EVERY now and again gardeners come across a prickly problem they just can’t get to grips with.

And so it is, big time, with Sue Bonny in her Cowes garden.

She has a pair of problem plants that she is desperately keen to find a good home for.

They have, quite simply, outgrown her ability to care for them.

Sue says she doesn’t want any money, but I am sure she would appreciate a small donation for her charity of choice from whoever is big and bold enough to come and collect.

Her late husband was a huge cacti fan and amassed a large collection.

Since his death, Sue managed to re-home most of the smaller species at Ventnor Botanic Garden, where they were gratefully received.

But the two largest remain with Sue — one is about 9ft tall and the other nearly double that!

“The very big one is amazing and in the last few days has flowered,” says Sue.

“The flowers are very large white trumpets, which only last for about 24 to 36 hours — opening in the evening with a queue of insects waiting to get inside.

“Both cacti are outside in the garden.

“They are immensely heavy, and also being tall will be difficult to move, which is probably why the botanic garden has been reluctant to take them,” she says.

“I would dearly like them to go to a good home, ideally intact.”

She says they are both in the pots they have been in for years and years, and do need bigger ones, which she can’t manage either.

Strong winds blow them over into her hedge, and she can’t get them out on her own.

“I bubble-wrap them in winter, and even with my giant ladder I can’t reach the top of the big one any more!”

Sue’s cacti are fine examples of the native Argentinian Trichocereus terschekii.

Trichocereus is the hardiest of the columnar growing cacti and is the most unlikely plant species you could ever find growing in an English garden.

It will tolerate winter temperature dips to -8C and will put up with moisture, as long as its roots are well-drained.

Once established, they will grow at a rate of over 1ft a year to a dizzying maximum of 50ft, or so.

And, like Sue’s, when mature, they will sprout side branches that are dead ringers for comic-book or spaghetti western backdrops.

l Anyone interested should e-mail me and I will pass details on to Sue. Best of British!