As Rina said. It's something that haunts us all but according to the sellers, it sells plants. So the only way to stop it is to educate people so they are deterred from such buys. I've bought a cactus with a fake flower just because I couldn't find the species without it. I wish I could have purchased without but I'm impatient and couldn't resist.

I will say the flowers aren't quite as bad as the painting, but still kind of sickening especially when trying to remove it gently.

I agree with post above. It bugs me too, but you have to understand that plant enthusiasts are a small subset of the population. Most people are oblivious to things we appreciate.

I was just looking at a real estate listing of a southwest home, desert in New Mexico. I was thinking this home would be ideal for a stunning cactus garden. I look at some of their exterior shots, and it's hard to know for sure, but it looks like they've actually planted a ton of painted purple and orange cactus in their yard. Sad, but true.

Nice, thanks rina for that quote. I didn't know sellers felt that way! that somehow..soothes me heart a little.

Hi all,

While we're purposefully doing our artificially colored Desert Gems, the glued flowers aren't really a choice as it's a requirement from certain retailers. Buying the dried flowers and then attaching them to the plants adds cost and complexity for us growers --- and is not necessarily something we want to be doing. But we have to make our retailers happy if we want to keep their business and stay in business ourselves.

---Justin, Costa Farms