Best outdoor cacti for zone 8b?

[MartP]

I'm not sure if this subforum is best to ask this, but which cacti are the best to be grown outside all year, even if I'm not present, at zone 8b?

[george76904]

Many can be grown outside especially if you put in a raised bed and a winter water covering. I have many echinopsis and trichocereus hybrids as well as cylindropuntia, opuntia, and echibocereus. So far they all do fine.

[MartP]

Yeah I have a HUGE opuntia right there outside. I was just wondering about other kinds of cacti, I'm probably going to cover them at winter to keep them warm and dry

[Arc]

Trichocereus, Ariocarpus fissuratus, Lophophorias, barrel cactus, Echinocereus (lace cactus) etc. Lace cacti grow wild out here in 8B/Texas. Agave love it too but will sun burn if in direct sunlight for too long, I had to put a terracotta pot over mine because it was bleaching. Trichocereus may need foam cups put on the growth tips in the winter else they will get frost bite. Lace cacti are care free, there are a few wild patches here and they do fine without attention but also have partial shade in the forest. Opuntia... it grows anywhere. Purslane

My Haworthia turned red outside and lost a few fronds from all the harsh sunlight. I bought it in and it returned to green along with bushing out a bit because its in a much better mix.

http://www.americansouthwest.net/plants ... texas.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is a good start for 8B selections. As long as it can tolerate down to 28-32F, it should do fine with a few rocks as a wind shield. Most store cacti have USDA zoning on them and nurseries should be able to tell you what the minimum temperature is for it. You could always just find stuff you like on Ebay and wiki its tolerance.