Cereus Tetragonus, a native of the Americas, is also known by the infinitely more whimsical name, The Fairy Castle Cactus. This name is born from the look and position of the vertical stems she boasts; imaginary spires and turrets rise, with tiny, ineffective serrations lining her structure’s edges.

As a succulent she seems to do well left to her own devices, however given the direction of her growth, she tells me she is hungry for light and I have relocated her to a southernly position, away from the rest of the plants and nearer the sun. Excessive moisture, I suspect, has contributed to the brown spots growing on her base and along her ridges. I worry that a surgical procedure is necessary, but am reserving the “scalpel” until there are no more options as I suspect that a fungal element may be the culprit and chemicals + new soil will return her back to a proper green.

Although her bloom is said to be rare, I hold out hope that an explosion of beauty will accompany the arrival of Spring. For now, I am contented to monitor her remarkably fast growth, as evidenced by the white tips which extend the length of each stem.