Those Garden Specialties: Cactus and Succulents

Create large or small gardens with these cold-hardy cacti and succulents. Combined with native wildflowers, the effect is stunning.

Agave havardiana
Item # 12710 		Agave havardiana
Havard's Century Plant

each $7.99
3 to 6 $7.49
7 or more $7.29
Echinocereus triglochidiatus 'White Sands Strain'
Item # 46981 		Echinocereus triglochidiatus 'White Sands Strain'
'White Sands' Claret Cup

each $5.99
3 or more $5.79
  • Topic: Succulents and Cacti
  • Author: David Salman
  • Keywords: cacti, cactus, succulents, agave, yucca, delosperma, century plants, sotol, bitterroot, dasylirion, texas red yucca, hesperaloe, beargrass, noline, echinocereus
  • Date: July 2007

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The interest in growing cacti and succulents in colder areas of the country continues to expand. Cold-hardy species of both groups make it possible to create beautiful plantings where winter temperatures get below freezing. The incredible assortment of shapes, textures and flower colors that these plants provide, produce both sublime and spectacular garden results.

Depending on the setting and the size of your garden, you can focus on large showy specimens or small miniature ones.

For Gardens that Need Large Plants

  • Succulents – The natural choices are Century plants (Agave), Yucca, Sotol (Dasylirion), Texas Red Yucca (Hesperaloe) and Beargrass (Nolina).
  • Cacti – Unfortunately, it seems that the larger the cactus the more cold-tender they seem to be. So, the best big, cold-hardy cactus is scarlet flowered Claret Cup (Echinocereus triglochidiatus). The biggest of the all the Claret Cups is the spectacular Echinocereus triglochidiatus ‘White Sands Strain.’

All of these big growers combine easily with other xeric perennials to provide showy flowers throughout the summer. Texas Bush Sage (Salvia greggii and hybrids), Giant Purple Flowered Sage (Salvia pachyphylla), Hummingbird Mints (Agastache) and Beardtongues (Penstemon) are all excellent perennial choices.

For Gardens that Need Smaller Plants

The cold-hardy cacti tend to be small plants. To avoid the dreaded “pincushion look” that results when cacti are the only occupant of a garden, it is essential that other companion plants be used. Yucca and Agave both have smaller dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties. Other native succulents like Bitterroot (Lewisia) and Flame flower (Phemeranthus) also work well in the small gardens.

  • Small cacti include: Escobaria, Echinocereus, Coryphantha, Pediocactus
  • Small native succulents include: Lewisia, Phemeranthus, Agave utahensis, Agave toumeyana v. bella, Yucca nana.

In these smaller gardens High Country Gardens always recommends including smaller, slow growing native wildflowers as well. Various Sundancer Daisies (Hymenoxys), Desert Purple Sage (Salvia dorrii), Prairie Skullcaps (Scutellaria resinosa x ‘Violet Cloud’), and Orange Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) are a few of my favorites. Pay attention to the growth of the faster growing companion plants and their seedlings; prune as needed and weed out excessive volunteers. You don’t want them to grow over the cacti and succulents and smother them.

More Succulents

Delosperma sp. ‘Lesotho Pink’The “mesembs” or South African succulents are another huge group of fascinating succulents. For the average gardener there are two genera that offer some excellent plants. The creeping Iceplants (Delosperma) offer a variety of succulent groundcovers that are useful in both the large and small scale gardens. The shrubby Iceplants (Ruschia) are another choice for general succulent garden use. Many folks opt not to be geographical purists and mix cacti with these showy non-native succulents.

For the specialist, it’s easy to go a little overboard with these endlessly fascinating mimicry plants from the southern hemisphere. I discuss garden cultivation of this group such as Aloinopsis, Titanopsis and others in an upcoming article.

For more detailed information on growing these special plants in your garden refer to our article Gardening with Cold-Hardy Cacti – Part II.