Nice work!

I would love some!

Let me know if there is anything you
want from my yard-Tetrapanex-etc and I will go out and dig it up 🙂

I love the color, I would love to make a trade if you want?

I have few nice one's.
What ever you just let me know.

Here is a blog of some hybrids I found in my yard.
http://unkowndestination.blogspot.com/2012/06/hybrid-pricklypear-and-other-flowers.html

And here is a nice Opuntia someone gave me. 😀

Yikes! Tim I may want some seed, but am also running out of room! I crossed some basilaris v. aurea (O. aurea) with a hardy phaeacantha that I have, and also made some other hybrids, none as interesting as that. I'm still waiting for the Clyindropuntia to bloom so I an try some hybrids on those!

Love the cactus hyrbids, we really need to get some of those less hardy giant plants crossed onto smaller hardy ones. I'm planning to use macrorhiza and humifusa with some pollen I collected in Cali (basilaris v. basilaris, robusta...) to see if I can't get some seed set.

Paul,
That should make some interesting hybrids. 8)

Hi Aaron,

that pinky-purple hybrid cactus flower is great. It sure seems to have at least polyacantha genes in it. Not sure what else. That's why I love hybrids so much....you never know what you'll end up with.

Hi Paul,

it would be very cool to hybridize a big engelmannii type with a humifusa type. The engelmanii types bloom much later than the hardy humifusa types. Blooms are much less frequent on the engelmaniis too. I should try to store humifusa pollen.......and move my engelmanii too since my southern Mag is starting to shade it too much.........probably no blooms this season. Perhaps I should cut down the Mag? 😉

Hi Aaron,

that pinky-purple hybrid cactus flower is great. It sure seems to have at least polyacantha genes in it. Not sure what else. That's why I love hybrids so much....you never know what you'll end up with.

The pink/purple one in the above pics as far as I know is all polyacantha, but in the link are two O. macrocentra/polycantha hybrids. When I first spotted them in my garden I was happy to see two O. macrocentra seedlings, but as they grew bigger that was when I could tell the had been crossed. 😀 Only time will tell how the will be in form, they sprouted last year.

PS they seem to take the most from the donor pollen. Does this sound right to you. 😐

YES cut down the Magnolia!

I had grown a bunch of engelmanii seedlings with that cross (and fragilis and macrorhiza) in mind. The seedlings persisted for ~ 3 years but have all now died out. Damn.

engelmanii x a hardy phaeacantha would also be a good cross.

Interesting about the crosses Aaron, wonder if the pollen parent form can be exploited to expediate the growth form I am looking for? If only Opuntia fragilis was useful as a maternal parent. Damn. Any blooms on you chloroticta this year?

Hi Aaron & Paul,

in the O. humifusa x phaeacantha 'red' hybrid cross I did back in 2002? This was the humifusa pad:

<img src= >

The O. phaeacantha 'red' was this plant:

<img src= >
you can see I marked one of these fruits....
<img src= >

The hybrid looks like this:
<img src= >

The pads of the hybrid are intermediate.....kinda like macrorhiza! Hmmmmmmm.
The pollen donor gave the flower color. But the lack of spines came from humifusa. It's difficult to corrolate since I don't have many to compare.

My memory is so bad too.......I think the humifusa was the seed producer.......I'll have to check my old records to see who was the pollen donor.....perhaps humifusa was the pollen donor....then the flower was from the mother and humifusa cancelled out the long spines.....either way it's still cool to see the intermediate traits.

Any blooms on you chloroticta this year?

I only have one seedling chlorotic, but I can see if my friend still has his big plant or pads left (it fell over I think?)

I started 2 seedlings last winter, but one I did not water enough and the othe something eat half of it and it is very small, maybe a 1/4 inch high. I so hope it makes it because my guess is it will be a hybrid and should be a better hardy sp. 😉 Only time will tell (if I can keep it alive). 🙂

Hi Aaron,

those O. chlorotic seeds you sent never germed under the same conditions as other Opuntia seeds........not sure why since Opuntia grow like weeds here. I still have the container out in my garden hoping one will germ........with all this rain perhaps it will happen soon!

Hi Aaron,

those O. chlorotic seeds you sent never germed under the same conditions as other Opuntia seeds........not sure why since Opuntia grow like weeds here. I still have the container out in my garden hoping one will germ........with all this rain perhaps it will happen soon!

They are not easy starters, kind of like cholla (hard to start)! I put the seed on the surface and kept them moist by a window, I had a few germ but they dry out very easy. So by late spring I only had two left and now one.

Hey Tim,
I took some pollen off a O. basilaris and crossed it with a polyacantha as soon as I did the flower started to cose a little.
Just have to wait and see. 😉

A flower closing up fast is a great sign that the pollen 'took'. I always look for that in the Yucca hybrid crosses I do. If the Yucca flower opens up fully the 2nd night I know the cross was not successful.

It may not have worked, the flower was open again. 😡