Opuntia Species, Joseph's Coat, Irish Mittens

My mother had this plant growing in all kinds of pots and in the ground in her yard at her new house. They looked interesting to me -- re...Read Moreally colorful -- so I took about 5 cuttings of this plant home and stuck them into gritty mix.

That was about a year ago.
They've since been split into two different pots, and one pot has since been repotted yet another time. They are MASSIVE growers, adding great color to your landscape without any fuss at all. From afar, they are just rather magnificent, and up close, it's a tad ugly but mighty interesting.

Be forewarned, if you even skim by this plant, you'll end up with a whole school of little thorns in your hand, clothing or whatever. I wear two rubber gloves on each hand to even begin messing with this plant.

Also note that while this plant is now growing rapidly in a zone 9 area that also hits 100+ almost daily over the summer, I had it previously in San Francisco. The growth rate, naturally, was nowhere near as fast, but it never even once seemed to flinch from the cold and cloudiness.

Hardy little thing with a massive root system. You can just snap off sections and stick it in another pot, and sooner rather than later, it's rooted and growing a "pup".

A friend bought me a josephs coat cactus to begin my "friends" garden. At first it did really well..several months time....now it seems t...Read Moreo be really drooping and the stalks (?) bending over with a puckered look. I would think it's not getting enough water?? I live in Goodyear AZ which gets very little water year round. How much and how often should I be watering this cactus since I can't rely on rain water? Phoenix and the east side get a lot of rain but we only get 2-3" of rain a year if that.
Thanks,
Kristen

Just acquired about a dozen of these plants kind of strange looking large sturdy plants. They look relatively healthy. Have planted 2 alr...Read Moreeady and will plant the rest to see how they fare in Southeastern Pennsylvania weather...

We bought a small plant from Home Depot about 4 years ago (2008). It was planted in our front yard and gets full Arizona sun, which can ...Read Morebe quite distressing to plants in the summer. The plant was very slow growing, and very often I thought it was on the edge of dying as the pads would wrinkle. I'd give it a healthy dose of water and it would seem to revive. My guess is that it needs to build up reserves in what become the stems. Once that process is completed, the natural rain that occurs in Mesa was enough to keep it healthy, which is about 6-7 inches per year. It gets no other source of water at this time.

This year was the first year it bloomed and produced a few very delightful small yellow flowers. We are probably going to relocate it further back in the yard this fall as I did not realize it has the possibility of getting so tall.

At first, my wife thought it was quite an ugly little cactus. But now that it has matured and developed a nice stem system, and started to flower, she has changed her mind. I always thought it was a very nice cactus, I only mention it to note that it does change character a bit once it develops.

I find the variegated pads quite a nice contrast to our other cactus, and when the new pads come in they have beautiful edge of striking red buds aureoles where the new spines eventually develop. I think this cactus is a nice addition to our garden which needed a little color. It is not overwhelming in it's color, just a nice extra touch.