Screenshot of the plant ID feature on my new iPhone 13
My new iPhone 13 has a great feature for identifying plants. Just take a photo of the plant, hit all the right buttons and voila, it gives you the suggested name or names of the plant. It also gives a few links to try to further learn about and identify the plant as well as suggestions for other plants similar to it for further research.
I love to share my garden! This is a creation that I’ve been working on for over 30 years and what fun is it keeping it all to myself? That feels so selfish to me.
So the best thing I can do, since it’s hard for so many of you to travel here, is to take you on a garden tour around my 1/2 acre woodland walks in Northport NY. We’re Zone 7 here and this Garden Tour video is in the early spring on March 21, 2020 around 6pm in the evening.
I haven’t yet finished my fall cleanup at this point and of course, as gardeners well know, the garden is never perfect. At this time of year, in my neck of the woods, something new opens every single day. It’s a very exciting time for me each day as I walk around to see what’s new. Spring is about renewal. About optimism. About color. About surprises.
This is the first in a series of Garden Tour videos I’ll be doing so please remember to subscribe to my YouTube Channel to be alerted when I publish new videos.
My garden is the source material for almost all of my paintings. It is where I get my inspiration. It’s where I present yet another aspect of my creativity but this one is in 3D and seasonally adjusted over time and temperature.
Come and take a casual walk with me around my garden. Enjoy!
When we need to “Water” ourselves we take a drink towards the top of our stem, our mouth.
This water, sooner or later is then is eliminated, as if by gravity below the point of entry.
Plants, on the other hand, take a drink at the very bottom of their structure, their roots, and then, defying gravity, eliminate the excess at the very top of their structure, their leaves.
How is this journey accomplished?
Osmosis is the process used for the water to enter the root hairs.
Cohesion-tension theory is believed to be the method that water is conducted upward via the xylem. Think of adjacent drops of water, which when their exterior barriers are broken, move & merge into one larger drop.
Transpiration is the process of water evaporating from the leaf.
Roots have microscopic root hairs to take up more water
CORMS
Corms look a lot like bulbs on the outside but they are quite different. They have the same type of protective covering and a basal plate like the bulb does, but do not grow in layers.
Instead, the corm is the actual base for the flower stem and has a solid texture. As the flower grows, the corm actually shrivels as the nutrients are used up. Essentially the corm dies, but it does produce new corms right next to or above the dead corm. It has contractile roots that bring down the corms as they rise up to the surface of the soil which is why the flowers come back year after year. Depending on the type of flower, it may take a couple years to reach blooming size.
A corm does not have visible storage rings when cut in half. This distinguishes it from a true bulb.
Corms of a dormant colocasia (Elephant Ears) and a crocus in bloom.
CORM ROOTS
Many corms produce two different types of roots. Those growing from the bottom of the corm are normal fibrous roots, they are formed as the shoots grow, and are produced from the basal area at the bottom of the corm. The second type of roots are thicker layered roots that form as the new corms are growing, they are called contractile roots and they pull the corm deeper into the soil. They are produced in response to fluctuating soil temperatures and light levels. Once the corm is deep enough within the soil where the temperature is more uniform and there is no light, the contractile roots no longer grow and the corm is no longer pulled deeper into the soil.
PROPAGATING CORMS
The newly dug corms will have cormels that are pea size formed around the top of the old corm. The remains of the old corm will be directly beneath the newly formed corms. When the corm is cleaned up and the old stem removed, the growing point of the corm will be evident. The cormels can be saved and replanted in the back of the garden until they reach flowering size.
Examples of Hardy Corms – Crocus. Arisaema, Crocosmia, Liatris
Examples of Tender Corms: Gladiolus, Colocasia, Alocasia, Bananas (Musa), Ensete, Taro, Xanthosoma
Allium bulgaricum
Sometimes the most fascinating aspect of a flower is before it even arrives. I love to watch the progressive morphing of the Allium bulgaricum as it pushes through the ground early in my perennial bed, usually before I’ve even managed to clean off the winter debris.
These tall, 36″ stalks are very strong and have never needed staking. These particular bulbs have been living in my garden since 2003 after I bought them at an after-season sale at Home Depot. I always scour the sales in various Home Depot stores in my area to capture the treasures left behind by the undiscerning customers.
Allium bulgaricum breaking through the tunicate.
As the flower grows you can see it bulging through the paper thin protective membrane covering.
I walk daily through my perennial bed waiting for the first tear in the parchment like shield. I would liken it to the first beak marks I’ve seen when a chick is breaking out of it’s shell. Not that I’ve seen chicks very often since I was raised in Brooklyn, which is not noted for farmland.
Allium bulgaricum stretching it’s wings
The flowers pounce forth in a gleeful display of empowerment and spread their wings in umbel fashion sitting proudly on tall stalks overlooking a still short, unfolding and early season perennial garden. These are not glamorous flowers in my opinion but they always add weeks of drama to my early spring theater.
Allium bulgaricum in full bloom
Pumpkin PiePumpkins are vining annual plants that are part of the Cucurbitaceae or Cucumber family. They are actually winter squash named Cucurbita pepo with the oldest pumpkin related seeds found in Mexico dating back to between 7000 & 5500 BC.
Pumpkins are grown on every continent except Antarctica but the traditional American pumpkin that we are familiar with is the Connecticut Field variety. Pumpkins produce both male and female flowers on each vine and are pollinated by honey bees.
Apple PieApples are formally named Malus domestica and they are from the rose family of Rosaceae. The fruit is a pome, which is characterized by one or more carpels surrounded by accessory tissue. This tissue is the edible part and is useful in protecting the buried seeds.
Apple trees were widely planted and seeds distributed by John Chapman who became known as “Johnny Appleseed”. This wide distribution of open pollinated seed helped to widen the choice of available cultivars in early America to over 8,000 of which 100 are grown commercially today.
Sweet Potato PieIpomaea batatas or sweet potatoes belong to the Convolvulaceae family. It is an herbaceous perennial vine, with an edible long and tapered tuberous root. Though distantly related to the potato in the Solanum tuberosum family, it is not a nightshade plant. It was domesticated over 5,000 years ago in either Central or South America but is the staple food for many countries worldwide.
For most of American history sweet potatoes were an important part of the diet but fell out of favor as people became more affluent during the middle of the 20th century. There has been a resurgence of popularity with the awareness of the rich dietary contributions offered by this humble plant.
Disclosure: Facts were gathered from the internet especially Wikipedia.