Opuntia Englemanii (sp?) certainly would.

I live in southern BC, Canada, where we gets lots of snow and temps in the minus celsius range (10°F or so), most of the winter months. I planted 4 little prickly pears in the Spring of 2005, outside. They did ok, I thought. The following Spring, I knew they were definitely doing more than OK b/c they had so many new ones added on!! The next Spring, they all had little red nubbies all over them, which I didn't know what to call, but I was happy! This Spring/07, I am overjoyed!!! Those litte red nubbies have now gone a step further and turned to buds and I am just praying they will open up and bloom!!!

I'm ecstatic, so of course, I say - plant away!! Check out the nurseries in your area and see if anyone has them. If not, order them online.

If mine bloom, I will definitely post a pic!! I think I will post a pic of them as they are now! Good luck!

I live in upstate NY (on the shore of Lake Ontario) and have six different types of Opuntia. My oldest is a chunk a friend gave me seven or eight years ago. It was a piece maybe two feet long by one foot across. It is now a huge clump about five feet in diameter. Don't worry about how it looks in the winter and early Spring. In our climate, the pads will shrivel somewhat and flatten more to the ground. Once the weather starts to warm, the pads will plump up again. Get a copy of John Spain's "Growing Winter Hardy Cacti in Cold Wet Climate Conditions" - it will give you a lot to drool over! Good luck. Leslie

Hi, I'm in Pennsylvania. If you're just getting started, the first cold hardy cactus I would recommend to you would be "Eastern Prickly Pear" that's native to the East Coast. It's usually listed as Opuntia humifusa. I have also seen it listed (more than once) as Opuntia compressa - but I believe that is incorrect as I "think" O. compressa is a synonym for the Prickly Pear of grocery store comerce (I E. Prickly Pear may be edible (I've not tried), but it's fruit is small).

To give an example of its durability - I planted a cactus garden on part of a southern facing road cut on my parent's property. It's been effectively abandoned since I moved away over 7 years ago. This spring I went to check it out. - the O. humifusa was the only cactus or succulent still there and it was thriving. It won't get more than about a foot tall, and will tend to make more of a mound than an upright plant. It's not my favorite Opuntia as I don't like the reddish center to its yellow flowers. It doesn't have a lot of big spines, but boy does it have glochids (small almost invisible needles that don't hurt initially, but keep on giving)!

On hardiness ratings. Cacti are often rated on their hardiness by temperature. There are a number of cacti hardy to quite low temperatures. However many of them cannot handle cold and *wet* conditions.

Another cacti to consider:
Opuntia polyacantha

Two sites:
Mesa Garden:
http://www.mesagarden.com/index.html
- not the most elaborate site - plants small - but inventory selection huge, good prices, and a good company to deal with.

http://www.oikostreecrops.com/store/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=79&strPageHistory=cat
Only 3 cacti from this site, but they're raised in Michigan , so quite hardy.

Good luck,

Chris

P.S. Checked out your slideshow - Beautiful tropical type plantings.

Here are three good choices to try. Just remember, cactus do NOT like wet feet especially during the winter season. Plant them in a well draining soil mix and mound them up some. A great site that I have ordered from several times is; http://www.lithops.com/.

Opuntia violacea v. santa-rita

Opuntia erinacea v. ursine

Opuntia basilaris

What type of prickly pear is best for fruit? Lots of prickly pears grow wild in Florida, but I've never seen any with fruit.

I live in NY, and I really wanted to grow an opuntia for the fruit (it's one of my favorite types of fruit). So I ate some prickly pears that I buy at my supermarket (this past winter), I spit out all the seeds, and I washed them off very well. After letting them dry, I put them in some well-draining soil. Only 3 made it, but this is what they look like now (I put my finger in one of the pix for size reference). I hope they make me some yummy fruit one day!

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I love the prickly pear fruit, they grow like crazy here in the cactus patches. I would plant any type of prickly pear if I was you and try it out,just keep them dry,we get an average of 8inches of rain a year and they love it,so give it a try.

I know of at least one house near mine that has the 'Cows tongue' type of Englemanii in a bed. It isn't very tall though. I think they may need the insulation of snow to survive the really cold snaps we get (-20F last winter!).

The Humifusa and Compressa species will grow fine just about anywhere. The only problem is that they don't make big trees like the others do, they make mats along the ground. The difference between the two is that the Compressa grows closer to the ground than Humifusa, and I think their flower colors might be different.

I saw one of those two species in the Badlands (hard to tell apart), when I went through there last august, so they are definitely survivors.

On a semi-related note, I bought a Indian Fig stem/paddle from the store last winter, and put it in a pot, and it's rooted, but I'm still waiting for it to grow branches.