PBS Forum

Geophytes flowering in the Atacama desert:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/29/desert-bloomed-in-chile-atacama-driest-place-on-earth

Article does mention "geophytes" but does not specify. Drat!

When we moved east from Pittsburgh (western side of Pennsylvania) we bought out first, "starter" home in Connecticut. It was on a 50 ft X 100 ft lot, which is an eighth of an acre. House, driveway down one side, garage sort of underground (I seem to fixate on sloping properties.) Population there, back then (1968), was about 40,000.

In 1973 (I was agitating for more land) we moved about 20 miles to a 1.06 acre property with a nice house and fabulous potential for a garden. This became the garden of my heart. Wonderful site with that mythical moist but well drained soil, had 5 mature white oak trees, native Cornus florida. I thought I was a superb gardener but it was really the site which enabled me to grow the plants. Population was 17,000.

Husband's company relocated to New Jersey and the commute was exhausting him. There was a company van so he only had to drive once every other week. But it meant leaving very early in the morning and getting back home very late. Next option was working four 10-hour days and spending Monday - Wednesday night in a company apartment. So we moved.

If I was independently wealthy and had staff this could be a very lovely place. But I'm not and it isn't. Population when we moved here was 1,700.

So every time we move the property seems to go up by an order of magnitude, and the population drops the same.

What's next? Move to Wyoming where everyone drives a pickup with a camper cap because - as we speculate when we've been there on a rock garden society annual meeting - you have to camp out overnight to go grocery shopping.

I live in western New Jersey, which could be considered east coast urban. Our "side" of the state (which is taller north to south, narrow east to west) has been changing from farms raising soy beans, wheat, oats, in tractor trailer quantities to "growing" houses, McMansions on lots that seem undersized to us.

We moved here 20+ years ago. Looked for 18 months before finding something we could both agree on - I had veto rights for the outdoors, Himself for house. Taxes are high for what we have as services are close to nil - a good percentage go for schools (there's a grade school and middle school but high school is sending district from several communities) and they do plow the roads in winter. We pay to have driveway plowed. I think current zoning is for minimum 6 acres, to allow for septic. Our township has no police, no fire dept, no post office. We have a well and septic system, pay for private trash pickup and ditto recyclables. There is a 1,000 gallon in-ground propane tank which fuels house heat, hot water, kitchen stove.

We have about 9 acres of mostly unimproved woodland - oak, black walnut, maples, and now the ash are dead - on a very sloping lot. Soil is heavy clay loam with shale.

There are deer, raccoons, opossums, skunks, chipmunks, voles, rabbits, the infrequent / occasional bear.

I'm getting beyond the point where it is possible for me to cope with multiflora roses, Japanese stilt grass, and other obnoxious invasives. The literally thousands of hardy bulbs I planted when we first arrived are still quite happy - galanthus, Leucojum vernum, Eranthis hiemalis, scillas, assorted narcissus, colchicum and more.

So I'm (mostly) happy too. We like that once the trees leaf out in spring we cannot see the neighbors. They move back into view as the leaves drop.

David, I bake the no-knead bread promulgated by Mark Bittman from the Sullivan Street Bakery. I even developed a rye bread version myself, adapted from a recipe shared by a woman in the next bed when we both had our babies lo those many decades ago. What (types) of bread do you bake?

David, this morning I stalled when opening a package of English muffins. All I meant to do was take one out to toast. But found myself staring at the points and lobes of the occlupanid's form.

If I understand correctly occlupanids are banned in the UK, with twist ties substituted. Nothing to be managed with small lots paperwork, right?

Not plants, You know those little plastic tags that hold closed the plastic bag around packaged bread, hot dog rolls, and such like? I just learned that there is a system for classifying them. It's adorable! and offers insight into how classification works.

Here is a link to their site: Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group http://www.horg.com/horg/
which is very detailed, even a guide to symbols Latin color chart http://www.horg.com/horg/?page_id=2040

I stumbled across this in an article in the NYTimes, which can be persnickety about allowing access without a subscription but you could try

https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/61UhNScX3yLYS4zSWOuUqA~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRlGpnAP0TtaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW5wdXRtYWcuY29tL2N1bHR1cmUvaG9yZy1wbGFzdGljLWJyZWFkLXRhZ3Mtb2NjbHVwYW5pZHMtY2xhc3NpZmljYXRpb24tc2l0ZT9jYW1wYWlnbl9pZD05JmVtYz1lZGl0X25uXzIwMjIxMDAxJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTczNDY3Jm5sPXRoZS1tb3JuaW5nJnJlZ2lfaWQ9NjE1NTEyNjQmc2VnbWVudF9pZD0xMDg2NzUmdGU9MSZ1c2VyX2lkPTk5MWVjNzQ4MTU1NDcyMzczYzdkNjZhMThhODBjMDBjVwNueXRCCmMzwBQ4Y1OcYyVSEWpnZ2xhdHRAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAA

Delightful. Do you agree?

After end-of-summer drought we have now been getting rain. And as Ian travels up the coast I expect even more. The weather continues to be cooler than expected, even for the end of September. Day by day I am shuttling pots of geophytes either into the greenhouse or into the basement, depending.

So today it was mirabilis on the move. I chopped off their tops - still some leaves and also a few flowers. And wheeled them into the basement. Interestingly, the cool weather apparently affects color - the last few flowers on 'Orange Crush' are a rather attractive soft rosy pink.

Rhodophiala bifida and Zephyranthes candida, and xAmarcrinum too, into the greenhouse. Which is getting crowded.

The seasons change, and plants move. Excellent timing! for the greenhouse roof replacement not quite a week ago. Then, the weather was sunny and mild, with a light breeze. Now that we're beyond the equinox, autumn has made itself known. Last night tiptoed below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Oops! So today, with the help of a hand truck, I have moved the large pot of Crinum powellii into said greenhouse. Also four pots of xAmarcrinum (two of which are still in flower) and a pot of Agapanthus 'Peter Pan'.

I really do not need four pots of xAmarcrinum but do not have the strength of character to leave them out to freeze. And since they've made offsets - well, shipping for something semi-ordinary is probably not worth it.

The eucomis in a sheltered site will move into the basement for their long winter nap. Pots of assorted other tender bulbs that accept a winter dormancy.

Greenhouse Roof was replaced yesterday.  I knew the polycarbonate had yellowed. But not How Much it had yellowed.

All is well that ends well.

Does what I have as Zephyranthes candida look a little different?

xAmarcrinum are happily shoving their stalks up and out the pseudostem, one is already in flower. I seem to lose labels, wonder if they are Crinum. But then the substance and position of the flowers tells all. Yes, the leaves are somewhat different, between the two. But the flowers tell it all quite clearly.

Six of 15 pots are well into growth, this after the rains came just three days ago on August 22. The "top dressing" I mentioned giving the pots was more like adding 1/3 of soil to the tall narrow pots. Some are shoving up green leaf shoots - those must be the smaller bulbs. But there are definite flower buds too - those will wait to send up leaves since rhodophiala are hysteranthous.

Serious drought here in western New Jersey. July - there was grand total of 1.30 inches, only 25% of our expected rainfall. August - even worse. So far there was only 7/10th of an inch and that was back on August 1st. Nothing since. But tomorrow is supposed to bring rain.

So this afternoon I moved 15 pots of Rhodophiala bifida out of the greenhouse and top dressed all the pots. There are a few more still inside. They'll have to wait.

I had a full replacement of my left knee in mid-July and recovery is taking longer than I anticipated.

Since there has been no reply in a week I can only assume you do not want a donation of Mirabilis seed. Good enough.

If I remember correctly, Symplocarpus foetidus also generates heat. In this instance, to help melt its way up through cold, frozen soil.