They sell the fruits here in RI. I planted the seeds hoping I would get the kind that I saw on tv about the Galapagos islands- with trunks. They seem to be growing one pad on top of the other- not sure if it wants to become a trunk or not.

I ran across this article a little while back about using cacti for water purification:
http://www.scidev.net/global/pollution/ ... udy-1.html

I planted two outside and they didn't make it through the winter.
One survived on a very cold porch though.

go to the post office and get one of those flat rate boxes. It's cheap and you can ship it to my PO box :P I dunno- here's one of the smaller ones :roll: DSC00179.JPG Seriously though, I do have a bunch of smaller rooted cuttings I could send. I grew this from seeds from a supermarket prickly pear:...

Here's an update about the winter hardy mystery cactus, now that the cold weather has set in. DSC00176.JPG For comparison, I took some pictures of the O. humifusa (macrorhiza?) Way different. DSC00177.JPG DSC00178.JPG Note the different colors of the fruit in the prostrate cacti. The two pictures ar...

Let me know how many you think would be enough. I even went to the mall the other morning at 8 am to collect some of the fruits from the original plants- I hate to see them go to waste- felt a little silly but no one seemed to take notice. There's more but I would need tongs to get at them. You like...

Does anyone want some seeds from the mystery winter hardy opuntia?

Yes, never heard of O. humifusa with other than yellow flowers. So good to know the name O. cespitosa. However, just to be clear, the pictures of the plant in flower are not the same as the plant in the beginning of the thread. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks, Daiv, no you're not wrong. I w...

Hmm, I am used to humifusa being pure yellow. ?? I think the orange center increases the odds these are phaeacantha. Just my .02, of course, as only fools give flat out 100% positive IDs for Opuntia! :-) peterb I'll have to take some better pictures of what I'm pretty sure are humifusa. I posted so...

I think these are phaeacantha. Do you remember if the flowers have an orange center or are they pure, light yellow? Also, do the pads fall prostrate and get very wrinkled in winter or does it pretty much retain its shape? peterb They have the orange center, like the humifusa. I think they droop a b...

Thanks to all. I have O. humifusa and they are quite a bit different, they have a sprawling habit.

If it has good drainage you can even gradually expose them to full sun outside in the summertime, and don't worry about watering them.

These were planted on the south side of a commercial building. A nearby river overflowed and the parent plants were actually underwater for a while.
As luck would have it, a few pieces got knocked off, so I salvaged them. They have a typical yellow flower similar to O. humifusa.

I've already had to remove some crabgrass that's appeared since.

I've had the same problems with the fabric too, with the non-cactus landscaping. After a while weeds grow in it, and transplanting stuff is, as you know, a royal pain. I've toyed with the idea of groundcovers also. Opuntia looks good contrasted with creeping jenny, but it can't take the full sun, pl...