by KYW's Fran Sorin

If you live in a colder climate but would love to try some cactus varieties for your garden this season, I’ve got a great one for you.

Echinocereus is a group of about 45 mounding cacti that can be found in lowland deserts in parts of the U.S. and Mexico. They thrive in full sun or dry, bright shade on rockslopes.

What makes them such outstanding specimens are their colorful flowers which are quite large and often bell-shaped.

One species, Echinocereus triglochidiatus is a killer of a plant with silvery spined stems and hot orange flowers with white or black spines that bloom from late spring to early summer. It is listed at yuccado.com as being hardy in Zones 6-9. This is great news for us colder climate gardeners.

Contact Fran Sorin at fransorin.com.