Silly succulents in the desert

[estación seca]

Somebody wrote

...The fact that you folks in NM and AZ grow orchids at all where you're at, is impressive. I'd be growing those silly subspecies of subspecies type miniature succulents or something... and probably get bored from the lack of involvement...

Here are a few silly succulents, taken just now.

Aloe divaricata is a slender-stemmed tree aloe from the central plateau of Madagascar. Surprisingly, it tolerates substantial overnight frost here, though it hasn't seen frost in habitat in millions of years.

Dyckia Pink Ice is a bromeliad. Brazilian Dyckia have orange to red flowers; North American Hechtias can look almost identical vegetatively, but have white flowers. Many Dyckias tolerate surprising amounts of frost. Most Hechtias tolerate quite heavy frost.

Mammillaria gesela is a cute, easy-to-grow miniature. Most Mamms are from México, with a few in the US and the circum-Caribbean countries.

Opuntia macrocentra is a common species in the southwest US and northern México.

[gngrhill]

Awesome.

[AndreaK]

Very nice. My son became interested in succulents a few years ago. Most of what we have are NOID. I should research how to take care of them better. They seem fairly happy though. I will try to take a few pictures and post them in the near future. I am certain you would have some good advise for me.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by AndreaK

Very nice. My son became interested in succulents a few years ago. Most of what we have are NOID. I should research how to take care of them better. They seem fairly happy though. I will try to take a few pictures and post them in the near future. I am certain you would have some good advise for me.

If you're near St Louis, he should join the Henry Shaw Cactus Society at Shaw's Garden (the Missouri Botanical Garden.)

[gngrhill]

I really like the Mammillaria gesela. I would like to try growing one of them. I remember seeing the Opuntia macrocentra growing wild everywhere when we visited Arizona a few years ago. Where would you look to try to obtain those plants ? I would kind of like to try both.

[estación seca]

Opuntia macrocentra is a smallish north American Opuntia, but that means it probably won't bloom in anything smaller than about a 1-gallon nursery container. It spreads sideways rather than growing tall. I don't know how far north it is hardy, though it grows in extremely cold places - but it gets very dry winters there. Most people in the midwestern and eastern US plant their hardy succulents outdoors on raised gravel mounds, and take steps to keep snow and spring rains off the planting mounds.

The Mammillaria gesela came from Living Stones Nursery/Plants for the Southwest in Tucson. They also have O. macrocentra. Mine is the long-spined clone. Both clones have similar flowers. Proprietors Gene Joseph and Jane Evans are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. They often have things not on their Web site so you could call. You could ask them for thoughts on how hardy their O. macrocentras are. If O. macrocentra is too big for you, they have some miniatures. In this case I would suggest Opuntia/Cumulopuntia/Airampoa picardoi. (Taxonomists at work.) The pads are the size of a dollar/euro coin, they creep to cover a wide dish-like container, and the bright red flowers face upright much of the summer. I don't know how hardy it is, but it handles the teens F / -8C here regularly.

Cactus, Cacti, Succulents, Lithops, Mesembs, Cycads, Gargoyles, Agave albopilosa,Astrophytum (Digitostigma) caput-medusae, Dyckia, Welwitschia mirabilis

[AndreaK]

Originally Posted by estación seca

If you're near St Louis, he should join the Henry Shaw Cactus Society at Shaw's Garden (the Missouri Botanical Garden.)

We are fairly close to Saint Louis. We attended one of the cactus society's shows at the Botanical Gardens 2 years ago. School and schedules do not allow for many extras right now.

[tarev]

Lovely plants estacion! I also have various succulents here, since we get into the super dry and hot zone too.

[gngrhill]

Thanks, I was actually thinking of growing them in pots that I could bring inside in winter. Do they grow too big for that ?

[estación seca]

Well, that depends on how strong you are. The macrocentron might bloom in a 1 gallon nursery container. It would need very little or no winter water, as much light as possible and a definite temperature drop for best blooming.