If I were in danger of getting bigheaded about the standard of my plants, there is nothing like the Oxford Cactus Show for bringing me down to earth with a bump.  I entered eleven classes and was delighted when one plant was awarded a second prize and four received “highly commended”.  I have never seen such a collection of wonderful plants except at the National Show.  The Oxford Branch and the Mammillaria Society combined to stage the show.  It was for cacti only (no succulents) and as might be expected there were a large number of Mammillaria classes.  They had over 650 entries and most of those of a very high standard.  Some classes had as many as twenty entries and I certainly didn’t  envy the Judges their task.  Bill Keen judged the Mammillaria and when I saw him on his knees on the stage I wondered whether he was praying for guidance as to which plant should have the prize.  He claimed that he was just taking a closer look at the plants!  Even in a show of this quality Doug Willis still received a number of first prizes.  His big Astrophytum, although it far more competition than it did at our show, was still head and shoulders above the others in the class.

    I have still been busy with the watering can this month, and as might be expected with everything growing so well, I have spent quite a bit of time moving plants to bigger pots.  I wonder why it is that garden centres seem to have stopped stocking “half pots”.  So many plants spread out but don’t need the depth of full pots. My old “half pots” have been washed and reused so many times that they are becoming thin and brittle.

    Many Astrophytum and some of the really beautifully flowered Mammillarias are full of flower at the moment.  The yellow flowers of Lithops pseudotruncatella and gracilidelineata have started to appear. They are always the first to start the Lithops flowering season and optica rubra finishes it near Christmas time.   It has been quite a battle to protect the Lithops from the heat this year.  Many look tired and wrinkled at the end of a very hot day but only a few have actually scorched.  With a bit of luck we should now be finished with heat waves for this year!!!!