Ellen Hornig wrote
Ilse's query about hepatica breeding reminded me (because she asked about using separate paintbrushes for each plant) that one can buy ridiculous #s of cheap watercolor brushes for $1 at the dollar store - say, 20-30 per pack. I find these very useful! I've used them for my hepaticas, in fact, and after pollinating I just stick the end of the brush into the pot to keep it handy for the next round (since the flowers open over several days). They can of course be reused for other species, but given how cheap they are, it hardly matters.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that brushes used for hand pollination can be washed in denatured alcohol and then reused. Is this true?
I'll be sure to stop by the next Dollar Store I see and get some of these brushes Ellen mentions, because now that my bulbs are living near the city and enclosed in fairly small mesh to keep out the introduced squirrels, I think there will be far fewer pollinators helping them set seed. I used to get great quantities of valuable seed when we were in the country, as there were many species of pollinators, bees, flies, beetles, and hummingbirds, that visited the frames. Even in the dead of winter when my crocuses were the only flowers for miles around, honeybees somehow found them.
Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA
_______________________________________________ Alpine-l mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/alpine-l
