My name is Mariusz or Mario as my international friends call me. I live in Poland, a big and beautiful country in the very centre of Europe. Here in Poland we have everything, big mountains and small mountains, the sea, lakes and forests and even a desert but alas, no cacti grow here. Because I happen to like these plants very much, I spend a lot of time growing and propagating them. As a result there is this very shop, named El Condor after a mountain pass in the Andes.

I have sacrificed a lot of time and energy to the cacti but I would never consider it a waste to spend hours and hours over the seed sowing and cactus babies cradling. It is my life, my love and, in a way, my occupation too, as I pass some of the plants to others for a decent (I hope) price.

My nursery is placed in a small town in the south of Poland just by the Czech Republic border, at the feet of Opava Mountains. Those hills, although small, provide my Andean plants a climat at least similar to their homeland's. We have a lot of sun here with a good deal of ultaviolet light in it, we have clean mountain air, in spring and autumn there are significant diffrences between the day and night temperatures. We do not have smog and poisoned water and acid rains, thank heavens.

What I like best are South American plants, with the more and more popular in recent times genus Rebutia, but also Parodia, Lobivia, Sulcorebutia, Trichocereus and even small genera like Oroya or Acanthocalycium are my close friends. One of the numerous advantages of those plants is their need for fresh air which means you do not have to own a greenhouse to grow them. They thrive in the open at least between March and November, provided they are protected against rain. Their flowers beat everything you can see with the Mexican plants (yes, Echinocereus may be an exception).

Apart from the mountain plants I sell other South American cacti, like Gymnocalycium (some of them live in the mountains too) or Notocactus. Still, Mexico appeals to me too, so Mammillaria, Thelocactus, Ferocactus and other Nothern plants can also be bought from me. I will (or we will, my friends working with me and myself) in time offer you plant of almost all Cactaceae genera.

The seedlings are slow in growth. My offer will grow too, although equally slow. In the near future, if no obstacles appear, you will be able to buy some African plants, mainly of the Aizoaceae (Mesemb) family.

If you feel like writing to me, please do. You may write, apart from Polish and English, in several languages, including German, Czech, Slovak, simple Croatian. I can understand very well letters in Ukrainian, Belarus and Russian, although due to a lack of an appropriate keyboard I cannot answer in these languages. Spanish and French are also welcome but reading it will last long as I have to use dictionaries.