Most of my yucca and all of agave plants are inside this winter so I won't surprise you guys soon...
By the way what's is an opuntia with the purple pads? It looks lovely.

Hi Igor,

I usually think of 'santa rita' as the Opuntia with reddish pads.............they are marginal in my area..........they will survive a year or two before dying.......they seem more moisture sensitive than other Opuntias. There are several forms of 'santa rita' type pads..........perhaps there is one out there better suited for my climate. 😕

Most of my yucca and all of agave plants are inside this winter so I won't surprise you guys soon...
By the way what's is an opuntia with the purple pads? It looks lovely.

There is a few, but like Tim said O. santa rita is by far the most popular. From what I have seen, it is no more hardy then the W. filifera (desert palm) but every season I try one. 😆

I have a very reddish O. macrocentra that is listed as hardy to zone 6. It is half hardy in my zone 4b/5a. I'd say it would be a good one for you zone 6ers to try. It's a lovely purple and fairly upright.

http://opuntiads.com/oblog/2009/cold-hardy-opuntias-opuntia-macrocentra

Tim, Aaron, thanks for clarification.
Paul, yes! Thanks for reminding a name of a purple opuntia that is fully hardy in my town. I've seen the one somehow.

I think the only reason my tree Opuntia lived the first year is because it didn't have
enough roots to bloat out with water,it really filled up the next year and was getting
some size but very quickly froze out in December.....

Here you go Jim, just think in 20 years yours would have looked like this. 😀

Yuma AZ

so cool! Maybe I should grow one of those monsters and protect it in winter! 😉

Here is some plant pics Tim of my area of AZ before the freeze.
Sunsites

These are/were huge!


These are the biggest W. filifera's in town.


I could not find this cactus after the "big freeze"
Trichocereus tersheckii



I should have taken pics of the Y. rostrata's, hard to see in the yards.


And the saguaro up the road from me.

great shots Aaron......do you think Trichocereus tersheckii is less hardy than Seguario?

great shots Aaron......do you think Trichocereus tersheckii is less hardy than Seguario?

I'am not sure? I do know the ones I seen at St David at the post office had lots of winter burn but were alive.

It could be that I missed it when I was looking? Of cource it is not a big town and I went down every street I could think of?

It also could be saguaro's are bigger and can take more cold? I have seen many smaller saguaro cactus dead in garden every year I've been there. But it could be from other things? 😐

Trichocereus sp.
St David, AZ. Post office

Looks like some mealybugs attack a last picture cactus?
Thanks Aaron for great pics of so exotic plants!

Nice to see Trichocereus......perhaps they were not dormant?

Really nice cacti Tim and Aaron.

I like seeing natural yard in AZ, less maintainance, and they look bad ass. Gives a good look into how the desert used to look before we got here Definitely not a plantless, wasteland like more people think!!