50,000 spines.

That is probably the number in my modest cacti collection. The photo shows about half of it standing on a sandbed in the greenhouse. The other half is on shelving along the opposite side. The small ones at the front are ones that I have grown from seed.

I find the great variety of shape and form fascinating. It is also good that you can go away on holiday (not this year) for three weeks and they will come to no harm.
About a quarter of the will flower with beautiful blooms which will no doubt get blipped. But many will never reach flowering size and for others I will not be able to reproduce the climate conditions of the Arizona desert or the Andes mountains.

One of my blipper friends will not come any nearer than 2 metres to them. Apparently her sister sat on one when she was a child. No doubt she will have quickly moved on before getting to this bit.