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. 

Winter Protection

      So I have mentioned methods of winter protection before in the past but im going to briefly explain how I do this again for my plants that are not 100% hardy in my climate.

      Desert plants(Hardy Cacti and Agave) In my desert garden I cover my plants with old glass window panes, cold frames, or whatever I can find I am all for being creative and resourceful. I even use Bamboo from my bamboo grove to create a frame that I put clear window plastic over to help protect some of the cacti. Cacti and Agave hate wet weather many can take the cold but cannot do wet cold they tend to rot. So in the middle of October here in USDA zone 6b I cover up my desert bed to let the bed dry out and to keep the rain off before the cold sets in. I cover everything in 4ml window plastic to keep out the wetness.

     Hardy Palms With my hardy palms Chinese Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei), Sabal minor, and Needle palm (Rhapidophyllum hystrix) I use this method. I use a large tomato cage put over the palm wrap the tomato cage in several layers of bubble wrap then stuff with dry leaves and or straw. Then I put a plastic heavy duty trash bag over the top of this and then use twine and tie tightly around the tomato cage to keep the plastic on. You will probably have to use duck tape or heavy duty packing tape to keep the bubble wrap from flying off if it gets windy, they can unravel. After established(after 2 years) the palms may survive without protection depends on your climate and moisture and the species of palm. Needle palms and Sabal minors are very hardy and more tolerant of moisture than other palms. Many palms can rot during wet cold weather. There is a group of Windmill palms in Bulgaria that have survived for many years unprotected in very cold temperatures, but these may be more cold hardy than many other strains of Windmill palms. It's all an experiment really.

Here are some photos of my winter protection from this winter.

                     

Cacti Blooms

Took some more photos today of the Cactus garden some of the cacti are starting to bloom. Also got 2 glass floaters and a cast iron crab to add to the beach feel.

Hardy Cacti Garden

I uncovered the Hardy Cacti garden a few weeks ago. It had some plastic and glass over it for winter protection. Took some pics over the weekend. The Ice Plant "Fire Spinner" bloomed for the first time. I really like these they are very nice.

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.