My collection in Finland

[Pia]

I cannot believe this! My Opuntia fragilis 'Füssen' I planted outside in a rockery last autumn (see my post on July 20, 2015) have all survived and are now producing new growth! As I wrote, December was extremely warm and wet here is southern Finland (about +10 C), but in January there was extremely cold (between -20 and -30 C) and very little snow protecting the plants for three weeks. Then in February, it was very warm and wet again. In Finnish papers it has been written that this winter was the worst winter for plants in more than 30 years.

When I checked my Opuntias in late autumn (when it was raining all the time), they were soft and their colour was almost black, and some of them were not standing anymore. I was sure that they were already rotten and dead. However, I did not dig them up, and on April I saw that they all were standing upright and their colour was dark green and healthy again. Amazing!!! They had a lot of red buds, but they turned out to be new growth, not flowers. But I'm pretty sure that they will be flowering, too.

[Greenlarry]

Wow that's a tough Opuntia!

[Pia]

It really happened! In spite of the extremely harsh winter for plants in Finland (see my previous post), my Opuntia fragilis 'Füssen' is now blooming! I planted four of them outside in a rockery last summer, and they all have a lot of buds. I will post more pictures when there are more flowers.

[Keith H]

That is brilliant Pia, I am looking forward to seeing more pictures.

[Pia]

Thanks, Keith! This was my first attempt to grow cacti outside. As I wrote earlier, last winter in Finland was the worst winter for plants in more than 30 years: very warm and wet in December, extremely cold (between -25 and -30 C) in January with very little snow, and then very wet and warm again in February. I almost dug them up in late autumn because they seemed soft, dark, and rottened.

[juster]

It's brilliant to see this plant, beautiful flower and it seems to have survived and flourished 'against the odds'! Well done!

[Pia]

Thanks for your kind words, juster! It's a miracle that all four plants survived the winter without any shelter or protection at all. Since my cacti inside the house rarely, practically never, bloom, I'm very excited with this.

[Pia]

Each opuntia has about 6-12 buds, but the first flower only lasted for two days. Thus, it might be that the buds open successively, and only one flower per plant is open at the same time. Bees seem to like them very much, as you can see!

[Keith H]

[Pia]

Thanks, Keith!

This is my latest purchase from Germany: Astrophytum ornatum.