I can’t believe we’re just now sharing this gem with you all. Kat, our first legitimate Collective team member and previous manager at The NAT (we’ll get around to an introductions post soon), and I are huge fans! You could call us plant ladies but that’s only semi-accurate. While we both enjoy a good garden or a blooming geranium, we’re lovers of all things cactus. We venture out to Chaparral every year for another plant or two, or three or four, and constantly find ourselves chatting about their progress from one year to the next.

What makes Chaparral different from most greenhouses is that they specialize in succulents and cacti only. They propagate almost everything they sell from their own plants which I find fascinating. If it’s in a terracotta pot, it’s not for sale. They are the ones making all the other baby plants possible. I also love how insanely helpful and knowledgeable the couple who owns the business is. I always wondered how to get a cactus to bloom over and over again. Turns out I was using the wrong fertilizer. They prefer a more acidic soil so tomato fertilizer works great. I often turn to them if one of my plants seems to be struggling, and nine times out of ten, they have an answer.

They’re located a bit outside of town so allow yourself some time to get to and from the farm along with a good amount of time to ooo and ahhh over it all.