OT-CHAT: Ouch!
- To: i*@egroups.com
- Subject: OT-CHAT: Ouch!
- From: D* K*
- Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 15:03:12 -0400
You iris hybridizers have it easy. Today I tried pollinating some of my
cacti. Yeowch!!
While surfing the net last weekend I stumbled across a purple-padded
prickly pear cactus which was identifed as Opuntia violacea var.
santa-rita. A few emails later I found that our very own Ken Walker right
here on Iris-Talk could kindly provide me with some pollen.
A bit more investigating led me to learn that my Opuntia isn't the native
species (O. humifusa) that I thought it was, but instead an imposter.
Well, regardless it survives in Cincinnati just fine and blooms profusely
(3" bright yellow flowers with flame orange centers).
Today I tried pollinating it, which to tell the truth wasn't too difficult
once I figured out the proper tool for applying the pollen.... a cotton
swab. But labelling it was painful! You'd think getting jabbed once by
those nasty spines would teach me a lesson... well I guess I'm too thick.
I got jabbed a couple times on each flower I tried to tie a label around!
3 flowers was enough for me. I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid. <G>
Why did I do this? Because I want to see if I can get some purple-padded
midwest-hardy cacti with bright yellow flowers. Doesn't that sound neat?
Dennis Kramb; dkramb@badbear.com
Cincinnati, Ohio USA; USDA Zone 6
http://www.badbear.com/dkramb/home.html
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