Gardening: Cactus can provide that winter color

Last week, the topic was winter color from leafy plants and succulents. Cactus also can add a spark of brightness to the cool season, either by their flowers, skin, or spicy colored thorns.

Purple prickly pear, locally called Santa Rita (Opuntia violacea var. santa-rita) adds a new color to the landscape.

The lavender-gray pads become a truer purple with low temperatures or dryness.

It is a favorite of the tiny cochineal scale insects that reproduce and live within patches of sticky, white cottony fuzz.

When crushed, a bright red commercially-used dye is produced.

The Santa Rita prickly pear has become symbolic of our desert, and every garden should have one.

Ferocactus latispinus is a barrel cactus that produces a surprisingly purple-lavender flower in late winter. Most of the year, the plant is quite ordinary and often overlooked.

Then one day it decides to be noticed. Requiring no extra care, this is a good choice for its unique bloom.

A great contrast with the purple color is golden barrel cactus (Echinocactus grusonii). Its bright golden spines emphasize its distinctive barrel shape, making it a perfect focal point in the landscape.

A number have been planted in the newly beautified Green Valley medians where they appear to glow.

There are also several red-spined barrel cactus, each a bit different yet similar. Available in nurseries are Ferocactus pringlei and F. stainesii.

So much alike, these are often classified as the same variety. Besides producing multiple offsets, these plants can grow to nearly 5 feet tall and 2 feet in diameter.

Stainesii has orange flowers while the harder-to-find pringlei has red and yellow blooms. Either cactus makes a statement in the landscape.

A favorite red-spined barrel cactus at the Arid Garden is the F. gracilis. Growing near the only palm tree are a half dozen gracilis at the intersection of two paths.

This plant in its native Mexico can grow to 10 feet high by only 12 inches diameter.

The thick, ringed spines are somewhat flattened, allowing for more surface of bright red color.

When backlit by the sun, or better still, when wet after a rain or sprinkling, the red richness shines like neon!

For containers or small cactus gardens, the Arizona rainbow cactus (Echinocereus rigidissimus v. rubrispinus) should be included. It grows to just 9 inches high. Short spines wrap around the erect stem in showy bands of red and white. Young plants form into a clump and even when very small, a ring of pink- to-magenta spring flowers appear. This is a real beauty all year.

Mammillaria or pincushion cactus, flower prolifically at all times of the year depending on the variety.

There are around 250 varieties of these sun-loving plants, most of which are small, globe-shaped, and thickly covered with spines.

Even when immature, the majority bear rings of beautiful flowers around the crown, usually in shades of pink.

There are commonly two or three flushes of bloom spread throughout the year. Mammillaria are eye-catching in containers or in the garden.

All of the plants mentioned above are easy-care, drought-tolerant, cold-hardy, and desert-adapted.

With these attributes and the color they can add to the winter scene, why not consider them for your desert garden.

Mary Kidnocker is a Master Gardener who writes frequently about the subject from a local perspective. Her columns are featured each Sunday.