Winter Green

As I was spraying (nothing evil, just water) some plants this morning, I realized while I put up flower pictures in the summer, I haven't done much here with the indoor plants.  Most of what we have, through  evolution, is very hardy for our dry, neglectful indoor climate.  Given we are gone for periods of time, these are the ones that have proved hardy during periods of drought.  They also survive short winter daylight hours, though we do have some good south facing windows.  We once fussed with lighting, but no longer.

We brought this bromeliad back from my mom's backyard, maybe 15 years ago. It did bloom a few times in the beginning, but not recently. It has nasty thorns and I stick it in the corner and trim the thorns off the tips of the leaves. I think this is less invasive than declawing a cat. I'm not sure what the evolutionary advantage of the thorns is. Perhaps to keep away animals that would eat or otherwise hurt the plant. There aren't any of those in our house, so it shouldn't be a problem.  From the Bromeliad Society International:

Bromeliads are members of a plant family known as Bromeliaceae (bro-meh-lee-AH-say-eye). The family contains over 3000 described species in approximately 56 genera. The most well known bromeliad is the pineapple. The family contains a wide range of plants including some very un-pineapple like members such as Spanish Moss (which is neither Spanish nor a moss). Other members resemble aloes or yuccas while still others look like green, leafy grasses.

In general they are inexpensive, easy to grow, require very little care, and reward the grower with brilliant, long lasting blooms and ornamental foliage. They come in a wide range of sizes from tiny miniatures to giants. They can be grown indoors in cooler climates and can also be used outdoors where temperatures stay above freezing.
Bromeliad History

Bromeliads entered recorded history some 500 years ago when Columbus introduced the pineapple (Ananas comosus) to Spain upon return from his second voyage to the New World in 1493. On that voyage he found it being cultivated by the Carib Indians in the West Indies. Within 50 years this tropical fruit was being cultivated in India and other Old World countries.

[Note:  while they do say "recorded" history, I'm wondering if they checked whether the Incas or other American societies ever wrote anything about bromeliads.]
The one on the left is a much smaller one I brought back this fall from my mom's yard.  It was a victim of the fence building, but it's doing fine now.  







This plant underleaf looks pretty dangerous, and when our kids were little, they stayed clear of it, but really those are soft and fuzzy.  It's a begonia that my mother-in-law had and there are now a lot of folks who have plants that were originally cuttings from that plant. 

It too is extremely hardy, easy to propagate, and it has flowers every year. There just beginning now. When they really open, they'll be pink. And we'll be in Juneau. They last a month or more.



Here's a bit of the stem that kept our kids far from this plant.



In checking out begonias, I think this is a rhizomatous begonia as described on Brad's Begonia World:

Rhizomatous begonias comprise one of the largest if not the largest group of begonias. They are differentiated from the other types of begonias in that they grow from stems (rhizomes) that grow along the surface of the soil. As they grow, the stems put out new roots. There are some semi-upright rhizomatous but even these will fall over and root back to the soil like the other rhizomatous if allowed. There is also a group of rhizomatous that put up upright stems from the creeping rhizome.


Begonia 'Bushmaster'Most rhizomatous begonias are grown for their interesting foliage that comes in various colors and patterns. The majority being shades of green, black, silver and brown. Many also have interesting spirals in the sinus of the leaf or ruffled edges. Nearly all are seasonal bloomers that require a short day period to set blooms, so are late winter to spring blooming. Even though not grown for their flowers, they do put on a spectacular display of blooms during their short bloom season. Except for the few upright types, most rhizomatous begonias make attractive mound shaped plants. Rhizomatous begonias can live in less light than most of the other types so are the best choices for really shady areas. Many also do quite well as ground covers for shady or semi shady areas.

Horticulturally the rhizomatous types are broken up into a couple dozen types based on leaf size and growth. For the purpose of this article, culturally there are four basic types, common type, upright type, upright jointed, and distinctive foliage. Most of the cultural items of this page apply to areas where begonias can be grown outdoors all year. Begonias can be grown outdoors in cold climates but must be brought indoors before frost in the fall.

The philodendron is another hard to kill plant.

While looking up philodendron, I came across this story. It's from the astral world, and since there's not further evidence of more rigorous testing, I think he's reading too much in. But that doesn't negate the possibility that there's more to plants than we think. Maybe the bromeliad appreciates having it's nails clipped.

    The story starts with Cleve Backster of the Cleve Backster School of Lie Detection. It was in 1966 that the curious Backster decided to hook up a polygraph machine to one of his philodendron plants to measure the time it took for water to reach the large leaves. Backster noticed that the plant was measuring what would be excitement in a human subject. He then tried different things with the leaf that had the polygraph electrode attached - even sticking the leaf in a cup of hot coffee. The plant showed no other reactions and even seemed to be getting bored after 15 minutes of testing. [Follow the link for the rest of the experiments.]

The bamboo we drove back from Portland five years ago. It involved getting them inspected and certified to take through Canada and back into the US at the Alaska border. We'd found someone at this rural bamboo nursery outside of Portland from Minnesota and picked varieties that he said grew outside in Minneapolis. But I haven't had the heart to plant them outside. I would say they are surviving, but not thriving. Perhaps this summer I'll plant one outside against the house.

And this is the surviving tamarind. It grew to this point from seed in about three weeks and has stayed like this ever since. The other two plants succumbed to lack of water, even though I was watching pretty closely.



And here's the world outside this cocoon of temperance.