Never heard of the fern bush. Sounds interesting! Thanks for introducing me to it.

My experience with rooting cactus pads is that they don't need any moisture in order to root. The pad itself has enough moisture stored to send out roots and to sustain it for quite a while.

Being that Macho Mocha' mangaves have a strong will to grow I think you could divide it now with no problem.

My Y. pallida bloomed last year, but I don't remember exactly when; late spring I think. It doesn't show any signs of putting up a bloom stalk yet, so since I'm way south of you I think you'd be okay to plant yours in the ground even if you have to destroy the roots that have gone into the ground.

Just my two cents worth. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in.

No more experience but I grow manfreda (not Mocho Mocha) and it dies back to roots every year. I divide it at will but not when it's really hot or cold.

My hubby saw the picture of the spineless cacti and thought it was one of my old pictures :-) We have the same color brick and our AC looks just like that too. Plus I always have random pots everywhere. I just potted up some big baby spineless cactus that I got from the FW Swap some time back as pads with no roots. I threw it on top of a shallow pot with some potting soil and stuck it in the yard. Watered it maybe once a month if we didn't get rain. It has nice roots this year and as soon as I commit to it's place it's going in ground.

Thanks so much for clarifying things. Since moisture has been necessary for everything else I've rooted, seems counter intuitive that contact with dry soil is enough to trigger root growth in a cactus pad - wonderfully different plants. Will keep them mostly dry under the eves until we're through the spring rains and then set them out.

Glad to learn mangaves/manfredas are tougher than my initial impression; really looked like a near death experience in our most sheltered spot. Will divide and try one in a more exposed area.

Roselee, Thanks for the timing on the y. pallida bloom. I'll move ours this evening.

PKponder, I do have random pots everywhere, but did have to move the cacti off the ac unit when we got into the upper 80s over the weekend. ;-)

Bostedo, in looking for my post on yucca blooms to know when that event occurred I realize my yucca may be 'twisted leaf' or Y. rupicola and not 'pale leaf'. I dug it from a large stand growing near my house so just guessed at the ID. However, Mara says on your post last year that they often cross and as you say some people even consider them to be the same plant. Since mine has somewhat pale, but slightly twisted leaves it may be a cross. It looks much more like the Y. pallida in comparison photos especially the color and yellowish edged leaves, which are striking, by the way. Anyway all the yuccas were blooming April 30 last year.

Incidentally, cactus pads will put down roots from their sides while laying on dry ground. Amazing plants!

Roselee, Sounds like yucca flowers are at least three weeks away in north Texas even in this abnormally early growing season. After I moved the pot off the concrete, it filled out nicely once it got its roots into the ground and was convinced it is y. pallida. Only one of the root cuttings grew and I needed two plants; so did end up ordering a couple of the y. pallida/rupicola intergrades from Yuccado while they are still getting them during their last year of business. They're supposed to stay a bit smaller than straight y. pallida and might fit the intended spot better.

edit: My understanding is that the greyish/blueish tint in your twisted leaf yucca leaves appears to have come from some cross-breeding with pale leaf somewhere in its family tree.

Yes, and very hardy I might add. It showed no damage at all from those two low temperature nights most of us experienced. Plus it's an exceptionally beautiful plant that blooms every year. Lucky for you that you ordered more from Yuccado while they were still in business.

In color and form it reminds me a lot of an Agave 'blue glow' of which I have three small plants and all suffered from the rain and cold. I had to uproot them to dry out the roots from the rain as well as trim off most of the damaged leaves. They will recover, but if I had my 'druthers' I'd trade them for the yuccas if I didn't have to walk a couple of miles to get to them and work so hard to dig them up. Besides Mara doesn't approve of harvesting plants from the wild ... (uh oh :-) I assured her there were lots of them (truly!) and of the Nolina Texana or 'bear grass' I dug at the same time.

Guess digging yucca in the wild depends on one's perspective. Apparently some ranchers find the stands of pale/twist leaf yucca to be a problem. An acquaintance with a ranching background warned I'd never be rid of it. In his childhood world, they would have been glad for me to dig up as much as I wanted and he couldn't believe I was actually willing to pay someone for it. So... you may have been doing somebody a favor. :-)

Nolina Texana does seem to be a great plant. We picked one up at BSN on a trip through Austin, but roots rotted in our unimproved clay during an especially wet winter. Hope to try it again in a better draining location - just not commonly sold in north Texas.

Yuccado is not gone yet. But don't delay if you've been considering buying something from them. They were still willing to restock a few months ago to fill my intergrade order, though believe that option is winding down.

Obviously got some sound advice on the cactus pads. Pretty amazed at how much they've grown in just at a couple months. Large one is already getting unstable, so am going to need to find a bigger pot soon.

looks pretty happy!

Yes... probably the happiest things in my yard :-( Used a 50/50 mix of cacti soil and compost - starting to suspect the soil mix included a fertilizer.

Bostedo, about rooting opuntias. I always heard that they can not absorb water without roots. They develop roots to look for water. They have enough energy stored in their pad to root.. Water will rot them if they do not have roots. I keep them dry till I feel a bit of resistance when I tug gently on them. These opuntias that you have are fairly water tolerant. I have lots of seeds for Nolina texana . My Nolina lindheimeri is also sending up an inflorecsens.