Actual size and flowering may vary slightly based on season.
Goldie Rita Prickly Pear
Goldie Rita Prickly Pear is a low garden prickly pear with small turquoise-blue pads and jet-black spines. Its big yellow flowers with a deep red center cover the plant in spring, then keep coming back in flushes into September. It stays about a foot tall and 2 feet wide, so it fits a small bed, a rock garden or a large pot. Bees work the flowers every time it blooms.
Best for: small beds, rock gardens and large pots where a low prickly pear with a long bloom season fits.
It stays about a foot tall and 2 feet wide, much smaller than most prickly pears. It fits a small bed or rock garden without taking over.
Large yellow flowers with a deep red center cover it in spring. It reblooms in flushes into September, which is unusual for a prickly pear.
The turquoise pads and black spines look sharp in a large pot. Use a gritty mix and a pot with a drainage hole.
Soil that stays wet rots the roots. The spines and glochids, tiny barbed hairs, stick at a touch, so keep it back from walks and play areas.
- Tight group3 ft apart
- Plant to plant3-4 ft apart
Wait about a week after planting before the first water, then water about every other week through the first summer. Once rooted, a deep soak every 2 to 4 weeks in summer is plenty, with little or none in winter.
Wear thick leather gloves and use tongs or folded newspaper. To keep it in bounds, cut whole pads off at the joint with long-handled loppers.
It can be damaged below about 15°F. On frost nights, cover it with frost cloth or a sheet that reaches the ground, not plastic, and take it off in the morning.
It needs little or no fertilizer. If you feed it, use a light, diluted feeding in spring or early summer, never in fall or winter.
Drainage test first. Dig the hole and fill it with water. If water is still sitting in the hole a day later, you likely hit caliche, clay or hard soil, so fix the drainage before planting. If it drains very fast, the soil is sandy. Standing water around roots is a common reason new plants fail.
Weed cloth. Cut it away from the planting hole and where the roots will spread. Remove any plastic sheeting completely, since it keeps water and air out of the soil.
Rock or decomposed granite with no soil underneath. Bring in soil close in texture to your native soil, mix it with the soil below, and build up enough depth for roots before planting.
If you can break through. Use a breaker bar, pick, or jackhammer. Dig through the caliche and break out the solid chunks. Backfill with the soil you dug out, with no compost or manure in the hole. Confirm drainage before planting.
If you cannot break through. Dig narrow holes through the hard layer beside the root ball, not under it, and refill them with the same soil, not gravel. If it still will not drain, plant on a low mound of the same soil.
Root ball. Check the outside edges for any roots circling around. Loosen or cut those so they grow outward. Do not break up the center of the root ball.
Depth. The top of the root ball should sit at or just slightly above the surrounding soil level. Planting too deep can lead to rot and kill the plant.
Drip emitters. At planting, put the emitters on the root ball, on different sides of the plant. After about 2 months, move them to the outer edge of the root ball. Over the first year, add emitters farther out toward the edge of the branches as roots grow. Once a plant is rooted, never water only at the trunk.
How big does Goldie Rita get?
It stays about a foot tall and about 2 feet wide, stacking new pads without getting large.
When does it bloom?
It covers itself in large yellow flowers with a deep red center in spring, then reblooms in flushes into September.
What color are the pads?
Small, turquoise-blue pads with jet-black spines. Pads can take on a purple tint in cold or dry spells.
How often should I water it?
Once rooted, give it a deep soak every 2 to 4 weeks in summer and little or none in winter. Let the soil dry between waterings.
How cold can it take?
It is rated to about the low teens. Frost cloth helps young plants on the hardest freeze nights.
How do I handle it without getting stuck?
Wear thick leather gloves and use tongs or folded newspaper. If glochids get in your skin, press tape on them or spread white glue, let it dry and peel it off.
Can I grow it in a pot?
Yes. Its small size suits a large pot with a gritty mix and a drainage hole. Water a pot a little more often than a plant in the ground.
Does it attract bees?
Yes. Bees visit prickly pear flowers, and some native cactus bees feed almost only on prickly pear and cholla.
Goldie Rita Prickly Pear for sale in Arizona, delivered to you
Goldie Rita Prickly Pear is a compact garden prickly pear bred for its blue pads, black spines and long yellow bloom. This page covers its size, flowers, water, cold, handling and pots in the Valley.
Sourced from trusted Arizona growers and delivered directly to your door, job site, or property. We deliver across the Valley and to nearby towns, and quote delivery anywhere else in Arizona.
What is Goldie Rita prickly pear?
It is a compact garden prickly pear with turquoise pads, black spines and yellow flowers with red centers.
How big does Goldie Rita get?
About a foot tall and 2 feet wide, a good fit for small beds and pots.
Goldie Rita bloom season
It blooms heavily in spring and reblooms into September.
Watering Goldie Rita in Phoenix
Once rooted, a deep soak every 2 to 4 weeks in summer and little or none in winter.
Is Goldie Rita cold hardy?
It is rated to about the low teens.
Handling prickly pear glochids
Use thick gloves and tongs. Tape or dried white glue lifts glochids out of skin.
We deliver across the Valley, from Phoenix, Scottsdale and Mesa out to San Tan Valley, Maricopa and Casa Grande, and up to Prescott, Sedona, Payson and Globe. See delivery areas and rates.