Salut Fabrice. Thank you for your comments.
I used to be in love with the fragrance and form of these flowers, so I got seed and raised a whole lot of species. After a few years, some became too big to keep, so I have pared the collection down to just a few species of these monsters. (The flower on mcdonaldiae smells like an old musty book.)
I have been lucky to find a place that took my big plants (the Botanical gardens in Baltimore, Maryland. This is about 60k from here.) I also gave them my collection of
Ferocactus that I grew from seed 15 years ago. Most of them (10 species) were about 15-20 cm dia.)
As a side note, I also have Selen. pteranthus blooming now, and the flowers look very similar to S. mcdonaldiae. One big difference is that the hairs on the buds are white as snow when they first form. I'll look for a photo or go take one.
Most of my Opuntias are planted outside (rustique) for obvious reasons. I have a few like O.
rauhii that I grew from seed and would not live outside here. So yes, all of the cacti planted outside have seen temps below -20C. I also have an
Escobaria that is hanging on after 10 years. I have found that Escobarias and
Pediocactus need to be kept completely dry and cold in Dec-Feb to survive.
This is a spent flower on S. pteranthus. The next photo is the white-haired flower bud.
Three species of
Cleistocactus in bloom.
Rhipsalis in bloom for the second time this year.
Just for pretty. The Mamm crest in bloom.
And one final photo. This is the
fruit of Asimina triloba (paw paw), a local native
fruit. I grew these from seed and now they produce
fruit for me. Ah, le jardinage. C'est ca qui nous tien jeune.