Introduction to Our Cactus Collection

I thought it would be fun to introduce our cactus collection. Shortly after we got married we had a lot of fun looking for and purchasing new cacti. At that time our collection was pretty large. Over time our collection evolved into the varieties that are the easiest to care for. For us, that definition includes that they have to handle remaining outside year round, easy to clean around and close to fuss-free. As our family grew the time to tend to fussy plants dwindled. Now that our kids are older the spark of adding to our collection has been reignited. When I first thought of tackling this blog post I didn’t think we owned that many different cactus varieties anymore. I was surprised once I started writing and researching each one. We still have a decent sized collection.

Landscape Cacti

Here is an introduction to most of the cactus varieties we own and a little bit about each of them. The first group is what I am calling our landscape cacti. They are the larger varieties that we grow in the ground. Although we do have some in pots, they are still quite large and do better in the ground.

Interestingly most of the cacti we are growing are some variety of opuntia, also known as prickly pear. I found that kind of funny.

All of the mentioned cacti grow in hardiness zones 8-11, can be propagated by cuttings (unless otherwise noted), enjoy full sun, are low maintenance, like well draining soil and are very drought tolerant. 

All of these cactus varieties bloom in spring and early summer.

All prickly pear are edible and have edible fruit, just each variety has a different flavor and some produce more fruit than others. You can tell which varieties produce more tasty fruits than others because the birds and rabbits really love the fruit off some of the cactus and will pass up others.

Opuntia Aciculata – Chenille Prickly Pear

The unique characteristic about this cactus is that the paddles are almost perfectly round and do not have spines. Instead of spines this cactus has round clusters of rusty colored glochids (bristles). The flowers are a beautiful orange. That is why we initially bought this cactus, not many cacti have a darker orange color. Opuntia Aciculata is native to the Chihuahuan Desert (Texas) and northern Mexico. This cactus does not get very big staying around 2’ tall and 4’ wide.

Opuntia Engelmannii var. Linguiformis – Cow’s Tongue Prickly Pear

This cactus can get very tall! It can reach heights as far as 10′ and just as wide. These cacti received their name from their long blueish/green, spade-like paddles. One thing I love about this plant is that it will have both yellow and peach colored flowers. This variety produces a lot of fruit that the birds and rabbits love. We periodically trim this cactus to maintain its size because it is quite large.

Opuntia Macrocentra – Purple Prickly Pear

This is one of the prettiest and special cacti we own. The paddles are a blueish/green with purple hues and tints. This is one of the few cacti that produce purple pigments. The spines are wickedly long and are half black and white. The flowers have a striking orange center with yellow edging that the bees go crazy over. Native to southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, this cacti can reach heights of 2’ – 3’ and just as wide. The rabbits enjoy munching on these fruits as well. The paddles are edible also but the spines are a deterrent. 

Opuntia Humifusa – Low Prickly Pear

This is one of the more common varieties of opuntia. It has beautiful green paddles with bright yellow flowers. It is a prolific bloomer resulting in a lot of fruit! The birds and rabbits enjoy feasting off what this cactus provides. It is an excellent specimen to have in the garden for color and for providing food for the wildlife. It can reach heights between 2’ – 3’ and just as wide.

Opuntia Cespitosa – Eastern Prickly Pear

This is a cactus that many years ago I bought for my Mom. I wanted to get a cold-hardy variety of cactus and I went on eBay and purchased cuttings from a seller in Michigan. When I started researching the cactus I never dreamt that I would be able to figure out this variety. It turned out Michigan only has two native cacti and one of them is the Eastern Prickly Pear that I purchased for my Mom so many years ago. This variety is native to northeastern Great Plains and can grow as far north as Canada. It has beautiful vibrant yellow flowers and is nearly spineless. The paddles are a darker green color than our other prickly pear.

Opuntia Ellisiana – Tiger Tongue Prickly Pear

This is one of my favorite cacti! It is nearly spineless, has gray/green, smooth paddles and yellow flowers. It can reach 4’ tall and 6’ wide. This cactus makes a beautiful centerpiece in the landscape.

Opuntia Polyacantha var. Erinacea – Mojave Prickly Pear or Grizzly Bear Prickly Pear 

This is a very interesting looking variety of opuntia. It has very long, white hair-like spines with blue/gray paddles. The dense spines can be up to 7” long, creating a shaggy look. This cactus gets around 2’ tall and can spread up to 10’ across. It has a pretty pale-yellow flower.

Opuntia Scheeri – Gold Spine Prickly Pear

This cactus has green paddles and very unique dense, golden spines that bend back into the paddle in an arch shape. This cactus can reach heights of 4’ – 10’ and the same across and has yellow/gold flowers.

Opuntia Basilaris – Beavertail Prickly Pear

This is a cactus native to the Mojave and Colorado deserts. It has blue/gray spineless paddles. It does have glochids and the brightest, magenta colored flowers. They can get 2’ tall and 5’ wide. I wrote a Plant Profile that you can read here for more detailed information.

Oreocereus Celsianus – Old man of the Andes

This is a columnar cactus. It is a nice addition to our collection because of the shape, size and the intense red/rust colored spines along with long white-hair like spines draping down the cactus. This is a unique looking cactus that is native to Argentina, Bolivia and Peru. It can get as tall as 6’ and grows in clumps. It is cold hardy to 10 degrees F and it is believed that the white, hair-like spines help protect the cactus from UV rays and from frost.

Cylindropuntia Imbricata – Tree Cholla or Walking Stick Cholla

This is one of the varieties of cholla that we have. Unlike the opuntia, cholla have a main trunk and branches. This cholla grows up to 3’ – 8’ tall, although ours have always been around 3’ – 4’. They have beautiful green trunks and branches, white spines and dark magenta flowers. They add height and interest to the garden and the bees love it! If you want to give cholla a try I would recommend this variety to start with. They are not as messy as other varieties.

Cylindropuntia Fulgida – Jumping Cholla

This is the cholla most people are familiar with and probably dislike. This is a stunning variety and the birds love to build nests in it but they are messy and that is probably what gives them such a bad reputation. After they flower they drop clusters of spines, those spine clusters blow around and get stuck in things and sometimes they get stuck in you if you are not careful. They are pretty painful to remove so plant these in areas that you can keep track of them easily. They can grow quite tall, 5’ or more and they have a gray/green truck with branches, whitish/yellow spines and beautiful yellow flowers. If you want a cacti for habitat purposes, I would recommend having at least one of these in your garden because the birds really are attracted to making nests in them.  

Echinocactus Grusonii – Golden Barrel Cactus

This is probably the most iconic of barrel cacti in my opinion. It has the classic rounded shape, green stem and bright golden, thick spines. Their yellow blossoms form a ring at the top and when the blossoms dry out it is easy to harvest the seeds. Barrel cactus are propagated by seed unlike most cacti. They grow around 2’ tall and 3’ wide.

Ferocactus Cylindraceus – California Barrel Cactus

This variety of barrel cactus is very similar to the Golden Barrel cactus. The main difference between the two varieties is that the California Barrel Cactus has darker green skin and striking pink spines. I have collected seeds from ours and successfully propagated. They have yellow flowers in the spring and reach heights up to 6’. Some people consider barrel cactus to be “compass cactus” because they can grow towards the southwest giving hikers aide in directions.

Potted Collection

The next and last group are cacti that we mostly grow in pots. Most of our cacti are in terra cotta pots and those that are not will be. We are slowly working on getting all of the cacti in terra cotta pots. We use cactus potting soil mix and they are all on our front porch. The porch faces southwest and receives full shade in the morning and full afternoon sun. I water once a week in the heat of the summer and about every 3 weeks to a month during the winter.

Echinopsis Oxygona – Easter Lily Cactus

We have two varieties of this cactus. The first one I bought Rick at a yard sale shortly after we got married and it quickly became one of his favorites. The other one was my grandmother’s and it has profusely propagated. They are beautiful cacti that do not get very big (about 10” tall) and have amazing, light pink blossoms. The plant produces lots of babies around the base of the mother plant that can be gently popped off and planted. They are native to Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Southern Brazil and most definitely should be added to your cacti collection.

Echinopsis Chamaecereus – Peanut Cactus

This is a very special little plant. It has the most beautiful star-like bright orange blossoms. The stems are tiny and the spines are soft making it easy to work with. It has a trailing habit and propagates very easily from cuttings. This special little cactus is native to Argentina.

Tephrocactus Articulatus var. Diadematus – Pine Cone Cactus

This is a very unique looking cactus! It is nearly spineless, has powdery blue, silverish paddles that resemble the shape of a pinecone. They are not very big (about 12” tall) and grow with segmented stems. Each stem is about 4”. In the spring it has white flowers and it is native to Argentina.

Tephrocactus Articulatus var. Papyracanthus – Paper Spine Cactus

This is another unique looking cactus and is another segmented cactus. Near the top of the segments, this cactus has long, flat white papery-looking spines. It has blue/gray segments and is native to Argentina. These cacti are considered rare and only get about 12” tall.

Echinocereus Pentalophus – Ladyfinger Cactus

My mom bought Rick this cactus as a gift and it is definitely one of our favorites. It has a trailing habit and does well in a hanging pot or on a plant stand so it can drape down. It has squarish shaped stems, white spines and incredibly big pink, white and yellow flowers.

Trichocereus Grandiflorus – Torch cactus

We love our Torch cactus and are growing quite the collection. These plants come in such a variety of blossom colors and since they grow really well here, it has been fun to look for new colors for our collection. We currently have: yellow, white, pinkish-orange and red. They get to be around 12” tall and produce many baby plants off the side of the mother plant. They are columnar cactus that is native to South America.

Parodia Erubescens – Common Ball Cactus

This little cactus looks like a miniature barrel cactus with green skin and red spines. The blossoms look like yellow straw flowers. These little cacti are native to Uruguay and get 7” tall and 5” wide. They are ball shaped cacti that grow singularly. 

Oreocereus Trollii – Old Man of the Mountain

This is a columnar cactus that has rust-colored straight spines and fine, white, hairy spines that completely cover the cactus. This is a shorter and more popular variety for small cacti collections. It is native to Argentina and Bolivia. This columnar cactus can reach heights of around 3’ which is much shorter than Oreocereus Celsianus.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our cactus collection. We keep adding more and will update our list. Just this week we were gifted new varieties that we need to plant and research. Let us know which varieties are your favorite to grow!

Happy desert gardening!

Joy Simper has a full time job as a home schooling stay at home mom. She is the one that holds the house and yard together and keeps the kids in line. She enjoys gardening, including seed starting and propagating plants.