I think I lost no more than one plant this winter.

My biggest Y. rostrata

This guy looks like he wants warmer weather.lol

Opuntia basilaris, a nice hardy form that my friend Jay sent me from Canada. And no they are not native to Canada.

Echinocereus reichenbachii

I believe I have lost more of these in the summer than the winter.  Our summers are drier than the native habitat and so these do better with some summer irrigation. 

Do not plant any of your southern natives in low areas that are wet and muddy in the winter.  Our northern prickly-pears do just fine in places like this, but a hedgehog cactus even hardy will rot.   

Shots of the new crowns on the big Yucca brevifolia. If you look very close at some of the leaves you can see light yellow spots from the cold.  The older and bigger the leaves get the more cold resistant they will be.

Nothing too worry about on these new crowns, all of them will do just fine this summer.

This is damage from last seasons winter.

Smaller Yucca brevifolia, should take off this summer.

This was a cactus I bought off e-bay.  It was suppose to be O. bigelovii, but looks a lot more like a O. ramosissima too me?  I don't see how anyone could think it was bigelovii?  Very cold hardy, so I think I will keep it.

Yucca brevifolia, loves it new place in the world!

Opuntia clavata

 This is a hardy cactus and I think the only reason it is rotting is because it is in a low area.
Wet cold feet in the winter = root-rot!

Echinocereus triglochidiatus mojavensis

This is one of my favorite hedge-hog cactus.  They are very hardy and do well in our dry summers.  I love the flowers, and so do the humming-birds. 

Echinocereus triglochidiatus inermis

 A cool little cactus my friend Jay sent me from Canada, not sure on the id?  I don't think its O. fragilis? 

I do however see some weeds that are going too die as soon as I'm done with this blog! 

New cactus bed, just enough for one or two new cactus.  This was the place I pulled the Yucca nana out of the ground from the last blog.

Y. gloriosa

A hardy form, but never have done much of anything.  They may need more water than I give them? 

The race before spring.

  I hate winter, but I need too get done everything I can before spring gets here.  Hard too do hardscaping when I'm pulling weeds, mowing the grass and watering.

Uncovered a few of the plants that never needed too be covered in the first place. (mild winter)

Simple cover can go along ways.  No need to heat for most yuccas.  And no need to cover when older

(Most years)

Yucca faxoniana, one of the least cold hardy yuccas I have. 

Yucca nana, I wish I had a neighbor that liked cactus, and yuccas.

 Yucca brevifolia

Agave neomexicana x utahensis

Leaves burnt from last year's winter.

Agave parryi

Yucca thompsoniana, might be rostrata?

Recent pics of the drain, I need too keep picking.

Penstemons growing in the gravel, they love gravel.

Don't look like much in the pic, but I can say this will take all year to pic enough rock to fill in this burm.

Love it when the mountains get the snow and we don't!

I love too see the snow stay in the mountains and the valley with just enough to keep the wildlife going.

PS. More snow on the ground than it looks.

  

Snow the four letter word!

I knew our nice dry winter was too good to be true, but we did need the moisture.
 Not only did it snow for 3 days but it also rained off and on for 3 days.  This is the only reason we don't have 3 feet of snow on the ground.  I think the wet heavy snow measured about 8 inches before it started melting down.
I posted pics from the start (more or less) and the finish of the snow.    

This is to show the working "dry" creek in action.  Starts with the drainage from the road.

Drains some from the roof and garden.

The cement behind the mound is drainage that comes from the roof and goes under ground to the creek. 

 Yuccas and southwest desert plants do much better in colder wetter climates if they are high on gravel/sand/fast draining soil mounds and not in low wet areas.  Wet feet can kill faster than the cold. (usually)

 SW desert oak, high and dry.  First year in the ground, we will see how it does.  

Yucca baccata, with wet feet!  This was planted here before the path went in that blocks the drainage.

Lucky for me it does not stay wet for long.

New path is damming the water from draining.  I hope the put a drain pipe to the dry creek and eliminate this water pool.

This is a good shot of a good micro climate working well.  More than just heat from the wall, drain the water away and drain the soil.

If I could do this over again I would have made a berm/mound with better draining soil for this yucca elata. I lost its friend the Joshua tree that was planted next to it.  It might still be here if it was high and dry. 

This Yucca elata sits atop of this mound without problems.  This mound is high enough only native soil is need for drainage. 

This is King-Kong of my garden world.

  My big Yucca brevifolia is going to be just fine after losing its crown to last years winter kill.     

And this is where the road, house, and garden all drains. I think it is big enough too name!  It is also where I get all my extra dirt from.(when dry!)