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There's nothing like a tropical storm to focus the attention of gardeners in its path. Potential tropical cyclone #16 will bring high winds, heavy rain, coastal flooding, and inland flooding for a large swath of the mid-Atlantic states for the next day or so.  Here's what I'll be experiencing in Williamsburg, Virginia. It's time now to move some plants into the garage for safe keeping.

What a surprise. A predicted rainy day has now transformed into a tropical storm. Wind gusts Saturday night will be almost 40 mph. I'll be bringing my tall plants inside for the duration. I am right in the path of the center of the storm.  At least it is not a hurricane.

Pelargonium boranense is a red flowering species pelargonium hailing from Eithiopia that was discovered in 1972. 

Does anyone know if this plant is in cultivation in the US?  My internet searches have turned up numerous websites for cultivation in the EU and UK, but none in the US. 

It has beautiful red flowers and it appears to like heat and humidity, and it grows in the summertime.  So, it should do well in my growing conditions.

Here are a few links about this plant with some nice photos of it flowering.

https://pelargonium.janedgar.net/p-boranense/

https://bihrmann.com/Caudiciforms/subs/pel-bor-sub.asp

http://www.pelargonium.si/ciconium/boranense.html

Thanks!

Quote from: Carlos on September 21, 2023, 01:32:32 AMDo you like the plan?

Sounds like a great plan to me.  Thanks Carlos!

Quote from: Carlos on September 19, 2023, 02:39:04 PMHi. I found a grower who has plants, but no seeds (strange?). Flos Sabaudiae, or Flosab.

Thanks Carlos. I looked at their website for this plant.

https://www.flosab.com/pepiniere-en-ligne-229-erodium-chrysanthum.html

The third photo appears to be a female flowering plant. If true, there are male and female plants in cultivation, at least in Europe.  I was surprised at how inexpensive these plants were at flosab. 

Also, the gaissmayer.de website seems to have female plants also.

Quote from: Martin Bohnet on August 30, 2023, 10:49:18 AMactually the second picture on the gaissmayer page seems female, the other ones male.

It's much easier for me to import seeds than plants from the EU. For now, I'm going to try to hold out for some seeds.

Thanks for your help.  I appreciate it.

Cheers,

Bern

Quote from: David Pilling on September 14, 2023, 01:34:28 PMThere was more belief in technology in the 1960s, ask Miss BOMARC.

Here's the real story behind Miss BOMARC. It's worth a quick read and Fran (Miss BOMARC) turned out OK.

https://conelrad.blogspot.com/2011/01/meet-miss-bomarc.html

Nuclear tipped interceptor missiles, not so OK.

Quote from: Arnold on September 14, 2023, 07:24:58 PMQuite a sight when the tide is out and the wharfs are so high

The Bay of Fundy also experiences a tidal bore on incoming tides. Apparently, it is quite a sight to see.

"During a tidal bore, a standing wave of water occurs at the front of the incoming tide. This wave travels upstream at speeds that can reach 15km per hour and against the natural current in the Bay of Fundy."

https://www.ferries.ca/experience-the-bay-of-fundy/

You can even book an adventure with an outfitter who will take you on a rafting trip to ride the tidal bore there. It looks like great fun!

https://www.bayoffundy.com/about/tidal-bore/

https://raftingcanada.ca/river-rafting-adventures/about-the-tidal-bore/

Quote from: Carlos on September 14, 2023, 12:36:09 AMI will try to get some seeds, I like this kind of challenges.

Thank you Carlos.  I appreciate it.  I also enjoy these kind of challenges and I refer to them as "plant hunts".  I find it intriguing that, apparently, there are no female plants in cultivation in the USA. It would be interesting to see if that situation could be corrected.

Thanks again and good luck!

Quote from: David Pilling on September 13, 2023, 05:46:10 PMIn a field where consistency is required over 10's of years, or 1000's of years if you're talking about storing the waste, politicians whose views change every few years are in charge.

Sad, but true.  The US tried to construct a high level radioactive waste disposal site in Nevada at Yucca Mountain for commercial and government spent fuel rods. It was contested from the get go, ran about a decade of development, then was shut down by not being funded in the 2011/2012 timeframe.

"This leaves the United States government (which disposes of its transuranic waste from nuclear weapons production 2,150 feet (660 m) below the surface at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico)^[7] and American nuclear power plants without any designated long-term storage for their high-level radioactive waste (spent fuel) stored on-site in steel and concrete casks (dry cask storage) at 76 reactor sites in 34 states."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Mountain_nuclear_waste_repository

No alternative storage site has been proposed to my knowledge.  It is a big safety and security concern that there is so much high level radioactive waste in temporary storage at reactor sites scattered around the country.  "Clean" nuclear energy in the form of new nuclear power plants cannot proceed until this issue is satisfactorily addressed. 

How about harnessing the tidal power at the Bay of Fundy to make electricity?

The latest on Hurricane Lee, a massive storm, is that it will impact New England and make landfall in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.  The track right now is straight up the Bay of Fundy, already famous for its tides. Fortunately, the storm will weaken before impact to land, but it will still cause a lot of damage. Landfall should be in the late afternoon this Saturday, local time.

Here's the current track from the US National Weather Service.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/090725.shtml?cone#contents

Here's the satellite gif from Tropical Tidbits.

https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/sat/satlooper.php?region=atl&product=truecolor

And here's the gif from Zoom Earth.

https://zoom.earth/maps/satellite/#view=35.04,-56.9,5z

Quote from: David Pilling on September 08, 2023, 04:53:09 PMAt the moment nuclear power is popular (!)

And just a few sort years ago nuclear energy was a despised and dirty source of electricity.  Now it's being touted as clean energy.  I'm sure the nuclear utilities are breathing a collective sigh of relief that the carbon fixation has, at least for now, removed the spotlight from them and their radioactive waste byproducts.

With hurricanes on the east coast of the US and earthquakes and possible tsunamis on the west coast of the US, I have to wonder how nuclear power plants came to be located so close to the shoreline. I can remember vividly the videos of the tsunami hitting the coast of Japan near the Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011.

Turkey Point Nuclear Plant in located on the shores of Biscayne Bay in South Florida. It is a 1.6 gigawatt generating station. It is essentially located adjacent to Biscayne National Park and nearby to Everglades National Park. Without it, civilized life in Miami and south Florida would be impossible because of the subtropical climate. 

https://www.fpl.com/clean-energy/nuclear/turkey-point-plant.html

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Turkey+Point+Nuclear+Generating+Station/@25.4324723,-80.3126881,44336m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x88d9d97d20f0bb61:0x7bb701b44ddb8265!8m2!3d25.434475!4d-80.3310504!16zL20vMDV4NnMx?entry=ttu

Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant is located on the Pacific Ocean in California.  It is a 2.24 gigawatt generating station. 

https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/how-the-system-works/diablo-canyon-power-plant/diablo-canyon-power-plant.page

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Diablo+Canyon+Power+Plant/@35.2116935,-120.8550374,2507m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x80ecf0fcd3faeb67:0xa0426b7cea05f00d!8m2!3d35.2116935!4d-120.8550374!16zL20vMDRyNTlk?entry=ttu

Obviously, the siting requirements were more lax at the time these plants were constructed.

I just checked the model forecasts for Tropical Depression 13 and almost all of the projected tracks are offshore of the continental US at this time. This is a welcome finding. Things could change over the next few days, so it is worth monitoring.

Here's the link with the forecast models for the storm's track.

https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/storminfo/

There's another storm now forming in the Atlantic that is projected to become a major hurricane that could affect the US East Coast early next week, and it could be a whopper. It is currently designated as Tropical Depression 13.  

Here's the current trajectory from the National Weather Service.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/145817.shtml?cone#contents

And here's the Atlantic wide video from Tropical Tidbits.

https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/sat/satlooper.php?region=atl&product=truecolor

More on this as it develops.

Quote from: Martin Bohnet on August 30, 2023, 10:49:18 AMactually the second picture on the gaissmayer page seems female, the other ones male.

Well, I now have in my collection one male Erodium chrysanthum. If it makes it though the winter I will be trying to find it a friend next year.