Donald,

As long as you are positive that you have the hardy types, you should do nothing. Mulching would be the worst thing to do. These plants HATE being wet and damp in the cold weather. Good thing is that you have them on a hillside that will ensure that water doesn't puddle near them. The west winds which prevail here in winter will also serve to keep them dry. As the weather gets colder you will start to see the pads shrivel and wrinkle. This is normal so don't panic. It's the way they survive the winter. They may shrink a lot and shrivel to get close to the ground. Come spring they start to plump up again.

I will attempt to post a photo or two of mine if I can figure out how to do it. Claire (Thank you!) has given me some direction but I haven't tried it yet. Maybe this weekend.

Thanks for the info Bill. They are the hardy variety so I should be OK.
Donald

One thing to note the plants will look horrible (dead) in spring time. At least in my garden they look this way. Resist cutting them back before you give them a chance to wake up in the spring.

These are some photos of my Opuntia and Yucca recurvifolia.

Prickly Pear Patch

Prickly Pear flower

Yucca recurvifolia

Another view (Easier to see the trunk.)

Closeup of Yucca blossom

I hope the links work as this is my first attempt.

WOW! Nice prickly pear patch. The four I have cover about the size of a dinner plate. They have a long way to go. Love your Yuccas. Mine are nowhere near that size. Happy Fall.

This is a trunk-forming Yucca (Y. recurvifolia). The trunks are about three feet high and the leaves add maybe another two feet. When it bloomed in 2008, the flower spikes were about four or five feet more. You said your yuccas aren't so big, but it depends on which ones you have. As I recall you have the variegated types of Y. filamentosa, which doesn't form a trunk at all. Those form clumps over time but stay low to the ground. It's nice if you have some of both the low growing ones and the trunked types. There are some that have narrow leaves and others with various colorations in the foliage, so it's possible to have quite a display made up of nothing but yuccas. I personally like to mix their spikiness with softer growing plants too. However you use yuccas, I think they're great plants.

Opuntia Polyacantha Var Pink Plateau, zones 4-8

Does anyone know who the person is that went by the name of Blackadder on this forum, who had a hardy cactus collection and last posted back in 2007?