Cacti Places In Illinois

[CactusBoss]

This may seem like a dumb question but are there any places in Illinois(anywhere) that specialize in cacti?

[Christopher Howard]

You can look at plants at the Chicago Botanic Garden. They've got a good selection of cacti and other succulents. It's nice to look at plants in real life up close. Not really places that sell cacti though. I think they have a plant sale at the botanic garden some time in the year but I've never been to one. Maybe if I have surplus after my seeds grow up.

[Christopher Howard]

There's also the Garfield conservatory, but I've not been there so I don't know what it is like. Looks smaller than the Chicago Botanic Garden's collection from the pictures I've seen online.

[AKNicolle]

The Chicago Botanic Garden is definitely the best local place to go see cacti. They have a greenhouse full of them, with some stretching up to the ceiling. It's fun to visit even in the middle of Winter. Last time I went there (around September) I was pleased to see they've got a bunch of Lithops growing again. Definitely worth a visit now and then. I highly recommend the garden membership -- the whole place is fantastic.

If you're looking to buy cacti, there's a show and sale coming up next year (July 19-20) at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Members of the cacti society have their plants on display, and there's typically a huge selection available to purchase. In recent years I've noticed Home Depot has a decent selection, but I wish they'd stop glueing on the fake paper flowers. If you're in the NW suburbs, Platt Hill nursery and sometimes Pasquesi have some cool plants.

[Saxicola]

I also recommend the CBG as a great place to see C&S. For buying plants you will probably have to do mail order if you want the more unusual species. Alternately, there is a C&S society in Chicago and it is very likely you can buy or trade plants with people there.

I was a horticultural intern there one summer and the greenhouses were my favorite area to work. I distinctly remember the Agave americana coming into bloom while I was there and the inflorescence got so big they had to remove some of the glass panels to let it out. Thankfully it was summer, not winter! As a Californian it was hilarious for me to see all the writeups in the newspaper about the plant and the thousands of people that came to see it in bloom. Where I live it is a common landscape plant and seeing one in bloom is commonplace, but that experience let me understand that "exotic" and "common" are very much related to where you live.

[AKNicolle]

Speaking of mail order, I've had good luck with Tee Dee Cacti on eBay over the years. Always well-packed, fantastic variety of plants, and this time of year they ship with heat packs. I'm about to see how well those heat packs work

[Christopher Howard]

Andrew, they're real flowers, they just on the wrong plant. They're called strawflowers, Xerochrysum bracteatum. But they are totally distasteful glued on cacti.

Sax, it seems like every city with a cold-winter climate has a news story about their Agaves in bloom. And they always have to remove the panels. Funny to see the same story reported all over. The real excitement is in seeing if it will go to full bloom before the winter sets in.

[AKNicolle]

Got the Tee Dee Cacti order today. Great plants! I just hope they don't all turn to mush thanks to USPS taking 6 days to ship a 2-day priority package. I'm pretty sure the two heat packs didn't last the whole six days

Everything looks okay, so I'm hopeful they'll survive. In any case, with the current temperatures in Illinois, I'd say I'm done until Spring.

[Steve-o]

You can also check out the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, about 25 miles west of Chicago off of I-88. They have native species growing outside that are thriving. If you want to see them naturally, Illinois State Beach has a ton of Opuntia growing there. If you want to drive further out west, head out to Oregon, Illinois area, and visit the Nachusa Grasslands. In the SW corner of the park are a ton of Opuntia growing. Those are just a few areas that I can think of, but there are many places in IL to observe native cacti growing.