Sunday, August 2, 2009
Around Town / Phillips Local Cacti
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Sun, Aug 2, 2009 at 9:25 AM
A few months ago, I was driving around town and I was crossing a bridge over a small creek and I
And, what the hell, it wasn't a bunch of fake flowers at all, but a huge prickly pear in bloom.
I thought that was weird, but I was in a residential area, so I thought it was possible that it had just escaped from someone's garden, and gone feral.
But then Friday I went to the Music City Improv performance and... and let me just sidetrack by saying that you have not lived until you've seen libertarian improv and I'm not sure what other improv troupe in the country has such a prominent strain of hilarious libertarianism (I mean intentionally hilarious libertarianism)...
Where was I?
Oh, yes, right there at the corner of the parking lot, in downtown Nashville, was a huge prickly pear. Clearly, this was not some escapee from a local yard. This prickly pear had come from somewhere and put down roots right on Charlotte. Well, you know, I was about to call Eric Crafton or Sheriff Hall and get them to address this dangerous invader, when I thought, "You know, I could ask someone about this before I start a fuss."
So, I did.
I called Chris Clarke, famed and notorious desert rat and author of the blog Coyote Crossing.
And it turns out that this is no cacti-come-lately. We have a prickly pear that is native to Tennessee--the Eastern Prickly Pear. It can survive and thrive in pretty poor soil where other plants can't grow--like on the tops of balds or at the edges of parking lots--as long as they get a lot of sun.
"As more of Tennessee gets paved," Clarke said, "you'll probably see more prickly pears. They'll be pretty happy to fill that niche."
click to enlarge
noticed what looked like armfuls of fake yellow flowers thrown on the side of the bridge. It was so striking that I stopped to get a better look.
And, what the hell, it wasn't a bunch of fake flowers at all, but a huge prickly pear in bloom.
I thought that was weird, but I was in a residential area, so I thought it was possible that it had just escaped from someone's garden, and gone feral.
But then Friday I went to the Music City Improv performance and... and let me just sidetrack by saying that you have not lived until you've seen libertarian improv and I'm not sure what other improv troupe in the country has such a prominent strain of hilarious libertarianism (I mean intentionally hilarious libertarianism)...
Where was I?
Oh, yes, right there at the corner of the parking lot, in downtown Nashville, was a huge prickly pear. Clearly, this was not some escapee from a local yard. This prickly pear had come from somewhere and put down roots right on Charlotte. Well, you know, I was about to call Eric Crafton or Sheriff Hall and get them to address this dangerous invader, when I thought, "You know, I could ask someone about this before I start a fuss."
So, I did.
I called Chris Clarke, famed and notorious desert rat and author of the blog Coyote Crossing.
And it turns out that this is no cacti-come-lately. We have a prickly pear that is native to Tennessee--the Eastern Prickly Pear. It can survive and thrive in pretty poor soil where other plants can't grow--like on the tops of balds or at the edges of parking lots--as long as they get a lot of sun.
"As more of Tennessee gets paved," Clarke said, "you'll probably see more prickly pears. They'll be pretty happy to fill that niche."
Comments (4)
Showing 1-4 of 4
Being an Arizona native, I lurvs my cacti. I didn't see a single honeybee this year, though. Not even one, over the entire blooms cycle.
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Posted by
serr8d
on 08/02/2009 at 2:01 PM
Speaking of honeybees, I was out looking for the grave of Elizabeth Bennett, who was the mother of Timothy Demonbreun's Nashville children, and I noticed that there are quite a few folks out towards Scottsboro who are keeping bees these days.
I found that odd but cool.
We've always grown cacti but this is the first year we've ever had one bloom. And one of my readers from out west brought me a bluish-purple prickly pear, which is amazingly beautiful.
Posted by
Aunt B.
on 08/02/2009 at 5:55 PM
