Being a generalist collector of all types of plant(although I'm positive i dont, and wont ever have, a rep of every type of plant)My years of seeing and buying...I think my favorite succulent is ..Euphorbia ammak variegata. There is NOTHING else like it than can be grown here in the bay area outdoors. There are no other(Oreocereus take decades) huge white cactids.Plus,it's fast,easy plant, and takes high 20's. Finally,it looks great. Pachypodium lamerii gives it competition-but isn't nearly as hardy,or even approaches the size of ammak outdoors. Beaucarnea recurvata...is great,but let's face it,when grown outdoors to most people, it's another Yucca-lol. Everybody notices E.ammak. Cactus?..Golden barrel...hands down. The great Pasacana's in a dream way(20-60' tall)but not likely to get past the height of a basketball hoop in your lifetime. And my little purple dwarf Opuntia 'santa rita" give so much while asking for so little. Like a good puppy. Good also are some very blue cereus on the market nowadays. A neighbor down the block had one reach a good 8-10' and wide in about 10 years..they cut it down for one of those cheap plastic sheds. Nothing rare mentioned-sorry. But,take the plants mentioned and place together and you will have a very flashy,colorful and easy to keep dry garden. Try 'em. btw,I cleared the mess under my old Ponytail and can now post some photos later of the base. And also,I noticed the very smooth branches. Aloe like.

Peggy, I live not very far from Minneapolis and so we obviously get more rain in the part of Minnesota I live in compared to where you are at. You may be able to grow some species I can't grow here. I have tried these and either the cold or being cold and wet at the same time killed them: Opuntia imbricata, Agave utahensis. Agave utahensis may only be hardy to -10 degrees F. Opuntia imbricata survived one winter and its supposedly hardy in Michigan which is a slightly warmer zone than here. The spot where all my cacti and succulents are isn't elevated but it has been amended with sand and also rocks on the bottom of that to allow better drainage. There is at least a 1 foot layer of just rocks at the bottom. I figured its better so it drains through instead of using well drained soil with a clay or poor draining soil below. Bath tub effect if you know what i mean. These have survived: Opuntia polyacantha, Opuntia compressa/humifusa, Echinocereus viridiflorus. I also tried Pediocactus simpsonii and I know for a fact it wasn't the cold that killed it but probably because it wasn't always watered well in the summer( it grows high up in the mountains where it usually gets adequate rainfall) or else it was the summer heat. Pedio's don't mind cold they actually grow alot in the springtime, what they hate is heat especially humid heat. Your best bet is to start them from seed yourself and especially not provenance information. The Opuntia polyacantha that i started the seeds were collected from Alberta, Canada so they are obviously cold hardy. Im suprized they survived though since it is also a much drier climate in Alberta than the Twin Cities. The Echinocereus viridflorus was collected from Hot springs, South Dakota. Opuntia compressa from New Jersey. It said cold and wet no problem but one year one plant either got damaged from a winter storm or something it rotted. I took a pad and planted indoors in March and replanted it in a pot and put outdoors in the ground in May. I think Opuntia polyacantha is hardier. I never tried Escobaria vivipara but it would be a good one and its similar to Echinocereus viridiflorus except it would have the pink flowers. I mean they are the same in size and belong to the same subfamily: Cactoideae Opuntias are less evolved and belong to Opuntiodeae.

I hear that in the future they will try to find ways to diminish the heat island effect but I have no idea why! You would definitely have a lot of angry palm growers lol. Look at the good the heat island effect did to the palms in Florida. Millions of palms were saved thanks to that. One of the greatest things about living in and around a city is the slightly milder planting weather and when you include an ocean right next to it you got a great climate for experimenting with marginal plants! I really love the look of agaves. The first ones I ever saw was in europe and after a ton of searching I finally found out the name of the plant. When I found out some can survive a zone 7 I was really happy! Now that I know what they are I see then all over in milder climates. I saw one in the caribbean in flower with hummingbirds around it getting its nectar. A very nice scene for sure and something that you might see with your agaves one day (and thats in Iowa!). Good luck!

Hi Ann, my Mother has the same issue with her Thanksgiving Cactus. Yours is probably a Thanksgiving Cactus (TC) as well if it has claw-like leaves. Mom insists on keeping her TC on her window sill in direct sunlight, which is not good for the plant. Her plant is very old and has also has developed woody trunks. I am adding a picture of her plant below. I recently took healthy-looking cuttings from her plant. I tried to take Y shaped cuttings or at least cuttings with 3 segments of leaves. One Y shaped cutting I rooted in water and potted. I recently got one new leaf on it. See pic in green pot. The other cutting I laid atop moist soil ( the same soil the mother plant had ) and it just started to root. I will pot it up soon in the right soil mixture. See pic in dark blue pot. So, what you can do is experiment yourself with a few cuttings from your beloved plant that was given to you by your son. You will start new plants from the MOTHER plant, that are healthy. Do not keep in direct sunlight. A TC should have bright light but not Direct sunlight. In my opinion, Direct sunlight is when the rays of the sun are actually hitting the plant. Move the plant away from the window ( if you have it there) and away from any hot air vents. Also it is best to propagate new plants after the flower buds fall off, so the plant can use its energy to form roots ( rather then blooming). I have limited experience but I hope this helped.