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Since headphones wouldn’t be an option as he wouldn’t be working alone, he switched Beethoven for Loreena McKennitt. He figured his plants would like it fine, and he’d be a lot happier.
When Hayley came in, he was digging out a Coke, so he pulled out two.
“This is pretty exciting.”
He handed her the can. “Tell me what you know about hybridizing first.”
“Well, it’s like you have a mama and a daddy, the parents. Two different plants—they can be the same type or two different . . . What is it?”
“Genera.”
“Right. So you want ones with stable characteristics and you cross them by hand-pollinating. Like pollen from one, seed from the other—like sex.”
“Not bad. We’re going to use this miniature I’ve been screening as a parent plant. And this variegated will be the other, the seed parent. See I’ve had it protected with a bag—that keeps insect pollinators from messing with it, and we’re going to remove the stamens now, before it can self-pollinate. I potted these up, brought them in last winter so they could develop.”
“You’ve been thinking about doing this for a while.”
“Yeah, since she was born, more or less. Anyway, we work with the pollen parent today. You know how?”
“Roz did it before. I really just watched.”
“This time, you try it. I cut this one already, just above the node, see? It’s been in water and it’s fully open now. See how the anthers are split? They’re ready for pollen.”
“So, you did the foreplay.”
“One of my little skills.”
She gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “Tell me about it.”
“You go next.”
“Oh man. I have to pull the petals off, right?”
“Quick, gentle twists, work inward until you see the anthers.”
“Here goes.”
“That’s good,” he said as he watched her. “Just be careful to leave the anthers intact. Yeah, nice work, good hands.”
“I’m nervous. I hate screwing up.”
“You’re not.” Her fingers were quick and precise as they twisted the petals away. “And if you do, we’ll pick another.”
“Is that right? Is that okay?”
“What do you see?”
She bit her lip. “The little anthers are all naked.”
“Next step.” He picked up a clean camel-hair brush. “You need to collect the pollen. Use this, brush it over the anthers. We’ll store it in this dish, keep it dry. See, it’s fluffy, so it’s ripe. I’ll label the dish.”
“This is fun. You wouldn’t believe how totally I sucked in high school chemistry.”
“Just needed a better lab partner. All mine aced. Now we’re going to prep the seed parent. See this?” He held up the lily he’d chosen. “We don’t want her fully open. We’re looking for well-developed but with immature anthers—before self-pollination can happen. We take petals and anthers off her.”
“Strip her right down.”
“So to speak. No fragments left, they can cause rot fungi, then you’re screwed. What we’re after is nice exposed stigmas.”
