Cactus or Yucca to grow outdoors in Connecticut ?

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

I only have seen one species of cactus in CT.  The Eastern Prickley Pear "Opuntia humifusa" I have seen in a couple gardens though i never really started looking until recently.  Apparently they are native to the coast and scattered around west of hartford (Zone 6b - 7A). Also trunkless Yucca plants are very common in CT like these.

 

I have seen a couple that look similer but have defined trunks but they are far more common in New Jersey it seems.  Does anyone know of any other species of cactus or Yucca that handle our colder winters and humidity?  I am in Arizona for now and would love to bring some home as well as any other Yucca or Aloe type plants that might do well. I live in about a 6B not too far from 7A in Lebanon CT by a lake.   

[newtopalmsMD]

Hi,

 

I am in zone 7a in MD, so wet winters with 5F minimum temp on average.  I am growing Yucca filimentosa (green and yellow leaves) (bought in big box store here) and red texas yucca (bought on line) with no difficulty at all.  Neither of these have defined trunks.  I also have have a blue beaked yucca (yucca rostrata) for a year which will form a trunk with thin blue leaves (also bought on line).  

[Silas_Sancona]

As far as Yucca sp.. look into those whose ranges extend into winter cold / summer rainy parts of the plains ( Y. glauca, possibly Y. pallida, some others from the high plains in eastern New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma ) As far as cacti? you'll have to do a bit of homework.

Biggest problem i can think of is while numerous sp. that can take a lot of cold, many have to be absolutely dry at the same time, especially if you want to see flowers.. Good %'age of them dislike hot/ wet humid summers also.  In pots? you can shelter them from snow/ice/rain in the winter, and rain thru the summer.. In the ground.. thinking that would be much more of a challenge, even if you created a raised bed composed of gravel / sand, with little or no organics. If you've been out to places like South Mountain, Parks north or east of Scottsdale, or the Superstitions while in town, you'll see most of our native Cacti / Agave / Yucca, etc grow practically out of rock in most areas.
 

[Merlyn]

I haven't really tried yucca species here in humid, hot FL.  Some people do okay with them, but they tend to get a lot of mold spotting if not in full blazing sun all year. 

For cacti, I can say that the generic "Golden Barrel" Echinocactus Grusonii does fine in pots here in full sun.  I use about 75% sand & perlite and 25% generic topsoil as a mix.  "Sunburst" Opuntia seems fine in full sun either in a pot or in the sandy ground here too.  A few blocks away a neighbor has a huge variety of mature tall cacti in the ground in his full sun front yard too.  He has Pachycereus Marginatus, Cereus Peruvianus/Repandus, a couple of "Fire Barrels," a couple of Opuntia and a giant "Road Kill" that's formed a tree.  I haven't asked him how he managed this feat, but I suspect that they brought in a lot of coarse sand to make it drain really well.  

Severe cold and frost isn't an issue here, we typically get 1 or 2 days in the upper 20s each winter.  So the above ones seem to be okay with our oppressive summer heat, rain and humidity.  I have no idea where the bottom end is on temperature, or how to keep them happy below 25F.

[Meangreen94z]

Yucca Rostrata will typically handle both wet climate and temperatures down to 0*F or below. As far as cactus, various forms of Cholla, opuntia, and echinocereus can handle it. You might look at this website:

https://the-cactus-man.myshopify.com

Another interesting xeric plant that can handle cold temperatures is Ocotillo. 

[DoomsDave]

Oh yeah there’s Opuntias that are native to the Dakotas I kid you not and yuccas too.

 

In Cleveland we had Our Lord’s Candles which bloomed every summer so gloriously and we even had Yucca Moths.