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| - It seemed like a good idea to stop by Cactus Joe's while in Las Vegas. Living in the Bay Area, and being an avid cactus and succulent gardener, it's always nice to check out what nurseries have in desert communities to find less-common plants. Cactus Joe's does in fact have a decent selection of cactus and succulents, with their main specialty being legally grown/harvested yuccas and Joshua Trees. They also have a large selection of rocks, large and small alike. The problem is that their prices are simple ridiculous. Even in the Bay Area, where cacti and agave are grown far from the desert and must by trucked in to local nurseries, I can still buy the same items for half the price. It's a bit insulting to those of us that know the value of these items, and the retail margins nurseries have to work with. Even the rocks at $5 per pound were ridiculously overpriced, since the average smaller garden rock would cost $50.00.
Of course, customers can always leave without buying a thing if they don't like the prices, which is exactly what I did. That why I could say if they even take credit cards. Now to be fair, the three members of their staff I encountered were very nice and readily answered questions in an engaging way. It seems that this is a family business that doesn't need to make too many sales to stay afloat, otherwise they they'd be a bit more competitive with their pricing. Ultimately, I went to another nursery that won't name here and found a few things I liked and hadn't seen offered in the Bay Area. They were reasonably priced and I bought them to bring home.
Going to Cactus Joe's is a bit of a drive outside the City, but that would be worth it to buy reasonably priced plants or even to see unique items. Neither of these objectives were accomplished in our case, and it certainly wasn't worth the drive. Now if you want to buy a Joshua Tree, you'll find them here, and they are Nevada State tagged to establish legal possession. Plan on spending $250.00 for the smallest plant, to well over $1,000.00 for only a 4-5 foot specimen.
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