These little 'Prickly Pears' started growing in our back yard last summer, but I'm unsure how they got there. I may have dropped some Opuntia fragilis pads by accident or a squirrel got some pads stuck on its fur and dragged them to this location. I have discarded some cactus soil which may have had Opuntia seeds in it and the seeds finally decided to germinate here. I'm not sure, but they would probably be 'Plains Prickly Pear' seeds that I couldn't get to germinate indoors so tossed out the soil. All that can be done now is watch them grow and see what kind of Opuntia they grow up to be.

What impressed me the most about these plants is that they lived outdoors with no protection this last winter, so what ever variety they are they are definitely cold hardy cacti.