Nopalxochia!

[lblanchard]

What an unexpected bonus for a day that was going well already! I went out to the back garden to see what plants needed their saucers tipped after a heroic thunderstorm. Only because I was getting ready to tip the hanging Nopalxochia did I find three blooms on the same stem -- usually hidden by the pot, a post, and another plant.

Because the plant is outdoors for the summer and not indoors, I think I'll allow the blooms to die and wither on the plant. I don't know if this plant is self-fertile. Nor do I know whether we have any insects in Philadelphia capable of getting inside and pollinating, or whether there is any nectar in there worth the trouble. I've actually never seen the anthers burst open and disperse pollen indoors, so I don't know what the story might be.

But maybe it will achieve pollination. If one of those flowers fruits, I'll let the fruit mature. Seedling nopalxochias -- how cool would that be?

Comments

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

When I lived over the insurance agency,I thought it wold be very smart to put the three I had outside. They were all stolen.

So pretty.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

You had three Nopalxochia?

[pameladean]

Oh, wow, there is just nothing like those flowers, is there?

P.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Sure isn't. I'd like to have mine bloom as profusely as Dodo Hamilton's did, just once in my lifetime.