Cactus gardened in a greenhouse: glochids are hooked, detach easily from the plant and are hard to get out of the skin. The other type of spines in Opuntia (prickly pears) are just regular cactus spines.

Glochids aren't hooked actually, they simply detach easily and are so numerous, thats the problem. They end up on the ground. If you clean around the plants you will get them.

I have many cactus in my landscape and put up with this because I think it is worth it for the sculptural effects, blooms and pears. I wouldn't plant a humifusa cactus aka 'starvation cactus'. They are not particularly ornamental, they are common weeds in the wild and not worth the aggravation. If you want a cactus in your garden and are willing to put up with the hassle at least get something ornamental.

http://www.coldhardycactus.com/

My area has had several cold winters in a row: opuntia humifusa is hardy but they look terrible until mid summer. A plant that survives but looks rough for half the growing season isn't worth the space.

Cacti are certainly common enough in gardens in the southwest and generally are exposed to passersby quite frequently. Unless one were to fall on or grab an opuntia, I wouldn't expect issues :-) As long as not a member of the cholla family (Cylindropuntia) you should be fine.

Just an FYI but some species of opuntia are native to just about every state in the continental US!!

@texasranger and gardengal: Thanks for your input. Since I am in the northeast/great lakes area, these are a little less common. In fact, in my particular area, the front gardens consist of grass (and usually not so well maintained grass) and a shrub.

@cecily: Good point. And I am dealing with a tiny, tiny front...and not enough sun in the back. So I'm thinking this will be a "miss" for me/

Actually, the bigger, more visually vicious looking and obvious a cactus is, the less dangerous it is. No one in their right mind will casually 'bump' into a cholla or large O. englemannii. I have several types of cholla and they are the most ornamental cactus I have. They don't have glochids, grow upright, are quite cold hardy and forgiving of heavy rains. There are many large padded upright opuntia cactus that will grow in zone 6 with good drainage and several large spreading types along with cute rock garden types. They are no worse to work with or around than rose bushes, actually I think roses are worse, the pricks and injuries are much more severe. Kids that come here seem to know instinctively just by looking its not a good idea to 'pet' a cactus. They always approach them in awe and unless its a really small kid like a baby, they rarely ever touch them.

A nearly invisible and visually bland cactus like that humifusa would be an irritating garden PITB, they like to hide in tall grasses in the wild.

I don't live in the SW or in 'Cactus Country', most of the cactus I grow are native well out of my range. I live in the the wetter midwest-- Oklahoma -- which is prairie country but cactus and grasses are so good together its hard to resist.

Wow, Marquest, yours look great. We don't get reliable snow cover; the white mulch makes a difference.

I would agree..cactus should not be planted in an area where you do high maintenance..and they won't appreciate the wet feet that most other plants require. The flowers of almost any cactus are spectacular and the plants are often quite impressive.

I also agree with TR that roses are worse. The cactus will quickly train you to leave it alone. I actually learned how to safely handle.

@ marquest - wow, your cacti are beautiful! If I had a side area with the right conditions I would definitely attempt to build something like what you've done. Alas, that is not in the cards right now. But I can certainly appreciate yours.

@dbarron - you are absolutely right, these do teach you lessons you might not learn in any other way. One of my aunts came by to visit, and I was showing her the very same pictured cacti I had received, and was in the process of telling her how NOT TO TOUCH because they were deceptively innocent looking and as I was speaking, she just reached out to touch, I guess she could not resist. Needless to say, she complained the whole rest of the afternoon about the teensy splinters which she could not get out of her finger, as much as we all tried (I read later on the internet to try duct tape)...

Duck tape is a good way to get glochids off you. So is white glue. dried with a hairdryer and then yanked. Leather gloves do not work. It is great way to ruin a pair of them. Glochids go through flesh, leather is flesh. A newspaper (remember them) or a magazine are good ways to handle them. I use a barbecue tong to handle them also. I have a special pair where I bent the teeth back a bit so they don't mar my pads. Some one stole my tongs (aka I mislaid them).

I carry tweezers in my back pocket & wear the thicker Playtex brand of dishwashing gloves when working around them. I also use the large sized BBQ tongs or a long butcher knife to clean out around them. Trimming is easy, a serrated kitchen knife for small cuts or hand saw works well on big pads and lops are great for chollas. Cactus are a hundred times easier to trim up and clean around than rosebushes with much less chance of injury and no skin rips like roses cause. I'm usually bloody and have to wear long pants and sleeves for several days after trimming the neighbors rose bushes by the fence, I hate that job.

For anyone interested in growing cactus I wanted to let them know there are many types you can grow because some are dramatically more ornamental than others making them more worth putting up with glochids. I discovered this by accident when some pots with cactus broke and I planted some broken off pads in the ground years ago. I was amazed at how easy and how well they grow and got rather addicted to buying pads online and at our local cactus club show. An Opuntia cactus in a pot is downright punk and stunted compared to an Opuntia growing in the ground & there are so many tolerant varieties to choose from. Chicago has a large cactus garden as do other cities.

O. macrocentra is a common one that is a prolific bloomer, pads are blue in summer with long black spines, pads are purple in winter and its very cold hardy and tolerant outside its range. I prefer the ones that are decorative in winter and over the years after lots of tweezer use I've become rather selective. The white cholla is from a cutting I purchased from Kelly Grummons Cold Hardy Cactus, its sold under the name of 'Snow Leopard', it is encrusted with sheath covered spines but thats what makes it so outstanding, it glows, its very cold hardy. Just plant them in the right spot.

May blooms of O. macrocentra

Winter interest same O. macrocentra cactus showing purple color

'Mesa Sky' (O. polyacantha) very cold hardy and easy to grow. This is from a pad I purchased from Kelly Grummons Cold Hardy Cactus. He's got a great selection for anyone interested in growing cold hardy cactus. This cactus is very hardy, has gorgeous orange spines, blue pads, lots of blooms in May but best of all, it has great pears in the fall, stays blue & upright all winter.

cicely, we really do not get a lot of snow every winter. We get more freezing rain right after we have had days and days of rain. I am surprised anything survives my climate most of the time our ground is a frozen block of ice water.

I really built the area up of 6" of gravel then mixed 70 gravel 30 soil on top of the gravel. Plus I slopped the area toward the walkway. I do shovel all the snow and salt on that area but they do not seem to mind. I could be because of all the gravel. That type of bed is weed enemy they cannot survive that treatment in full sun.

Weeds in texas seem to root easily in a gravel bed. The rock of the gravel seems to give the seed shad and moisture for germinating. I am weeding all the time.

Unfortunately, not allowing weeds to survive is not the case here, like wantanamara the opposite is true and my gravel seems to invite all kinds of seedlings coming up among cactus where stuff tends to collect (for obvious reasons). Cactus do have a tendency to collect debris.

Needle nosed pliers sometimes work for weeding tree seedlings out of cactus, long handles help but usually the tree slips out from between the pliers so I grab a long butcher knife which sometimes works well since it will fit through among the pads and I can get to the base of the weed finally.

Sometimes I just let the weed or tree get tall enough to pull when its really way down in there among a lot of pads and unreachable by any means short of torture.

Sometimes herbicide is the only solution. Opuntia are fairly immune to a bit of overspray so thats a good thing.

Usually its a matter of carefully reaching in (preferably while wearing dishwashing gloves). Sometimes I use two fingers like pinchers to carefully nab the weed (The 2-Finger Grab) since I can't turn or move my hand in any direction but usually I just grin and bear it getting stuck the entire time I'm pulling. It just proves, a person can get used to anything if they want to grow something bad enough.

I dug out a 2012 picture of a O. humifusa I found growing in a field and which I'd planted down at the lowest, wettest end of the front where the water drained. Its the only cactus that can take that much water. The clump got so wide and ugly with dead pads underneath live ones, I finally took it out two years ago along with many baby cactus which were coming up thick as grass.

Keep in mind that if you do plant yours in the ground, each of the blooms will form a pear and each pear is loaded with seeds, the pears fall off and then open up on the ground spreading seeds which germinate quite easily so you might want to remove the pears before they drop on the ground. I used to spend a lot of time trying to pick up fallen pears but this particular type was such a heavy bloomer it was very time consuming & impossible. O. humifusa can become a pest in some situations.

Early May, buds just starting to open.

Full bloom in mid May

I am too dry or too alkaline or too something.. My humifosa has never took off.

I had a good-sized clump of Opuntia humifusa and another, heavily thorned Opuntia side by side in a prominent perennial bed location. Aside from the difficulty weeding around and in the clumps (I even bought a long pair of tweezers for the task), the plants were just not very ornamental (blink and you will miss the flowering period in late spring). I still have a small clump of O. humifusa in a circular lamppost bed out front (on the side away from the street), mostly as a curiosity.

I'd sooner deal with large thorns than with glochids, which are insidiously nasty things. One alternative might be growing such plants in a large pot/tub, since some Opuntias are amazingly hardy (you could also sink the pot into the ground in fall for extra protection).

To get a long blooming time as you see from the pics posted the ones with a lot of bloom are where you have several pads. If you have a little pant with one or two pads you will not have a lot of blooms. It is like having a rose bush with one branch.

I think growing them in our cold climate it has to be used like we other gardens. Daylilies bloom one day gone the next day but we plant other complimentary plants to take the stage when they are finished blooming. It is a low water plant I just like to have a garden that I do not have to be a slave to water. This plant fits the need with my other low water need plants.

And the flowers are absolutely drop dead gorgous...in my mind, far superior to most other garden plants flowers, including roses.

There are several types of O. humifusa. Some have spines, some only glochids. Some types seem to grow more upright, others form chains that crawl along the ground, some have elongated pads, some have round, some bloom heavily, some have sparse blooms. The one I had bloomed very heavily, had round pads and lots of spines along with glochids. They are adapted to grow where there is seasonal flooding and then long periods of dry and hot.

I found that O. humifusa are worse than other types of Opuntia to work and weed around, a bit of a nuisance due to the number of volunteer seedlings & tendency to collect debris due to the low growth habit and they are worse than many other types with the glochids.

None of the Opuntia & Cholla cactus I grow are true desert types. You really need to live in a dry environment to grow those. There are several types that are surprisingly moisture tolerant and very cold hardy as long as they have good drainage.

The giant sized O. englemanni (below) that is nearly spineless grows well in shade and will put up with an amazing amount of moisture and so does the deep pink blooming Cholla cactus (below) that commonly grow wild all through New Mexico. I commonly see the O. englemanni prickly pear type planted all over Oklahoma in peoples yards, good drainage or not. For some reason no one seems to want to grow the Cholla but I think I can guess why not....Actually, its not all that bad.

There are many ornamental non-desert varieties of Opuntia and Cholla cactus that can be grown in places where cactus are not the norm. There are also the very cute O. fragili types that form tight clumps in rock gardens and many of those are suitable for colder wetter areas, they grow in the wild in the Eastern US all the way up into Canada and almost to the Arctic Circle.

http://luirig.altervista.org/schedenam/fnam.php?taxon=Opuntia+humifusa

https://www.opuntiads.com/opuntia-species/opuntia-d-f/opuntia-fragilis/

Wow thank you for the info. I love these plants for two reasons. One they are a conversation piece in my area and two I love the flowers. I totally understand some that do not have the room in their gardens. When I did not have as much space as I have now I cut out a small area around the mailbox. I think when you want a plant bad enough you will find a space.

I showed your photos to my eldest, Tex...and now wonder if I have stepped onto a slippery, rocky path. I saw both of them (d-i-l and son) in the garden,looking out at my raised beds. I was in the kitchen and couldn't hear them but there was a lot of gesticulating and pointing - and then later on, they asked me exactly how much did I love the paeonies and campanulas (but the anisodontea was apparently OK). A south-facing, 6 foot high, pale brick, sheltered wall... I can see where they are coming from and might even let them go at it.

Camp, opuntia cacanapa var ellisiana is a cold tolerant (for you) water tolerant needle-less variety.

Watch out camps, collecting cold hardy cactus is extremely addictive.....

I highly recommend the cactus wantanamara mentioned (photo below) you can pet this one. Another one I love is O. spinosia (the cholla cactus in the same photo). It looks like fuzzy antlers and is pretty friendly. The purple padded types are stunning in the landscape and fairly easy to work around, they stay upright and add color. The very spiney types are great for contrast & texture because the spines catch the sunlight, are often colors such as red or yellow and that is part of the beauty of cactus actually.

Kelly Grummons has a great selection but I pulled it up and he cannot ship overseas due to restrictions but I found a couple sites that do.

Stay away from O. microdasy (bunny ear cactus), they are the VERY WORST for glochids, that cuteness is alluring but I don't advise planting them, nightmarish to work around and they cover the ground with glochids which end up getting everywhere.

Sources to UK:

www.cactusstore.com looks like they ship overseas.

http://cactusshop.co.uk/index.php?id_category=258&controller=category&id_lang=1&p=4

Cylindropuntia spinosior to the right, Parry Agave (very cold hardy and tolerant) in foreground, O. canacapa to the left toward the back.

C. spinosior by the wall, these turn purple in winter, very pretty and easy to work around

closeup showing spines

O. canacapa, smaller variety than the one up by the house in Hell Strip. 100% spineless and no glochids

If you want something large buy a pad of O. robusta. Dinner plate sized pads. Any of the O. englemanni types are also large.

If you are warm enough I highly recommend the South American O. quimillo--a glochid free, large cactus with huge, beefy, mint green pads, strongly upright and thick white spines, gorgeous!!! I'm too cold for it----I tried and failed. It will take 28 degrees for a short period but no less. I bought mine at Lithops Nursery. Looks like www.cactusstore.com carries pads. Those chollas in the pots behind the prickly pear look like 'Snow Leopard'. Its a mean but gorgeous one, making it worth it in my opinion. I've got a big one I bought from Kelly Grummons.

Cold hardy cactus in winter after ice storm. We get these because its often a single degree or maybe three or so above freezing (one degree colder and we are spared) or its because the temp is freezing on the ground but not in the upper atmosphere so the rain freezes when it hits.

Snow is a bit easier on cactus because its not as much weight. The biggest enemy is poor drainage especially in areas with freeze/thaw cycles which keeps ground soggy, you need them up high in areas like that with perfect drainage. Places like Colorado that stay buried in snow with no thaws is much better. lots of native cold hardy cactus grow there.

My O. guimillo died of cold and moisture. Many of the cold hardy cactus from Utah, Nevada and colorado did not do well. I once read that many of cold hardy cactus from those areas will only perform well in Z 7 and colder.I did not listen. I am in zone 8b and when I put these cactus in the ground here, they struggle. They seem to do well in pots but not in the ground. I think they need the cold hours that TexR has in Oklahoma to make them more dormant in winter.

I have more success with cactus that originate from the Big Bend , Arizona, and southern New Mexico.Big bend is the best because they historically will get some rain events in winter (and summer). After 2 horrid years (for cactus), the more southern cactus (O. macrocentra, O. violacia) that also developed rot fell over and re rooted and is growing back, The northern ones just rotted completely. O. cacanpa is a texas variety and extremely moisture tolerant. O. leucotricha is a maybe for cold but good on moisture. O . robusta is hardy to about 17F and no moisture. ALL the robusta in my neighborhood died after a bad freeze a week after a good rain.If a big freeze is coming < I cut these back take in the pads and wrap the stump. Insurance. Ones in San Antonio have done fine. A couple of degrees warmer and a day less of cold than us. We get wild swings of temperatures in the winter here. The cold does not stay. O englemanni and O. lindheimeri (native to here) are good and the cow tongue englemani is great and will take cold and moisture in the ground but will ultimately be too large for a raised bed. They get huge when happy. They grow in unammended clay in Austin. Cylindropuntia imbricata texas form is very moisture tolerant where as the C. imbricata colorado form looks like hell now that I have it in the ground for three years. I have just torn it out. Cylindropuntia whipplei has not died and grows slow, but thick. It did not die with the huge floods that we have been getting but they look nothing like Tex's. Growing cactus and PPoutside is all about where you are, so look around at people in your area that have cactus gardens and find out what works in your zone and what is their sound prep. Get a hold of your C & S society.

There is a good book , "Cacti and Succulents for Cold Climates" on cactus for cold hardy areas by Leo Chance

Another , but harder to find is Growing Winter Hardy Cacti in cold?wet Conditions " by John Spain

I may be wrong but I was under the impression that where camps lives it doesn't get all that cold, I keep reading comparisons to Pacific NW. Is that wrong or right? And, she swears its dry there. So........who knows? Cactus might just like her.

wantanamara I'm surprised by some of that report from Texas. I have some that need special care, meaning a good spot. Santa Rita var basilaris does great in the courtyard planted quite elevated in deep coarse sand but it does lousy up front where its sloped, sandy & drains well, I have no idea why. It stays alive but looks like crap. That big common O. englemanni nearly spineless one that blooms yellow and gets the big red pears (name?) that you see growing all over Dallas will grow anywhere it seems (even in wetter, colder Kansas), sun or shade and its not picky aout soil. The Imbricata that blooms magenta like the ones growing wild in NM and Colorado seem to be just as forgiving and easy to grow, I'm stunned it didn't do well for you. The O. polyacantha's do well here but anything with the name 'basilaris' or grizzly bear is very iffy. Too bad, because I love the grizzly's. All the O. macrocentras do well, aka 'The Purple Cactus'. I have some from Texas and one from Tucson.

There is a lot of trial and error involved. What you think will do well sometimes doesn't and vice versa but I've had pretty good luck as long as I stay away from the real desert species, basilaris and grizzlies (wah). That box-full of nice desert cuttings I got from "Wuff from Somewhere in Arizona" (love that address) didn't do well at all.

By the way, the big Texas Tree Cholla you sent me does really well up here & is taller than me now. Its not very stickery (compared to Imbricata) you can actually pick up fallen joints with your naked hand. I started #2 Tree Cholla up front to replace my fallen Desert Willow that the ice storm destroyed. Thats the most dangerous thing about the Chollas--the fallen joints OUCH OUCH OUCH!!! I try to keep them picked up by a periodic cleaning around the base.

weird, I got the houzz message sent from you (TxR) to my mailbox but then I came here, your comment has not posted yet... so I can only read the first sentence. I think Camp is Z8a but a cold wet winter. It is like the PNW. but not the Z9 part of the PNW. I think the winters stay at the same temps without big swings with warm weather snuck in. cold wet dreary.

That is weird, I've never gotten a message like that.

That doesn't sound too good for cactus.

It helps to understand how they grow. Opuntia cactus roots are very tough like cable wire, very shallow and grow horizontally (not down). The roots are only about 3 or 4 inches underneath the top of the soil which makes digging out a cactus very easy once you lop off the top (unlike yucca's where the water storage tank is underground, extensive and deep). Opuntia's are basically above ground water storage tanks that put out big strong leader roots that both anchor the plant (which can get quite heavy) and take in water whenever its available. These roots extend several feet, growing outward in each direction away from the plant, its amazing to see how long and shallow a root can be. Thats why they are stunted and grow so dismally in pots, you realize it is rather cruel to grow one in a pot once you understand how the roots naturally grow and how they operate, its better to grow barrel type cactus in pots.

I've heard that barrel cactus in Arizona have exploded when they get unusually heavy rains, they drink themselves to death because they are hard wired to take advantage of any available moisture and just keep drinking it up 'bursting the seams' of the poor plant. Opuntia are more prone to root rot.

Now I can read your post.

There are certainly hardy cactus growers in the UK but in east anglia, the dryest and flattest part of the UK, we have far less rain than Austin - I think it is around 24ins a year and is classed as semi-arid. Lots less rain than Flora down in the south. In any case, my garden is a special case as it is essentially a tiny brick courtyard which is very sheltered - many south african bulbs such as gladioli, watsonia, babiana, rhodohypoxis thrive...and even aeoniums and echeverias have overwintered outside under glass while agave americana, haworthias and hesperaloes get along with the odd casualty. And in a deep, well-drained raised bed on the south facing wall, I can see why the kids were getting exciteable. I am inclined to seriously consider letting them loose - Rachel is a nursery nurse and is hugely observant, meticulous and nurturing - she has the makings of becoming an extraordinary gardener, I think. Giving up this tiny space would be a small sacrifice to seeing new gardeners (and gardens) taking wing under your eyes. Watch this space.

Get a good pair of tweezers, some big tongs, some good quality dishwashing gloves and go for it---let the kids have fun. A piece of old carpet or thick newspaper is good for picking up pads and setting them in the ground or moving a large cactus (you never know down the road). Seems like some choice alpines would go good with them.