Pretty Sky Things

When we moved into our house in the summer of 2024, the previous owner left behind a number of things. It was a husband whose wife had already left the world before him, and he was living alone when he began suffering from dementia very suddenly. So, the children had to quickly move him out so he could receive better care. There was some very nice area rugs left behind, some hotel-esque pictures hung in the bathrooms, and a number of potted plants.

One (or two, actually) of these potted plants was a pair of prickly pears. We found them tucked away in the backyard behind the shed at the edge of the property, forlorn and forgotten, shaded by the cypress trees. I’m sure that their needles had become a danger to the elderly couple. We brought them back out into the sun that first summer, and then watched as they got very sad and soggy during the winter. But, they came back to life in the spring and gave us a wonderful display of their bright, yellow flowers, as well as a few fruit.

This spring, just about two years after being brought out from behind the shed, they look even better.

I’ll admit, we really haven’t done much to improve their potting situation and basically have left them up to their own devices. Some dead pads were removed and a little bit of fresh potting soil and pebbles were added to the top awhile back and that’s really about it. There’s also another plant growing in there with them – they look like perhaps some kind of lily but I haven’t tried to figure it out because I think the surprise would be more fun. They’ve never bloomed though – maybe not enough nutrients to go around in the pots. But, the stars are the prickly pears anyways, wouldn’t want some lily coming in and stealing the show from them.

Last year their fruit production was a bit sad, they seemed to rot right on the plants’ pads. An affliction brought on by too much rain and humidity? Or maybe I should really give them some fertilizer.

Still, it would appear that at least one fruit made it far along enough to produce seeds.

I found this little nub in a nearby bed just a week or so ago. I really want to keep it, but it’s in a kind of terrible spot and their pricklies really are actually pretty prominent and can get you good. I might just end up digging it up and potting it, but it would also be really cool to have a potentially native (potentially, because I haven’t identified their exact species) prickly pear growing right in a garden bed. Opuntia humifusa, the Eastern Prickly Pear, is actually native to Maryland and other states. Apparently most states in the U.S. have their own native prickly pear. I didn’t know this until last year or so. Pretty neat. I had always related prickly pear to the desert, probably like most people do. I first saw a prickly pear in Big Bend National Park in south Texas, and it’s a popular drink flavor in Texas.

. . . I think I’ve convinced myself I should give them a small shot of fertilizer to help them with their bloom and fruit production this year.