Holiday Gardening

One part of being a gardener at a public park is that everyone thinks you're just a total interior and exterior designer. That sort of thing just seems to come with the job. If only work saw my  coffee table I pulled out of the trash, or our collection of starwars posters in the living room, they might rethink this sort of thing.

Regardless, all the bulbs get put in the ground in the fall and two minutes after the last bulb is in, someone brings up holiday decorations. And next thing I know I'm looking for a formula for how many pine boughs are required to line a 25 foot circle. I don't really celebrate the holidays anymore so it seems strange to me to design anything for the holidays.

Luckily one of my co workers had input for us this year and spray painted some pinecones for the tree and the parks department did an awesome job at supplying a beautiful tree this year.

Nothing like putting painted pine cones on spruce.

Our festive fire spirit.

And lastly... twigs that I cut along with my thumb. 

I don't normally get sick around blood, but this one was really really gross.

hm... on that note..

May you have a happy holiday and a 2012 full of opportunity.

Aww Plants.. You Shouldn't Have...

Last Wednesday I went for a walk at Columbus Park after getting some delicious Chinese pastries to celebrate my birthday. Columbus park isn't all that well maintained from a horticultural perspective, but I do really enjoy the plant palette and the community that meets in the park. The park is right in the heart of China Town so the park hosts the typical asian palette of evergreen shrubs and white and pink woody material. There are always locals playing cards and mahjong. Most times I've walked through I have also noticed either a band or choir performing traditional music. 

The locals were out on Wednesday. I saw plenty of people playing cards and there were kids in the new athletic field ( I guess 2004.. isn't all that new). I even watched some woman walk up and down the pavilion steps about 25 times while I drank my bubble tea. I checked out their collection of Cercis and wondered if the trampled ground cover was Sarcococca when I came upon this sight....

 Dumb cherry trees can't even tell that it's December.

Might I then add that I also noticed that not one lamp in this entire park had lightbulbs... weird. Also when you go into the pavilion some sort of recording is played that tells me that my picture has been taken and any illegal activities I have accomplished have been recorded... even weirder.

I was pretty disturbed by our seemingly evergreen Hydrangeas in the park, but this is just ridiculous. I hope our bulbs don't come out of dormancy, the crocus is already coming up. Hopefully we'll have flowers this spring and not just a bud blast.

You? Yes Yew!

One thing I've been noticing a lot around the web lately are a bunch of awesome pictures of old european yews (Taxus baccata).

Here in the northeast we don't have a good appreciation for Taxus. I don't blame people for disliking yews here. I do blame people for the general dislike of yews. I blame people for this because they have a habit of wanting very manicured square or globular shaped high maintenance hedges. Personally I'm not one for sheered hedges. While they might not be my forte, I can understand the appeal of them if they are done right and properly maintained. Because of the high demand for these geometrical monstrosities, Taxus x media is the most common yew in the suburban American landscape. After seeing so many yews pruned in disfiguring ways, I feel like many aren't willing to try others in the genus... not that they really look too different. Taxonomists don't even distinguish the different species, they group them all under a subspecies of baccata.

Taxus baccata is a historically interesting plant. They are fairly slow growing but can reach up to 90 feet in height creating large evergreen specimens at maturity. Yew branches hollow with age and branches generally do not last the entire lifetime of the tree. This makes it difficult to determine the age of a mature specimen because ring counts are not accurate. Despite this, the European Yew is still estimated to be the longest living trees in Europe reaching lifespans of over 2000 years.

The secret to the Taxus's long term success in Europe is its ability to take damage with low disease occurrence. In the Americas Yews haven't been so lucky. In the upper regions of North American Taxus canadensis is starting to disappear from forests because of deer over browsing. Meanwhile the Pacific Yew, Taxus brevifolia, has been over harvested because of its usefulness in cancer combating drugs. Even in the south Taxus floridana and Taxus globosa are both on the threatened list.

Taxus baccata at longwood gardens.

Flicker had some pretty impressive pictures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30990153@N03/3825783542/in/pool-359547@N24/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/84265607@N00/3485658014/in/pool-359547@N24/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/84265607@N00/3343224065/in/pool-359547@N24/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashe/2328181071/in/pool-359547@N24/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashe/2328180497/in/pool-359547@N24/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadlyhappy/5378664809/in/pool-359547@N24/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashe/4072703091/in/pool-359547@N24/

I guess both wiccans and other celtic religions used to hold Yews sacred as a tree of reincarnation. They were widely planted in cemeteries for this reason. Just remember that all parts except the arils are toxic so don't eat any part of the plant in hopes of reincarnation.

Got Sun?

 

Pictured above is our lovely "Ham" lawn at the park. Apparently some sculpture was on it years ago that looked like a ham and the name stuck. Either way, we've been complaining that the lawn is too shady and grass won't grow in 100% shade. I think this just confirms it.

When I say pests....

I was trying to explain to explain the concept of threshold pest levels when my father presented me with the perfect image of above threshold.

Tasty huh? 

Well, that's our family's Hibiscus. We've had it for over ten years. The thing flowers all winter but it always has at least two infestations of aphids and white flies while it's indoors.

Seems as though this years infestation might be particularly nasty. I guess dad wanted to wait for me to hose it down. The plant was soaped yesterday so hopefully all of these guys will be gone soon.

 

Mild Success: Black Cotton

Earlier on in the season my coworker gave me some Gossypium herbaceum 'Nigra' seeds. The seedlings started off well in plugs. I then brought them over to my fathers where one of three were crushed. They recovered fairly well... and something gnawed the tips off a few days later. 


They never made it much taller than six inches. Two survived and to my knowledge neither of them flowered. I'm pretty disappointed about it either way. I planted them behind some golden Spireas so I was looking forward to the contrast. The flowers are supposed to be pretty nice and I certainly wouldn't mind having some cotton.

(I have no idea if this is a bud or seed..or hat...or..)

Honestly, I have no idea how cold hardy these are supposed to be. No one has really posted too much information on them. I would love it if they happened to be perennial, but based on standard cotton varieties, I'm not going to hold my breath. I mulched the hell out of them just in case. Who knows, with all the green trees here in New York, I don't even know if we're really having winter anymore.


I think I'll try them again next year if I have somewhere to keep it in a pot. I imagine the differences in soil and just the general neglect of things at my fathers house might have been difficult for it. Maybe it will do better if someone paid more attention to it. It does seem to be an attractive plant once it gets going.

Lecture Time: Fundamentals of tissue culture

Check out this weeks New York Cactus and Succulent Society meeting for my lecture on  the fundamentals of tissue culture.

6pm Thursday 11/17/11 
331 Madison Avenue (near 43rd St), 7th Floor

Longwood Gardens Mum Show

Longwood gardens was spectacular as always. Having been a gardener for this long, parts of their operation has sort of lost their charms. I've done enough plant forcing, design work and public displays to be familiar enough with how everything works behind the scenes. Still, I'm always impressed with the amount of planning and attention to detail that they are able to give their displays. I guess having 90 gardeners on staff doesn't hurt any either.

Longwood still remains as my favorite so far. The place is so elegant and classic in its design. I love how they incorporate research into formal designs and still have rooms filled with vegetables. They blend their seasonal material seamlessly with their standards. There is such attention to detail that I even find myself loving rooms that are filled with plants that I don't particularly like.

Still, many of their displays can be rather educational, even parts of their seasonal show.

 

Dozens of varieties of mum were grafted onto this single plant.

Good thing the varieties are well labeled.

 In general I'm fairly indifferent to mums. They put on a good fall display. I like the way they smell. I don't like how fragile they are. Mums will flower reliably in the park and they're easy enough to source but its also fairly reliable that some idiot will come through the park and use one as as an armrest.

Though, I imagine if I had a mum like this, I'd be more concerned about someone using it as a bed.

I've touched on Ozukuri before so I'm not going to bore you again. Everything looks amazing, just as expected. I honestly don't think the mums were my favorite part. Most of their supporting plants held more of my attention. The Hamelia, Solenostemon, and Codiaeum were probably my favorite display elements.

 

I think I'll also award Longwood for best use of Cycads.

 Hamelia as a standard. 

Look at that Coleus!

 I'm still not too sure on the golden winterberry...

 Even the bonsai were in on it.

 I think that's enough eye candy for now. Expect a part 2.

The Science of Autumn

So the following article was written to help new yorkers understand the process by which fall color works. Unfortunately I didn't save the original and its been edited significantly. I will take this time to apologize for the lack of posts. Between bulb plantings, volunteer outings, and preparing for my first burn at my poi class, I've been running around like a crazy person and falling asleep as soon as I sit down. I guess things will be winding down for the season soon anyway.


As the days get shorter and the nights grow longer, people start dreading the coming of winter and the possibility of not experiencing much daylight during the work week.  Deciduous plants are also affected by the length of darkness each day. When nights are long enough, an added layer of cells form between the leaves and branches of a plant. This layer begins to block the transport of carbohydrates from the leaf and essentially starts the color change process. Since this process is initiated by day length, the window for fall color roughly starts at the same time every year. How bright and showy the change is determined by a variety of other environmental factors.
Chlorophyll is a green pigment that synthesizes carbohydrates in leaves, but also breaks down in sunlight. It is replaced constantly throughout the growing season in order to keep photosynthesis active. Once the extra cell layer between the branches and leaves is formed, chlorophyll can no longer be replaced within the leaves. Once Chlorophyll is no longer produced, the yellow pigments and orange pigments that are hidden by chlorophyll become visible.
While yellow and orange pigments are present because they are important in capturing light energy, scientists have yet to determine the reason behind why red and purple pigments are found in autumn leaves. These pigments aren’t usually found in leaves during the growing season and they require a lot of energy to produce. There are currently two popular theories behind why the energy draining red and purple pigments are present; one theory states that the pigments act to protect leaves against water loss and frost injury, while another theory believes that the red color warns off pests.
As time goes on, the cell layer between the leaves and the branches become dry and the connections weaken causing the leaves to break off. Since secondary pigments such as yellow, orange and red pigments are also sensitive to light, they too eventually break down leaving brown tannins that stay until the leaf decomposes.
While the biological process for color change is the same for every plant, environmental factors can mean the difference between lasting color and a quick change to brown. Abundant sunlight and low temperatures destroy chlorophyll, but if cool night temperatures are present, the production of secondary pigments is promoted. These two conditions allow for the best fall color production.
So what does this all mean for Mad. Sq. Park?
Due to warm nights and cloudy skies, you shouldn’t expect too many brilliant reds and purples this fall. So even if the colors aren’t as brilliant as can be, sit back, relax, and enjoy one of nature’s finest shows.

Well, I hope you all enjoy. I'm off to Longwood gardens this afternoon to see the mum show. 

Bulbs, bulbs, bulbs!

Oh how time flies...

Our last bulb shipment finally came in for the park and what do I see?

Snow - whatelse?

Last year we installed a mere 65000 bulbs in the park over a period of two months. If you take into account that I have one co-gardener that is 16250 bulbs each per month.

This is why I'm in shape.

This year we decided that although the display looked amazing last year, there was no good place to put another 65000 annual and perennial bulbs. We knocked it down significantly.. and somehow still ended up ordering 55000 bulbs.

November is going to be stressful.

At least all of our crocus has been taken care of. We tried everything from hot sauce, to deer off, to dried blood. Surprisingly the dried blood almost worked. Most of the squirrels would sniff around and jump back as soon as they sensed the blood. While others... well I guess nothing bothers some squirrels. The biggest problem with this is that dried blood is water soluble and the weather in the northeast here has been wet (or snowy) to say the least. Reapplying it as often as necessary just isn't practical for the amount of area we have. We do cover plantings with netting as well. Netting has worked well for things like tulips and anything else that is fairly large or deeply planted. But with Crocus, the corms are just too small and the depth too shallow, its too easy for the damned rodents to get their little paws through.

In some regards bulbs are the nail in the coffin at the end of the season. An entire summer of planting, pruning and dragging hoses all over the place is nothing compared to putting in a large bulb display. It may seem like the season is over and you don't have to put as much effort into the garden as everything goes into dormancy, but there is nothing worse than fighting the arrival of winter as you try to get all of those bulbs in the ground. There is something to be said about planting something two seasons before it will sprout. There seems to be some sort of shared anxiety throughout the winter as you wonder if those damned tulips are ever going to bloom. They will, they do every time. But the difference is made in not being able to see the bulbs establish themselves until spring.

Sigh.

I complain, but all the hard work will pay off in the spring.

Autumn's here.

Sometimes I wonder if fall may be the best season in our garden.

You want flowers, we've got flowers. We've got Spireas still in full bloom, Day lilies, Russian sage, Montauk daises, Cone flowers, Agastache. Psh, some gardens aren't even that colorful in summer.

(Photo won't rotate right for some reason, you'll have to turn your computer.)

We have Asters (2) that I salvaged from work last year and were devoured by wildlife this year. In generally I really don't like asters, but these were such a clear blue color. We planted some in shade and they really stood out (and never really bloomed right, but that's what shade does.) I wish I could remember the variety off the top of my head... I guess I'll have to check the records and get back on this.

You want berries. We've got berries. The weirdest purple berries you've ever seen on a plant. Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) is a U.S native. This plant still isn't all that common in the trade. I know the flowers aren't the showiest but there are early defoliating varieties now so I can't see why more people wouldn't want these weird purple things showing up in fall.

How about some color. Fall color, regular color.. whatever....

Ooo..

 

 Aah. Look at the sun shining on that Hibiscus.

 Leucothoe fontanesiana, also known as Fetterbush or Doghobble. I took this cutting in the spring. Hopefully it will be a real shrub soon.

 

While the Spireas may still be flowering, they're also doing fall color change. This one had some nice red patches.


I've wanted to put in some fall blooming bulbs. I put it off for this fall, but with seeing this color display, I don't even think fall bulbs are necessary. But.. then I look at pictures like this and realize that it probably wouldn't hurt to put them in eventually. They're just too stunning.

Magical Mums!

Magical Mums! (As posted here.)

Nothing quite conjures up images of fall like a fresh planting of Chrysanthemums. Geraniums and Begonias might rule the summer garden, but mums remain the queen of fall blooming plants. Chrysanthemums have been culturally significant throughout the United States and Asia for centuries. From ancient emperors to homecoming queens, it seems everyone has held this fall flower in high regards.

Texans in the early 1930’s created a very unique football tradition involving these cushiony beauties. I spent a few months in Allen, Texas during high school, and I was completely flabbergasted when I arrived at my first football game to see hundreds of teenage girls wearing large ribbon flowers glued to their shirts. Now, after noticing that the school mascot was an eagle, I was having serious difficulty figuring out why these fake flowers were so popular. I later found out that these corsages were called football mums and that they can be a sign of social status or team spirit. Guys generally give football mums to their girlfriends, and the girls wear them pinned to their blouse. In return, women are expected to give a garter, which is a smaller version of the football mum that is worn on the arm. Although the modern football mums only vaguely resemble flowers (they’re normally silk and loaded with ribbons, streamers, and the like), traditional football mums were actual flowers. Certain varieties of Chrysanthemum can be very large, and they hold value in the American floral industry for their long life as a cut flower.

Asia has a totally different outlook on Chrysanthemums. In China, Chrysanthemums are legendary. As the story goes, an elderly emperor sent twenty-four children on a dangerous journey to a faraway island. It was said that the island contained a rare flower that would provide eternal life if picked by children. When the children arrived at the island, all they found were golden Chrysanthemums. Needless to say, the emperor did not find eternal life, but he did like the flower so much that it became a national symbol of nobility and elegance. Today mums can be found on the 1 yuan coin used throughout China.

Mums reached the shores of Japan in the 8^th century, where it was also adopted as a national symbol.  These flowers were seen as a symbol of longevity and good fortune and are found on the crests of many noble families. In fact, the highest order of knighthood the Emperor could award was the “Supreme order of the Chrysanthemum.” This title was rarely bestowed upon anyone who was not of royal blood. By the 9^th century new types of chrysanthemums were being bred in the imperial gardens. Japan also celebrates National Chrysanthemum Day, also known as the festival of happiness. Mums are referred to as one of the Four Gentlemen plants thoughout Asia. These plants represent the four seasons. Among these are Orchids (spring), Bamboo (summer), Chrysanthemum (autumn), and Plum blossom (winter).

Not everyone sees mums in such a positive light. Europeans consider mums to be the flower of death. European florists use Chrysanthemums in funeral arrangements since they are reliable and long lasting bloomers.  This tradition has led to a negative association with the flower.
If you are tired of seeing Chrysanthemums and want to see them in a totally new light, check out Longwood Gardens this fall as they have the largest Ozukuri Chrysanthemum in North America. The plant is 11 feet wide and has over 990 blooms. Unfortunately this plant is dwarfed by Japans largest Ozukuri Chrysanthemum which has over 2,220 blooms.

Recent Additions (Ceropegia linearis 'Woodii')

Ceropegia linearis 'Woodii'

I feel like I've been searching for one of these for forever. There is no reason why it should have taken me this long to find Rosary Vine. This is one of those classic 70's easy to propagate houseplants. I should be seeing specimens that look like this, all over New York.

So I was about to finally give up and order some cuttings from Glasshouseworks when I just happened to come across it at the Union Square Market.

It's started taking off already. Hopefully I'll have one of those super cool classic specimens that I think all house plant enthusiasts would love.

Just look at those cute little leaves... you know you want one.

Rainy Morning Propagation

I'm a morning person these days. I don't mean that I couldn't function at night if my work schedule would allow for it but these days I'm more accustomed to getting things done early. So there's nothing like waking up a bit later on the weekends (9 will do) and taking a slow morning to eat breakfast and catching up on some things I've been neglecting around the house.

Autumn is coming soon and already the nights are getting cooler here in New York. Spring or late winter are usually better times for propagation but with the hurricane leaking water into my windows a few weeks ago, I already have some Mammalia cuttings that I've tried to rescue off the water logged mother plant. Cactus and succulent cuttings usually fail from root related problems. If you don't let them heal over before watering, or if you water too much (or too little) the plants are prone to disease and dessication.

Cell Packs Galore!

Apartment living is always a hassle when it comes to keeping plants. If you have a sunny window, cacti and succulents are some of the most forgiving plants. They don't require as much care and diligence as many other plants. They'll allow you to escape the city for a week without dropping dead in mid summer too, something that most other plants won't tolerate. However winter can sometimes be an issue. Many of these plants are sensitive to cold and the severity of their cold sensitivity can be made worse by improper watering.

Remember that every plant is an individual and most have their own specific needs. One should research a plant before acquiring one to insure against disappointment when you realize that you cannot provide the conditions needed to keep the plant from looking like its half dead. Generally, when growing cacti and succulents, I try to keep them all in clay pots. Clay is very porous, it allows for both air and water flow which makes it less likely for plants to rot out in the winter. Which for tribes like Stapeliae, rot is always something to keep an eye out for during the winter. I give most of mine the smallest bit of water in the winter to keep the roots from dying and I make sure they're in small pots. Small pots keep the moist media to root ratio in check.

During the summer, many of my plants tend to put on alot of growth or offsets. While I'm always happy to see my plants doing well, sometimes the pots become over crowded and it becomes difficult to water without added attention. It seemed like most of my unidentified plants were subject to rapid growth this year. I got a Gasteria from a friend two years ago, it was just a few plantlets last year but this year the plants crowded in the pot so tightly that I could only water from bellow. I guess that's really the proper way to water, but I generally don't spend enough time watering that way. I have to assume that the plant I have is Gasteria gracilis. A few of the plants have the gold striping typical of 'Variegata' so that's my best guess. My one 4 inch pot filled four 2 inch pots. Hopefully I can pawn them off on some friends.

I also have what I assume is some sort of Echinopsis. I haven't been taking good care of it either. The mother plant was dropped when we moved, it hasn't been getting enough sun and it was just potted up too soon. So I have an irregularly shaped, offset loaded, dented, lime green, golden barrel cactus. Repotting cacti is always a daunting task. I just never look forward to the prospect of messing up and having a hand full of cactus spines. I moved the cactus down to a smaller pot, removed the offsets and put it in a brighter window. Hopefully the plant will be happy for the windows. 

Why do I care? I have no idea. I will have waay too many barrel cacti in 5 years or so. This is another case where I better hope that some of them die off. (Considering I'm also growing two from seed.)

Ooo Dicots...

 Lastly, I had some Agaves to work on. My Agave 'Kissho Kan' did something like this, all around the pot and all of the pups were causing all the water to run off every time I tried watering.

I also have a plant that was labeled as Agave americana (it definitely is mislabeled) and most of the pups on that have died since I couldn't water around them. For that plant I took off all the dead pups and now the mother plant looks fairly nice.

Well, maybe there will be a plant trade soon. =]

Recent Additions (Faded Edition)

I've added a bunch of plants to my collection over the past month. Most have come from annual displays that have been dismembered. Let's see how long I can keep them alive before I kill them or move on to something else.

Pelargonium x hortum cv 'Vancouver Centennial'

Alright, I'd be lying if I said I was really crazy about Pelargoniums. I see their use as annuals in containers and the like but they're normally not something I would take the time to try to overwinter. For those of you who weren't aware, most annual plants labeled "Geranium" are actually Pelargoniums. Geraniums are a different genus of plants entirely. Common names sure do make a nightmare of things.

Honestly, I'm not too crazy about either plants. We have a bunch of true Geraniums in the park and they're pretty happy and bloom like crazy, but for whatever reason, I'm just not that impressed. I do like the smell of the leaves, but it won't be something I'll be planting at home any time soon. As far as Pelargoniums go, when I first got into plants I knew a bunch of people who were very hyped over "scented geraniums." Sure they smell nice, but I think they're just too much of an old lady plant for me. I guess I'm still not seeing what all the fuss is about, there are plenty of other plants that smell nice and are just way more interesting.

Our spring display ended up with more Pelargoniums then we had originally intended. A bunch of pink flowering ones were donated after they were used as center pieces at one of our fundraisers so my fellow gardener massed them in the annual beds around the playground. We often have serious issues with our four annual beds there. It seems those beds get shadier and shadier every day and between squirrels digging up everything we plant, kids pulling on stuff and people just being slobs, those beds are usually in bad shape. Much to our surprise, the Pelargoniums did great. They bloomed all summer, didn't get disease and survived being dug up just about every other day.

I guess I have to give these another chance but for now there are two varieties that I can say I like. Pelargonium x hortorum 'Tricolor' just has awesome variegation and Pelargonium x hortum cv 'Vancouver Centennial' which remind me of maple leaves. Vancouver Centennial ended up in our display urns this season so now that summer is over, its sitting in my bathroom waiting to get potted a placed in a window. Right now the leaves are pretty faded but hopefully the rusty color will come back once fall hits.

Oxalis vulcanicola 'Copper Glow'

As a kid I always knew oxalis as a weed. I still hear its very weedy in many people's yards, containers and the whole nine yards. I've seen plenty of them sold in March as shamrocks. They're not real shamrocks of course... but I can see why people would relate the two. I've had my eye on Oxalis adenophylla for some time now. I might actually order it for spring next year, if I don't go overboard on species tulips again. It's cheap enough, I just don't imagine it'll perennialize in my father's yard.

Either way, we put 'Copper Glow' in our display urns. It did well. The plants were nice and full, but they really don't have the copper color that they're known for. I'm wondering if this is another plant that has summer fade out. I'll keep you posted. 

Cyclamen graecum - Part Two

So for those of you have read my last Cyclamen post  you might be interested to know that I've found a serious infestation of Cyclamen mites on  my Cyclamen graecum. I seriously want access to a photomicroscope right now so I can take pictures of these things. Stenotarsonemus pallidus are tiny brown to clear Arachnids. They're sucking 'insects' so they remove sap and nutrients from the plant. They can cause all sorts of problems for cyclamens, begonias, and african violets. They generally cause curling of leaves, stop flowering and create weak plants. I've seen damage on african violets before, but I hadn't seen serious damage on cyclamens.

I'll be honest. I hate mites. I hate spidermites more specifically. I've gotten to the point with spidermites where I go out of my way not to have plants that are prone to them. ...Well, maybe that is not entirely true I still have a Chamaedorea elegans that I got from one of my floral classes. My Schefflera elegantissima kicked it on my vacation so I should be fairly spider mite free this winter. I just have little hope of getting rid of the things these days. I've sprayed everything under the sun, added kept things more humid, sprayed alcohol etc. Nothing ever seems to do the trick. I just end up throwing the plant out after all the leaves are bleached and the plant is on its last leg.


I'm going to try a repot and soap this time and see where it goes. Else, I'll be down to one cyclamen.

Seeing how it looked before, I'm not entirely sure its going to be salvageable anyway.

Flowers and Lions and Bears Oh my!

I love plants who belonging to Asclepiadoideae. In fact.. I'd have to say that most of my house plants string from either this subfamily or from Asparagaceae. So when John Pilbeam recently published Stapeliads, I preordered it on amazon as soon I heard it was coming out. (I'm still drooling over this and hoping that one day I can find a copy to look at.)

Realistically speaking though, most of my plants aren't at flowering age yet. The one exception is seemingly my Huernia macrocarpa which has produced at least one flower about every three weeks throughout the summer. I've been very pleased with this specimen. I haven't had any winter rotting. Its flowered enough where I've been able to identify what it is (because Asclepiads are never labeled for whatever reason). So far, no complaints. One other thing about Asclepiads is that they usually are pollinated by flies and like insects so their flowers often give of the smell of rotting flesh. I've detected a faintly unpleasant smell with this one, but I really have to stick my face in the thing to notice it.

Huernia macrocarpa (and coffee pot.)

Cyclamen graecum ssp. anatolicum Rhodes Form

Part of being a plant geek includes picking up plants that you have no business owning. This happens all on a whim, against your greater judgement. For me it tends to happen way more in the winter when I'm garden starved and nothing new has caught my eye outside. 

Sometime in late February we headed out to a witch hazel talk down at Rarefind Nursery.We ran into the Tylers who were selling a ton of Hellebores and we got to talk with them about their book. There was also a cyclamen grower there who had a ton of irresistible, adorable specimens.

I've taken care of florist's cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum) for quite awhile now. I've never had it go dormant on me either which I hear is pretty unusual. Not to mention the thing blooms every 4 months for me. With that in mind, I figured that I could probably handle one that would be a little more exotic. It is pretty big and leggy now, but considering it hasn't hit dormancy, I'm impressed.

I ended up picking Cyclamen graecum ssp. anatolicum. Edgewood gardens has some other lovely pictures.

Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of my specimen. Its the small thing in the glass terrarium. Schrodinger doesn't look too impressed either.

"Cyclamen graecum. This interesting and charming autumn-flowering species forms an entity of its own, with several characters that are unique to the genus. The species Cyclamen graecum is grown for its autumn flowers as well as for its handsome and often striking foliage, which comes in a great range of patterning and colouring. It is native to southern Greece, the Greek Islands, southern Turkey and Cyprus and blooms from September to November and has pale to deep pink flowers with 3 magenta pencil-line streaks at the base of each petal and auricles around the mouth. The tuber is globose and corky and fleshy roots come from the center underside. Cyclamen leaves change even in the same season (but also from season to season as the plant matures). Cyclamen graecum ssp. graecum is found on mainland Greece and some of the Islands. It hasovate leaves that are green or grey-green and pink flowers with well-developed auricles that are mostly unscented and marked with a basal blotch that extends along the veins. Its flowers appear above, or before the wonderfully patterned leaves." (http://www.brags.ca/forms_files/cyclamennotes.pdf)

Sounds nice huh?

This is mostly what mine has looked like since April.

One leaf.

We'll see. Maybe this will go under plants I've killed sometime soon.

I'm going to try more light. I hope that will work. I've just been very disappointed with this thing so far and considering that it should be flowering soon, its got of catching up to do.

Coney Island Aquarium

My fiance and I headed out to Coney island Aquarium for his birthday. I love going out to see it. I have mixed feelings about Coney Island itself, but I love how the aquarium will substitute with  really common fish when some of their fancy exhibits go down.

I have no problem with looking at a whole tank of Neon tetras. 

 I guess my favorite exhibit is always the jellyfish tank.

One of the best things I saw last time was their outdoor water gardens. They really weren't anything special but waterlilies are breathtaking no matter how you put it. It was just nice to see a simple water garden and some koi. 

Some nice clear yellow water lilies.

Ooo over sized gold fish. =]