Spring Sprouts

A couple months ago when we took a small road trip, Anthony found some cactus growing along the side of the road. He insisted we take a couple clippings to see if they would grow at home.

So we packed them carefully in the cooler with wet paper towels to keep them fresh, which resulted in a lot of fine needle in both Anthony & my hands

(we spent hours in the hotel room removing them)

Once we returned home, I headed to the nursery to get advise on how to transplant cactus.
First they said make a fresh cut, next let the cut dry out...really? Dry out? Won't they die?
They said no, that cactus can live along time without water...
Once they stop oozing that slimy stuff, wet the cutting area and dip in growing hormone powder.
Then plant in a well draining cactus mix.

They said cactus take a long time to root, about 6 months.
But look...they are sprouting new growth! I don't know if they rooted or not, but I'm assuming so...

Because I had a hard time keeping them from falling over in their pots, I stuck toothpicks through the bottoms of them to help hold them up.

I wasn't sure if Anthony could be a good foster dad or not (busy college kid) so I kept one here (the ugly one) and sent the other one home with him.

(picture of Anthony's)

His is doing better than mine.

What a fun souvenir!