A CACTUS THEATRE

Put in the words, "cactus theatre' on Google and you may come up with a restaurant or two and the odd theater. Put in the words Auricula Theatre on Google and up will pop photographs of hundreds of examples of Auricula theatres. In its basic form it would be a bookshelf-like structure mounted on the wall displaying potted auriculas, Primula auricula.
It is one of the stands always seen at the Chelsea Flower Show where, WS Lockyer, wearing his bowler hat, has exhibited his auriculas in theatrical fashion, year after year, taking home many gold medals.

Auriculas, although cold hardy, cannot tolerate excessive heat or moisture. They are the alpine cousins of primroses. Clearly they will never grow in Texas. But after seeing an example of a dwarf hosta theatre at Holehird Gardens this summer ( another plant that won't do well in this part of Texas) I came up with the idea of a Cactus Theatre, and I had just the place for one. The entry way to our front garden.

For several year there has been a hayrack planter on this wall but it really was too small and I had never really had a successful planting of anything. The closest I came was with grandfather's pipe, Callisia fragrans, but that was just a one-off year and the next year when I tried to do the same thing it looked awful. The area is partly shaded by some high beams and the wall protected from the westerly sun. It is the perfect place for cactus and succulents, offering them a little shade but plenty of light.
David and I discussed design, modeling it on the one we had seen at Holehird only changing the overall dimensions to suit our area. We purchased the wood and pots and David did the cutting and assembling. I stained it with the stain we used on the side entry steps, which we already had. The total cost for the project, including pots was under $35. I think it will be a lots easier to take care of.

Many of the plants are ones I had on hand and are succulents. But this weekend is the Austin Cactus and Succulent Show and Sale so I may come home with some special plants for my Cactus Theatre. The cactus below I bought at the Wildflower center sale last year. It is a slow grower not having grown more than a few millimeters in over a year.

Button cactus, Epithelantha micromeris

This was the second of two projects completed this week. The first were several very simple bee houses cut from rounds of oak logs. Drilled to create nesting holes and hung on the wall in the English garden.

Maybe now the bees will stop filling the holes in my umbrella.