faced a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail and a $600,000 fine. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion After pleading guilty on 25 July, Fearn was sentenced to six months' imprisonment but she was released immediately on a recognisance release order, meaning she was required to agree to certain court conditions. Saunders said this should serve as a warning to others who import biosecurity threats. 'Australia has an enviable biosecurity record,' she said. 'We protect this through education and targeted regulation. We all need to play our part in keeping Australia safe.'
Washington Post
13-05-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
Yes, you can kill succulents. Here's how to avoid that sad fate.
It's easy to love succulents. They're decorative, compact, inexpensive and readily available. But it's their reputation for being low-maintenance that makes people want to bring home one or three — or a dozen. While it's true that they aren't demanding plants, succulents, which include cacti, do have very specific needs in terms of soil, water and light. And when those needs aren't met, the plant suffers. Then, in an effort to correct the problems, owners often just end up making things worse, or even killing the plant.
