Not Really a Plant but Where Interesting Plants Are...

Ok, so there isn't any chlorophyll involved with these two photos generally speaking, but while I was out looking for chlorophyll containing things to photograph FOR the blog this fine fellow was sitting about 10 feet away from us at the park. Note it's daytime and actually a little before supper time....

Quiz time, .... do you know what sort of owl this is? Make a comment. It's easy and the link is directly after this post. Just click on the word "comment". Photos enlarge by clicking on them also.

What's in Bloom Today

I thought it was a nice coincidence that the hibiscus that's been suffering from light deprivation for the last 7 months (since being brought in in late September) had five open double orange blooms on Easter morning!

Hopefully when it goes outside for the summer it won't sunburn too much. They have to have some time to adjust to the brighter outdoor light, or just like your skin, the leaves will burn - sometimes to the point of being so damaged that they will fall off. The plant has to send out new leaves then which takes energy from producing flowers.

A Closer Look

Have a little look at the picture.... Something seems out of proportion, a bit giant sized....

We've talked about dish gardens.... this one is just a little more complicated and it comes with it's own wildlife too.

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!