Verne grew out a big batch of Julio’s IcarosDNA seeds and was very pleased with them. He called them Wild Andes. The first years they grew he sold chunky potted seedlings and several times I stayed up late into the night watching eBay to buy as many as possible. Verne’s auctions always ended in the middle of the night - later I learned that he operated on a very shifted schedule staying up through the night and attempting to sleep through the hottest parts of the day. Eventually Verne stopped selling the seedlings and planted his remaining Wild Andes seedlings at his Escalon ranch. As they grew out he sold hundreds of cuttings from these plants. After his death in 2022 most of Verne's cactuses were spread to several new homes around California with the largest batch brought to the Cactus Affinity nursery. The cuttings on this page come from a single Wild Andes seedling I purchased from Verne on eBay. This particular clone has some tendency to produce columns with an odd tilt near the tips. The seeds provided by IcarosDNA have produced such awesome cactus plants as Althea. Seeds from this same location are also known as Los Gentiles.
