A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 prickly pear

My prickly pear is doing very well this summer - to the point that it was hanging over the garden onto the walk. I cut off a few pieces and finally had something to put in the multi-pot planter I had bought earlier this summer.

Does anyone know if I can overwinter prickly pear indoors here in zone 6?

That is soooo cute. Yes you can keep it inside. I kept mine in the house for 4 years and outside in the summer.

I did not know they could be kept outside until I forgot to bring them in one year. They survived and flowered. I felt stupid dragging it in every year when I could have left it outside. LOL!!!! I grow mine in the garden now and have one pot inside in a sunny window. I only water it about twice a month.

Thanks, cinta!
I, too, keep mine outside - it is planted in a garden, and gets very black and yucky looking each winter, but then greens and plumps up each spring with the warmer weather.

The only reason I would want to bring this planter inside it that it's ceramic and would most likely crack outside here.

I thought that was why you wanted to grow it inside. That is also why I have one inside. I have it in a ceramic pot and I know it will not survive outside during the winter.

This is mine.

Click to enlarge

Very nice - I like your planters!

Both of you have very neat planters. Looks very good!

I keep it as a houseplant in the winter and on the deck in the summer. It is still small. I wonder if it would be perennial here? Maybe next year I will try a small section.

Hi flowerpower!

I live a bit south of you in Rockland County, and have a nice bunch of it growing outside now for about 5 years or so. It gets very black and mushy looking in the winter under all the snow, but amazes me each spring when it plumps up and turns green. It flowers yellow beautiful flowers each year for me - each only lasting 1 day.

I live a bit south of Lynne, and i was planning to get my own prickly pear in the spring or sometime over the winter (if i can find one)
This thread can help me get started so i know what to do! They seem like an amazing cacti!

They really are an amazing cacti! My mother had a HUGE one in Tennessee when I was growing up and in the winter it would be flat on the ground and my black and tan coonhound would sleep on top of it(much to my mothers dismay! :p ) But, then every spring it would "rise" up and bloom. She always called it a "Resurrection cactus". It wasn't until the last year or two that I realized it was a Prickly Pear! It is everywhere here...grows wild in my yard. Mark- If you would like some, I will send you a couple peices!

Good luck with it in the house, Lynne! Both you and Cinta have really cool planters!

if it blooms. pollinate the flowers, the fruit is delicious

I saw that on one of the cooking shows recently, what does it taste like?