Many residents around Moose Jaw have been noticing wild cacti blooming in their backyards. 

Prickly Pear cacti have been recently spotted in people’s grass and gardens.  

“Prickly pear is a perennial. It’s a native perennial in Saskatchewan,” says Leslie Cornell, owner of Cornell Design and Landscaping in Moose Jaw. 

However, Cornell does say that it’s not usual for this cacti to just randomly grow in grass.  

Usually, people will deliberately plant the cacti in their gardens or in a rock bed.  

Even though it’s unusual for prickly pear cacti to grow in backyards, it’s not impossible depending on the landscape of your backyard.  

“If you go to some hillier areas in Saskatchewan where you find more rock and that type of thing... just hilly, rocky, grassy; you’re going to find prickly pears growing wild,” says Cornell.  

Prickly pears can bloom yellow flowers but they have very long spikes which don't make them ideal plants to have in your grass.  

“I would definitely want to dig them up. They have huge spines on them. That would be terrible if you stepped on it... If you step on it, it’s going to go through your shoe,” she says.  

Cornell does say that the cacti are easy to dig up because they have shallow root systems.  

Even after digging up prickly pears, you can repurpose them in your garden, rock bed, or plant them in a pot.