Serious cactus collector = seriously large greenhouse

In my recent post about my friend Theresa's garden—remember her incredible Southwest-inspired home?—I mentioned that she and her son, a serious succulent collector in his own right, have several greenhouses. The smallest of them can be seen reflected in the pool:

Theresa's smallest greenhouse reflected in the pool

This is Theresa's greenhouse. It may be the smallest of the three, but it's chock full of wonderful plants, mostly cacti:

Mostly Astrophytum

A special form of Astrophytum myriostigma

Flowering Astrophytum myriostigma

Astrophytum asterias (front) and A. myriostigma (back)

Ortegocactus macdougallii, the only species in this monotypic Mexican genus

Rebutia rauschii

Euphorbia cylindrifolia (best guess)

Aloe parvula

Echinocactus polycephalus

Ariocarpus retusus ssp. furfuraceus

Ariocarpus retusus

Ariocarpus fissuratus

Ariocarpus fissuratus

Ariocarpus kotschubeyanus

Tephrocactus geometricus

Coryphantha pallida ssp. calipensis

Aloe 'Sawbones' (a Karen Zimmerman hybrid released by the Huntington)

The two other greenhouses are on the back forty of the property. There are much larger than the poolside greenhouse and contain Theresa's son's extensive collection of cacti and other succulents. He's not only a serious collector, but also an active propagator and seller (he operates an Etsy shop under the name RadiantCactus).

With a few exceptions (Ferocactus, mostly), cacti aren't my area of expertise. That means I can recognize the most common cacti, but not much more. As I was walking through the greenhouse aisles,  I found it easy to appreciate the intricate details of the hundreds (thousands?) of specimens, but I couldn't have identified more than 10% of them. Fortunately, many had tags.

Copiapoa cinerea

Nice selection of Copiapoa

Lithops community pot

Copiapoa hypogaea var. barquitensis

Copiapoa monteamarguensis

Agave victoriae-reginae 'White Rhino', large and beautiful

Melocactus sp.

Crested Myrtillocactus geometrizans

Parodia sp.

Boojum tree (Fouquieria columnaris)

Rebutia sp.

Echinocactus polycephalus

Conophytum community pot

Aloe castilloniae

Ariocarpus sp.

Astrophytum caput-medusae, my new plant crush because it's so weird-looking. The flowers are truly beautiful.

Echinocactus horizonthalonius

Two Ledebouria species that grow much larger than the common Ledebouria socialis

Conophytum danielii

A variety of Ariocarpus.

Crassula tecta

Tall and narrow tree pots to accommodate the long tap root of some cactus species

Flowering Copiapoa sp.

Grafted Ortegocactus macdougallii....

...the only species in this genus from Oaxaca, Mexico

Turbinicarpus subterraneus

Weird flower of Ceropegia armandii, an equally weird succulent perennial from Madagascar

These greenhouses, and the plants they house, are truly impressive, even intimidating. Caring for such a large collection is serious work. I'm not just talking about watering, not a trivial undertaking in and of itself, but also keeping the plants healthy and pest-free. It's a labor of love that requires dedication and discipline. This is a big-league stuff—far above the amateurish dabbling I engage in.

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