I MIGHT have a magic touch with outdoor plants, shrubs and trees (blowing my own trumpet there), but when it comes to anything that needs to be grown indoors, well, to put it bluntly, I am a complete failure.

I do try, but it is very rare that houseplants last more than a year with me.

I think I must assume that if the outdoor variety can do most of the work themselves, then why can't the indoor ones? It is not conscious, premeditated murder, I simply forget to water and feed them.

One minute they are fine, and the next they have shrivelled up and died of thirst.

I have one houseplant that seems to survive. It is an African violet that was propagated from one that I gave my mum as a Mothers' Day present about 20 years ago.

She still has the original, along with a massive, jungle-like covering of plants on every shelf, table and spare inch of carpet.

She even has them hanging from baskets in a dead space above the stairs. Now, how does she keep those alive? This year, I even resorted to artistic representations of flowers, and made some out of wire and tinfoil.

They are modern and contemporary, need minimal maintenance, don't attract aphids, and best of all, they have not died on me.

There is one type of plant though that I seem to be able to keep going longer than others. These are cacti.

Cacti don't just have to be the spiky, barrel shaped ones, that sometimes throw out rude looking appendages.

They belong to the succulent family, which come in a variety of unique shapes, sizes, textures and colours.

Some have plump, smooth surfaces, while others have colourful spines or even a covering of hair. Many have flowers, either fleetingly brief, or lengthy, prolific blooms.

Many are native to the desert regions of the world, where rainfall is low and intermittent, and the temperatures can range from sub zero to egg-frying hot in just one day.

Others though, and these are usually the ones with the most beautiful flowers, originate in the humid rain and cloud forests of central America.

Cacti survive in such extremes of temperature as a result of adaptations they have evolved over millions of years.

Reduced leaf size conserves moisture as it reduces the rate of transpiration.

Most importantly of all, though, is the presence of water-storing fleshy tissue in the stems, leaves and roots.

It is these that allow succulent plants to withstand long periods of drought. Succulents can be divided into three groups, depending on which part of the plant acts as the water-storing organ.

Cacti are stem succulents, as the water is stored in the distorted stems. They also have areoles, which are the cushionlike growths from which the spines grow. Plants like the aloe belong to the leafy succulents. Others have swollen rootstock.

A protected and controlled environment, such as a greenhouse, conservatory or warm sitting room window, provides the ideal conditions for most cacti.

The adaptations that the plants have made for surviving the deserts has made them well suited to coping with our centrally heated homes.

They need high light levels, warmth and good ventilation.

They prefer an aerated, poor soil, such as gravel, sand and a handful of compost.

It is their moisture requirements that appeal to me most though.

They need minimal watering, and that is why I like them. I can plonk them on a windowsill and simply forget about them.

They will not just suddenly keel over and die (they do, at least, give you some indication that they are getting 'thin'), like most of my previous indoor inhabitants.

Published: 18/10/2003