Extremely Cool!

Ok, these have to be the best thing I've seen in a plant collection ever! The Como Conservatory's new feature just outside of the Tropical Encounters exhibit have "giant Victoria water platters, just like they had at Como Park in the 1920's!!! These water lilies from South America can grow leaf pads up to 6 feet across! The pads have an interesting texture that looks almost like plastic on the top with harsh, substantial spines on the bottom. They can hold more than hundred pounds if the weight is distributed evenly over the surface of the pad.



























The flowers are fascinating too. They apparently open for just two nights. The first night they are white, while the second night they're scarlet red. They are from the family of Nymphaeaceae, genus Victoria, USDA zone 10a to 11. The top photo shows other water plantings and some more rather typically sized lily pads for comparison. This is a display well worth seeing. I can't wait to take better photos the next time I'm there!

Oh, the waiting!

Harry Potter: three hours and nine minutes!!!!

They're not just for breakfast anymore!

Ever decide that you're just plain bored with your usual salad? Can't think of a way to dress up the roast? Well, you might have to look into EDIBLE FLOWERS!


Disclaimer first!!!! Do not eat anything that you have not PERSONALLY RESEARCHED and determined to be safe for you and your particular dietary requirements. Not all flowers are edible and some people are allergic to various things, just like with any other foods. We bear no responsibility for what you may or may not try!!!

Recently, there have been articles and recipes using edible flowers in the news and in popular magazines. Flowers can add color and some complex tastes to what may be ordinary fare. Midwest Home magazine ran an an article in last month's issue called "Beauty and the Feast" in their Savvy Host section that not only had recipes with delicious looking pictures, but they listed various local restaurants that feature flowers in the dishes on their menu.


This is a photo taken from the Midwest Home magazine shot by photographer Maki Strunc.

I went out into the garden and found some of the edible flowers that I had. After I took their pictures, I ate them. I will have to admit (as an editorial comment) that some things seemed like I was I was tasting lawn clippings. But, to be fair, some of them were actually pretty good. I am going to try serving up some of the more tasty ones to the family in a salad.

Use web resources to find lists of different flowers and specific information on them that may be useful to know before you try them. Type in "edible flowers" in to a search engine like Google and you will get plenty of information.

The flowers pictured in the composite photographs are in order - #1 Bachelor Button, Borage, Celery, Cilantro. #2 Dandilion, Fuchsia, Hibiscus, Impatiens. #3 Monarda, Nasturtium, Pansy, Rose. #4 Snapdragon, Strawberry, Tulip, Viola.

Once again, this is meant for fun and interest. Do NOT eat anything that you are not SURE of! Be sure to look at Midwest Home's website (click on the link) and check out the recipes!

Hot, hot, hot!

So with this warmer weather, the violets should grow bigger and better, right? Well.... that all depends. The excellent site from the folks at Optimara say that the ideal temperature for violets is between 65 and 75 degrees F. Other authorities say that the range is up to 80 degrees F. Most homes are generally kept about this warm and comfortable throughout the year. But, what happens when the temperature is either much higher or much lower than that?. Do the violets stop growing? Do they wilt? What happens exactly?

When the temperature is too high, above 80 degrees F., growth and flowering are slowed down. Injury to the leaves may occur. There can be burnt edges, lightening or "yellowing", variegates may start to go all white causing a lethal reaction. Without the green chlorophyll the leaf can not produce any food for itself and it will eventually die. Soil bacteria which activate the plant's ability to produce more chlorophyll are affected at these high temperatures. High temps. also can cause petiole elongation.




Temperature has a great effect on the "time" it takes for a plant to come into flower. The "amount" of light affects the numbers of flowers. It is estimated that 25 degrees C. is the best temp. for violets. That is 77 degrees F. (Click on the photo to see it larger.)


What happens when the violets are subjected to cold conditions? Cold temperatures slow root growth and plant growth. Moisture can now start to be problematic, because even a little excess moisture can lead to root rot. Flower size is diminished and so is leaf size. Roots are 50% less active at 15 degrees C. or 59 degrees F.

Another extremely interesting site posted by the University of Michigan from Dr. Royal Heins and his research assistants has a 100-plus image Power Point presentation about temperatures and gases and how it affects plant growth and metabolism. Our focus is on slides 91 and 92. These two pictures show a very interesting correlation between the temperature and the growth and size of the violet leaves. For easier comparison here are the conversions.


14 deg. C. = 57.2 deg. F.
18 deg. C. = 64.4 deg. F.
22 deg. C. = 71.6 deg. F.
26 deg. C. = 78.8 deg. F.
30 deg. C. = 86 deg. F.


The graphs are using temperature and the "Daily Light Integral", or how much light the plant is getting. From this we can compare what more light and higher temperatures do in respect to a violet plant. Please look at the rest of the slides.... although we aren't getting the audio portion of the presentation, we can really get some good information out of it. Also, note slide 67. It shows the effects of a plant when it's in proximity to a vent or other cold source.

Still Growing.

For all you blog fans, the past month and a half has been a slow time for updating the blog. Now I foresee the entries becoming more frequent again and perhaps even a daily/every other day (small) posting on general garden happenings in the summer. Not too much is going on with the indoor plants right now and it might be nice to check in on the outdoor gardens here in Minnesota, (keeping our various gesneriads in mind), seeing if there is anything we can learn from them. You never know when something practical or helpful might be gained from thinking about what we're doing outdoors.

The sun is still making a large difference in the growth and development of the tomatoes from the last post. This is taken two weeks after the June 29th picture.

Surprisingly Fast!

As all of us "plant fans" already know, plants are really quite remarkable things. Growth for some must take place in a very short amount of time. Here in a relatively northern garden all growth and development, from seed germination to seed ripening, must take place in roughly 4 month's time.... or about 120 days.

Although I've been gardening for nearly 30 years, it struck me particularly this year how fast annuals and vegetables actually grow here in Minnesota. The first photo was the "sunny" garden on May 12th. As you can see from the surrounding spaces, nothing much was planted by anyone else at that time in my 6'x8' community garden plot.




The second photo was taken on June 19th, or about a month later. The tomatoes are not up to the tops of their tomato-cages and the fairly new transplants aren't filled in or blooming much.



The last photo was taken June 29th, less than a half month after the previous photo. You can see that the tomatoes are past their cages and the zinnias are much more lush and filled out with some good looking blooms. That happened in only 10 days. I'm frankly amazed.

I share this amazement because of a couple of reasons.... one being that sometimes we forget. I forgot over the years that sun really does matter. My home gardens never have more than two to three hours of direct sunlight a day. I have (what I like to think) is a fun yard with lots of bird feeders and semi-tended gardens and interesting plants that I'm "trying out" to see what they'll do in a northern climate. Everything has to "put up" with shade. I have trees in the front and I have trees in the back..... and where there might be a potential patch of sunlight, the neighbors have huge Cottonwood trees across the street. The sun doesn't get past them after about two in the afternoon either. I simply forgot the lessons of growing up on a farm. Fields do not have shade.

On a whim, I signed up for a tiny patch of community garden. A 6'x8' plot is approximately the size of a living room accent rug like the sort at the home furnishing stores. Since I haven't had any home grown tomatoes for years (or any that were larger than a golf ball) I thought I would plant a couple of vegetables. I put in three different heritage tomato varieties, some chard, peppers, basil, onions and flowers. In only 55 days I have plants that are as tall as a couple of the neighbors! Light, the number of hours of light and the intensity of light are extremely important to robust growth. I'm going to take that lesson indoors and reassess what the violets and gesneriads on the light stands are getting as far as both the quantity and quality of light that they're receiving.

Perhaps something else that I've forgotten about is temperature. Our typical frost-free days here in the Twin Cities area are from May 10th to about Sept. 20th. If we're using roundish numbers, that means there are about 120 frost-free growing days and about 245 that fall someplace in the time that could potentially freeze. Many of the fruits and vegetables that we grow are not hardy past freezing. Some of the "cole crops" like cabbage might be able to stand a little cold weather but most things do not. So fast growth and maturity are important.

Many of the gesneriads and African violets have naturally evolved to live climates where the weather is never cold enough to freeze. But, could the temperature that they grow in matter more than we realize? The appeal of houseplants is that they survive in the same conditions that most people usually keep their house at. But, would more closely mimicking nature (and that plant's natural habitat) speed their growth and development up like the lovely surprise of putting tomatoes in full sun? This could be a good topic for one of the experiments that we posted about a week or two ago. Anyone want to try this???

Variegation!

Variegation is the appearance of differently colored zones and areas on leaves or stems of plants. But, did you know that this is caused by many different things? Not only is it caused by lack of pigment in certain parts of a leaf, it may appear because of reflections of light, the close proximity of cells with different genetic makeup in the same leaf or flower, the masking of lighter pigments because of the presence of darker pigments and because of viral infections! Read more about the various types of variegation here!

The stunning variegated plants are grown by Sharon! Thanks for the examples!

Leaves of all Shapes and Sizes!

African violet leaves come in many shapes and sizes. It's good to have a handy reference nearby so that when you're trying to order violets or are thinking of adding to your collection you can be more confident of what will actually show up at your doorstep.

These are some illustrations from the TAVS, which I believe is the Toranto African Violet Society. If I'm mistaken, please contact me for a correction.

Since the image is small, click ON the image for an ENLARGEMENT.

What's in a Name?

Here's a little something from a book published 35 years ago.... The Exotic House Plants book by Graf has a very nice set of sketches simply illustrating some basic botanical terms that relate to leaves and their shapes, flower parts etc. Sometimes it's just nice to get a refresher in the differences between ovate and obovate! These things can get confusing.

Some of the lables are small and difficult to read. Simply click ON the ILLUSTRATION and it will apear larger.

We'll examine what sorts of shapes violet leaves come in in the near future.

Myth Busting the Legends... or Experiments for the Club!

Really? Is that TRUE?

Busting the MYTHS behind the legend!

What? Design an experiment to find out what will happen when you change ONE aspect of growing your plants.
Why? To see if some of the “standard advice” about growing violets - what we’ve always heard - is really TRUE. To learn about something that interests YOU.
When? Starting now in the summer or early fall so that we can all report back to the club about our results at future meetings this year.
Where? You’ll do this in your own growing environment at home.
Who? Everyone in the club is asked to try at least one simple experiment of your choice so that we might all learn something new.
How? By taking two of the same plant or two or more leaves of the same variety and choosing some aspect of growing those plants to see if what you’ve always heard is really true. For example: rooting a leaf in water is faster than rooting a leaf in soil.

Ideas: Which grows larger and faster, plants watered with Superthrive added to your usual routine or plants watered with what you usually use?
Do young leaves produce babies faster than old leaves?
Do Episcias grow better in warmer conditions or cooler ones?
Does pollinating a strep on the first day the bloom is open make more seeds/pods than pollinating the flower 5 days after it is open?
Do Grow-Lux bulbs make plants grow better than regular cool white fluorescents?
Do Kohleria rhizomes store better in moist sphagnum or in plastic bags in the refrigerator?
Does watering with cold water stunt the plant as opposed to room temperature water?
Does water on a violet leaf REALLY cause a spot?

Here is the shortened write-up of the club's next proposed project. We'd like everyone to participate and try to experiment on some aspect of horticulture. Let's be creative, let's really try to find out something interesting. I would love to put pictures in the blog following the progress of the experiments!!! You may send an email attachment or an actual photo in and we'll get it into the blog.

The topic you choose can be something elaborate or simple, but every piece of information is valuable. Who would have thought that upsetting or wiggling the roots of strep babies would make them grow faster? But, Dale Martens tried this and showed all us strep lovers something extremely useful for getting streps to grow quickly and thusly allowing the grower to see what the babies look like months ahead of the old "tried and true" way. Let's find another really cool result like that one!