Yard Work

[19&41]

Trimmed the hedge, then worked on the prickly pear. It was about 3 ft. wide and 3 ft. tall when I bought the house. It had grown to 12 ft. tall and about 8 ft. wide. The trunk had curled along the ground in about a 3-1/2 ft. arc, with vertical growth coming out on it in 3rds. I have removed the end third as the cactus had begun to take over that portion of the yard. I almost filled my 90gal. curb container with about 250 lbs. of cactus lobes. The branches toward the trunk were so woody, i had to use the fiskars folding saw on them. I hope to train it some at a manageable size.

[Firedome]

Arizona? Georgia??

[19&41]

Georgia. My grandmother grew cactus in Indiana.

[William]

I have three pots of Prickly Pear cactus here in Michigan. Transplants from AZ. They seem to survive Michigan winters just fine. Funny thing, they shrivel up like they died but come spring they come alive again. In July they have beautiful soft yellow flowers. Sad thing, the flowers only last one day before they die off.

Bill

[Firedome]

Who knew? They sure don't do well in upstate NY! lol

[electra225]

It doesn't get cold enough in Georgia to freeze them out. It gets too cold in NY. Below Zero will kill them. Pretty hard to kill otherwise. They grow like weeds out here, even in rock outcroppings.

[Firedome]

Coldest it's been since we moved to central NY in 2006 was: - 20F.
Coldest it ever got in VT when we lived there full time was: - 26F.
Coldest it ever got during my 50 yrs in MD was: - 5F.
We did have small cactus in the garden in MD.

Last night here in NY we got 6" of heavy wet snow.
It'll be all gone by tomorrow, but still...
We continue to look at real estate in FL and Palm Springs.
We love all the mid-century houses in Palm Springs
We worry about water shortages long term though.

[19&41]

The trash truck came today.. The guy pulled on my container and it looked like it was nailed down. I could hear it empty into the truck. That thing wouldn't have weighed much more if Elvis was hiding in there.

[TC Chris]

I have three pots of Prickly Pear cactus here in Michigan. Transplants from AZ. They seem to survive Michigan winters just fine. Funny thing, they shrivel up like they died but come spring they come alive again. In July they have beautiful soft yellow flowers. Sad thing, the flowers only last one day before they die off.

Bill

I'm even farther north than Bill, and my neighbors had prickly pears growing outside in their garden area. Sadly, the next owners puled all flowers and other interesting elements. But the cacti did just fine on their own.

Chris Campbell