A tour of the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University led to a surprising find–Opuntia Compressa (Prickly Pear Cactus) is a North Carolina native.

Even though Raleigh’s heat and humidity made it feel like I was walking through mud, the Sarah P. Duke garden tour was a beautiful introduction to “the crown jewel of Duke University.”

I expected to see lush gardens, but I didn’t expect to see a familiar face. While walking through the native gardens, I saw something that I grow in my own front yard: a prickly pear cactus.

I had no idea that cacti grew in North Carolina. Unfortunately that’s true. This variety is one of the endangered species grown in the special Steve Church Endangered Species garden.

It’s not the heat, but the humidity that probably placed this native on the endangered list.

The Duke gardens sit on a 55-acre site that was once a debris-filled ravine. Planting began in 1934 with a donation from Sarah P. Duke.