Jim! What is a nice source of the cold hardy cacti and other succulents! Thank you so much for this one!

Jim! What is a nice source of the cold hardy cacti and other succulents! Thank you so much for this one!

Yea,he always send me great stuff,pretty much all my
cold hardy flowering barrels came from Kelly.

I have a small plant of O. chloroticta collected at ~6000ft in Northwestern Arizona... I'm far too chicken to palnt it out until I'm sure the mother plant will survive. Maybe next spring. I don't hold out much hope for this species in a cold/wet zone 5, no matter what the source! I hope to be able to use it in crosses to get some large Opuntionids that can handle my climate (I'm thinking crosses with polyacanhta (AB forms) and macrorhiza would be good!).

Steve- do you have a picture of yours?

Have a cross with Chlorotica and polyacantha, and it looks just like polycantha and survive like polycantha.

I have some seed from the one in the pic, I'm going to see if I can find some hardier uprite forms.

PS Take the pollen from the Chlorotica and cross it with a polyacantha flower and you should have a more up right cross.

Aaron, that Chlorotica looks awesome........I'd like to see a large photo.

very cool Aaron!!! And that's hardy in your zone 5b? Wow.

Aaron, I like this Opuntia very much! It's awesome! And what is a barrel cactus on the right side of the Opuntia?

Yeesh! I hope that mine will look like that in a few years time!

You say it has set some seed? Would you have some to spare?

It would definitely be a good one to cross with a few of the hardier species. I've not seen any F1 plants of tall spp. x sprawling spp., the assumption would be that the plants would be 'mounding', sort of an intermediate height, but without the clear trunk...

very cool Aaron!!! And that's hardy in your zone 5b? Wow.

No... its not hardy where I live. This is a plant in Twin-Falls Idaho zone 6a. This plant is coverd every year and so is the barrel. They will live uncovered for a year or 2 around here. Mine do good until about 5F Tim it my have a good chance in your zone if kept very dry. 😀

Yeesh! I hope that mine will look like that in a few years time!

You say it has set some seed? Would you have some to spare?

It would definitely be a good one to cross with a few of the hardier species. I've not seen any F1 plants of tall spp. x sprawling spp., the assumption would be that the plants would be 'mounding', sort of an intermediate height, but without the clear trunk...

Sure... I can send you some seed. But my not look like the parent plant. The last seed I grew from this plant looked just like the pollen donner and not the mother plant. "Polyacantha" only the flower look the same. 😆

PERFECT! I'll send you a PM.

that chlorotica is awesome !!

No... its not hardy where I live. This is a plant in Twin-Falls Idaho zone 6a. This plant is coverd every year and so is the barrel. They will live uncovered for a year or 2 around here. Mine do good until about 5F Tim it my have a good chance in your zone if kept very dry. 😀

Hi Aaron,

Dry in my area? LOL.........it gets dry for a few hours between the rain storms! I get mushrooms and moss growing in the hottest, south facing cactus bed which is pure sand/gravel.

Tim....I have a few seeds if you would like to try some. 😉

it would be great to have opuntia like that one in my climate. that size. even my fragilis would never be big like that one,still it's ok. also humifusa and other opuntias i have. they are hardy but cant grow high, more to the ground. last year i left 2 opuntia ficus indica outdoor during the winter, but didnt make it. too cold for that one. others "cold hardy" not a problem. opuntia macrocentra should be bigger and grow up, but it is sensitive to wet winter. who has dry winters should try with this one. at my place bigger problem is rain/snow/freeze/low temps/rain etc.