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Grandview At Las Vegas
[triennial - points]
Some years ago we noticed an exotic plant in somebody's front yard, near a driveway entrance right along a semi-main suburban road (leading to the West Falls Church VA subway station).
Right here in temperate & humid Northern Virginia, living outdoors with no special protection, was a wild brittle prickly pear cactus. We had no idea how that exotic specimen took root -- & thrived -- so far away from the southwestern desert country of the USA.
Every winter, the cactus shrank down into a purplish puddle, all hunkered down till spring. Each spring, the approach of warm weather coaxed the cactus into greening up gradually, then filling out its customary shape, & lifting itself into its customary prickly pear shape.
With permission of the people who had the cactus in their front yard, The Chief Of Staff brought home a cutting (about the size of a dinner plate) off that prickly pear. We planted it next to the entrance of our driveway down by the street. The cactus not only survived being transplanted, it took root & thrived.
By mid-June of each year, the plant puts out lots of attractive yellow cactus blossoms. We started referring to it as the Anniversary Cactus, because the appearance of the yellow flowers usually coincides with our June wedding anniversary.
This year, we realized the Anniversary Cactus had grown out of control. From its plate-size start here, it had expanded to the size of a ping-pong table -- way too much cactus for a sedate suburban front yard like ours.
So I got out the hoe & the rake & the pitchfork & the garden shovel & attacked the overgrown cactus. What's left of it is once again approximately the size of a dinner plate. No doubt it'll be double that size by this time next year.
We learned (via Internet) that brittle prickly pear isn't nearly so exotic as we had assumed for this part of the country. Varieties of brittle prickly pear are found in something like 48 of the 50 states, also in some of the Canadian provinces.
Who knew ?
Right here in temperate & humid Northern Virginia, living outdoors with no special protection, was a wild brittle prickly pear cactus. We had no idea how that exotic specimen took root -- & thrived -- so far away from the southwestern desert country of the USA.
Every winter, the cactus shrank down into a purplish puddle, all hunkered down till spring. Each spring, the approach of warm weather coaxed the cactus into greening up gradually, then filling out its customary shape, & lifting itself into its customary prickly pear shape.
With permission of the people who had the cactus in their front yard, The Chief Of Staff brought home a cutting (about the size of a dinner plate) off that prickly pear. We planted it next to the entrance of our driveway down by the street. The cactus not only survived being transplanted, it took root & thrived.
By mid-June of each year, the plant puts out lots of attractive yellow cactus blossoms. We started referring to it as the Anniversary Cactus, because the appearance of the yellow flowers usually coincides with our June wedding anniversary.
This year, we realized the Anniversary Cactus had grown out of control. From its plate-size start here, it had expanded to the size of a ping-pong table -- way too much cactus for a sedate suburban front yard like ours.
So I got out the hoe & the rake & the pitchfork & the garden shovel & attacked the overgrown cactus. What's left of it is once again approximately the size of a dinner plate. No doubt it'll be double that size by this time next year.
We learned (via Internet) that brittle prickly pear isn't nearly so exotic as we had assumed for this part of the country. Varieties of brittle prickly pear are found in something like 48 of the 50 states, also in some of the Canadian provinces.
Who knew ?
-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.
