My Prickly Pear Cactus Garden

by Dad

Activity

I've never been much of gardener, I will go out once and while and play in the house garden, but I eventually lose interest or the plants die. Mary, my wife (who was actually raised on a flower farm in Saanich (near Victoria)) is even more of an unenthusiastic gardener than I am. Well, that all changed a couple of years ago, when we went on a family vacation to Penticton. I was intrigued to learn that there is a species of cactus that is native to British Columbia: brittle prickly pear (Opuntia fragilis).

There’s a funny story behind how I got a hold of these precious specimens. I plucked a few from some rocks along the KVR trail (exact location I can tell you upon request), and we were walking back to our car with my prizes when we unexpectedly came across a guy on a bike. I panicked, even though I technically had done nothing wrong, and stashed the thin takeout bag I stashed the cacti in behind my back. Next thing I knew I got a big prick in my bum. The cacti were ganging up on me. My daughter had to take out one of my tools in a separate bag to pluck the needles out of my bum. As my wife remarked, “serves you right.”

The epilogue is I planted my cacti in a planter alongside our house, and they’ve been living it up ever since. What I like about these cacti, is that they’re perfect for lazy gardeners like me. They stay outside the house all year, you water them every 2- 3 weeks in the summer, then you stop watering them at the end of September, and you don't water them again for six months (what more do you want?).

Details

You can harvest your own prickly pear cactus in Penticton.

Area

Outside of Greater Vancouver

Here's my Prickly Pear Cacti in the outside planter (North Vancouver)