Matt,

Sorry to give you some (potentially) bad news, but I don't think that the saguaro will do well in FLA's near-constant humidity, but if you can figure out how to dehumidify the space, I'd reckon they might do OK. These are not indoor plants.

Matt,

Where are you in Florida?

An outfit in Plymouth, FL for many years had very large Saguaro planted in front of their parking lot. They survived the humidity but did not survive two severe windstorms which made all of the to crash and break into little pieces like a piece of fine china. A friend who lives in Homestead had a Saguaro for over 20 years in a pot. It was over 7 feet tall when a thief went into his property and hauled it out!

As to Cholla and Prickly Pear, they grow well in Florida--just ensure that they are planted in a very well draining mix.

As to Barrel Cacti, I have not had any luck with them outdoors. The ones I have managed to keep are growing in my greenhouse where I keep them dry and where humidity is very low due to extremely high temperatures coupled with a system which extracts hot air from the house and exchages it with fresh air from outside.

Good luck Matt,

Emy de la Fuente, Jr.

I am In Pinellas County - St Petersburg. Pretty close to the water.

The Pinellas have a whole county named for them? That's great and I'm sure Uncle Lou is proud.

Yeah... It was Lou Pinellas County but they shortened it. :)

Hey Matt, I'm in Pasco and I just have to be careful how much water I give them because of the increased humidity.
I have Mamms, Opuntias, Chollas, etc.. All seem to do ok for me.

When I first moved to Florida I had a Saguaro (only about 18 inches tall but about 8-10 in diameter) for quite some time but thought it would do better in the ground. Well, I lived in a 2nd floor condo and that wasn't an option so I asked my sister and Brother-in-law if I could plant it in their yard but they'd have to make sure to NEVER WATER it and make sure they kept the grass from growing up around it! So I planted it in a sandy patch in their yard with some gravel added. I also planted a bunch of my other cactus in this patch... about 10'x10'. All did fine for quite a while (at least that's what they kept telling me on the phone)... but I hadn't stopped by for a while (Months) as they live 3-4 hours from me on the east coast. When I finally did get there to see them, The Grass was 2 feet high! I frantically ripped it out as fast as I could, and all plants were still there doing ok... but not as much growth as I would have expected. They saw how upset I was and kept apologizing and I said to them I'll dig them back up and repot them and take my chances at home if they're not going to take care of them.. but they assured me they would and had just been busy. So I left them.

Next time I stopped by the grass was really tall again and most of my cactus were gone! Rotted! I was SO mad! I kept calling and asking if they were pulling the grass and they kept telling me yes... but apparently they weren't!

But I believe if they really had kept the grass away, they'd have done fine.

Well, that was about 6 years ago and I have rebuilt my cactus collection and all are doing great! Again, just keep the waterings to a minimum and watch for rot. I do get some funky fungi but as long as I cut back on the waterings, they dry out and recover. I haven't had to cut any out yet...but I currently have an Oroya neoperuviana that has an odd brownish patch that appeared on it.. I repotted it to check roots and all seems fine. The patch is also not soft so I'm not sure what it is, but am guessing it's the spring watering that caused it. We'll see.

My grandparents have had a Sonoran Cactus sitting in their front yard in rocky soil now for 8 years and its never experienced problems. Infact, they are always constantly sending pictures of their sonoran cactus blooming. I would also like to add they live in Central Florida.

Discovered what I believe is a variety of prickly pear growing on undeveloped property in Northern FL. Transplanted it to landscaping in yard. It got thru winter fine, but I am clueless how to care for it. It is in the ground. Any help would be appreciated because I love the little cutie. It was about 5 inches tall when I found it and by dumb luck it is thriving.

I tried to add a pic of it but posted something else in error and don't know how to delete it

Try Opuntia and Cereus. Then, there are all the tropical, rainforest cacti..., depending on your zone.

Hey Laparole. In Northern Florida, There are just a few types of Opuntia you would typically encounter growing wild.
O. pusilla - a small, ground hugging opuntia with thumb sized (up to about 2 inch) pads that are mostly oblong in shape but sometimes hybridize and could be more rounded. They usually detach easily too as their spines are barbed and they catch on passers by to expand their population.
O. humifusa - also a ground hugging cactus that has larger more rounded pads up to about 4 inches. By Ground hugging on both, I mean they don't typically get more than one pad tall before falling over. They sometimes have no spines, just small glochids or can have one or several thin spines, sometimes reaching 2 inches or more and are often grey in color. The amount of sun can determine how spiny they become. But there are Several New names assigned to plants that were all lumped under this name
O. dilleni - Often 2 or more pads high. The pads are often diamond shaped and the edges appear scalloped. They can be found with pads often about 6 -8 inches. But I've seen Giant Hybrid forms that grow over 6 feet tall and have pads well over 12 inches in length. They also have several, thicker, yellow spines per areole.
O. stricta - Can also grow several pads tall, Often with more rounded pads, typically 3 or 4 short (about an inch or so) thin spines per areole.
There's also other forms of cactus growing in Florida that form or grow as small trees or shrubs. They have a short trunk of a few inches and branch from there, growing to about 2 feet tall. They have Thick tufts of Glochids on all mature pads as well as long spines. The pads are about 3 inches in length and about 2 in width. They were devided into several different species but I'm told recent DNA tests show them to all be very closely related and I believe are mostly named O. austrina, but again, there's many that feel there are, or should be other names assigned to different forms.
Most will do ok with minor cold and short freezing temps. So, if you plant them in your yard, and they're doing ok, Leave them there :-) Let nature take care of them. What ever you're doing, sounds like it's working ;-)

I can't give much info on AZ cactus here since I don't currently have any but I can tell you that I found this little guy while walking a nature trail. After a bit of struggle I got a pad free and it has now apparently rooted so well that I can't lift it out of the pot. Looks like it's time to repot when its new pad stops growing in.