Flowering Birds

Day 35: My collection of Christmas cacti is largely populated by the more unusual colours: yellow, white, picotee. I have some red/magenta ones as well, but they bloom later and by then, my eye has become somewhat jaded to their beauty and elegance. It is the flocks of early-flowering hybrids I love best, flying in their birdlike forms and feathery petals to my mantel, there to roost until their season is done.

Many long years ago, my husband (not particularly horticulturally adept) succeeded in cross-pollinating two differently coloured plants. We were both surprised when one of the two developed small reddish fruits, heaxagonal in cross-section and about half an inch long. We expected them to drop, but were again surprised when they held on, matured and dried. Bruce split the pods (it was his experiment, after all) and planted the tiny black seeds with care. Perhaps conditions weren't right, or perhaps the seed was sterile; in any event, after months of waiting and hoping, it became apparent to us that nothing further was going to occur.

As I set the Birds out on dark velvet for their portraits, a shower of pollen dusted the fabric's nap. Thinking of Bruce, I'm going to go get a paintbrush.