In June, 2024, I wrote a blog about a magnificent old Prickly Pear Opuntia basilaris cactus garden located in the Peña Adobe Regional Park, just west of Vacaville, CA  https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=60014.  In the blog, I wrote about my fellow Master Gardeners and I weeding the cactus garden and cleaning it up to bring it back to its glory.

While weeding the cactus garden, we found around a half dozen pieces on the ground. We thought about planting them back in the garden. However, the cactus garden at Pena Adobe does not have a steady water source, and no rain was expected for a period. So, I brought the cactus pieces home to plant in my garden, hoping they would grow new roots and survive with daily care.

Cactus Transplants - P. Pashby

Rehomed cactus pads in my garden - A. Alvarado

Well, they not only survived the move, but they also flourished and came into their own as beautiful juvenile cactus plants! The cactus transplants were doing so well that they quickly outgrew the area where I had planted them in my garden. Now that they were healthy, I returned them to the original Peña Adobe cactus garden.   

My husband and I gently dug up the cactus plants from our home garden and discovered a healthy growth of roots. We carefully replanted them back at the Peña Adobe cactus garden and watered them well from some jugs we brought. I periodically returned to water the transplants and gave them the TLC they needed.

I always became attached to the plants in my garden, but I kept the mindset that these cactus transplants were just in temporary foster care. So, I am very pleased that they are now back home and thriving next to their 60-year-old ancestors.