Watering the cloud forest room

I rode my bicycle to the greenhouse today. The plan is to continue this practice until it gets too cold in the Fall to be comfortable on a bike. On arrival I could see several of the outdoor native cacti had already bloomed. Several more were starting to bud out with flowers. There was only one small native cactus with an active yellow blossom.

I began the day watering the plants in room C1. This is the “cloud forest” room, with quite a wide variety of plants including the Hawaiian Brighamia and several species of cymbidium plants, and a few cool-hardy cacti too. My favorite flower of the day was an impatiens plant with dark rusty red leaves and a blossom that looked like a small white lady slipper.

Next, Curator J..., B... and I walked over to the Cargill Building to place the large Agave americana into a plastic saucer. We had to coax the plant pot off of the small wooden dolly into the saucer sitting on the floor. Luckily, we got it placed into the saucer with a minimum of scratched and bloodied arms. The plant sports razor-sharp spines along the edges of its leaves!

I helped B and Curator J remove part of the metal grid holding most of the Tillandsia plants. The cork panels are held in place by thin wires which are now rusting through. We took down the grid and removed the cork panels and rusting wires. Tomorrow Curator J and B will begin to catalog the plants and identify the name of those that have lost their labels. Then, they will reattach the panel using stronger, rust resistant wire. There were a few Tillandsias that were in flower, with lovely purple/lavender bracts.

Finally, I spent the remainder of my time there picking up leaves and trimming overgrown plants in room D2 and D3.

Comments

A Sensitive Plant and Common Weed

Mimosa pudica, also commonly called the sensitive plant was a popular houseplant when I was growing up in the 1970s. It was popular for its ability to quicky change shape by folding up its leaves to protect them from herbivore predators. At the slightest touch the plant is able to expell water from special cells in the leaves, changing the shape from frond-like to a stick-form. The plant creeps along the ground, never for than a foot or so in height. In tropical parts of the world this plant is considered and invasive weed. Today, as I was treating plants to remove pests I happened to touch the leaves of a Mimosa pudica , one with a pretty puff-like flower. Sure enough, the leaves all folded up to almost nothing. Mimosa pudica , the sensitive plant Other more routine chores during my four-hour shift at the U of M Conservatory included cleaning three plants of Hibiscus clayi, native to Hawaii. These three plants in particular have suffered repeated infestations with a variety of in...

Bog Monsters

As a layman of botany the idea of carnivorous plants has perplexed me. The capturing and eating of other creatures seems like it ought to be limited to animals, since animals are mobile and plants are not. Almost all plants survive and thrive in the world through photosynthesis. They do not need to feed on animals to survive. But, what about the group of plants that are carnivorous? As stationary plants, why and how do they eat critters? This topic was stimulated by my assignment today at the Conservatory Greenhouse of the University of Minnesota. My task was to clean several large tanks of water filled with aquatic plants. While cleaning the tanks I realized many of the plants were classified as carnivorous . What is it about the aquatic environment that causes plants to eat - in effect - other creatures? The short answer is carnivorous plants evolved in nutrient-poor settings such as pond water which is naturally low in the amount of nitrogen needed to synthesize proteins. To compens...

Rebuilding the support for vanilla vines

Raining in February The morning began with a walk in the rain from my car to the Conservatory greenhouses - in the month of February. According to the calendar, we should be in the depths of winter. The precipitation today should be snow not rain. The storm system that we're experiencing is probably related to drenching rains moving inland from the west coast. I met Coordinator A... at the door of the Conservatory. His office desk faces one of the main doors to the building. He cannot escape observing everyone who enters...poor guy, it must be distracting for him. Anyway, as soon as I entered the building we started to discuss his plan for my activity of the morning. He offered me the project of rebuilding the support for vanilla vines which have been suffering from overexposure to sunlight and dry air. A bit of background The vanilla plant (Vanilla planifolia) is in the orchid family. It is native to Central America and Mexico. The seed pods were used by the Aztecs to flavor coc...

City Gardener

Search This Blog