Echinopsis

There isn’t much information about this species online but what little information I did find about 8 - 10 years ago led me to believe ...Read Morethis was one of, if not the most cold tolerant echinopsis / trichocereus species. I was able to get my hands on a decent specimen to trial in my garden here in Salt Lake City, Utah (zone 7b). I had already had great success with a few echinopsis grandiflorus hybrids with no protection if planted in our native sandy soil against a south facing wall. I also was having great success with Trichocereus terscheckii in a similar microclimate. Fast forward 8 years, and this E. bruchii is still THRIVING in my Northern Utah garden. The only time it has shown any sort of significant damage whatsoever was last winter when it got down to a mind numbingly cold 7°F - 8°F (which is very rare for this part of Utah). There was slight cold burn on a few of the folds on the growing point, but that was it!! So after 8 years of trialing this “columnar” cactus species, I can safely say Echinopsis bruchii is pretty dang hardy here in Salt Lake City. I would be confident rating this species cold hardiness down to zone 7b, or around 5°F or less. I even got some BEAUTIFUL neon red flowers this summer for the first time, and the hummingbirds went nuts! This is definitely a species to keep an eye out for in zone 7!

Deep red to red-orange flowers with yellowish throat and white anthers. Day bloomer.

Additional synonyms are: Lobivia f...Read Moreormosa subsp. bruchii, Lobivia formosa subsp. grandis, Pseudolobivia grandis, Soehrensia grandis, Echinopsis formosa var. grandis, Echinopsis formosa var. bruchii, Echinopsis grandis, Echinopsis ingens, Trichocereus grandis, Trichocereus ingens