Gardening With Cold Hardy Succulents

Ocatillo (Fouquieria splendens) is a keystone native shrub/small tree to both the warm winter Sonoran desert and the cold winter Chihuahuan desert. High Country Gardens is offering 5-year-old plants grown from seed collected in southern New Mexico (the cold, northern part of the Chihuahuan desert). Cold hardy to zone 7, this amazing species should be planted in the hottest, full-sun space in your landscape. The stems are very spiny and eventually reach over the roof of a one-story house. The brilliant scarlet flowers are an essential nectar source for hummingbirds and appear sporadically most any time of the growing season, depending when the rains materialize in winter, spring and summer. When conditions are extremely dry, the plant loses its leaves only to re-grow them after a couple of generous rains.

Rainbow Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus dasycanthus) is a barrel type that is usually unbranched and grows as a single stem that will often bend in interesting directions as it reaches mature height. The huge flowers are some of the most impressive in the genus Echinocereus and are usually yellow in color. But the species is variable with local populations in west Texas and southern New Mexico having pink, red and bicolor combinations. This species likes growing conditions that are hotter and drier than other cold hardy types. Rainbow Hedgehog Cactus shouldn’t be planted in areas that get more than 12-15 inches of annual precipitation if grown in the soil.

1. Choose from the HCG cactus offerings as all of them are at least zone 7 cold hardy. Check individual species for their cold hardiness zone.
2. Plant in the spring. Cacti need to be in active growth to grow new roots. Late spring and summer, when the weather is warmest, is their most active season of growth.
3. Transplanting them bare root. Cacti and succulents do best when planted bare root. Remove the plant from its container, shake of the soil from the roots and spread them as you cover the roots. Be sure soil doesn’t go above the crown. We recommend watching our Planting Cactus video to learn how.
4. Mulch with crushed gravel to protect the plants from splashing soil (a significant problem in moister climates) and provide the roots with a more protected environment to become established. A mulch depth of 1 inch is recommended.
5. Cacti and succulents require a fast-draining soil in ground beds and containers. If your native soil is not sandy or rocky, then it will be necessary to improve the soil's drainage. A berm (low mound) or a wide 1 ft. deep bed can be created with a mix of 2 parts native soil to 1 part coarse sand and 1 part small gravel, porous red or black volcanic scoria (common in many western states) or expanded shale aggregate. This is the same recipe for filling frost resistant pots and containers in which to grow these moisture sensitive plants.
6. Protecting them from excessive winter moister. In moister climates (more than 18 to 20 inches of annual precipitation), move the potted plants under the overhang of the roof on the south or west side of the house or outbuilding to keep the soil dry from rain and snow.