Five-Spine Rating - 5^?

Yes - small container size plant. This variety will occupy a small flower pot comfortably and remain a manageable sized house plant.

Yes - tolerates low light levels. This variety will do well as a houseplant in locations with short periods of direct sun and some indirect or filtered light.

Yes - does well with cool winter time temperatures. This variety will tolerate temperatures down below 50 °F. if the roots are kept dry, and will do very well in a home with energy saving thermostat setting.

Yes - easy care root system. This variety stores water in the parts of the plant which are above the soil leaving the root system small enough to fit into a proportionally sized flower pot.

Yes - flowers easily as a house plant. This variety is likely to flower as a house plant, but results will depend on a variety of growing conditions.

Good locations

Potential living space locations include; East, West or South windows and three to four season rooms with partial shade are good, but it will grow better with more light. This species will tolerate very cool days and cold nights, but will need the temperatures to remain above 10 °F. If this variety is to be set outdoors during the growing season it needs to be in a location with plenty of sun and will tolerate lots of rain. It is important to expose this plant to very cold fall and spring weather in order to prompt it to bloom the following growing season. This can be accomplished by keeping it in an unheated room over the winter, or keeping it outdoors as long as possible in the fall and returning it to outdoor weather as soon as possible in the spring. This is a plant which may be grown outdoors in zones 6 through 9, but keep in mind that in their habitat they have short grasses growing around them and this also provides some winter protection from ice.

Size

These plants are from cuttings and have established root systems (they are not just cuttings), and are growing new pads too. This species grows along the ground and can become quite large in width, but now they can fit into a 4 inch pot.

Ancestry

Plains of the western United States

Plant Origin

Propagated from cuttings by windowsillcactus.com.

Photo

This photo shows a Opuntia phaeacantha in a terra cotta pot from Germany along with an Elephant jasper necklace, phyllite stone, drill cores and the soil is topped off with lace agate. Items in this photo are for demonstration purposes only, and the monopoly dogs are shown as a size scale reference. Purchase price includes a Opuntia phaeacantha and soil designed for great plant care.

Please see Cold Hardy Cacti in the Rock Garden information page.