‘Buyer’ Beware

Decades ago I bought a small potted cactus, assured by the garden center employee it would thrive. Boy, did it. I now have not one but two separate garden patches that will take over concrete if given half a chance.

This color combination reminds me of sunrise and sunset.

Above is a past image of the prickly pear’s gorgeous flowers. From what I had to cut back yesterday, this year we’ll see a bumper crop.

The entire plant is edible, and nopalitos was a favorite specialty at an area restaurant. But I am a chicken about handling them myself. It’s not the visible spines that get you. Rather, one needs to be careful of the tiny barbed glochids. Those things detach easily, lodge in your skin, and are near invisible if not for the fortunate red coloration of my particular species.

Yesterday I set about the annual chore of cutting back encroaching pads. The roots actually drag soil onto the pavement as the plants grow. I scraped up and saved as much dirt as possible, boxed up the discards, sealed it with plenty of packing tape, and wrote notes of caution about the contents. This spring I decided to have a little fun and added a sign.

I figured we all need a laugh right now.

To my shock, a regular scavenger driving by slowed his old truck, stopped, backed up, and took the box. I called out a warning, to which he assured me he wanted the spines to detour animals invading his garden. Okay… What more could I do?

Did you know Ohio flora included an indigenous perennial cactus? Have you ever eaten or at least seen nopalitos on a menu? Does your local grocer stock edible canned cactus?

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