🎨 AI-generated botanical illustration
🌱 Prickly Pear Cactus (Nopal)
Opuntia ficus-indica
succulents
cactus
☀️ Sun
full sun
💧 Water
very low
🗺️ Zones
[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]
🧪 Soil pH
6.0-8.0
🪴 Soil Type
well-drained, sandy, tolerates poor/rocky
📏 Spacing
3-6 ft
📐 Height
6-15 ft
⏱️ Maturity
2-3 years to fruit from pad
🤝 Companions (3)
🤝 Agave
Shared desert garden conditions; complementary forms
🤝 chiltepin (wild chili)
Traditional Sonoran Desert companion; grows in shade of prickly pear
🤝 mesquite tree
Attracts beneficial insects and pollinators
⚠️ Keep Apart (1)
⚠️ plants needing wet soil
Cactus DNA — rots with too much water
📝 Growing Notes
A vegetable AND a fruit on the same plant. The pads (nopales) are a staple vegetable in Mexico — tastes like a green bean crossed with okra. The magenta fruit (tunas) makes incredible juice. Cold-hardy to zone 4 — one of the most cold-tolerant cacti.
🛒 Buy Seeds & Plants
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Johnny's Selected Seeds
Botanical Interests
True Leaf Market
Burpee
Territorial Seed Company
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