Rummage at your peril

[Phil Hocking]

Whilst helping out on the branch stand at the Taunton Flower Show I was looking through sales plants behind the scenes, with a view to filling gaps on the sales table. Suddenly I was stuck fast to a little Tephrocactus sphaericus. There was no way I could get off it, with 4 or 5 barbed spines embedded in my finger I was completely stuck. Managing to detach one spine just resulted in getting stabbed by one or two more. This of course caused great hilarity and eventually the pad came off the plant with all the pulling. Luckily Barry had some staple removers in his van and used them to yank the pad off my finger. Good job we didn't put it out for sale as it could have been nasty if a member of the public had made contact with it, especially a child. As it turned out the worst accident we had at the front of the stand was a little girl's burst balloon.

Photos courtesy of Chris Hayes, owner of the said plant. He offered me the plant but I declined. However, at home time I found it in my box, so it looks like I'm stuck with it. Thanks Chris.

We won a Large Gold Medal this year. I have a photo of our stand if anyone is interested.

Somerset Phil

[Ospreywatcher]

Nice one and great photos too.

It's the hooked spines on some Mammillaria that I usually have the biggest problem with though the tiny bristles on Opuntia can be a bit irritating too. I am always very cautious with the larger spined plants!

[Tina]

Phil
Ouch! that looks nasty,

I have a photo of our stand if anyone is interested

of course we do, picture please

[Phil Hocking]

I have had a look at the spines with a hand lens and surprisingly the barbs don't look very prominent, but I expect there are many of them distributed around the point. They certainly hang on tight. I must get a microscope some time. As a child I had a toy one (special offer via Weetabix) which was quite good in fact. I looked at Opuntia spines then and the barbs were impressive. This one takes the biscuit though.

Hooked spines often get caught in my woolly jumper so it's best to never be too far away from a pair of tweezers.

Somerset Phil

[delandmo]

Normally if I can't get the plant off after a couple of tries, I reach for the nearest plant label or tweezers and push in front of the barb. It usually does the trick.

[Phil Hocking]

A rare glimpse of our stand when no one was standing in front of it

Taunton Flower Show 2013

Somerset Phil

[Sylvia]

Thanks for posting the picture Phil. Well done and a big thank you to everyone concerned with all the hard work put in to this event.

[Liz M]

Very well presented, you deserve your award. As for Opuntias, you always learn the hard way, never handle them without some tweezers about.

[Conrad]

The stand looked amazing this year, and the sales table was excellent, I'll post some pictures of the plants I purchased when I get my camera working. Especially pleased to get hold of a Pelecyphora strobiliformis at a knockdown price! Also a pleasure to meet Phil and co.

[Herts Mike]

Excellent stand - well done.

Now you know why I keep my few Opuntias on the top shelf..........