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Santa Rita Prickly Pear

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The Santa Rita prickly pear is the classic purple prickly pear from the Sonoran desert. Featuring purple tinged pads with yellow flowers in the spring, this cactus can grow to be 3'x3' when planted in the ground. Reliably hardy to the mid teens at night. The purple hue of the Sanat Rita prickly pear cactus intensifies in response to sunlight, drought and temperature changes.

Ornamental Uses:

Landscaping: The purple Santa Rita Prickly Pear is widely used in landscaping for its ornamental value. The striking purple to bluish-gray color of the pads adds visual interest to gardens and outdoor spaces.

Accent Plant: The purple Santa Rita prickly pear serves as an accent plant in xeriscapes, rock gardens, and water-wise landscapes.

Erosion Control: The dense growth habit of the purple Santa Rita prickly pear makes it effective for erosion control on slopes.

Container Gardening: Due to its compact size and attractive coloration, the purple Santa Rita prickly pear is suitable for container gardening, allowing for versatility in placement.

Flowering:

The purple Santa Rita prickly pear produces vibrant yellow flowers, often with reddish centers. The flowers appear in late spring to early summer and are followed by the development of pear-shaped fruits.

Culinary Uses:

The fruits of the Santa Rita Prickly Pear, commonly known as tunas, are edible. They can be peeled and eaten fresh or used in various culinary applications, such as jams and beverages.

Our shipping process guarantees your purple Santa-rita prickly pear cactus will come to you in pristine condition and wrapped in a way that makes planting easy!

Prickly Pear design and application suggestions:

Opuntias, the prickly pear family of cacti, can be used in many different ways. In the landscape, the prickly pear family can be used as a very nice contrast to other cacti and succulents. The rounded pads, beautiful flowers of yellow, orange, red and pink plus different pad colors and sizes offer distinguished contrast in the landscape or in a nice container. Some prickly pear species can be used as a succulent groundcover. Some prickly pears, like the Santa Rita “purple” prickly pear, are ideal as unique pieces interspersed throughout the landscape or a nice contrast to a group of cacti and succulents in pots. Prickly pears are also very forgiving. They will tolerate the hottest parts of your landscape and like it! The prickly pear family also thrives on very little water and can take very cold overnight temperatures.

Prickly Pear design and application suggestions:

Opuntias, the prickly pear family of cacti, can be used in many different ways. In the landscape, the prickly pear family can be used as a very nice contrast to other cacti and succulents. The rounded pads, beautiful flowers of yellow, orange, red and pink plus different pad colors and sizes offer distinguished contrast in the landscape or in a nice container. Some prickly pear species can be used as a succulent groundcover. Some prickly pears, like the Santa Rita “purple” prickly pear, are ideal as unique pieces interspersed throughout the landscape or a nice contrast to a group of cacti and succulents in pots. Prickly pears are also very forgiving. They will tolerate the hottest parts of your landscape and like it! The prickly pear family also thrives on very little water and can take very cold overnight temperatures.

Why purchase our Prickly Pear?

Our prickly pears are grown in their native habitat right here in Southern Arizona. Raised outdoors with just the right amount of water and fertilizer, they come to you in their natural form. These plants do not come to you from a greenhouse. They are already hardy to whatever growing conditions you have to offer. You will not see any evidence of pads getting skinny and reaching for light. The prickly pears present the same appearance as you will find them in their native habitats.

If you want to plant them in a container for a sunroom, patio or window planter, great! If you want to take your new prickly pear cacti and plant them in the ground, also great! No acclimation needed. Our plants are ready to go!

Reliable packaging and shipping

We strive to offer the most healthy cacti and succulents you can find anywhere that are shipped right to your door. Our plants are professionally packaged with expertise honed by shipping amazing plants to customers like you for over 20 years. Our packaging process ensures a bare minimum of damaged orders. All of our plants are wrapped in bubble wrap and tape, which should not be taken off until your plant is in its final home. The bubble wrap offers you and the plant additional protection while planting. All of our plants are shipped bare root.

Reliable packaging and shipping

We strive to offer the most healthy cacti and succulents you can find anywhere that are shipped right to your door. Our plants are professionally packaged with expertise honed by shipping amazing plants to customers like you for over 20 years. Our packaging process ensures a bare minimum of damaged orders. All of our plants are wrapped in bubble wrap and tape, which should not be taken off until your plant is in its final home. The bubble wrap offers you and the plant additional protection while planting. All of our plants are shipped bare root.

Customer Reviews

Based on 58 reviews
93%
(54)
2%
(1)
2%
(1)
0%
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3%
(2)
M
Marc Tanenbaum
Prickly Pear cactus

Cactus arrived in perfect shape. Got it into ground immediately.

T
Tom Burt
Exactly as shown.

Cactus arrived in perfect shape and looks exactly like it does in the ad. Been about a month now and starting to get new growth a a bit of a purple blush. Well packaged and shipped, Cactus Outlet will be my go-to cactus shop. Oh, be careful of the glochids (hairs) on the pads when you unpack/plant!

C
Craig Eslinger
What a beautiful plant

The Cactus Outlet never disappoints me. I just received my latest cactus, and it looks so great (e.g., healthy, well packaged, etc...). Lastly, want to call out the team there because they're always so helpful. I had one of my plants dying and they were so nice to review pictures and try to help.

F
Fiore Ferrara
Arrived healthy

My Santa Rita Prickly Pear arrived looking beautiful and healthy. I was surprised to see you added a smaller different verity of cactus. My neighbor has an app on her phone and told me that both cacti showed healthy.
Thank you

R
Randy Emshofff
Great product

Everything I ordered was fantastic and is growing so well!

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