Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Opuntia 'Claude Arno' flowering in the rain

Usually my Opuntias are displaying a wealth of flowers at this time of year, but it’s been raining for weeks now in Denmark, holding the flowers back. The wet weather was preceded by a hot and sunny period resulting in a lot of flower buds; unfortunately many of these will end up as “duds” because of the rain.

Luckily some plants like Opuntia 'Claude Arno' are insisting on flowering even though the chances for being visited by pollinating insects are slim in this weather.

Opuntia 'Claude Arno' flowering in the rain, close-up
Opuntia 'Claude Arno' flowering in the rain, close-up

Still the plants look pretty miserably in the rain with only half-opened flowers.

Opuntia 'Claude Arno' flowering in the rain
Opuntia 'Claude Arno' flowering in the rain

The wet weather has one other unfortunate side effect: hordes of snails and slugs are stampeding through my beds causing havoc for new growth, flower buds, and other tender parts of the plants. The day after the above photos were taken the sun shone, giving the flowers a chance to open fully – to no avail though as most anthers had been shaven off of the stamens, by gastropods I presume.

Opuntia 'Claude Arno' missing anthers
Opuntia 'Claude Arno' missing anthers

Fortunately I haven’t seen any traces of the Iberian slug (Arion lusitanicus) that has spread up through Europe and is now thriving in the Scandinavian climate to such a degree that it’s nick-named the “killer slug”.


You can find details on other Opuntia plants that flowered in the summer of 2007 in these posts: Opuntia fragilis (Butte Co, Nebraska), Opuntia polyacantha, Opuntia tortispina (Albuquerque, New Mexico).

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