San Leandro, CA (Zone 9b) | November 2016 | neutral
Per Jan Emming of Destination:Forever Ranch and Gardens, a 40 acre desert botanical garden/sustainable living homestead in Arizona: ...Read More
Cumulopuntia boliviana ssp ignescens is an extremely attractive Opuntioid plant from the high Altiplano of northern Chile and adjacent portions of Bolivia and Argentina to the east. This orange-flowering individual resembles one of the clumps of bunchgrass that dominates the ecosystem here. Growing at somewhere around 12,500 feet elevation (3800 meters), it serves as a striking foreground for the symmetrical cone of Volcan Licancabur, which rises to 19,423 feet (5920 meters) along the igneous spine of the Andes here.
It will not tolerate heat since they grow at high subtropical alpine elevations of 12,000 to 15,000 feet, where days are mostly in the 50-70 F range and nights are near or below freezing, year-round. High summer temperatures kill them within weeks in Arizona.
Per Jan Emming of Destination:Forever Ranch and Gardens, a 40 acre desert botanical garden/sustainable living homestead in Arizona:
...Read More