Opuntia polyacantha ‘Crystal Tide’

Opuntia Polyacantha 'Crystal Tide'

I bought this cactus from Gardens North. It is eye catching, whether or not it is flowering. The spines are very white, and they shine in sunlight. The flowers are white and resemble rose flowers.

It grows rather slowly compared to other Opuntia's. It is quite hard to move it due to the large amount of spines, so I use kitchen tongs to move the parts around.

Opuntia viridiflora

Opuntia viridiflora(Santa Fe cholla)

This is very interesting cactus, it looks like a shrub, and it is branched. Grows to about 30 inches in height and about 72 inches across. Flowers 2-2.5 cm in diameter, apparently brownish-orange in the center .Fruits tubercular, firm and leathery, not juicy, yellow when ripe, persistent, 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter Unfortunately mine haven't flowered yet. Flowers in July.

I don't have any recent pictures but my Santa Fe Cholla looks absolutely amazing. It is about 1,5'tall and 3'wide .It grows on the small hill in very sandy soil in full sun.

Single stems roots very easy to starts new plants.

Right now is fully covered by snow.

It has survived in my garden for five years .

My son really like this cactus and it took us about three mouths to find it .

It was worth it!