Mammillaria Species, Snowball Cactus

Awesome little indestructible snowball of a plant. Highly recommended for cactus beginners and longtime pros alike. Looks particularly g...Read Morereat next to bluish columnar species or rosette-type succulents (e.g. echeverias). I'm not sure how long its takes for them to form additional heads like in the pic submitted by palmbob. Is it really hardy down to 20ºF?

This is a very nice small plant and in a unique genus. It has characteristics of the neolloydia and mammillaria types and hence the name...Read More.

In southwest Idaho we grow another similiar but cold hardy plant, Escobaria sneedii ssp. leei, that can take temps down below zero with no damage, and thrive in our desert climate of the Boise Valley. You might try this plant if you are in the more northerly desert areas of the West. A very tiny and clustering species.

I also knew this plant as a mammilaria I like M plumosa more.I have no photos of that anymore. Plumosa needed to be grafted to do well M...Read Morey favorite for that was Lemairocereus pruinosis Iwhatsitsnamenow .It is sturdy,does not shrink ,will provide offsets without affecting the scion
Plantnutoo

This one is definitely hardier than 20F! It survived at 17F in my cactus garden in February and now in March it is blooming like nothing ...Read Morehappened! Very nice plant, although it is better to have it in a place where you can see it up close since the flowers are quite pale and they are not very noticeable from a distance.