Opuntia Species, Mojave Prickly Pear, Tulip Prickly Pear, New Mexico Prickly Pear, Bastard Fig

Dunno where you guys get your common names from but this cactus is known BY none of those names and a search for the Binomal name comes u...Read Morep with nothing.

These are found around the BCC and hybridize easily with O. engelmannii. It's hard to tell all the hybrids apart but generally O, engelmannii has pale yellow to bright yellow flowers. O. phaeacantha has yellow flowers with bright red...
Orange flowered ones are usually O. engelmannii AND should not be considered a hybrid between O. engelmannii and O. phaeacantha

This is the staple of any hardy Opuntia garden. Tolerates some winter wet, but leaves will spot if moisture collects on them for a prolo...Read Morenged period of time. The plant is rather "clunky" and dumpy, but the large flowers (in plum, brilliant red, etc.) are attractive. Unfortunately, each only lasts one day.

I live in Cornwall, UK, zone 9b. Opuntia phaeacantha and some other Opuntia species are perhaps the most surprisingly successful of all ...Read Morethe unusual succulents we can grow in our gloomy cool wet climate.

I have grown these plants in zone 8b too, and they have never suffered any damage at all -- even in the wettest, coldest winters. They do not even seem to need special soil, as long as it is reasonably well-drained.

'Experts' still insist that Opuntia humifusa is the only species which can be grown in the UK, but this is just not true. I have grown four large species (unidentified) for twenty years now, and they have been highly successful -- even in really bad winters. Their only enemies are snails which leave greyish brown scars, but the species with closely spaced spines are almost immune from attack.

Definitely worth growing alongside Aloe striatula, Sedum confusum, Delosperma cooperi and Yuccas for a hardy desert garden.

The larger species cannot be relied upon to flower, but O humifusa flowers very profusely.

I love this cactus. A friend dug it up for me from his son's yard in Albuquerque as it was being run over with the lawnmower and he hated...Read More it and thought of it as a pest. It has creamy light yellow flowers and gets pretty pink pears. I think of it as a rescue cactus. It's got great spines.