Opuntia Blog

Lobivia species, under lights, from Miles' to Go

I’ve ordered plants off and on from Miles (Miles’ to Go Nursery) in Arizona for over 10 years. The plants always come quickly and always arrive in very good shape. Additionally, most of the plants are of blooming size if they bloom while in a small pot.

Miles must get his plants in and keep them a while because he’ll advertize a plant as 3-inches and it will arrive and be nearly 4-inches across or tall. The plants are not expensive, typically $4.50 to $6 for the things I might order (Gymnocalycium, Lobivia, Rebutia, etc.).

Miles offers some cold-hardy plants but he doesn’t feature them as especially cold hardy. For instance, he sells several types of Gymnocalycium that will surely survive 10 F, but he doesn’t mention the fact. Similarly, he sells a variety of cold-tolerant Coryphantha, Escobaria, Echinocereus, etc. In fact, Miles sells many genera but few or no Opuntia.

Cactus seedlings, click image to see full-size photo at Flickr

Did you ever wonder where cactus plants in the store come from? These are the little, unnamed, cute, plants that sell for $2 to $5. It turns out that there are patient growers around the country, and in Mexico, that take the time to harvest seeds and then germinate the seeds and grow them on to sale size. Eventually, the little plants make it to a store near you.

One Web site that offers seeds is housed by thenopaltrade.com. They have a seed-for-sale page. It is interesting the number and variety of seeds they offer (mostly cacti). The other interesting thing is that they are in business to sell to growers, not to hobbyists. Their minimum seed order is 10,000. The price per 1,000 varies with the species but is about $5 to $10.

They offer:

• Coryphantha potosina
• Echinocactus grusonii
• Escontria quiotilla
• Lophocereus schotti
• Mammillaria uncinata, and many more. 

Hildewinteria aureispina, click image to go to SuccSeed Web site

It has been over ten years since I ordered my first seeds from SuccSeed (when I lived in Pennsylvania), but I’m ordering again. For a long time I ordered only from Mesa Garden because I was familiar with the Web site and because that nursery offers so many Opuntias.

However, since moving to Maryland I’ve decided to grow a few more “different” things. Hence, my happy return to SuccSeed, where the service was always good, the product fine, and the friendly emails were a delight.  Like Mesa Garden, Succseed has good collection information for many of the seeds that they sell, and that is important to me. Often, you can estimate the altitude an accession was collected. One bonus to their online seed catalog is that you can download an Excel file to study at leisure–this is a great service because the “shopping cart” method of purchasing is a bit cumbersome for me. Of course, you need to make sure that spreadsheet offerings are currently in stock.

Now that it is January, and my thoughts have turned to seed germination, I’m getting an order ready for SuccSeed. I expect the best, just as I received before. Mats is pleasant and easy to do business with.

They are not exactly a cactus seed source, though they do offer a surprising number of Echinocereus seeds and a Pediocactus or two. I would call Alplains Nursery a rock garden seed source, and a fantastic one at that. Yet, their offerings are not limited to rock garden plants; they offer the seeds of hundreds of plants for colder climates.

The Web site provides lots of information about sowing seeds including pretreatments and two or three different germination methods.

The prices are reasonable, about $3.00 for a packet of seeds (sometimes 70 or more seeds).

Plants of Echinocereus (photo from Alplains) are cold hardy to USDA climate zone 6 at least, and some from high altitudes or central/northern New Mexico may be hardy to zone 5 (or colder).

Corona Cactus Nursery, mail order

Corona Cactus Nursery is located in Corona, CA, and has a nice, fast Web site. You can navigate though several important sections with a few clicks: Plant of the Month, Photo Gallery, and Cold-hardy Cacti. The Photo Gallery provides lots of images of plants in habitat as well as National Parks and other scenic views (eg, Huntington Botanical Gardens). One of my favorite images on the site shows a hillside of Saguaros with Opuntia. 

 The offering of cold-hardy plants is good, with over 10 cold-hardy Cylindropuntia species offered, over 30 cold-hardy Opuntia species, and dozens of ball and barrel cacti. In addition to cold-hardy plants Corona Cactus Nursery offers about 3 dozen genera of cacti in total (140 different species) and about that many species of succulents. They are increasing their stock and the next year or two will see many more plants offered.

There are clear instructions on the Web site for ordering, and details about shipping. Click on the prickly pear to go to the Corona Cactus Nursery.

Some nurseries are more than nurseries; they actually serve as botanic gardens for their area. Plantasia Cactus Gardens doesn’t have a Web site, but they could. Lamar Orton sent me a few photos of the nursery, and it really is a botanic display garden. He reported in an email:

“We have a five acre botanic garden which emphasizes drought tolerant plants.  We are at the northern edge of the Great Basin Desert with an annual precipitation of about 10″, most falling in winter and in early spring…We have an estimated 125-150 species and varieties of cacti, plus 23 species and varieties of yuccas, including about 20 Joshua trees.  There are many other drought tolerant plants in the garden such as ice plants from South Africa, penstemons, salvias, agaves, sagebrushes, Indian paint brushes, desert willows, sedums, to name a few.  We also have many Idaho native plants and have recently contracted with the Sawtooth National Forest to establish a bed of Idaho native buckwheats (Eriogonum).”

You can check out the Plantasia price list, but remember that this is early December 2009, and prices and stock will fluctuate over time. They have lots of Opuntia, Cylindropuntia, and Corynopuntia listed, and many other plants. The nursery is located in Twin Falls, ID.

Plantasia Cactus Gardens, Twin Falls, ID

Opuntia aciculata

 Mesa Garden

This is the best place to go if you want seed, seedlings, or unrooted cuttings. Mesa Garden has an extensive list of Opuntia and other cacti from around the world. In my experience, the materials are first rate. However, do not expect a quick delivery in spring when they are their busiest (or from any nursery). There is no better place if you want an extensive choice of offerings, especially if you are willing to grow from seed. In addition to cacti, they offer a good selection of other succulents such as nolinas, agaves, yuccas, mesembs, etc.

 Intermountain Cactus

This is the one nursery that I have not tried, but it sure has a nice Web site with informative descriptions. You can tell at a glance what zone a cactus might survive in. They have a large selection of various opuntiad cultivars, some ball and barrel cacti, and some agaves (and a few other things). The selection of O. polyacantha plants is extensive and well worth trying; O. polyacantha is such a survivor and such a beautiful plant in or out of flower.

 Coldhardycactus.com

I have tried this nursery in years past and been happy with the results. They have a good selection of cold-hardy opuntiads, as well as various ball and barrel type cacti (including Pediocactus). Also, they provide agaves, yuccas, and a couple of miscellaneous items (eg, Maihueniopsis). Write or call before you order (at least at this time of year–after summer) to make sure they have the item you want. If they don’t have it, likely it will be available in the spring.

Mesa Garden is the most comprehensive cactus and succulent seed source that I know if, in the world. There are some other nurseries that have wonderful and impressive succulent seed offerings (eg, Silverhill Seeds in Africa, Australian Succulents in Australia), but Mesa Garden is the place to beat for cacti. Mesa Garden has an extensive offering of South American cacti.

Mesa Garden offers seeds and seedlings/cuttings of hundreds of plants, mostly cacti but some other succulent groups are well represented.  The seeds are modestly priced, about a dollar a packet (sometimes less and sometimes more). A recent count found about 5 dozen Opuntia seed offerings and about that many seedling/cutting offerings. The cuttings typically cost $3 to $4.

Limited but useful cultivation and hardiness information is provided for many of the species. Overseas shipping is available.

Northern Nursery (in Denmark) has nice photos of various Opuntiodeae.  They have some of the best images on the Web of Opuntia debrechyzi and Opuntia chisoensis. Many of the cacti at Northern Nursery are cold hardy.

If you want a quick view of the two species, you can click on the thumbnail images below. However, you can find more images by Martin Ravn Tversted at this link: Northern Nursery. 

Opuntia debrechzyi, photo from Northern NurseryOpuntia chisoensis, photo by Martin Ravn Tversted

Opuntia chisoensis, photo by Northern Nursery