Well it got out of hand!! That's all I have to say about the situation!! It needed to be handled!! So I gritted my teeth, rolled up my sleeves, and had at it!!
The wicked tools of the trade!
The victim after the deed was done!!
The carnage!! As you can see few were spared!! See what happens when they don't play nice!!
HA!Ha!HaHaHaHaHaHa!
Harriet
I can honestly say it was painful. In the most literal sense.
The snow load this winter flattened that big guy and he didn't want to get back up. His little neighbors were suffering.
I have some Opuntia that lives in the ground outside, but I don't have to worry about snow loads. I just hope the ones I have planted live up to their descriptions, and don't turn into 12 foot tall monsters!
It’s not the fall that kills you; it’s the sudden stop at the end.
Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)
Peter
Need some!! Want some????? Got plenty to spare!!
If not that's OK, they are bio-degradable. Well all except the spines they can lay in the soil for years bidding their time waiting for an unsuspecting foot, knee or other appendage to spear!!
Must be some mean critters to warrant a pair of welding gloves
Know the filling to well John, the snows and mostly bitter cold took it's toll on some of my opuntias.
Some I can replace and others will be hard to replace
king
Bottom right corner of the tarp is O. polyacantha var. polyacantha. A good one similar to the named selection "Crystal Tide". Very hardy, with chiffon yellow, fully double flowers accented by red stamen filaments. Collected in North Dakota.
The purple one bottom center is O. macrocentra. Not as hardy. I have to plant it up close (two foot) to the south facing wall of my house. Any further than four feet into the yard and it gets frost damaged. It will survive but looks very beaten up and scared. Flowers are campaign on the petal tips, shading to intense golden yellow and finally fiery red at the very center. spines are black with white tips.