New cactus awake

Two weekends ago I visited Schlafly Gardenworks for the monthly informal gathering of gardeners. This is the time of year when only the most garden-crazy show up to these, as the weather doesn't really say "let's garden!". This post is not about that visit though.

This post is about the "Nopales cactus" that I bought as I was leaving the garden. Each year at this time Jack and Nolan take cuttings from a spineless prickly pear cactus, pot them up, sell them for $5 each, and give the proceeds to a local charity. How could I resist?

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I'm not certain of the exact species of this cactus, but Jack says that it's not cold hardy. A little Internet research shows that there are two different spineless prickly pears available. One is Opuntia cacanapa 'Ellisiana' which is cold-hardy to at least zone 7. If you remember, I received some of these last year in a plant trade -- this will be the first winter that I leave one of them outdoors. I expect it to do fine unless we have a particularly cold winter.

If this new plant is not cold-hardy, then the ID is simple: it's probably Opuntia ficus-indica, either the "inermis" form, or 'Burbank spineless'. I'm not positive on the ID, but that's what I'll go with for now.

One thing I am sure about, this guy is awake and raring to grow!

One new bud growing:

Here's another that's a bit more advanced:

This one even more so:

This was the first that I discovered a few days ago:

They grow so fast!

Since almost everything Jack and Nolan grow is edible, I shouldn't be surprised that they call these "nopales" cactus, as that's the name for the prickly pear pads when used as a vegetable.

I'm not sure what the soil mix is that Jack used, but this is obviously a well-rooted and happy plant under my lights indoors.

I wonder if it will continue growing and producing new pads all winter long? If so, I may need to start researching nopales recipes soon.

Exciting!

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