It will be helpful to know your actual gardening zone. You can go to the following link and type in your zip code to get your zone.

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

I'm guessing living in Missouri it's too cold in the winters to plant in ground. So pots would be good, but you will have to bring inside when it starts getting cold. So keep the pots small at first until you get a hang of things:).

I would start off with a few cactus planted in a gritty mix in some terra cotta pots:). You may need a grow light in the winter. Start off small and see how you do this winter with those few cactus.

Kara

I do not know anything about Missouri, but looked up average winter temps - and they are similar to my zone/location! Well there are couple of spots that are colder (N of Kansas City). But comparing to yours, it is cold :)

Cathy

There are plenty of hardy succulents - plants that will survive winter outdoors. I would start with those, plant them directly in your 'rock pile'. They are quite easy to grow, and you don't have to worry about bringing them indoor for the winter.

Many sedums - some are low growing - ground covers, some grow mid size, some even taller (about 2'). There are so many, you may not be able to decide which one to grow :) Some die down for the winter and regrow in spring, some are even evergreen.

Would you be interested in doing something like that?

That would be a good idea beautiful Sempervivum rock garden:).

Socks , Good question, I live in zone 6

Kara I love seedum, I actually have a few in the front yard and they are slow but doing OK they are Autumn Joy and a gift from a friend, so thank you

Sorry that last post was to Rina (-:

Yep couldn't have an in ground cactus garden, but like Rina said there are hardy succulents out there. A Sempervivum garden would be beautiful.

The cactus you could just keep in pots and bring inside when it starts getting chilly:).

There is opuntia - I believe as low as z2. There are many other hardy succulents, here are just a few that live in my garden:

Those are beautiful Rina

I looked up the Sempervivums and they are awesome, thanks you guys

Thank you Cathy. If you decide to start looking for some of them, let me know & I'll get you proper names. I have others too. Sempervivums are easy too, and do not worry much about names unless they have label with exact cultivar name, there are so many crosses and varieties and many look quite similar.

Rina gave me a bunch of hardy Sedum cuttings and they are looking nice.

I was able to leave the pot outside all winter which was nice because I could enjoy the size without taking up room inside under my lights.

Do you know of any good on line sites to purchase from

I do not - I don't buy on line... I am sure someone from US will give you tips. Isn't there a garden center where you live?

I picked up some chicken and hens and some seedum yesterday, went to the city. Researching now as to soil preparation.

The beginning

That looks like a lots of gravel around - may be OK to plant in right away.

When I feel like spending money on shipping, I'll order from Mountain Crest Gardens. I've ordered twice from there with multiple plants in each order and all the plants arrived fine and looked good. I happened to kill a plant soon after it arrived and the customer service was very good and they sent me a replacement free of charge.

Rina your succulents are beautiful! How on earth do you protect them in winter? I grow a few sedums in the ground, but most of my other succulents live inside in winter. You examples are quite something! Any info you will share about your methods would be greatly appreciated!

Susanb

Thank you.

All shown above are hardy - they stays wherever they are. Many are in containers. I was showing them to Cathy since she is building outdoors succulent garden - and these overwinter in my zone that is bit colder than hers. Many will survive winters in z4 & even z3. Just make sure there is good drainage, nothing worse for any plants than standing water. In winter, that will freeze & thaw all the time, and that's what will kill many plants.

Non-hardy succulents have to go indoors - I bring them in when nighttime temps start staying constantly just below 50*F.

Hi Rina,

So you leave hardy succulents outside in containers for the winter? Are your containers ceramic or other materials? Wow you are brave and obviously have good luck! Do you protect the containers with mulch, or boughs, or just let them be. Here in Colorado my gardens are usually fine as long as we have snow cover...if we don't I have to get creative.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge...so many plants so little time...

Susan

Most of the containers are just plastic, either pots of tubs. In later I drilled lots of holes for drainage. One is a wooden box. I have one oval, bonsai style container that is quite shallow and glazed - I am surprised it didn't crack yet:

Terracotta pots have been all damaged - maybe you can see in photo below how it fell apart - so I do not use them anymore:
I never protected any with anything, snow or not. I have lost few Sempervivum babies when we had bad freezing rain and it was cold for quite a while after - the ice 'crust' stayed for a while. Then it got very sunny and warmer, it melted fast and water had no place to go since the soil was still frozen. Few 'drowned' - but not many. These were divided from mother plant in fall, maybe they were not established well yet. Most in the photos have been around for years - I have moved from z6 few years ago, and brought many with me to colder zone.

We get reasonable snow cover, but there are times when there isn't much. Is it very windy where you are?

Hi Rina,

Yes wind is a challenge here! It almost always comes from the west. We are in a valley at 7000 feet. The garden is in a grove of oak and juniper and they help some, but not always.

I have used terra cotta pots as well, and they are damaged, but haven't fallen apart completely. The glazed pots look great in the garden (and add color) and it's just so hard to protect them in winter...they are usually emptied and stored in an insulated shed. My house is too small to bring many plants in for the winter... not enough direct sun.

This summer my husband purchased a dish of mixed succulents, and I created one. Those definitely have to come in as I'm not sure if the plants will survive. They are pretty young. So far they live on the deck in part-shade and seem to be fine.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and being willing to chat. There is so much to learn it keeps my brain engaged...just wish I could be in the garden all four seasons, though as I get older my body would surely suffer...but better than going to the gym!

You guys are all so awesome !!!! My garden is moving along. Can anyone identify the second one down

I don't know if you can see it, but there's a baby, I am so excited. Someday, hopefully I will have a wonderful cactus garden like all of you. Thanks for your help

BTW, we don't water our lawn, I guess we are just lucky. We do have to mow a lot though and we have two acres. We only water our pollinator garden, vegetable garden and flowers

The problem I've had (Arkansas and Oklahoma) with cactus beds is that the other plants want to move in...and you can't mow it ;0

Bermuda is terrible, but reseeding plants and even trees clog the beds. I suppose with high maintainance it's possible, but hard to do around all the spines.

In z7 NE Oklahoma, i had several species (and colors) of opuntia, fameflower (which reseeds but won't be a problem), coryphantha (cactus), escobaria (cactus) agave (which did ok, but not fabulously...due to cold and wet), yuccas, echinocereus (cactus). Wet winter/early spring was an issue.

Plant in second photo is Kalanchoe tomentosa; it is not hardy, leave it in the pot and bring in once it starts getting colder. It is very deep inside the pot, you need to add more mix.

I can't tell what other plants you have there. Sempervivum look very light in the photos - were they in dark spot? All plants needs to be acclimatized to better light, otherwise they will get burned.

Great for a new chick! Leave it attached, it is very small (ppl seem to like dividing plants as soon as they see an offset!). Sempervivums look quite good if grown in clumps.

Cathy you're off to a great start! Keep it up!

Thank you Rina. I guess "uh oh" they are in direct sunlight. I will add more mix to the Kalanchoe tomentosa and will bring it in this winter, thanks. Oh I would be to scared at this point to cut off the baby, just like all babies it is soooo cute. The others are different types of seedum, one is transplanted from my front yard, it was also a gift about a year ago and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with it, so I just put it in the ground and it is doing well. If it does as well in the cactus garden I will transplant some more

Skylar I checked out Mountain Crest Gardens, wonderful site thank you, lots of good info there as well. I'd love to eventually grow some Jade, but it doesn't look like it would do well here.

Any succulent could grow anywhere - they just need to get proper conditions. Jade is one of the easiest succulents to grow at home; just as any non-hardy succulents, it could spend spring - early fall outside and brought in when it start getting cold.

Thank you, maybe I will give one a try. They are so beautiful and I could handle bringing in some for the winter. Guess I have to make a little winter cactus garden inside, how fun. I do believe I'm addicted