Echinicactus texensis, Farthest NE?

[peterb]

Beautiful photos of spectacular, old plants in habitat! They need a lot of time to get to that size.

peterb

[John C]

Have you ever heard of Guerrilla Gardening =~_^=

I sure have! Not many people know but I have guerrilla planted some plants around here. I haven't done any cacti or succulents though. I really should! I just might try a few in some selected locations when I can. I am concerned about my previously planted plants. They weren't completely established when we got a very strong and very early cold snap in December. Hopefully they can overcome the damage and continue growing this spring. If not I will replace them. I have kept up with your thread on your guerrilla garden and am really impressed! It truly is a garden! I don't think I could do more than an occasional plant Yours looks great though!

They are GREAT plants.

That they are. They are tough plants! As a fellow cactus grower said while we were exploring the property with the E. texensis, "There aren't many cacti that you can stand on and not even damage a spine". (He said that as he stood on one, of course)

Your plant is really attractive. How big is it?

Steve

Thanks! Here are some photos I just took of it with a tape measure. It is in inches.







So it is approximately 8-9 inches in diameter and 4-5 inches tall from soil level.

Beautiful photos of spectacular, old plants in habitat! They need a lot of time to get to that size.

peterb

No kidding! I can't imagine how old those plants were. I'll try and get some more photos of them in habitat up soon.

[Eutow_Intermedium]

Have you ever heard of Guerrilla Gardening =~_^=

Quote: John C

I sure have! Not many people know but I have guerrilla planted some plants around here. I haven't done any cacti or succulents though. I really should! I just might try a few in some selected locations when I can. I am concerned about my previously planted plants. They weren't completely established when we got a very strong and very early cold snap in December. Hopefully they can overcome the damage and continue growing this spring. If not I will replace them. I have kept up with your thread on your guerrilla garden and am really impressed! It truly is a garden! I don't think I could do more than an occasional plant Yours looks great though!

.

.

I have tried hard on that little patch since 2009. It's a lot wetter and cold over the pond here. I can plant all manner of plants , but the climate has been truly horrific for some months now , and I just haven't been able to spend as much time there as I would like, It's so wet, and each time it rains again, it just falls onto already saturated ground. Definitely no guilt over here while having a shower.

There are a couple of recycle bins of Christmas tree shreddings to go down. But I don't think I am going to complete the job this year. Didn't really get stuck into it like I normally do.

I might just do some Blackberry clearance from the slope next.

Cant do much else in this wet =^~^=

.

Really am starting to get envious of all these hooj Texensis plants now.

=^x^=

[John C]

You have the exact opposite problem I have here. It is so dry here that as soon as you plant something during the growing season it turns to a crisp. I either have to water it myself or try to coordinate my planting with weather patterns. Nearly impossible. I need to get the plant planted in the spring so it has time to get established before the hot and dry summer, and definitely before a cool winter. But there has to be rain pretty frequently afterwards otherwise it dies. I still prefer this over drowning in water. Cacti are happier.

Good luck on your project!

[hoteidoc]

Mine didn't survive this upstate NY Winter - even tho it was up very close to south foundation of house & frequently covered with snow. We've had several 0F & a couple of -4F night! "Knock on Wood" -- the E'cactus horizon. still looks very green

[cactoman]

Lost the small one I had in the outdoor bed, wonder how I can keep winter rain off of some of these plants without making it into a soggy sauna...

[jp29]

There used to be some impressive stands of this cactus around Brackettville, Texas in the 1950s.