Question: I recently bought my first home in Santa Rosa. The backyard has a prickly pear cactus that’s about 6 feet tall. Since it’s the first time I’ve owned one, can you share information about it ...

Prickly pear fruit (and pads) is just one of many wild desert foods long used by Indigenous people. If you are harvesting prickly pear fruit this year, do so with respect, leaving fruit on the cactus ...

Our region’s cacti are adapted to dry, hot conditions and thrive where many plants cannot. Cacti have lost their leaves and developed fleshy, photosynthetic stems containing water-storing pulp. Cactus ...

April showers produce May’s flowers, as the old saying goes. That adage assumes there are April showers, but the liquid from above was sufficient for Leon County in April 2021. This year’s spring ...

The red larvae with black spots are eating a state icon, codified as a “hearty and beautiful denizen of the Texas landscape.” The cactus provides food and shelter for native animals, and it reflects ...

The first taste of raw prickly pear is often a surprise to those who have previously only known it as a candy or confection. It isn’t sweet, but reminiscent of an overripe strawberry, the brightness ...