We’d just sat down to dinner when there was a knock at the door. Ready with my standard “no thank you we don’t need whatever it is you’re selling” speech I was surprised to see my friend, and fellow garden blogger, Anna smiling back at me. That’s when I remembered a previous conversation we'd had…she’d gone dumpster diving and was bringing me the spoils!
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Anna works at Drake’s 7 Dees and the orange spotted opuntia had finally misbehaved one time too many which caused her co-hort, William, to give it the heave-ho (misbehaved = covered him in painful glochids). Anna being the soft-hearted individual she is couldn't stand to see a perfectly good plant be tossed and asked me if I wanted to rescue it, of course! Sadly it had gotten pretty banged up...
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It came with a surprise, something you don't see everyday: a fern growing out of the bottom of a container of opuntia.
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This is the label I found inside the pot. Not terribly helpful but at least it told me it wasn't hardy (the plant had been kicking around the nursery for ages, pre-Anna, pre-William, who knows how old the label is)...
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A little further down (when I was still under the illusion I'd be repotting this guy) I found this one. Try looking that name up online, you get absolutely nothing. I'm going with Opuntia microdasys.
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The new pads are so beautiful, but I quickly decided there was no way I was going to wrestle the plant out of the container. Why? This thing is PURE EVIL!!! (and thus the name of the post)
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Those cute brown polka-dots turn to a fine (sharp) fuzz that gets everywhere. EVERWHERE. I decided the only way to deal with it and not end up in the ER was to hold the pads with tongs and cut them off near the base, let them callus over and then (carefully) replant them.
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There are a thousand filaments of pain per square centimeter right there, trust me...
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Here's the plant post surgery.
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When it comes time to replant I will be wearing long sleeves and disposable gloves. And reminding myself to not breath in while doing it!
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The other plant Anna brought was a Opuntia engelmannii var. linguiformis, I much prefer their long, lethal, but quite obvious spikes and limited glochids...
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Thank you for the painful plants Anna!
All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
Anna works at Drake’s 7 Dees and the orange spotted opuntia had finally misbehaved one time too many which caused her co-hort, William, to give it the heave-ho (misbehaved = covered him in painful glochids). Anna being the soft-hearted individual she is couldn't stand to see a perfectly good plant be tossed and asked me if I wanted to rescue it, of course! Sadly it had gotten pretty banged up...
It came with a surprise, something you don't see everyday: a fern growing out of the bottom of a container of opuntia.
This is the label I found inside the pot. Not terribly helpful but at least it told me it wasn't hardy (the plant had been kicking around the nursery for ages, pre-Anna, pre-William, who knows how old the label is)...
A little further down (when I was still under the illusion I'd be repotting this guy) I found this one. Try looking that name up online, you get absolutely nothing. I'm going with Opuntia microdasys.
The new pads are so beautiful, but I quickly decided there was no way I was going to wrestle the plant out of the container. Why? This thing is PURE EVIL!!! (and thus the name of the post)
Those cute brown polka-dots turn to a fine (sharp) fuzz that gets everywhere. EVERWHERE. I decided the only way to deal with it and not end up in the ER was to hold the pads with tongs and cut them off near the base, let them callus over and then (carefully) replant them.
There are a thousand filaments of pain per square centimeter right there, trust me...
Here's the plant post surgery.
When it comes time to replant I will be wearing long sleeves and disposable gloves. And reminding myself to not breath in while doing it!
The other plant Anna brought was a Opuntia engelmannii var. linguiformis, I much prefer their long, lethal, but quite obvious spikes and limited glochids...
Thank you for the painful plants Anna!
All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.