Love how those yuccas and how they root so easy! Hope this winter has been kind to your cacti.
I have a new cholla for next spring , it's about 3' right now. Hope to post a pic for you later.

wow those are beauties! that waggie in the right corner of the pic has grew a bit but still slow grow compare to fortuneis. i pick me up a few waggies & have one from seed that is growing at a decent pace but my biggest is going out this year(maybe) its about the size u started off urs! i always enjoy ur pics, keep up the good work!

Great pics! What a change. Everything looks so much more lush now! I was looking at pics of my yard from June 2009 and even April 2010 and comparing them to October 2011 and wow, what a difference one year makes!

Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to see some pics this spring. Only a few more weeks to go before things start getting warmer for good!
-Alex

Wow, very impressive!

Chad

I put another layer of plastic and 1" bubble wrap between the
two layers of plastic on the "hoop-house" I cover the cactus with..

The temp in there hasn't been below 24F in weeks!

James

That Waggie is starting to put out some big leaves now-for a Waggie-
it's finally big enough that it did not pull this year
along with a few of the larger Trachys.
It puts out 10-12 leaves a year even with spear-pull!(-:

Thanks Alex

Amazing that Yucca grew to 6' even with breaking in half the
second year,the smaller ones are side shoots off the trunk
that was left and grew that big in 1 1/2 summers(-:

BTW

My Saba just put out a huge leaf inside...it's touching an 8' ceiling(-:

Thanks dude

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Jim
Everything looks great.Pictures really show us how much things have progressed.A lot of the time we think our plants haven't done much of anything until we look back at pictures from a few years ago.I had a 8ft Y.Aloifolia 2yrs ago that got snapped off at ground level from high winds.It was starting to branch too.I think it snapped because it got so top heavy.I have a bunch of seed pods from it,but I don't know if they would still be viable or not.Anyhow your yard is looking better and better with each picture you post.I always like to see the pictures of your yard,to see what you've done now.
Randy

Thanks Randy

They have got to be the fastest Yucca but watch out below
as they are a little to good at filling up on water.

The pictures don't lie,I had some Castor bean plants a couple years
ago that grew almost 6' in 3 weeks....I wouldn't have noticed
had it not been for looking through some of the pics I had.

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Thanks for the update on that saba Jim. My ice cream banana just pushed up a leaf up to the 9 foot celing, but the Saba hasn't pused up a single leaf yet (one is unfurling though). I'm really impressed at how fast Sabas grow. They dont grow more leaves per week than any of my other bananas, but the size that it gets to after one growing season is pretty impressive.

And if you dont mind me asking, where did you get your Yucca Alofolia from? They are definitely one of my favorite yuccas along with Gloriosa, Rostrata, and Faxionana.

-Alex

I bought it off e-bay like most everything else.

You can see that although not huge to start,it was
a decent sized package to get through the mail.(-:

Looks like they easily grow a foot of trunk per year
after the first season...

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Looks awesome Jim. I agree that even though it's a desert planting, it all looks so lush since it has grown and filled in. What are you going to do with that Aloifolia when it gets taller(probably by then end of this coming fall)? It's gonna be huge!

I already cut the Yucca and Washys back to fit 4' high enclosures,
they were both 6'....
I think next year I need to go for it and not trim them back...

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Jim, as always your collection is impressive. But I am very interested in growing hardy cacti, succulents, yuccas, etc. and I have quite few out front. These don't need any protection here, and since you're such an avid plantsman, I just wondered if you're growing any there that don't require protection.

Bill

No not really Bill.

I am going to make another garden with some of the shoots
from the cactus garden sometime...when enough are ready
and this one would be unprotected (-:

Gosh Jim, seeing your pics makes me think not-so-fondly of my years in Iowa. The lenghts I went to so I could grow Banananas and other tropicals. I knew I did not belong there lol. Came to Texas- growing Palms is so much easier now! Looks great though!

Yea,this is one interest/hobby that if it was to drop off-so would the plants.0:

Jim,
They look great! In the second photo there's a tall cactus in the front right that looks like a Cereus of some kind. What is it? Do you have it in the ground all year and protect it in winter?

{{gwi:5901}}

That one(Cereus Peruvianus) is in a pot but I think it would have made it this year(-:

Temps in the Cactus shelter have not dropped below 20F in 2 months.

I may be big enough to bloom this year..............

Did you see the other large column cactus on the porch??

I want to plant that one too,it is not very good at holding itself up though...

Jim,

No I didn't see the cactus on the porch at first, but I'd be kind of wary if it were mine, about planting it out in the ground. Since it's so columnar, it can't take up that much space indoors, can it? Would be a shame for such a mature and beautiful plant to freeze to death. You're doing a remarkable job there. I wish I had your energy when it comes to protection devices, but I don't. I don't even cover the fig tree anymore, and my cactus and succulent garden is made up of only the hardy ones. Still, it has the desert look I want. And out front of my house is very hot and sunny and dry, and I'm too lazy to haul the garden hose out there every day in summer, so it's a xeric garden. Works for me! :-)

{{gwi:5901}}

If we have another dry summer like last year,I may be growing only cactus...
even some of these suffered as temps went over 120F several times in the cactus bed!

I want the Cereus and the other hairy fellow to be like pillars on either side of the cactus garden.

I would never leave these to in the ground here...at least not on purpose. )-:

So he says.(;

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