Gerbie

Or yourself. Dear you won't have to worry too long about these spreading, they will soon enough and then the only way to get rid of them is to dig them out. We have so many growing wild here along with other cactus. The ranchers here have special torches called pare burners an burn them to get the stickers off, for cattle to eat when there isn't enough grass due to drought conditions. Prickly pears also have small red apples grow on them and a lot of people make jelly from the apples, if you can get rid of the stickers. Not me, when I was young I was visiting a girlfriend one weekend who lived on a sheep ranch, we went with her dad to check a water tank, and being a kid, didn't pay attention to what was outside the pickup where we stopped. When I got out I tripped over a large prickly pare patch and fell right into big middle. Well it took most of the day for my friend to use a flashlight and tweezers to pick the stickers out of my bottom and the back of my thighs, glad I was wearing jeans and not shorts. Be careful their stickers are so fine and hard to see, and can easily get infected if you don't get them out of your skin. The only cactus I ever want around are those without stickers.

nativetexan

I walked to the Pharmacy yesterday and on the way passed a huge cactus that was blooming. dark pink blossoms.

Geri B

Yes, they are very invasive, but the flower they show softens their meanness. The fruit produced after the flower is eatable...tastes like cross between strawberry and watermelon.....I don't know if these are fruit producing, but I do know somewhere in the world they are...hard to find in stores...must cut skin off with gloves on under running water..at least that is how my dd mil taught me!

misspriss

When the purple balls (the pear) is ripe we make prickly pear jam and syrup. It so good.

roserips

Beautiful Flowers, where I live in the NW never see any thing like them.

Jingle

I watched a yard crasher show last weekend. They said they have prickly pear cactus without the stickers. I had some years ago and let them die out.
I have house cactus and letting the winter get them, after 40 or so years I am tired of messing with them. We are taking out the 4' x 4' greenhouse window because the new overhang reduces the light.
The flowers are beautiful.

bearisgray

The flowers are beautiful!

Caswews

Beautiful !! dislike the prickleys tho !LOL

Iraxy

These remind me of my mother. My mother had a large (6+ feet) plant that bloomed and made fruit. She would peel the fruit and eat it out of hand. Very sour! I made her some beautiful hot pink jam out of it one year after she had peeled them for me (they have spiky little furry things on them.)

IBQUILTIN

I always used tongs when working in the cactus bed, but if you get stuck, spread Elmers glue on the places, let it dry thoroughly, then peel it off like a piece of paper.