A visit to the Oettinger Kakteengarten

[ruweiss]

Yesterday my friend and I paid our annual visit to this special Nursery.
It is situated at Oettingen, Bavaria, well known for the beer and its medieval townscape.
Hans Graf, the owner cultivates and offers an enormous amount of hardy cactii, succculents and many
xeric plants. Trees,shrubs,ornamental and alpine plants are also for sale.
The nursery is also well known for the numerous Delosperma species and cultivars, many of them
raised and tested by Mr. Graf himself.
www.kakteengarten.eu
The first picture shows a well grown Agave ovatifolia, it is a strong grower, and gets some winter
protection against moisture and a fleece cover.
The persons in the background are Mr. Graf at the left and my rockgardener friend Gerhard.

[ruweiss]

More pictures:

[Maggi Young]

Oh my - That Agave!  Superb!

[Darren]

Agree with Maggi, the Agave is wonderful.

Looked at the we shop and am so tempted by some of the hardy Opuntia and the Delosperma but I must resist as Delosperma get eaten by slugs and snails here and I would be in big trouble if I bought Opuntia after Susan stumbled on the rock garden and landed knees first in Opuntia phaeacantha.....

[brianw]

I would be interested in who is growing cacti in the rock garden outside in the UK (or similar climate), especially other than Opuntia. Do you use any artificial winter protection?

I put an Astrophytum ornatum in our local gardening society show today; only got a second. Don't think they liked the signs of age round the base; but it was probably more than 50 years old. We all get like that with time.

[GordonT]

I would be interested in who is growing cacti in the rock garden outside in the UK (or similar climate), especially other than Opuntia. Do you use any artificial winter protection?

I have only two non opuntiad cacti to date. Escobaria vivipara will be going into the garden this week, and Echinocereus triglochidatus var mojavensis  inermis has been in the ground for over a year. All of them get full sun, and are planted in a slightly elevated bed of rocky soil, supplemented with plenty of additional grit to provide enough drainage.The most worrisome time for me is during late winter-early spring, when snow melt and some drastic temperature fluctuations show up. The elevation and grit seem to move meltwater away quickly enough.
 The Echinocereus had its first bloom this spring, and one of the Opuntias had over 40 flowers (naturally all but two of these opened while we were away). The bed needs to be reworked, as a few companion plants are becoming unruly (Penstemon pinifolius, Penstemon mensarum), and the whole affair needs to be elevated more, so our adventurous dog doesn't get herself impaled on thorns.

[ruweiss]

Dear friends, thank you for your comments.
Due to lack of space I gave all my Opuntias away, it was also painful and time consuming to remove
all these nasty spines which I caught by careless gardening.
Some of my hardy cactii are in pots and troughs, situated in a cold frame which is covered with lights
as a protection against too much rain and snow.
The other ones (Echinocereus, Pterocactus, Agaves and Delospermas)grow well at the southern base of
a dry wall, dominated by a high Thuja tree which takes all the moisture out of the soil.

[kindredspiritkevin]

Some Agaves and Yuccas here. (Ireland, western side.)  I have Opuntia nearby as well. They get no winter protection but they are sheltered from the incessant wet here by a pergola, which is glazed overhead. I'd like to go and see that place in Oettingen sometime.