Tidying the desert plant display room

There are many recognized types of biomes on earth, scientists disagree on the number, but some estimate up to eleven different types. Displayed at the U of Minnesota Conservatory greenhouse are four different biomes selected for their diversity of plant life: antarctic forest, diverse desert, mediterranean scrubland, and ancient rainforest. Today, Coordinator A.. asked me to help clean the beds in the Diverse Deserts display. This room is open to the general public, and it gets quite a bit of traffic compared the to collection side of the greenhouse which is not open to the general public without appointment or supervision.

The Diverse Desert Room, D4, has four large beds filled with desert plants. The ground cover between the plants is made of granite pebbles. As time passes, leaves and other detritus from the plants fall to the ground cover, gradually coating the surfaces with debris. Today was the day to get down on hands and knees and clean out the debris from the granite pebbles. I used a small hand-broom to gently lift and sweep the debris onto the concrete path winding through the beds. Also, some of the smaller tree shrubs have grown to the point they need support to lift them up off the ground of the beds. We used twine ties and stretchy garden tape to tie branches to the fence railing which separates the display area from the collection side of the desert room.

For example, two of the larger shrubs are Plectranthus igniarius and Adenia venenata. Plectranthus igniarius is from tropical Africa, it is popular for its colorful flower spike (similar to that of coleus flowers). Adenia venenata has deeply lobed leaves on long green vines. White flowers in the spring are fragrant, with a sweet vanilla-like scent.

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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...

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