Try this one; My wife and I live in Minnesota and are interested in planting a prickly pear cactus and have been told that there are species that will survive our nice winters. Any ideas

I could send you some seed. The prickly pear cactus we have here in the Nashville area also grew in Northern Virginia (zone 6), so who knows.

I just purchased a book: Gwen Moore Kelaides: HARDY SUCCULENTS which is a lovely book and apparently there are more varieties of prickly pears. Last year i FOUND ONE across the road from us that seemed to look different. It has not bloomed for me yet, but hope it will do so next year.

I've tried to grow a few of the supposed "hardy succulents", but found that here in the Pacific NW, in my zone 7 area, we get too much rain for them to survive. They pull in water to tide them over dry spells, but our water production is just too much for them and they rotted. SO, if you are in a higher than "normal" rain area, plant these where they may have a bit more protection from the excess rain. I would think they may last under the eaves/rain drip line off the gutters and roof. You would then have to water year round, but it might be worth the fun of growing them.

Enjoy, I was sad that they didn't survive our given water production.

Just plant them more on a slope for fast draining and work in sand and even some gravel or so.

I know you weren't necessarily looking for an edible, but Raintree has a few that are edible and supposed to be hardy in the Northwest climate.

http://www.raintreenursery.com/cata...ype=Cactus
 

I live in zone 6 and have prickly pear cactus planted. They survived our cold, snowy winter and bloomed this Spring.

I had prickly pear cactus when we first moved into this house. They survived our MN winters with no problem. However I have no idea as to what variety they were. They are long gone as I got tired of weeding around them.

I can vouch that prickly pear are almost impossible to kill.  Had one at my former house for 10 yrs. (zone 6/7) and
while it got "mushy" in the winter it always came back every spring bigger.  I've mailed starts of it all over the country
and all survived.  But when I moved last year, I had NO desire to take it with me. While for 2 weeks every June
it had gorgeous huge yellow blooms--the other 50 weeks it was a big pain.  Literally

Hi gispa30

I was wondering if you still had any prickly pear cactus seed stills? I wold love some to plant indoors because of where i live in NY not sure if they would survive our winters here, but i have a collection of a lot of types of cactus and succulents growing indoors i would love to add these too. could you let me know Please if you still have any left and would be interested in sending me some... SASE of course!! I do have many flowers, herbs an dveggies though if you are looking for anything specific and would want to trade ... just let me know Please.

Thaks a Bunch!!!

I Hope You Have A Good Day!!!

Sherri