An Atlanta winter Cacti Surprise

Discuss hardy cacti grown outside all year.
Post Reply
Henrius
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2014 6:29 pm

An Atlanta winter Cacti Surprise

Post by Henrius »

Last summer I bought a lot of cacti on E-Bay to try to grow in the ground. office My courtyard is sheltered from wind, but not rain. You got to remember that Georgia winters are pretty wet.

A lot of these large specimens looked like older established plants. All were on the cold-hardy list on this forum. Most, like Echinocereus reichenbachii, did not survive.

The surprise? I had an extra specimen of Notocactus leninghausii that not only survived, but flourished!

That go me thinking. Do you think other species of Notocacti might also do well outside in wet Atlanta winters? I have an extra specimen of Notocactus uebelmannianus I could also try in the ground. Or was the survival of N. leninghausii just a fluke?
iann
Posts: 17184
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:10 pm
Location: England

Re: An Atlanta winter Cacti Surprise

Post by iann »

Notocactus covers a lot of sins. Some are pretty hardy, some definitely aren't. Most are more tolerant of winter water than many North American cacti. I wouldn't put N. uebelmannianus on my list of hardier species, but then I wouldn't haver put Lenny on there either. N. submammulosa is pretty frost-hardy, as is N. roseoluteus. I'd have thought 20-25F was as much as they could take, but maybe they can do a little bit better with warmer fays than they get in my greenhouse.

Transplanting from pampered potted plants into the garden is best done when the plants are younger. E. reichenbachii has never survived more than a couple of winters outdoors for me. E. triglochidiatus and E. viridiflorus are pretty safe, E. coccineus usually does OK, most others don't like the rain and sleet. I've got a few Escobarias established but they really have to go in the very driest spots or they rot. Under cover Escobarias are entirely hardy here.

In the wet, Opuntias might be the way to go.
--ian
Post Reply