Dennis - that Dudleya is a beauty! I have yet to find anyone around here who can grow Dudleya. Someone once sent me one in a trade and it lasted about 5 months before it looked so awful I tossed it. Bill, I just HAD to get out my Bible to look up your reference (and felt bad when I had to blow the dust off of it!) Anyway, as I was looking through my books for it, my husband asked what I was doing and I told him. He laughed and nearly quoted the passage - probably the only one he could quote (bad boy, bad boy!) So here it is, in the language of the "New International Version" (which I always felt more readable, though perhaps not 100% accurate...): Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But I had to laugh when I read the next verse... But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. Hm, beware all you who grow thorn-producing plants!! The wrath of God may be upon you! Peace back at ya, Bill! Denise in Omaha

Thank you, glad you like it. I haven't been able to ID all of them yet.. maybe some of you may know what I have. adp abq, I'm not sure which of the tree agave you mean (from top pic), the one on the right is gone already, afte more than 10 years, but I have a couple of them left in its place. The creosote bush was 'saved' from a place where road construction was taking place. It was about 1' when I transplanted it. osprey

I'm not much of a cacti guy, but I knew this forms tuberous roots...till I unpotted it and saw it was a rooted cutting! I don't mind purchasing a cutting grown plant, but I want to know before I buy it. Anyway, I took the the thickened roots and wrapped them around a large rock. So in a few years I'll have a root over rock creation.

mawehe63 I missed your posting about Opuntia. There are a few forms without glochids (the small spines), one microdasys (cv. 'Caress' and one fragilis too I think). The long spines on Opuntia are barbed and get stuck in skin too, but I find them easier to handle than glochids. At least they give some protection against the glochids, which are present on long-spined Opuntia as well. I grow some O. fragilis (extremely hardy), small but, as the name implies, fragile which can be disappointing, it's a matter of taste. O. polyacantha is a long-spined, robust, hardy species - some forms can be grown outside in Northern Europe without protection. Many forms are reasonably small and easy to handle, and they often have very nice flowers. O. macrocentra and phaecantha could be worth looking at too, especially dwarf forms. O. compressa (humifusa) is a spineless, classic hardy species, but the glochids can be annoying (but they are far fewer than on microdasys). I looked up some general information about the weather in Tennesee, and it seems as it rains a lot there. Those I mentioned should however be fine if they are covered in winter. There are a few tender species among them (Rebutia heliosa and Lobivia famatimensis for example), but that is usually noted in the seller's description. Some well-known hardy species are Escobaria missouriensis and vivipara, Echinocereus triglochidiatus, cocinneus and viridiflorus. Protection from rain in winter is advisable but not always necessary, it depends much on how well-drained the soil is. Some more funny-looking cacti: Leuchtenbergia principis, Puna/Maihueniopsis clavarioides and the two Pelecyphora species. I saw an interesting thread on the BCSS forum about a hardy Gymnocalycium species: Here is a link that might be useful: Gymnocalycium gibbosum