Grandmamma cactus: Watercolor Drawing for Cactus Monday

Euphorbia Ingens Cactus Watercolor pencils, watercolor crayons,
Micron, ZIG, and Pitt Pens June 22, 2009

Lewis mother, Anna Butler, gave us her potted cactus many years ago. She cultivated it from a plant that belonged to her father, Dr. William Barton Dalton, the town doctor in Gordonsville, TN. We think the root base of our cactus could be as much as 70 years old.

The photo below of the small cactus was taken in 2002 when it would still fit on the kitchen counter. The photo of the cactus in the yard next to the office cottage was taken in June 2009. In those seven years it has grown about 4 feet. In our search of the Internet we think it is the variety Euphorbia ingens.

Grandmamma cactus last week in 2009


Grandmamma cactus was taken in 2002


Closeup view Euphorbia Ingens Cactus June 2009

Every winter we move this monstrous plant into the cottage office where Lew faithfully waters it sparingly through the cold months. Then on wheels it is rolled out into the garden. It has gotten very woody over the years but keeps on growing and growing. In the spring it breaks out into these frilly little leaf-like structures all over. Then it seams the thorns break out where these pretty little leaves were. Not sure about how that process works. We have it propped up with stakes and weighted down with rocks because in our high-wind storms it has fallen over a few times. Getting a 5-foot tall cactus with what seems like a ton of dirt and a bunch of rocks upright again is no simple matter while avoiding those thorns. Sometimes it just does not seem grateful for all our attention!