The plants are pointless - completely pointless.
That's precisely why you might want to buy one.
Such is the reasoning behind an upcoming Pointless Plant Sale at the Tucson Botanical Gardens.
It is not - as you probably have figured out by now - that the plants or the sale are somehow meaningless or irrelevant.
It is, rather, that they are free of sharp, skin-pricking points - as in needles, spines or thorns.
"Well, yes, the name is a play on words to grab your attention," said Michael Chamberland, director of horticulture at the gardens. "But there are actually quite a few desert plants that are not spiny, and we're building a sale around that."
The sale, set for Sept. 24 and 25, will feature more than a dozen vendors offering everything from needle-free cacti to bright-blooming, thornless, desert-dwelling succulents.
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WHY GO POINTLESS?
"Many people want a potted plant for their home or patio - but not something that will poke them on a regular basis," Chamberland said. "Also, if you have kids running around, you don't want them to get impaled on some spiny plant."
He said those are considerations that apply most often to houseplants and patio plants. So the sale will emphasize those varieties rather than landscape plants, which are usually placed in more open areas where sharp thorns and needles can be avoided.
SPINELESS SPECIES
Jocelyn Robertson, a spokeswoman for the Botanical Gardens, and Chamberland offered a sampler of plants that won't needle you:
• Totem pole cactus - This is a mutant form of the senita cactus, which is native to parts of Mexico and to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, in Southwestern Arizona.
"In its normal form, it has spines, but something has gone awry in the way the totem pole grows," Chamberland said. "The mutant produces a lumpy growth, like a typical cactus, but fails to produce spines."
Totem pole cacti can grow 8 or 10 feet tall. Chamberland said prices for totems at the sale will range from $10 or $15 for small plants to $20 or $30 for a 2-foot-tall specimen. Bigger ones can have a "pretty hefty price," Chamberland said.
• Adenium - Succulent plants with a big base and pretty pink flowers, adeniums are natives of desert regions, including Saudi Arabia.
Most of those at the sale will be hybrids and will range in price from $10 or $12 to about $50, depending on size.
• Living rock cacti - "These are true cacti - shaped a bit like a cactus, but spineless and very flat," Chamberland said. "I describe them as looking like a cow pie with a boot print on it."
If that appeals to your aesthetic sense, you might pick up a living rock cactus at the sale for $5 to $8, with higher prices for larger specimens.
Contact reporter Doug Kreutz at dkreutz@azstarnet.com or at 573-4192.
