cactus gardening in Canada!

About 10 years ago I found 3 opuntia (don't have the tag) prickly pear cactus marked down at the local hardware store. Didn't think it would last, but tried anyway. Who can resist a plant on sale?

I added another little cactus a couple years later (don't know the name of this one, started as a little grape sized prickly ball my sister brought back from a road trip to Alberta my mother was trying to drown in a dish) lol, the cactus, not the sister.

I tossed the little bit of almost dead cactus into the cactus colony, and hoped for the best.

Last year I renovated my rock garden (1 rock bedrock, lots of pea gravel and a bit of rich soil, lol) and rearranged my little cactus colony. The one little bit of has increased to a dozen or more.

This past winter, the mice had bitten off the tops of the little 'grape' cactus, but they are responding with more little growths. Will they bloom? fingers crossed.

I'm pleased with the result of this renovation, and want to share it with you. The little cactus are difficult to see, they are in front of the opuntia in the front of the garden. (the photo was taken in the early morning, the cactus are about as big as a grape and are grey/green in colour)

Sue

a pic of the half of the rock garden, pic of other half to follow

This message was edited Jun 17, 2006 8:20 AM

and the rest of the rock garden.

Lookin' good, Sue! I really like the "little piece of Arizona" you've got goin' there. Good luck with it.

Don

Sue, they have a wonderful selection of hardy cactus at the new rock garden in Truro, NS. I was there last week.

Sue the cactus bed looks awesome! You did a great job! Thanks for posting the pictures. My mental picture of you picking clover with the twizzers in the cactus bed has gotten better...lol!
;) Donna

Don, thanks, it's coming together, if I can keep the weeds out, lol

Todd, thanks for posting the rock garden pic in Truro, I definitely want to see that! I'll check out rock garden plants for more ideas.........

Donna, picking clovers with tweezers is tedious, but very effective! Reminds me of those plywood garden decorations, 'plywood butts' granny and her bloomers......

Either that or I think I was some sort of grazing animal in a past life.....

drivenbonkers, I like your cactus garden and thanks for the pictures. I started a small one this year which has various low growing, sprawling plants in it including hen & chicks which are starting to flower. I am really pleased with how it's coming along and maybe next year it will be worthy of a picture. I will take pictures of the various plants, many of which are now flowering, and post them.

All new to me so any information is welcome.

I'm thinking of putting some pea gravel around the plants to give it a more natural look. What do you think?

Joan

thanks Joan, I just went with what I had for the rock garden. Bedrock, with a pea gravel deposit on top. I shovelled some of the topsoil off the bedrock to make a raised bed. It's a pretty pink granite bedrock. (when viewed from the top, the garden is a backward 'Y' shape. there's areas on the rock that are starting to grow mosses and lichens. I really like those.

It did start off as a sedum garden, but the cactus were doing so well, and the weeds were running rampant. So major renovation last summer. (moved the cacti closer to the front, and put some larger clumps of plants on the hill) Spaced out the rocks to look somewhat 'random'.

I like the look of the gravel and sand around the cacti. Luckily, the pea gravel I have, contains lots of different colours, and is almost as interesting as the cacti. lol

What plants do you have in your cactus garden, Joan?
Sue

Have been trying to get some decent pictures Sue and still working on it. Just can't seem to catch the right light but will keep at it.
Here's my sedum Stonecrop 'Drangon's Blood' for starters. I have a large type hen & chicks that is in bloom right now and will try to 'catch' it just right.

Joan

Joan, love the red in that sedum!

I've got lots of hens & chicks, (thousands of tiny chicks, lol) send me your address if you would like some.

I'm waiting for the cacti to bloom (have counted 7 buds, never had more than 2 before!) and will get a pic of them then.

Looking forward to seeing your pics.

Sue

Well Sue, I'm sad to say that someone stole the 'Drangon's Blood' last night. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the hole where it was once so happy.

What next?!!

My daughter tells me that they should still be for sale so if they are you can be darned tootin' that I'll get another one (or 2). One for a secluded spot, not so obvious.

Still waiting for a good light to get a truly good picture of this wee rock garden, and maybe I'll extend it next year, which will mean going down to the creek early (very early) in the season to get some nice rocks. To explain that, they get covered over very quickly by the wild vegetation, so have to do it while they are still easily seen.

Meanwhile, please carry on with pictures of your rock garden - I love to see them. Joan

Joan, I am so sorry to hear this. :(

Sometimes, I can't believe some of the things nasty people do. Good luck finding another. Maybe put an electric fence around it if you do. tsk

Don

oh, Joan I'm sorry to hear that you lost your sedum, especially to a thief.

Sue

Wouldn't that be great if I could put a force field around the garden bed to deter thieves. Ah well, dream on

This is a rather public area so it didn't come as a BIG surprise.

Joan

Hi, folks, just wandering thru the forums as it is too hot (100* F) for the digging I have on my list. Great rock garden / cactus garden, driven, nothing like having real bedrock for the backbone. Makes topsoil a little scarce, tho.

Can not believe all the tales I am hearing of bouquet clipping and plant snatching all over the place. What is this? /;-(( c'mon it's not as tho dragons blood is a scarce plant. [pretty as it is, it's hardly a collectible.]
Is there a lack of reason in this world these days.?
~Blooms

We are "hotter than Hades" today in my neck of woods too, Blooms. 37C on my thermometer. (That would be close to 100 F) Made sure all my beauties outside were hydrated and have been sitting at the 'puter in the airconditioning much of the afternoon. More to come this week so I hear. whew....

Blooms, it would seem that there is a lack of reason in the world today. This was more likely the hijinks of kids, than anyone needing a Dragon's Blood desperately..

I've even heard of them uprooting newly planted trees and various other acts of vandalism. Joan

bump

Hi, drivenbonkers! I enjoyed reading about your cactus experience. When I was planting my gravel bed in the summer of 2004 I included one cactus, Opuntia humifusus 'Lemon Spreader', which arrived in an order from Wrightman Alpines. Harvey Wrightman's nursery is in a warmer Zone, and not everything I buy from him survives. The first winter, the Opuntia shriveled, turned brown, and lay down flat, like something disgusting and dead. In the summer of '05 it picked up and grew. Last summer, it bloomed profusely, and the red seed pods are still on it. Anyhow, I was so heartened by this success that I ordered Escobaria vivipara and Pediocactus simpsonii from the Beaver Creek Greenhouses catalogue, and two little green buttons are settling in nicely to the south side of some rocks.

" The first winter, the Opuntia shriveled, turned brown, and lay down flat, like something disgusting and dead"

lol, and when I saw mine for the first time looking like that, I thought they were goners...... but they did come back!

I will look up Beaver Creek Greenhouses..... one can never have enough cacti.....

Oh Sue what a super garden.
At the alberta RU we had the pleasure of a private tour of Rundlewood Gardens in Calgary. I was so inspired. I now have a small gravel spot were I moved my hens and chicks and poped in the cuties that Fancyvan generously shared with me. I purchased a Pony cactus and am looking forward to looking after it.
Joan what a serious surprize, that is awfull. Perhaps a few well placed Cactus would deter or at least fight back for you.
Any way here is a bit of a view that Rod from Rundlewood shared with us.
Ann

I could use some tips for growing my one outdoor cactus. I bought this prickly pear about 7 years ago and I just can't seem to get it to grow. I have it in the rock garden. I moved it to a new spot this year and I see it has some new growth but it's still looking pretty pathetic. I'm almost embarrassed to show a picture but if I can get some suggestions which will help, it will be worth it.

Sandy

Another piece of it.

Sandy, your cactus looks a lot like my little 'grape' sized cactus..... (it's hard to see in the photos above, sunny reflections off a wet rock, but they are in the foreground...... in the lower left quarter of the picture..

I've got mine in a fairly decent pocket of soil, with pea gravel mulch and playground sand sprinkled over top that. A generous couple of shovelsful of well composted cattle manure was added in and forked over before I planted them in. In the late afternoon/evening they are in deep shade.

Mine took quite a few years to get going, but now have many little ones growing, and they are branching up/out like your are.

I think growing cacti is an exercise in patience.....

Oh yes, I see them....they do look similar all right. Well, I have been working on the rock garden and have been amending the soil so maybe they'll grow a bit better this year. Thanks for the information. Maybe I'll pick up some small gravel from the beach when I take the dog for a walk this afternoon and spread it around them.

Hi nightowl! Spreading a layer of gravel around the cactus would help to reflect light and heat onto the plants, but I fear it might keep the soil below the gravel too damp. Planting the cactus in 6 inches of gravel and sand might be better. Also, when you say you are using gravel from the beach, is this a river beach, lake beach, or sea beach? I'm asking just in case you don't know that sea beach gravel is not recommended for garden use unless washed really well to remove residual salt.

I'm glad you mentioned that the gravel would keep the soil around the cacti too moist June. I thought that was what others did. I did go and get some gravel but I won't use it. It's from the ocean beach but I would never use it in the garden without washing it well. I put lots of interesting rocks from the beach around the rock garden without washing them and I haven't had a problem. I don't think I need to put rock under the cacti as the rock garden has extremely good drainage. It's all rocks under there already.

Sandy

This message was edited Jun 19, 2007 8:31 PM

The "button cacti" you mention looks like Opuntia fragilis to me. I've collected it on the Gulf Islands and it only grows at the top of the hills/mountains on pure rock faces in crevices. There's barely any soil. Using large rocks works the best - just get a bunch, pile them up and stuff very poor, porous soil into a space between them and plant your opuntia.

Here's a pic of an Opuntia fragilis that has flatter stems which I believe is a cross of some sort that I collected on Texada Island, BC.

Thanks for that information growin. I will get some large rocks and try that with some pieces. I think I'll leave some of the pieces that look like they're starting to do well and then compare come next year.

Here's a pic of my Opuntia humifusa 'Lemon Spreader' growing in sandy gravel.