Cactus Garden Update

       I uncovered my Cacti garden yesterday and I had some casualties from the polar vortex. I lost both my Agave parryi var parryi, Several Optunias including Optunia Canapa 'Ellisiana', My Cane Cholla Cylindropuntia imbricata also bit the dust, and I lost my Horse Crippler Echinocactus texensis and a few others. The Ghost Plant Graptopetalum paraguayense also fried though I did notice a few leaves and stems made it and were starting to grow back. My Agave Harvardia looks kind of rough but it survived another winter. 

Agave Winter Protection

I decided to start protecting my Agave Parryi and my Agave Harvardia plants 3 weeks ago by putting some old glass window panes over some posts and concrete blocks and other junk I found lying around to protect them. I put clear 4 mil clear window plastic over the windows and covered some of the sides with it to keep the moisture out. I left some areas open on the sides to help circulate the air. It is best to cover Agave's early I am told because this way the soil/sand around them can dry out, as they tend to rot when they are both cold and wet, its not the cold that gets them its the moisture. The dirt they are planted in is mostly corse sand and small rocks with some potting mix mixed in. It seems to drain pretty fast so that should help also to prevent root rot. They have to be kept dry all winter long. We have very wet winters here in southern Illinois USDA zone 6b, so they would not survive the winter here without moisture protection.

Hardy Cacti & Succulent Garden

Took some pics today of my Hardy Cacti & Succulent Garden.

The Hardy Cacti Garden

So I finished my hardy cacti bed a few weeks ago. It is a semi-raised bed that I made out of some old discarded cinder blocks I found on the side of the street, and the larger rocks I found around my house. The bed was filled with a mixture of play sand, paver sand, and miracle-grow potting mix. Then topped the bed off with pea gravel and red lava rock, on the upper section. I used Alabama sunset river rocks around the larger rocks to help keep the sand from eroding away. I planted several species of hardy cacti species as well as three Yucca Rostrata, two Agave Paryii var. Paryii, and two Agave harvardia. I decided to go with more of a seaside theme for this bed and various sea shells, sea glass, and flat marbles. I am very happy with the way this turned out.