Friday, September 21, 2012

The Opuntia Santa Claus stops by…

One evening last week the Opuntia Santa Claus paid me a visit! She pulled up in her black SUV and (almost giddy with excitement) opened the back hatch to show me this...

Santa made quite the haul!

Here's Santa's helper with my Opuntia gifts!

Persistence pays off in this case as my plant lust co-hort Patricia has been chatting up the entire "Ranch-lands" neighborhood near me trying to find her dream house. She just happened to chat with a fellow who was planning to trim his patch of Opunita and offered to call her when he did, and he did! And now I have some big beautiful Opuntias! Thanks Patricia!

38 comments:

  1. Epic! And amazing! And just about every other expression if pure joy and excitement! Puntia Claus be lovin' you!

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    1. And I bet the 'Puntia Claus has a Christmas tree palm....

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    2. Oh I sure hope so! Maybe he delivers those too?! That would be fun. I almost bought another palm today out of pure habit. I fondled the fronds, investigated its form, bent down to pick it up, and then a small - very small - voice in me said, "Louis, do you have any room for that?" And how could I have room? If there's room I fill it immediately. and then the voice asked, "do you even have a pot?" And then I said, "but I could buy one!" And the voice said, "but can you afford the one you want?" And I said "damn!!"

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    3. Just means there is a better one waiting for you!

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  2. Molly LittlejohnSeptember 21, 2012

    Lucky!

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  3. What a great find!! Is this Opuntia robusta?

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    1. I don't think so, they're spineless, is robusta?

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    1. Every month should have a Christmas don't you think?

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  5. How exciting! So how do you grow those trimmings--just stick them in the ground?

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    1. Yep...let them callus over so it's not an open wound and then just stick 'em in the ground!

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  6. I do not have any of that variety.......wink wink!

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    1. Umm.....perhaps I can bring one to the exchange with your name on it!

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    2. I'm sure I could find something in the Death Valley Shack with Danger on it!!!!!

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    3. Of course that's not necessary but it does sound exciting!

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  7. Gloves are cheating.

    But so is getting three-tiered plants as starts. Will they be able to root and survive like that, or will you need to trim them down a bit?

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    1. Gloves are for the smart! (she says knowing full well she picks them up with out gloves many times). I've had no problems with a double, we'll see how this goes, although as Jenny says I might need to brace them.

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  8. You sound like one happy gardener! How sweet your friend and the gentleman to give her a call when he did his trimming. You've been a good little gardener this year...

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  9. Wow, how cool is that? Marvelous

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  10. Cool! Christmas came early to your house!

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    1. Hey and come to think of it my birthday came early this year too (the circle pot Andrew ordered that mistakenly was shipped to home instead of work)...what's up with that?

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  11. Merry equinox! These are perfect for your garden. Ho, Ho, Hoe!

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  12. What a haul. Christmas indeed. I still find it amazing that you can grow them in Portland. That same scene was played out at this house early on in the summer. A huge pile of pads outside a house. For the taking. I brought a truck full home. I should tell you that I had better success at establishing small groups of pads rather than the large ones. They tended to fall over under their own weight. You may have to give them some support. Let us know how it goes and good luck.

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    1. This is good to know Jenny thank you, I figured I was probably going to have to do something to keep them upright. Also glad to hear that you get excited about a good haul too!

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  13. I love these hauls. And while I still suffer from getting stuck even while wearing gloves using tongs to pick them up, I still get super excited for a cactus haul:) Have fun with your new bits:)

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    1. Rubber tipped tongs would have been nice to use here, I'm afraid in handling them I've messed up there prefect powdery finish.

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  14. I was a bit giddy, and I knew that you'd appreciate just exactly why!

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  15. And I should have mentioned, the real thanks goes to our benefactor, Spencer T. Houser of houserworksllc.com, a very cool design, prototyping, and machining company in #nepdx So many talented creative types in little ole Stumptown. Thanks Spencer!

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    1. Oh yes indeed! Thank you Spencer, I did a driveby to see the mother patch the other day...wow!

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  16. I need an Opuntia Santa Claus. Or an Opuntia fairy! Although maybe it's not best to wake up with prickly pads under your pillow.

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    1. I'd put you on my list--but, alas, you're a little out of my stalking/delivery area...

      Patricia

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  17. I think this is opuntia ellisiana

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