Hi Friends, unfortunately for me the holiday is now over... finally got my feet back on the ground, and back to reality after my much needed break.
Before we went away I promised some pics of the cacti at Christchurch Botanical gardens if we got to visit there.

The collection is not very large but contains some interesting specimens, and some specimens struggle a bit with the growing conditions.
The smaller plants were contained in a raised bed behind a glass barrier and were growing in their individual pots which in most cases were nicely hidden below the surface and among the rocks, some of these were sporting somewhat dubious names, but all in all not a bad display.

We also found a few Agave and Yucca growing in the grounds, I managed to get a few reasonable shots of some of these as well.

























Enjoy, CP

i like how they used this in the landscape, looks very snake like indeed

Thanks for the pics CP, and good to see you back. Anyone know what the one in the first pic is?

Would anyone like me to show the Brisbane Botanical Gardens - Mt Cotha collection? Or have you already seen it? Its not a good time for me (too hot and humid) to do it now, but when it cools down.

I think everyone here likes cacti photos, I'd love to see them

Thanks for sharing CP, love the 'snake'.

Emma pics would be gr8, we all like to see diff places and plants.

Oh its so good to be amongst people who know how to appreciate the mighty cactus!

Thanks friends, glad you enjoyed these.

Lachy, the name tag on the "snake" is Echinopsis thelegona.

Olga, when I fisrt saw the plant in the first pic, I didn't know what I was looking at, it loos like pachycereus marginatus, but the stem is much thicker than and specimen I've seen growing in a g/h collection... it could be a piece removed from an older plant and struck in situ or something I suppose... the plant was about 200mm(?) in dia, (just a guess since I couldn't get very close to it.



CP

Thanks CP, I haven't really seen anything like that. I'll have to look into them

Olga, I've been informed by an expert on another forum, that the plan in the first pic is most likely an arm from a mature specimen of Pachycereus pringlei... the apparently lose their spiny-ness when they mature! (That's something I didn't know).

Ah, they do amazing things don't they? I was wondering what one of my plants that I hadn't seen in a couple of years was, until I was reading online and discovered some barrel cactus become columnar with age, and realised it was my old echinopsis