Maranta:I can imagine. Ferns aren't as pblaoemrtic for me, because there aren't that many that are usually cultivated indoors, but I've no doubt it's tough outdoors, where you are.Daiv Freeman:Is there more than one kind of monstrose Cereus peruvianus? 'Cause the "Lemaireocereus" doesn't look at all like the ones I know (no multiple growing tips, spines much longer than I'm accustomed to). After looking up the Browningia hertlingiana, and especially after seeing (but also ) at davesgarden.com, I'm inclined to go with Browningia: it's not unheard of for the supplier in question to have sent stuff that was a little out of the ordinary, particularly in assortments like I'm guessing this probably was. Also a lot of the details match up (swellings around the areoles, swelling more prominent at the top of the plant than the bottom, spines both light and dark in no particular pattern from the same areole, spines both long and short from the same areole, bluish color of stem, the little straight-line indentation between areoles, etc.). Some of those would also work for a C. peruvianus, but a lot of them wouldn't. If it is a Browningia, and they still have it, should I buy it?I'm a little baffled by the suggestions for NOID #2: Mammillaria spinosissima 'Un Pico' has the right coloration, but all the pictures I found showed one spine per areole, not four, including the ones at CG. M. polythele seems more likely, but I'm not convinced. It might be that the plant in question has been mistreated, but it's not hugely likely: all the plants in the post were fresh off the delivery truck as of either early September or early November.Is Mammillaria winterae out of the question? I see at davesgarden.com (as well as at cactiguide.com) has four spines per areole, and although it's not uniform across the plant, there are sections that have the three-short, one-long arrangement as my NOID. Greensparrow:I definitely did that with orchids, too, when I started working in the greenhouse. But then, with orchids, it's pretty nearly impossible to tell what you've got without a bloom. Fortunately, they were almost always tagged. But I remember making a sort of point of not getting any more involved with them than just admiring the flowers. Orchids look like they would be a really expensive addiction to have.