Planting an Opuntia hedge...

My prickly pear alert network is on it! When I posted photos of the Opuntia House, my friend Susan mentioned this Opuntia hedge in the making...

I'm sure readers in the desert will look at this and say "that's a hedge?" But this is Portland folks. You don't encounter a planting like this all that often.

The majority of the plants look like the same No I.D. ones I've got growing in my front garden (from a neighbor who brought them out with her from the Midwest).

The flowers are the same.

The pads and the fruit are very similar.

These plants have been here awhile too.

This kind of desiccation does not occur overnight.

Isn't it cool though? To see the structure under the flesh?

I would have loved to know why the homeowners were inspired to start such a planting. I suppose I could have knocked on the door and asked. But I had an appointment I had to get to, so we're just left to wonder.

There's gonna be a lot of fruit in the upcoming months!

Okay, another gratuitous flower shot. What can I say?

There were a handful of these spikier pads.

They've definitely got attitude.

Also something very PNW, moss on Opuntia. Oh ya...

Walking back to my car I spotted the decorative manhole cover. Milwaukie is a Portland suburb...

Weather Diary, July 23: Hi 95, Low 63/ Precip 0

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