Oklahoma Hedgehog, Echinocereus reichenbachii

Oklahoma Hedgehog, Echinocereus reichenbachii

Full Sun
Rainwater Only

Mature Size: 4”X 6”
Blooming Season: Late Spring
Flower Color: Pink

Native to a limited area in the mountains of southwestern Oklahoma, this is one of the most beautiful of the Echinocereus species. The albispinus variety, shown here, features long, pure white spines  and large, soft pink flowers. At maturity, it forms tight clusters of numerous stems.

Sotol, Dasylirion wheeleri

Sotol, Dasylirion wheeleri

Full Sun
Rainwater Only

Mature Size: 60”X 48”
Blooming Season: Late Spring
Flower Color: White

Sotol is a very handsome, rather slow-growing succulent with large rosettes of long, flexible half- inch-wide blue-green leaves edged with white teeth. With age, the plant develops a woody trunk (up to 4 feet high) and eventually blooms producing narrow 10-foot-tall white-flowered spikes. An invaluable  xeric ornamental for use all across the Southwest.

Spiny Hedgehog, Echinocereus coccineus

Spiny Hedgehog, Echinocereus coccineus

Full Sun
Rainwater Only

Mature Size: 5”X 15”
Blooming Season: Late Spring
Flower Color: Red

Spiny Hedgehog is often found nestled in rocky ledges under the shade of pines throughout its habitat in New Mexico and southern Colorado. The spines are needle-sharp and caution should be used in planting this showy hedgehog out of harm’s way. Being a mountain dweller, Spiny Hedgehog doesn’t mind being under snow for much of the winter.

Clustering Pin Cushions, Coryphantha vivipara

Clustering Pin Cushions, Coryphantha vivipara

Full Sun
Rainwater Only

Mature Size: 4”X 6”
Blooming Season: Late Spring
Flower Color: Pink

Coryphantha is a very adaptable species, making it a fine choice if you’ve never grown winter-hardy cacti before. Its dense gray-white spines obscure the stem and show off the large rose-pink flowers, which cover the plant in late spring. Clustering Pin Cushions is equally at home in the rock garden or in a xeric landscape planted with Penstemons, Zinnia grandiflora (Prairie Zinnia) or Calylophus (Sundrops).

Parry’s Century Plant, Agave parryi

Parry’s Century Plant, Agave parryi

Full Sun
Rainwater Only

Mature Size: 30”X 30”
Blooming Season: Summer
Flower Color: Yellow

An impressive species from  western New Mexico and eastern Arizona, Parry’s Century Plant is one of the most cold hardy of the Agave family. Forming large, heavily toothed rosettes, the sword-like leaves are blue-green. When the plant decides to bloom (after many years of slow growth), it sends up a huge 12- to15-foot flowering spike that will attract hummingbirds from miles around. Aga- ves need a long period of hot summer weather to regrow their fleshy roots after transplanting.