Man of the Andes

I`ve been searching for frost hardy cactus for a while and mainly Andes cactus , able to take frost temperature up to -7/12 , overall they are rare to find and very expencive if bought from specialist nursery , unless if you walk in wilkinson and homebase.
In case any of you is after some frost hardy cactus (when the big enough to be placed outdoor) they are available for 99p/£1.99
Cereus , oreocereus , Trichocereus Pachanoi , Echinopsis pachanoi and so on...

 

I rekon at least a foot high , they are priced at about £1 per cm , but they must be really slow growing plants , even if i suspect they they will grow fast if feeded.
look at this in the picture , is from will giles garden , it`s a san pedro cactus one of the hardyst at -12.

seen a similar in the garden center priced at £125 , plus cactus like this are easy to overwinter in extreme cold weather , even a simple umbrella on the top would do .

 

this is an example of a catching title...

 

Never been good at it , the hairy cactus is called old man of the andes
and many other man of the andes.

 

Do you know what this plant is Sal (cropped from your photo)

 

Same here Miraflores , this was a post title I just had to read

 

Longk , you will never guest , it`s an Agave bracteosa , it`s frost hardy in UK , but not easy to buy , there many variety but quite hard to find.

 

Thank you guys , I feel like E.L.James , a great catching title for a really bad book.

 

Sal,
The Oreocereus could be frost hardy, but the rest of those won't be.

But do you want to risk your plants outside?
I have a few, but always bring them indoors over the winter. Some I have had for 10 years, if not more, and I wouldn't want to lose them.

 

I have my doubts that any cacti sold in Wilkinsons are likely to be hardy.

They only sell "run of the mill stuff", which means fairly cheap, which also means fast growing, when regarding upright cacti.

 

Guys none of them will go outside , at that size will be a good result if they will not die in winter indoor.

While I was at amulree , checked all the frost hardy he had and got all the name .......
Cereus , oreocereus , Trichocereus Pachanoi , Echinopsis pachanoi ,Old man of the andes are frost hardy , but when I say that, I`m talking about a 10 years old cactus in wich to me it will still a plant that will go outside in spring and get back in winter.

wilkinson and homebase , are importing plants from abroad (mexico) and because of the bad condition they dealing with , they only use hardy plants , they never stock the same plant as never found any of them before in the 99p section, they are selling various cactus and not selling them as outdoor but as indoor ,simple sold as cactus , no name or hardyness, it`s just a case, that they are selling frost hardy cactus/opuntia along with the soft one.
wilkinson still sell fatsia as indoor plant.

I`ll give you a simple case , look at the opuntia in the picture , payed £1.99 from homebase , same size from a specialist gardening was £15 plus delivery ..sold as frost hardy

 

Oh yes Sal, I agree the specialists will rip you of something chronic if they get the chance, but I've not come across any of those fast growing cereii that the gardencentre stock that is hardy. They are fast growing types that look good in small pots IMO.

I'm also very sceptical about those sold at the specialists, mostly imports, grown in ideal conditions, until being shipped here and frozen to death.
I've not seen Will Giles garden, but I'm told its very impressive, I have also heard its in a micro climate.
Not sure if that is true, but without a JCB, to knock down the neighbouring houses, I would doubt I could even get close to his conditions.

 

Pete , don`t get me wrong in this , Will giles is more of an illusionist , when you walk in his garden you will be really impressed , but if you look closely there is lots of illusion around it ....I`m not talking bad about him , but he really inspired me.
If you feel your garden with gravel , you can sink all the plants you want and they will look like they have been there all year round , then if have 4/5 guys who will help to care about your garden for free , that will make everything easy ......even pulling massive pot out.

Amulree sell those giant frost hardy plants (£1 per cm) , but he has been really honest and told me that they will only take to a -12 , he lost lots of them in 2010 and he take no risk anymore and they go inside in winter .