Oddballs

[CraigP]

I grow a few plants that seem to be rare in cultivation, but I like them. < g > Rauhia multiflora is an amaryllid originally from Peru. I got this bulb literally more than 20 yrs ago and despite my best efforts it had never bloomed until ...maybe next week. It dies back each autumn and resprouts late winter/early spring and if it is to bloom the spike precedes the leaves, which are always only two or three.

This year I have a spike! But when I checked the bulb I found it was rotting. I cut out as much of the damage as possible and drenched the soil with a broad spectrum fungicide....for good measure I also dusted the bulb. Obviously I hope the bulb survives, but if not I hope it survives to bloom and set seed.

[gray cat]

WoW after waiting 20 years I hope it blooms. Post a pic if it does. Good luck.

[CraigP]

Another favorite I have never seen widely grown. A tropical Impatiens, I. nianmniamensis, often called the parrot impatiens. It does tolerate hot weather better than the standard I. walleri, but does need some protection from our warm summers. I grow it under 60% shade and keep the pots on the ground in the coolest area I can find. Takes some effort, but this time of year it is gorgeous and worth the effort. < g >

[Noahsnana]

I grow a few plants that seem to be rare in cultivation, but I like them. < g > Rauhia multiflora is an amaryllid originally from Peru. I got this bulb literally more than 20 yrs ago and despite my best efforts it had never bloomed until ...maybe next week. It dies back each autumn and resprouts late winter/early spring and if it is to bloom the spike precedes the leaves, which are always only two or three.

This year I have a spike! But when I checked the bulb I found it was rotting. I cut out as much of the damage as possible and drenched the soil with a broad spectrum fungicide....for good measure I also dusted the bulb. Obviously I hope the bulb survives, but if not I hope it survives to bloom and set seed.

Looks like it's a fighter /survivor

[CraigP]

Oddballs aren't always attractive, sometimes it is their rarity. Late last summer I visited a friend in Palm Bch County who I have known for twenty some years and who I consider to be the most accomplished botanist/horticulturalist I have ever had the pleasure of being associated with. Point is he had received a few root stock of an aquatic aroid from Belize.... the northern limit for Urospatha grandis. I am not sure this plant is well known enough to even have a common name, though I did see a reference to as as "Giant Twisted Arrowhead". He was having trouble with them, as they arrived in rough shape, and sent me home with one to see if I could get one to survive. I had to perform
"surgery" to remove the diseased areas and dust it with a fungicide and it seems to be doing well. I have inside on a heat mat in a heated room. It still looks pathetic, but viable and hopefully it survives and once the weather warms and I have time to make the trip to WPB....he will get it back. There is no way I want to fight it through the winters here.

[CraigP]

From frustrating to gorgeous, to rare, to colorful. This is the cross section of a turmeric rhizome I harvested today. The intense cobalt color always amazes me. This is a Curcuma species, but not to be confused with the culinary species which is C. longa. The blue is C. caesia and more medicinal than culinary.

[CraigP]

The Rauhia has survived to bloom, though the green, trumpet shaped flowers are far from stunning. < g > Not the best picture, I know, but the bloom stalk is over 38" above the tuber. I have been pollinating the blooms and the plant appears to be setting seed, so sometime in the future I may have the answer to the question " If it takes twenty years from bulb to bloom, how many years does it take from seed? < g >

[gray cat]

The Rauhia has survived to bloom, though the green, trumpet shaped flowers are far from stunning. < g > Not the best picture, I know, but the bloom stalk is over 38" above the tuber. I have been pollinating the blooms and the plant appears to be setting seed, so sometime in the future I may have the answer to the question " If it takes twenty years from bulb to bloom, how many years does it take from seed? < g >

Not sure if I would be around to learn the answer.

[CraigP]

Beauties and the Beast. the two lovelies are Gesneriads...Sinningia helleri; the beast, while also beautiful the Sauromatum venosum packs a noxious punch that lures flies in asa pollinators. < g >

Early night tonight, will be up a 3 am to head to the market.

[gray cat]

Very pretty.

[stephen]

Beauties and the Beast. the two lovelies are Gesneriads...Sinningia helleri; the beast, while also beautiful the Sauromatum venosum packs a noxious punch that lures flies in asa pollinators. < g >

Early night tonight, will be up a 3 am to head to the market.

Looking good My Friend

[CraigP]

These are not oddballs as much as seldomly seen. The orchid is Encyclia tampensis, a native that was rescued from a lot being cleared for development. We attached a few of them to live oaks and this one has graced us with over fifty sprays; most popular are hybrid orchids but be it lilies or orchids, I have a soft spot for the species. The other picture is a Key Lime tree with what looks to be a bird dropping on the leaf. The old saw is that it is 'survival of the fittest, but sometimes the fittest are the most clever. That is actually the caterpillar of a Giant Swallowtail butterfly. Citrus are one of their host plants and they have evolved what is called cryptic coloration to blend into the background as something no predator recognizes as food.

[gray cat]

These are not oddballs as much as seldomly seen. The orchid is Encyclia tampensis, a native that was rescued from a lot being cleared for development. We attached a few of them to live oaks and this one has graced us with over fifty sprays; most popular are hybrid orchids but be it lilies or orchids, I have a soft spot for the species. The other picture is a Key Lime tree with what looks to be a bird dropping on the leaf. The old saw is that it is 'survival of the fittest, but sometimes the fittest are the most clever. That is actually the caterpillar of a Giant Swallowtail butterfly. Citrus are one of their host plants and they have evolved what is called cryptic coloration to blend into the background as something no predator recognizes as food.

I think the orchid is pretty. That is amazing! The caterpillar sure looks like a bird dropping!

[CraigP]

Update on the original 'oddball' from the first post. It did bloom and I hand pollinated the flowers and got viable seed. I still have a couple pods in the process of ripening, but have dozens of sprouts from the first to form. Not the clearest picture, but in some you can see the sprout already forming the bulb that wii carry them through their first period of dormancy.

[gold4me]

I do admire your ‘green thumb’ and your plant evolutions. The ‘bird poo caterpillars’ are extraordinary in person, the one’s I’ve seen actually glisten like fresh poo Thank you for sharing.

[gray cat]

That is great! Good luck with your sprouts.

[CraigP]

First of December and these two have begun their bloom. < g > Not really oddballs as much as southern hemisphere plants going into, ecologically speaking, what would be their summer . The first is an epiphytic blueberry relative native to Panama, I have been growing for two years now and this is the start of its first bloom; the yellow petals will become more pronounced. The other is what is called a blue Amaryllis from Brazil. Taxonomically, it is an Amaryllid ....in the Amaryllis family and while related to the Hippeastrum we know as Amaryllis sp., it is actually a Griffinia and so called a mini-blue Amaryllis. May be TMI and they are mostly just pretty plants that bloom this time of year ( in SW FL ). But some may appreciate the botanical info as well. < g >

[CraigP]

It's back! The Rauhia multiflora is giving another bloom this year...after keeping me waiting twenty for the first. As the spike emerges, it really reminds me of a Cephalopod...maybe Nautilis? Also blooming....an epiphytic blueberry relative from Ecuador. Macleania pentaptera I don't believe I've ever seen a common name.

[gray cat]

Very nice plants. What are the four plants in the first pic?

[CraigP]

Not sure what pictures you are referring to. If it is the four pots in post #13 Those are Rauhia seedlings from last years bloom. They are not the fastest growers. < g >