I built a "winter" garden for my parents in the spring of 2009. That is, one that looks great any time of year, and one they needn't maintain at all. There are mostly succulents and yuccas, but I planted (in pots) a few opuntias. The cacti will stay there through the winter. I'll know by April if the soil I planted them in was well draining enough. The mild winter temperatures shouldn't be an issue with the species I chose (I hope).
There are a few more photos I want to share, but as usual I'm unable to attach any more to the forum page, for whatever reason. Does anyone know why uploading pictures to the forum is so problematic and how to remedy it?
With apologies to the late Professor C. D. Darlington the following misquotation springs to
mind ‘cactus taxonomy is the pursuit of the impossible by the incompetent’ - Fearn & Pearcy, Rebutia (1981)
Nice garden! Try compressing your photo file sizes closer to the size required, I think 600X600. Reducing the file size is much quicker on your computer and then the photos will load more quickly to the CG server.
If we have a 'typical' Willamette valley winter pretty much everything I see in the ground will sail through just fine. Last winter was longer, colder and wetter than usual and a lot of plants that are 'so so' for hardiness in this area died. The smaller plants in pots (particularly the Euphorbia) will probably need to go inside or in the garage
The opuntias should be OK outside, there's at least one stand of a similar looking opuntia growing 'semi-wild' on the road between Corvallis and Albany, and OSU has a couple of raised beds outside one of the residence halls that has Opuntia and Cylindropuntia growing happily outside with no apparent care.
This garden is in Wilsonville which even by Portland standards is considered the "Banana Belt". It's usually a couple of degrees warmer there than in town. Anyway, only the opuntias in the very large pots will stay outside through winter. Everything else is merely spending the summer outside.
I can't really help much on an identification, however I can tell you it is most definitely not opuntia dilenii.
With apologies to the late Professor C. D. Darlington the following misquotation springs to
mind ‘cactus taxonomy is the pursuit of the impossible by the incompetent’ - Fearn & Pearcy, Rebutia (1981)
I thought I was sure what that opuntia was, but now I'm unsure. What I know is this: I "borrowed" a pad from a sprawling cactus on the sidewalk near Belmont St. in Portland, and this is the result. So I know it can thrive in the PNW because that plant had to be at least five years old...