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I just picked this up today. Long spines and some nice winter colour still showing.



It came from the same supplier as my Opuntia macrorhiza. There were two flats and the plants varied from fairly normal looking to this as the most extreme. Is Opuntia macrorhiza that variable or is this one different?

(It's not actually quite that blue but to get the purple showing properly I had to leave the picture like that. It's more the colour of the older pads in the Opuntia in the ID thread I linked to.)

I guess the next question is if I need to grow this in a pot because I don't really have anywhere to winter it how should I do that? Let the soil dry out and keep it in the unheated garage in the dark?

Andrew
Opuntia macrorhiza has a wide spread distribution with regional variability. It ranges across twenty of the central states with two named varieties. Variety macrorhiza found over all of it's range and variety pottsii found in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico.
It is an Opuntia and they as a group are known to be a promiscuous lot. So hybrids are sure to abound!!

Might be a O. phaeacantha. Heres one of mine showing color like that.

This phaeacantha has a coral colored flower when it blooms.

John is correct about O. pottsii and heres what it looks like.

It looks like it could be the O. phaeancantha as Bill mentioned. I thought thats what it was when I first saw it anyways, so I think I agree with Bill!

However I could be totally wrong, ya never know!

Opuntia can be hard to ID at times. If you could give an area or region where the pad came from could help with the ID.

yeah cause when I look at that, it might be an O. santa-rita with the longer spines on it as well.

I guess getting flowers from it would certainly help. It's a hardy one is about all I know for sure, bought just a little north or Toronto.

ID Aside given that it's supposed to be hardy but I'll be growing it in a pot... how should I aim to winter it? How big a pot should I be using? It was in a 4" plastic pot.