cactguy: The prickly pear blooms are opening. ...

cactguy:

The prickly pear blooms are opening. Not an unusual sight in my garden, so why am I so excited? These blooms are the second round on this particular prickly pear.

After the initial boom earlier this spring, the majority of the fruits dried up and fell off. I was beginning to wonder what had gone wrong, and then, to my surprise, another round of pad growth was accompanied by new, larger fruits.

In my cursory research, I haven’t found explanation if this is normal or even if it has occurred with others. Nevertheless, these are the largest prickly pear blooms I’ve seen in my garden!