Outdoor cactus ideas for central KY (zone 6)

[mattcoondawg]

I have just started a cactus garden this year. I am looking for more ideas of cactus/succulents that can live in central KY year round. Along with some yucca, I plants I have are shown below. These have been given to me by other gardeners.



this is something I found shriveled and brown in a parking lot. I took it home potted and watered and a few weeks later it greened up, filled out and bloomed. Its spines are soft and delicate like thread. The flowers are tiny, white and circle the top. I have left it out far into late fall but woner if it would survive.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/81596102@N06/7988401419/

[Peterthecactusguy]

I think that that is a Mammillaria of some type, not sure which.

[mattcoondawg]

I think that that is a Mammillaria of some type, not sure which.

Another member just ID'd it as M. schiedeana. Definately not outside year round.

[Saxicola]

There's a new book on this very subject you should get! The person that runs the website I'm linking below is the same person that runs this forum.

http://www.exoticplantbooks.com/detail/?product_id=787" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

By the way, I wouldn't add any new plants to your collection this time of year. Best to get them in the spring or summer to give them several months to get acclimated to your climate and soil before having to endure the winter.

[Peterthecactusguy]

I think that that is a Mammillaria of some type, not sure which.

Another member just ID'd it as M. schiedeana. Definately not outside year round.

Ok, I forgot to mention that it probably needed to come inside for the winter. I have to bring in most of my Mamms during the winter and I live in AZ (although I live in central AZ so its higher and colder than other parts where some of them grow naturally, although we have several here and up north that grow in habitat. (not to confuse you, but Mexican Mamms aren't cold tolerant)

I would follow what Saxicola suggested too, about putting in new plants. Here in the desert it would be ok, but where you live the cold is the problem. Here the fall is the best time to plant believe it or not.

Back east we always planted in the spring.

[mattcoondawg]

Yeah I am done planting for the year. I want to do alot of research in preperation for the spring. The problem with finding cacti for here is the moisture during the winter. The soil can stay damp all winter long. The good thing is my cactus garden is a slope in my yard that is full of sandstone, sand and clay and stays very dry. So dry that crabgrass hardly grows. The only thing that grows on it is some low spreading plant that looks like it belongs. I have been reading some about some cholla species that can live up to zone 4. We need a moisture zone map for cacti.

[mattcoondawg]

The first pic seems to be Opuntia humifusa but the paddles grown very tall and narrow. The plant as a whole grows high close to 2 feet tall. Its green fruit are long and skinny and new grows always grow from them. The other Opuntia sps is about ten inchs in length if I was to take the paddle out of the ground. I have seen them grow around here to 3 feet tall with round red fruit. Any ideas?