Flowers for the Allergic

I am allergic to flowers.  Isn’t that the worst thing you’ve ever heard?  It’s so sad, too, because I love them and I feel so special when someone sends them to me.  I can’t keep them in the same room as I am in for an extended period of time unless I want my throat to close, so I have been known to take a picture of a special bouquet, give the flowers to a colleague and just stare at the picture.  It’s the thought that counts, right?  I’ve even tried bamboo in hopes that it would not have an affect on my unfortunate sinuses, but the experiment failed approximately one and a half hours after it started…  Apparently, I am allergic to grass, too.  What’s a girl to do?! 

Being a proud Texan and always loving pictures of cacti + sunsets in the Texas desert, I thought maybe the cactus might be the plant for me.  (Credit where credit is due:  I got the idea originally from Amy’s cactus garden in sunny Calif…)  After unsuccessfully trying to steal the potted cactus off of my table at Nava in Buckhead one evening, Slick surprised me the following weekend and brought home FELIX. 

"Hi World - I'm FELIX!"

FELIX and I are a match-made-in-heaven and (drum roll please) he DOES NOT make me sneeze/ cough/ eyes water/ lungs fall out of my chest/ feel like I am dying, etc.  Hooray!

Here is how you can create a cactus garden of your own:

1 - Go to Pike Nursery: www.pikenursery.com  (The two I know of ITP are on Roswell Road and in the Toco Hills Shopping Center.)

2 – Ask someone who works there to point you in the direction of the cacti.  I avoid flower stores like the swine flu (fingers crossed), but Slick said the folks who work at Pike are super nice and happy to help – they don’t seem like 16 year-olds with summer jobs.  Apparently, Slick appreciated their patience when he said he wanted to buy a cactus that looks like this…and he threw up his hands in the air a few times…  Bless his heart.  They finally realized he was describing a “cartoon cactus.”

3 – Keep in mind that there aren’t a ton of cacti to choose from since Atlanta isn’t exactly the desert and many of them don’t grow here.  (Note: Cartoon cactus don’t grow in Georgia - only in Arizona and Walt Disney studios…)  The Pike employees will help you select a few special cacti and provide suggestions regarding mixing and matching. 

4 – Pick out a pot.  I love the one Slick picked – burnt orange, hello!  The Pike people are happy to pot your cactus for you.

5 – Check out.  Everything takes about 20 minutes tops.  Slick said he could have hung out all day and the guy who helped him wasn’t in a rush at all.  (Their employees must be trained with the Trader Joe’s staff.  They are just so darn friendly!)

I think a cactus garden makes a super fun gift because they are pretty cool, you can get creative designing them and they require virtually no commitment (only need to water it once every two weeks)!

Yay for FELIX!  (And to Slick, of course.  Thanks again!!)

xx, L