It’s been two years since we visited this cactus and did some fairly major structural pruning. We removed trunks to simplify the plant’s shape to let its structure come through. This time, the goal was to keep the cactus’ size in check, removing peripheral pads to again show the branch structure.
Prickly pear limbs tend to sag as they grow outward, since the pads are full of water and thus heavy. This kind of pruning keeps things more vertical as well as clearing spiny pads from the path of travel (and the pool!).
This time, a gardener did the work under supervision from the owner. The typical process is to stand back and think of the plant as a sculpture. See what forms and lines should be enhanced and which detract from the plants ideal shape.
After that, it’s a process of incremental removal, backing up, studying, removing and evaluating. When you’re done, you’ll have a pleasing, dramatic shape that looks full yet does not threaten you as you walk by.
Yes, this is subjective – you need to have good taste in cactus shapes!