RIVENROCK GARDENS
CACTUS AND GARDEN LINKS PAGE
This page is intended to help reference horticultural information on cacti.
For all the links in the whole wide world (almost) on cactus you cannot do any better
than The cactus and
succulent plant mall a compendium of nearly every related resource available.
The Cactus Museum
has a whole lot of links to all kinds of cactus information.
And for a lot of links to organic food sources, including organic minded restaurants,
farms and a whole lot more go to Organic
Kitchen
Stone Cactus
is a company specializing in making cut-stone garden sculpture of
cactus. Very interesting look to these 'never-say-die" cacti, a must for every cactus
garden.
BOTANICAL GARDENS ON-LINE
One of the largest botanical gardens in the world is right here in California, just 12
miles from downtown Los Angeles the Huntington
Botanical Garden has over 100 acres of gardens. It has examples of garden styles from
all over the world, Japanese Tea gardens, Zen Gardens, fancy French things and a renowned
art museum. Of course my favorite is the twelve acre cactus garden.
The Ruth Bancroft Garden
in walnut creek California is a really fine example of what a person can do in their own
garden. The web site is very informative and full of thumbnail photos that can be easily
accessed to view full sized. Lots of them! Definitely a must see, both on-line and in
person.
The Boyce Thompson Arboretum is
a splendid desert botanical garden The Boyce Thompson is located North East of Tucson. It
is just West of Superior AZ and East of Phoenix Arizona. The web site is fun too.
If you are ever in the area of Mesa AZ, come by the Brinton Desert Botanical Garden at
the Park of the Canals in Mesa. The garden is the largest free botanical garden in the
state and has over 150 species of cacti and desert plants. The park of the canals
preserves about 4,500 feet of ancient Ho Ho Kam irrigation canals and three ruins.
Unfortunately, the canals in the park are the largest and last remaining canals, as
"progress" has destroyed most of the remaining canals.
GENERAL GARDENING LINKS
ANI Direct Seeds of Bath England has a wide selection of
cactus and other seeds. The link
will take you to their cactus seeds section. From there you can also access various seeds
such as rose, acacia and stir-fry vegetable seeds.
Indiana Bio-lab
is a site of interest to students and adults who wish to research specific areas of
scientific research. Hundreds of pages on this site about such diverse projects as plant
breeding, bacteria projects, fish farming, and the neat 'Farms Around the World web site.
Here is a company that specializes in tree seeds that can survive in the cold climate
of much of North America, go to The
Angelgrove Tree Seed Company.
Guia Verde is a very
well done site in Spanish and English that has it's links split into four categories,
commercial ventures, software, associations, etc. I found this to be a fun site to visit,
and saw some of my old friends listed too.
Tao Herb Farm
sells not only herbs but also has some really interesting software to help
home gardeners plan their landscapes, and some for small landscape and nursery businesses
also. 
Topline Whsle Dist Co
- Worms, vermicomposting, worm equipment, worm supplies,
worm books and lots of worm information.
Now these folks do have a really full site with general information on gardening. This
site is new, and just growing, I am sure with time The Garden Net will have
even more information, and lots of links.
RECIPES AND PREPARATION
Gourmet Sleuth
is a great site that has lots of links to recipes, cooking tips,
culinary products, and food resources. They have an emphasis on Mexican cooking, and
California produce. A great site indeed!
Visit Chef2Chef.net Today! A Chef's
Practical Guide to Practically Everything.
If you want a very original recipe for nopales this is it! Nopales Rellanos, umm
yummy. Go to Mexico-HOT!
This page is from an online magazine that is intended to spread information. I have
linked to their page on Opuntia, it has recipes and details on how to prepare the pads and
fruit. Please check out Desert USA
They also have another page that has some good nutritional characteristics of the nopales,
and some fine recipes too. For this info go to Desert USA
recipes
OPUNTIA AND DESERT AND CACTI LINKS
Neal's The Giant Agave
site. A well compiled listing of Agave by a rabid enthusiast. If you need Agave info, this
is one of the best sites to go to.
An interesting web resource for cacti nurseries is at Cactus and
Succulents. They give an easy-to-understand rating system as to price and quality.
Neal's Bees in
Cactus Flowers pages. This set of photos is stunning! Incredible close-ups of bees
collecting nectar and pollen in Opuntia and other cactus blooms. This is a page worth
visiting for the artistry and beauty.
Valentino Vallicelli of Italy has made an impressive website to showcase his cactus
business which is called Cactus Art
Nursery. This site is especially recommended for the section dealing with grafting
rare cactus onto Opuntia stock.
Jan's Agave
pages are the largest set of pages dealing with this most interesting and hardy of
succulents.
From the hills of Tennessee comes a nursery with an excellent reputation for high
quality plants delivered with Southern hospitality. Visit Old Man Cactus for a look
at the wide selection available.
If you have questions about cactus and succulents you can post them to The Cactus and Succulent
Forum, this site is fun to surf around looking at the questions people posted, and the
answers others had.
This fellow is a good storyteller, and he has a fun site to visit, look at Arizona Cactus Research to have
great fun. Arizona Cactus Research has a botanical garden that is well packed with good
examples of cactus that live well in the desert regions of Arizona. They take in samples
of plants and grow them for some years under conditions of absolutely no watering or
fertilizing, if they live and prosper they get put on the list of plants that will grow
well under Arizona conditions. They offer free guided tours of their gardens to school and
other groups. They also have one of the largest reference libraries of cactus and desert
research in the world.
Native Opuntia cultivars of Mexico is a scholarly dissertation on the
search for Opuntia cultivars in Mexico by a multi-national research team. They identify
several factors in Opuntia research, this is definitely worth a look.
This site is from the University of Hamburg, it is not very big on text, but it has a
very nice photo of a cactus farm in Mexico. It is a sight to see cactus plantings
stretching across acres.
Opuntia
This page is from the University of Arizona, it details the technical terms of arid
lands, both in terms of environmental conditions and in how to manage the soils. Very
interesting site for the technical minded, yet made easy to understand for the beginner in
soil science
Arid Soils
The new crop index from the University of Purdue is a really thorough overview of
crops that could have greater impact upon the world as they become more well known.
Go to New Crop index I start at the Opuntia section, but the whole site is
worth looking at for other interesting crops.
GENERAL GARDENING AND HORTICULTURAL INFORMATION LINKS
Garden & Outdoor Lighting
- Online sales of garden and outdoor lighting. View
a vast selection of sculptures by leading uk sculptors also on display at their London
showroom.
This is one of the best compiled, informative sites dealing with insects and their
control. The Winnipeg
Bugline will inform you, and give you lots of fun time exploring the world of insects.
The California Certified Organic Farmers is the organic certifying agency we belong
to, visit their site at CCOF
for info on member farmers, crops available and organic standards as well as progress on
the new organic laws in the USA.
The internet is a great way to get information, this is one heck of a way to get great
info on insect pests of plants. Insect pests slide show Very definitely the site to visit when
researching insect pests.
Now if you want an entertaining and informative site with lots of information on
earthworms, composting and cats, well then you really MUST go to Susa's Farm for Homeless
Worms and Cats yes folks, this lady has combined two passions of ours, and made a
delightful read! And there's a really cool photo of a '55 Chevy Truck.
General Merchandise Links to Companies I like
OK, sometimes a body's gotta dig into those spiny plants to trim leaves and tidy up to
please the 'Little Lady'. But what with getting all scratched up, and even rashes when
pruning agaves, I gave up on neat trimming jobs and reverted to a long handled pruning
tool to cut leaves. But now I have come upon a long handled box knife that works with
surgical precision while allowing me a safe working distance from all but the most massive
plants. You also can see this knife at PIPEKNIFE.com.
Wow! Finally a landscape design software package that combines all the ingredients of
the very expensive programs for a very low price. With the Garden Composer you can see a
top view of your area, draw borders, boundaries, driveways and paths, buildings, planting
areas. You can place lamps and lights and see how they look in the special 'night
view'.When placing plants, lights, fenceposts etc. you can vary the heights, spacing,
widths etc. View it at different seasons, consult the plant care section and it will print
a listing of the seasonal and monthly care needed for the plants you selected. This is one
very nice web site also, it explains in very simple ways the many uses of the software. I
can't wait to install my own version.
Now these folks have just impressed me no end with their commitment to customer
service and backing of a superior product as well as their excellent product guarantee.
The company I am talking about is The
Loadhandler Company I am impressed with their product which I use nearly EVERY day.
Each time I use it it saves me maybe ten minutes time, multiplied by the three hundred
times I have used it in the last two years and we have a fairly substantial time savings.
But what really impressed me is the fact that these folks keep engineering their products
out to improve them, they have recently released a new handle which clears the bumper of
my truck better, and a new 'unravel resistant' dragsheet. If you haul stuff a lot in your
pick-up, this is a worthwhile product to have!
There are more and more people interested in organic nowadays. Organic Authority.Com is a really
informative website that has articles on organic, links to organic companies and much
relevant information. Worth a visit, and bookmarking for regular visits.
If you are in need of some fine graphics work done, WebPages building, or artwork for
a record label or some other industrial use, go ahead and get in touch with my nephew
Jason at Jason's
Professional Graphics He does really fine work and has a mind that goes beyond the
merely 'normal' to transcend reality and attain an outer-worldly aspect from out of the
ordinary.
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