They don't come much newer than me ...

[Abtract]

I have just joined knowing absolutely nothing about cacti except I have always thought that they are beautiful. I am also embarking on learning about alpines and have almost completed construction of a crevice garden separating two levels of gravel garden. Crevices filled with coarse sand; gravel garden soil mixed with coarse sand and 10 ml pea shingle with membrane on top and then five cm or so of pea shingle to finish it off. So far no planting, I have read it is better to wait till the spring, but I am hoping to plan hardy alpines and cacti/succulents (mainly smallish with maybe a few larger specimens) during the winter so I can buy in the spring. I also have a small wooden greenhouse (octagonal 6 ft across) where I plan to over-winter half-hardy items and put them back out in the spring ( I am going to include a frost heater). I am also thinking of buying a few plastic bell cloches for those plants that don't like winter rain.

The only actual plants I have are a handful of small cacti bought from the Woking Branch members' table sale at their October meeting ... knowledgeable and helpful people who made me feel very welcome as i'm sure they would to any other budding enthusiasts who cared to come along.

Abtract

[mostly]

Hello and welcome!

[AnTTun]

...and Woking Branch members, together with other forum members, will keep helping, I'm sure

Welcome aboard

[Morgans Beauty]

welcome here!

[geoffswann]

Sounds like ideal condotions for Lithops to me!

But then I am biased. Might be worth doing a bit of research though, it is sometimes nice to have a very mixed collection, and it is even nicer to have a specialised collection

Welcome, I am almost newbie here myself, but not to growing succulents, I have been at it for 50 years on and off!

Geoff

[lobman]

There are not many cacti that could really be described as fully hardy , but you could try Opuntia compressa / humifusa , fragilis or the northern forms of Opuntia polyacantha : I have plants of Opuntia Phaeacantha outside , but they grow a bit larger and so might overwhelm a smaller alpine bed
If the spines may be a problem with small children or large cats or dogs , it might be best to stick with the more or less spineless forms -- Opuntia compressa , fragilis denudata ,or the spine free hybrids of fragilis