One more shot of something really lovely from the Har Mar Spring Show. This is the tricolor winning plant grown by KL. It's 'Von Mariner'.

A Little Spring!

Here we have just a sample of the loveliness that was displayed at the AVSM spring show at Har Mar Mall. It's hard to capture the full effect of a show with over 325 entries with only these few shots. But, it was certainly fun to see so many really outstanding plants all in one place!

The violets displayed were: 

Sacajawea














Smooch Me

















Emergency















Painted Desert 















Ness' Spring Blush

Little Ebony

Ahhh, The Sweet Smell of Spring!

This is the our harbinger of spring! When the voodoos are out you can soon find robins and spring peepers. (I made that up)













 This is the handsome maroon of the bloom.












 Here we have a look into it's secret nougat center. I'm still wondering if the whole thing is heating itself up like the Titan Arums do when they start to have their fragrance.

The Milwaukee Public Museum says this about the Titan Arum (which is a close cousin, I'm thinking that my voodoo is doing about the same things for the same reasons.)  The Milwaukee Public Museum: "Flower odor is strongest the first night after opening. Sulfur compounds, similar to those responsible for the smell of rotten eggs, give the flower its putrid odor. The smell (similar to rotting fish according to some) comes in waves and attracts carrion beetles and sweat bees in its native habitat. Since flowers are few and far between in the wild, the plant needs to disperse its odor to attract pollinators. It is able to do this by generating heat, up to about 10 °F above the surrounding air, which volatilizes the chemicals. The spathe closes after this first period trapping the pollinators within. When it opens the next day, the male flowers are shedding their pollen and the insects must crawl over the flowers picking up pollen on their way out. If fertilization occurs, numerous fruit the size of olives will develop over the next 6 months, turning bright red when ripe."


This is how it's gotta be for the next couple of days around here. Whew.....

Click on the photos to make them larger.

Show Show Show

The African Violet Society of Minnesota is proud to present "Minnesota Spring"


AVSA Spring Show and Sale March 19-20, 2010. Har Mar Mall @ Co. Road B and Snelling.
Fri. Mar. 19th 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Sat. Mar. 20th, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Join the fun and visit the spring show and sale this week! Lots of plants, lots of color.... lots of "spring" just when we need it!

Dish-eveled Dish

So, this is a four year old dish garden from the national AV convention in 2006. It's almost all original materials except for the tallest element in the back of the garden. It's so tall that it makes the dish out of balance.

It seems like a good time to see what's going on with the plantings and refresh it for spring!

Ahhhh, when I pull the back edge out of the pot it has a massive amount of roots and everything is quite tightly packed together. I want to take the Aralia out of the pot because it's grown too tall and doesn't have enough lower branches to fit into the "landscape" without looking lanky and out of place.

See the larger white roots by my thumb? I have to extract the tall Aralia's roots from the rest of the soil ball. Note the whole thing came out of the pot like it was a sponge not loose soil. Maybe a tad overgrown? I have to insert a "Lemon Cyprus" in a very small space. It's hard to get a fresh plant's roots tucked into this mess.

As you can see, the final dish is still quite full but it's cleaned up and good looking again. The "spider" plant came out because it was too large, and the fern got cut back more than it might appear. The new tall element in the back (a Lemon Cyprus) is nice and fluffy (and considering how the roots were disturbed, let's hope it continues to stay nice and fluffy) and a couple of bird-embellishments for some fun and we're set! It could also have a bit of Easter decoration inserted and it could easily be seasonal decoration in any room.

Click on the photos to make them larger.

It's A-LIVE!!!! (sinister laugh in background)

The voodoo is growing many inches a day! This thing is so much fun I should have more of them potted up.

The bloom portion is starting to reveal itself.

Voodoo is BACK!

Ahhhh, think spring again! What could be more charming and full of the seasonal spirit than a voodoo lily? The bloom is bigger than any you can get at the florist and the fragrance is.... well, quite indescribable! (And that is putting it "mildly".)

We're just a wee stem here....

Now we are growing up towards the top of the table.

And here we are starting to see the first signs of the flower opening up a little.

These two corms broke dormancy in the dark in the basement, but most of the rest are still dormant when they go out into the vegetable garden in May. These two just decided to be fancy and start early!

This is the same corm that grew a bloom stem over six feet in height last year. I do not know why the bloom is going to be smaller in size this year. Comment on how much you would like one of your very own voodoo lilies!

It's a Keeper

 This is Neil's 'Wham Bam'! Not bad, eh?

SJ is growing this rather stunning hybrid. I couldn't help but notice the unusual color combination with this flower. It seems like a good strong grower also. The hybridizer that uses the "Neil's" name can also be found selling other lovely hybrids on ebay periodically. I've always been happy with the plants I've gotten from that source.


Anyone else a fan of the fantasy flowers??? Click on the photo to enlarge it.

This and That

†

I was so excited to get the Cymbidium to bloom with my "living room" conditions and temperatures that a few posts ago I showed the buds forming along with the little drops of liquid (guttation). Well, here are the blooms now opening. I think it's a grand success considering some of my other attempts at orchids are..... uh.... shall we say...... not as grand!

Sinningia Seed Surprise

It may sound like a new "hot dish" (as opposed to casserole, for us Minnesotans) but it is what happens when you go to clean your plant shelves. You find that your inattentiveness has made the Sinningia flowers you hand-pollinated form seed, ripen and then spill out from the pod and land on the Sinningia's leaf. All this without the benefit of even an email to let you know it's happening. Surprise!

The photos show the pods, the fact that the pods sprung open and let the seed fall, the leaf that the seed dropped onto and the actual seed itself.
I wish I had the proper equipment to take the photos correctly with the use of the microscope. As it is, this is an attempt at a little more magnification. Gesneriad seeds are supposed to be tiny; smaller than a fleck of pepper. I've always been trying to see just what the seeds look like though. What color are they, what shape are they.... Well, in this case, this Sinningia's seed is orange and long and sort of shaped like a narrowed Christmas bulb.  I'm going to see if some of them will germinate after taking them to the Twin Cities Gesneriad Society's meeting next Tuesday. Guests are always welcome to come to a gesneriad club meeting and join in.