The only thing better then the advice from other gardeners, is the gift of sharing extra plants. I just love when I get gifts like this at my door. When I saw this box of cactus, I know just where I wanted to plant them.
I planted them next to my mini flower gardens.
Prickly Pear
Opuntia
It may seem impossible, but there are actually two species of cacti native to Minnesota: the common prickly pear (Opuntia macrorhiza) and the brittle prickly pear (O. fragilis). Prickly pears occur on native prairies in the southwest corner of the state, and they produce bright yellow flowers that are pollen-rich and popular with many insects.
Brittle prickly pear has the greatest freezing tolerance of any known cactus. Populations in Canada and the northern United States can be found where winter temperatures drop to minus 40 F. The plant's low, sprawling growth habit and relatively thick pads may help protect it against frost injury by keeping it close to the ground, where temperature changes are less extreme. As temperatures drop in the fall, pads become less moist and build up higher concentrations of abscisic acid, which might protect against frost damage. I hope I can keep them growing!
Today is Fertilizer Fridays/Flaunt Your Flowers. Thanks to Tootsie Time. I just love her blog. Please check out the other wonderful gardens here.
10 comments:
Your mini gardens are darling. Glad the cacti have a home.
aloha,
you have beautiful little succulent vignettes, those are really nice!
thanks for sharing it today
Totally darling! Love them Paula in Idaho
Bonnie those are the cutest container arrangements. I love the little fairy gardens and I use baskets so much in my own garden but never thought about a little garden in one.Yours are wonderful.
Love your little mini gardens , how cute!! I was going to say; that don't bug me sign looks like you mean business in with that cacti haha...:) Looks Great!! Happy Gardening!:)
love your mini garden. What a cute idea. I have a lot of chicks and hens, but they really go unnoticed until they bloom. Gotta do something like this to make them stand out.
this is just outstanding!!! I love it!!! good work friend! thanks for linking in and sharing with Fertizer Friday!
Who knew! Cactus in Minnesota? Very interesting.
This post was really interesting to me. I've had cactus in the ground for about 4 years now and it comes back bigger and better every spring and produces big yellow flowers. Don't know which prickly pear I have, common or brittle. Probably common -- like me. Your photos in this post are fabulous. They look like they were taken at a garden center. You're very talented.
Note: Regarding #4 -- did you mean the ankle surgery news? Just dawned on me why we like him. Nothing to do with football. He enjoys working in yard just like us.
donna
I got a little chunk of prickly pear from my Master Naturalist teacher. I have only clay soil in my backyard, but I'm going to try putting it in the ground in the "wild" portion of my yard and see if it actually grows.
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