Up Dated 10/24/2001

The Editors Page

By Linda Tamblyn

Amazing Survivors

I got a bunch of pads of Opuntia from a service tech at work. I put them in the trunk of my car and promptly forgot about them. The car was an all black Grand Prix and the time was a summer heat wave. Temperatures were over a hundred every day. About two weeks later, I opened the trunk and saw the remains. These plants were almost baked, they'd been in there so long. They were shriveled, dried and desiccated. Just for the heck of it, I threw them out front in an empty flowerbed. Surprisingly, almost every pad "took" . I also took cuttings of a cereus when Missouri Botanical Gardens was closing the Desert House. Took quite a few cuttings, but one of these got stuck behind a shelf. It sat there for over a year. I finally planted the poor pitiful thing and it's still growing. That's been at least seven years. The Opuntias were flourishing after more than 15 years.

From Kathy Malon, St. Louis

Kathy sent me this response to the article about my two- year old forgotten Anacampseros start. Anybody got a good C&S survivor story? Let me hear from you at plums15@aol.com  or 913-432-9646. -Linda

Thanks to everyone!

Gussie Skoff is scheduled for surgery on Oct. 29. She has been ill for several weeks and wants to thank everyone who sent cards to her. She asks that we remember her in our prayers. We hope to see Gussie at the Christmas party. If you would like to send Gussie a card her address is: 11600 Holiday Dr. #100A, Kansas City, MO 64134.

New Members (sort of - Many of us already know Charlotte and Doug.