So many flower buds!
This is full sun between a brick wall and concrete pathway. Sandy clay, soil is wet in the winter and turns into pottery during the summer. What was four pads four years ago now covers 6 sq feet! Doesn't get much higher than a foot tall and edible.
Here's some flowers from last June:
Eastern Prickly Pear, Opuntia humifusa, is native to Eastern North America. Best for people who enjoy playing the game operation!
Beautiful! And I bet it’ll be even more beautiful in bloom!
Do you harvest from this patch and eat them? I’ve never had prickly pear, but everyone I know who has raves about it. Therefor, I am jealous 😄
I want to, but I'm too nervous about removing the glochids myself 😅 so not yet. Those fuzzy orange spots on the pads are no joke.
Just wear non-woven gloves (I usually use rubber), cut the fruit open, scoop out the seeds, and then scoop the flesh from the skin. The glochids are all in the skin so this method works perfectly.
First time I used gloves that were fabric and I got poked every time I put them on from that point on.
The newly sprouted pads are also quite tasty but a bit more difficult to prepare so I’d start with the fruit.
You've convinced me 👩🌾 the bees were all over them so there's dozens of future fruits growing. I think these are at least two different species/hybrids given the variance in flower form and coloration. I'll be neat if they taste different, too!
The pads are what I really want to try... the new growth looked so yummy lol. I read they taste like a mix of green beans and okra. Sounds delish.