Cactus Rescue

                                                What's in the box ?
Well the day took a funny turn ....I felt better...but my poor husband developed a nasty abscess on one of his teeth .... so we had to cancel going to the Christingle service at St Grada church and go to the Helston Cottage Hospital instead  ..anyway to cut a long story short ..the abscess  burst and he is feeling a bit better now .
      Not long after we got  home my good friend came round to see how I was and to give me her beautiful Christingle orange and to tell me how the service went ..I hope I can go next year ..it sounds really lovely !
 Anyway , earlier this morning at our church , she had given my husband this huge cactus , which had once belonged to a dear ol' green-fingered friend of hers who had recently passed away .
 The greenhouse was to be dismantled and another friend , Doug , rescued it ...worrying about it being left outside in the cold wind and rain ..but he was worried about the condition it was in...well she told him that I might know  and took it and gave it to my husband who gave it to me when he got home from the morning service at our church . hmmm....it was very loose and wobbly , which is why we put it into this cardboard box , to prevent it from falling out of the pot , while it was in the back of the car ...you see it was at that moment that we had to dash off to the hospital ! 
             Are you still with me ? lol !

So this evening I decided that I,d get it out of the box and see what needs to be done .

I love cacti and have quite a collection both up in the greenhouse and on every windowsill in the cottage .  I try to remember what they all are and keep them properly labelled .

 I am not sure what this cactus is and would be really grateful  if anyone could identify it for me .
 I was told that it flowered regularly every year..but I should have asked..and will ask my friend if she knows what colour the flowers are ?

 Some of the roots have come away, but I think there is still enough of the root system to keep it alive  .

                                             What do you think ?

How old would you think it is ? I,m guessing about twenty-five years or maybe more .

 I have put it temporarily into this nice new terracotta pot and put back into it the soil that it was planted with in the old pot .
 The earth had a delicious sweet patchouli like scent ..mmm.....it's good earth !
  I will go to the garden centre tomorrow and pick up a bag of cactus compost to fill it up a little more mixed with horticultural grit and top it off with a nice thick layer of more horticultural grit  for drainage and also to steady it a little while it recovers and puts down new roots . 
 I wont water it until the spring , there will be just the slight moisture that will be in the new cactus compost , but that's all .
  So it's an emergency dash to the Trevena Cross Nursery Breage tomorrow ..that's my excuse anyway ! :) (....unless we have to dash to the dentist that is !)