I live in central Iowa, and have seen a couple of beds with PP's in them (and not the little ones native to the prairie). They don't get very tall; I think because they need the snow cover to insulate them from the really cold air. The main things you would have to worry about are: Keep the pads protected from the _really_ cold air, and make sure they have good drainage so the roots don't rot. I actually have one in a pot, that I bought last year in the Produce department at my local grocery store. It took about 4 months to see any new growth from it. If you live in a town with a significant Latino population that might be a place to look.

Thanks alot for the feedback, it definitely answered my question. In terms of when the buds came about, I was under the impression that buds form during the growing season, either a year before they bloom (as I've read of most fruit trees) or shortly before they bloom (as in most cacti). Perhaps proof of the latter part I have also seen with another cactus this spring, an Echinocereus from California that I planted in April with a bunch of large flower buds almost ready to open. Several nights of cold temps in successive weeks (we had a low of 19 degrees at the very end of April) maybe combined with transplant stress, killed all but one of these buds. Now, a couple of weeks later, tiny new buds are popping out the side like crazy. I read something in a biology of cacti book (Nobel, author) that cacti are unusual in that a flower bud initiates as little as 40 days before it becomes an opened blossom. Go figure. Well, as you said, joscience, next spring will be a good test. If I don't get any flowering then what I've read could be false, and we can assume that such a young plant just could not get enough energy to produce flower buds in it's first real bud-forming season since being rooted. Fun stuff! Thanks again

Stepfix: We have a large nopal plant in a big pot. We rooted a pad bought in a Mexican food market. You can let the cut place on a pad callus over and then root it like any other cactus. If it is upright, the roots will form on the cut end. If it is lying on its side, roots will form on the underneath side of it, and after that, it will make pads in the normal pattern, but take longer to really do anything. We rooted this pad almost exactly 2 years ago and have already been enjoying eating some of the tender new pads it has made. The older pads have grown enormous and tough!

Travis, First of all, let me say I am VERY new to cacti gardening and this is the first day on this forum. Saw your post and want to tell you that I can offer you all the prickly pear pads that you want. They are growing in my back yard. I understand that there are multiple types and I can't say that I can identify them all (just know they are prickly pear) but some are smaller pads that bloom yellow or a pinkish-purple color and some have larger pads that bloom yellow. Not real familiar with this forum yet, but I could send you some for just the shipping charges. I live outside of ABQ, NM, where it can get down to single digits in the winter, just not sure how they could handle the winters in WI since I used to live in SE MN. Let me know if I can help. David