Expecting flowers in my rockery!

[Pia]

I planted these four Opuntia fragilis 'Füssen' in my rockery in Finland two years ago. They bloomed last summer, and there will be even more flowers this summer. There are at least 70 buds in these small plants! They are growing outside in a rockery without any winter protection. Also during the last winter, the wheather varied between very warm and wet and extremely cold (between -20 and -30 Celsius) with not so much snow protection. During autumn, winter and early spring, they always look very bad (dark and soft and lying down), but when the spring proceeds, they become green, hard, and upright. I will post the photos showing the flowers under the heading "My collection in Finland".

[kamos]

What a resilient cactus! It looks like you're in for quite a show .

[juster]

It looks full of promise Pia, I look forward to seeing it in full flower.

[rodsmith]

That is definitely a very hardy cactus.

[simpleton]

Wow - well done. I would never have imagined that cacti could survive outside in Finland. I know that some grow in the cold in Canada but the winters there are much drier. Presumably your winters are cold and wet with milder thaw periods ?

[FaeLLe]

I am starting to love Opuntia's but will not get them because of the glochid's.... hopefully someone makes a hardy hybrid of those without glochids!

[KarlR]

Well done! I'm sure it'll look terrific when the buds open!

[IanW]

Have you tried any others Pia?

Opuntia imbricata, and Opuntia humifusa are typically incredibly hardy too, as are some of the Echinocereus such as Echinocereus triglochidiatus, whether they'd survive your winters though is anyone's guess! I suspect the opuntia might at least.

[Pia]

simpleton, I live in Southern Finland. We have here a little bit milder climate than in Northern Finland, but also we have very cold periods in winter. Usually we have much raining and temperature is around zero Celsius in November and December. In these two years when I have had these Opuntias in the rockery, we had a few degrees above zero in November and December (about +5 C), and it was raining a lot! At the end of December, temperature usually drops permanently below zero, and until March we typically have between -5 and -20 C for several weeks (occasionaly even -30 C also here in Southern Finland). During the last two years, we had unusually warm periods (above zero) between extremely cold periods (between -20 and -30 C) in January and February. By the end of April, temperature is usually permanently above zero, but especially in shady places, the soil is still frozen until the end of May (sometimes until June).

I'm not very suprised that these Opuntias have survived severe cold (-25 C for 2-3 weeks) because there was some snow protecting the plants. But I'm really surprised that they survived the long periods of constant raining and wetness as well as the warm and wet periods between the extremely cold periods. There was, for example, -25 C for 2 weeks, then +5 C and wet for 2 weeks, and then again -20 C for 2 weeks. As I wrote, they already looked rotten (dark and soft), but like a miracle, they became green and hard during the spring.

[Liz M]

They are amazingly tough plants and I really look forward to seeing them in flower. I remember you put some pictures of your Opuntias in flower here, before and they were astounding as well as beautiful.