Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: my above ground over-wintering structure, 0 by shortleaf

shortleaf wrote:
Time will only tell with my structure. I remember last Spring, I waited in April, then May, then June, no growth from many of my plants, even some of my favorites. I had one Shortleaf Pine that I liked real well, it perished too. This year I still have Shortleaf Pines, but not as many. The ones that are left are the ones that came through last Winter, and I'm glad they did. This year, they are getting a little protection, on top of just being survivors. I couldn't do my name justice if I didn't have a Shortleaf Pine somewhere!
I was surprised at what lived, and what didn't last year though. It was a learning experience for sure.

My "native Missouri cactus", thats what I call them. Is I think Cylindropuntia and just regular Opuntia (Prickly-Pear). If I'm not mistaken their native. I know the Prickly-Pear is, I have seen it semi-commonly in parks and rocky out-croppings here.

There is 2 neighbors down the street that are growing Cylindropuntia. One neighbor has it in the ground, and the other neighbor has it in a big pot by his mail-box. They both have came through Winters and grew the next year.

One neighbor had a big pot of Prickly-Pear out by his mail-box, and I bought the big pot from him for $20. I now have the big pot outside. It appears to be dead on the top. I am guessing the Prickly-Pear will grow from the root system underneath next year. That same neighbor has the Cylindropuntia in a pot too. I gave him $10 to trim that pot all up and get the cuttings. I felt a little bad about getting all his Prickly-pear so I only asked for trimmings of the Cylindropuntia.

In short, my Prickly-Pear came "as-is" in a big pot, and my Cylindropuntia I am trying to propagate from cuttings.
I plan on starting them from seeds after I learn more about them, in particular, where the seeds are at! I'm pretty sure the PP seeds are in those red oval pods. The Cylindropuntia I'm not sure about yet. I've already propagated the PP earlier this year just by sticking pads in soil in pots, as you can see in some of the photos.
I don't expect them to take over from last year's growth above ground, like a deciduous tree.
I am guessing that it will die on top, but live on the bottom and re-grow quite vigorously the next year.
You know you're a gambling sort when you also have Banana plants (Musa basjoo) in North Missouri!
Although, I don't really gamble, like at a casino!

This will be my first year with both of them, so I'm gonna see how they do this Winter and next year. I think it would be really neat to have like a half barrel full of "Missouri native cactus" out in the front landscaping out just beyond the front porch of a house.
I took some more pics of my "Missouri native cactus". -
http://photobucket.com/albums/v243/w4i0a/missouri native cac...

If everything works out right, I'll have some of my own land in Kansas in less than a year, and can do a better job with my over-wintering.

Thanks for the good advice all.

Will
One pot of a big cutting of Cylindropuntia in my over-wintering structure