That is a great example of microclimates JoJo! The time spent at the minimum temperature (minutes, hours, days) plays a big role in what temperatures a plant can survive. So does the amount of water in the plant, and in the soil. Dry plants are much more tolerant of cold compared to wet plants. Plants in the ground can survive colder temperatures than plants in pots. I have found most of my plants can tolerate much lower temperatures than typically listed. These lows are brief, just a few hours at most, and it's at least 20 degrees warmer during the day. So plants that are supposed to not go below the mid-thirties F can tolerate minimum temperatures in the high twenties. Agave ferdinand-regis is listed at both +5, and -12 in the list above. The difference between a minimum average temperature, absolute minimum temperature, and Fahrenheit and Celsius scales is often confused. Minimum temperature listings should be regarded with great suspicion, even when coming from a more or less credible source like Desert-Tropicals. It is better to research the plants natural environmental conditions. I would not give much credence to this, or any other so called 'minimum temperature' list. There are too many variables for these to be accurate to any degree. ;) Brad

An old post was resurrected! I have been swamped with life (work, kids, etc.) this year, that's why I haven't been contributing much of late. My apologies. I have also been involved with another somewhat related hobby: developing a reef aquarium. Let me tell you, many coral and other reef animals absolutely rival succulents for color and form. Yes, I do have a greenhouse, which serves 2 purposes: it protects plants from too much rain - especially my Mesembs during the summer and cactus during the cool time. I keep as many plants as I can outdoors unprotected during the spring-summer-fall. I overwinter pretty everything except the true tropical plants (Adenium, some Pachy) in my unheated garage. Soil mix of choice for mesembs and other smaller & slower species is a formula with various proportions of turface, garden coil, fine gravel and pumice. Everything else is in a mix basically of 50-50 turface to perlite. Fertilizer is diluted liquid algoflash for most plants. Bigger things just get a healthy dose of Osmocote slow release + micros in the spring plus added Mag + gypsum. x

T - most of the cactus plants are in the greenhouse. I don't have a place outdoors to lay out all those trays, otherwise I would do it for the summer. I have some "decorative" containers that I use for mixed plantings which are seasonal and under the elements. In the winter they are garaged. The cold helps initiate good buds. The bigger plants are outdoors. Little ones are packed neatly onto greenhouse shelves. x

I keep my 1000+ in about a third of my yard ... they are all pretty much small plants right now ... growing larger everyday ... i dont know if im gonna have enough room for themm all some day! One cereus i have grew like a foot already this year :P (multiple offsets) I like the WOW it gave me a good laugh :D ! I really like the euphorbia ... because it is a sunrise can it take less sun? What is a sunrise exactly? Thanks for the birthday hanzrobo, your too kind! If it does smell like pine sol (im going right now ) i will have it next to me always and i will be smelling it, always (i looovveeee the smell of pine sol)