Handling cacti requires care....

With a twelve year old granddaughter, you have an arbiter of taste. What's hot and what's not. From pink flamingos to gilded pineapples (not so much the pineapples, Grandma) to cacti. Yes, definitely cacti. So on her recent birthday, I thought I was doing quite well with cacti wrapping-paper. Indeed, smugly satisfied with my homage to current style. But not so, my Dearest. He has to go one better. In fact, he has to go six better. He orders six of the real deal through Amazon. Late for her birthday, but, he told me, they are in short supply. (Proof of current craze, obviously.)
Now I have some idea of what Izzy will constitute as a stylish addition to her already busy window sill. I am thinking something like:


Instead of which, Husband-who-thinks-cacti orders this. They finally arrived last week:




I was appalled. Why on earth did they have those ridiculous everlasting flowers stuck in them? Hid-e-ous...
"Jolly, aren't they?"says colour-blind husband.
"They might look better without the cling film... And after I have removed those ghastly little flowers."(God, I sound churlish Even to myself.)

Come closer. That de-flowering involved a lot of painful little pricks. Cacti are vicious buggers, it turns out.
But they look a hell of a sight better now. And actually, quite cute.

Ok. So I retained the little orange pompoms....The white hairy ones are obviously the grandparents...