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As mentioned in a post in member topics last month, here are a few photos of my hardy succulent bed taken over the past few years. Clearly the most successful of the bunch is O. humifusa. I first obtained a couple of loose pads of the opuntia from a natural site along a roadside in central Virginia (last picture). I was surprised that the E. texensis bloomed after the first winter it was in the ground. The E. rechenbachii lasted two winters and succumbed last year. This winter was tough on the plants - we had almost a week of nights at about 10°F that took it's toll on some potted Opuntia on my covered porch and on the few agaves I have - the A. ovatifolia in the pics survived, but is pretty rough looking to start the growing season.

I do like your raised flower bed with those Opuntia humifusa plants. It almost looks like a pond with yellow-flowering water lilies.
Toward the center there are two Echinocereus spp. plants. What species are those? Is one of them the E. reichenbachii that did not survive?
Are those two plants still around or did you lose both or one of them to the cold winter?

Harald

Harald - thanks for having a look. Excuse my delay in responding; I've been offline for a week +. The two plants you ask about: the one on the left is an Echinocereus lloydii that is now in its 4th year and still going strong. To the right (the larger one) was an Echinopsis formosa v. amaichensis that I bought locally; it lasted 3 years and is now part of that great desert in the sky. I now have a Notocactus apricus in its place. If you look closely, there is another Echinocereus tucked away between two O. humifusa flowers to the right and in front of the Echinopsis - it's E. coccineus and although slow in growing, it's still hanging in there after 4 years. - Jim