lil girl, big greenhouse

bixby | 23 | she/her | plant mom diary of a greenhouse grower

[lilworkerbee]

hey, i'm bee! 🐝 welcome to my humble abode

infp | neutral good | 4w5 | aquarius | melancholic

i post about my greenhouse work here, but you can follow me on my other blogs...

✽ cottage: @cozylilbee

✽ thoughts: @wordsofbee

✽ photography: @lensofbee

✽ movies: @beesmovies

✽ mbti: @beetheinfp

✽ space: @astrabee

🌼 grab some tea and stay awhile 🌸

[botanyshitposts]

Apparently one of thoes giant lilypads at kew is an undiscovered species but nobody noticed

THE PLANTS CANT KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS DUDE OH MY GOD THEY CANT JUST KEEP DOING THIS TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lilworkerbee]

june zipped right by! here's a little photo dump

[lilworkerbee]

i think this little guy is lost

[lilworkerbee]

just another balmy day at work nbd

[lilworkerbee]

it was haircut day for the lantana trees

[plantanarchy]

Hey bre! If you have a minute do you mind going into what you mean about dark purple equating to blue in horticulture? I'm by no means an expert yet, but I've worked in and studied production floriculture as a part of my hort degree and never come across that terminology before!

Really??? You've never run into a variety of flower called "blue" that looks dark purple??

"Roses are red, violets are blue" basically. Horticulturally dark/deep purple is considered blue and purple is usually reserved for brighter, more pink flowers or not used at all.

Basically blue pigment in flowers does not really exist, it's just a trick of our eye. Blue flowers technically have red pigment but our eyes see blue for varying reasons. I'm not super educated on all these reasons but a lot of blue in nature in general is just iridescence vs. actual pigment. Some flowers are better at appearing blue than others and a lot would look dark purple to your ordinary person.

This is an 'Easy Wave Blue' vs 'Wave Purple' petunia.

This is Calibrachoa 'Aloha Kona Midnight Blue' which I used in a bunch of red white and blue planters this year

Vinca major aka periwinkle/myrtle flowers are considered light blue

[asterisk-plants]

What about flax, cornflower, or baby blue eyes? Or Love-in-a-mist? Those all seem very blue and only blue to mine eye...

@plantanarchy

[plantanarchy]

They are blue! But do not actually have true blue pigment. Those are the flowers I would say are better at pretending to be blue.

[lilworkerbee]

i love finding tree frogs under the trays

it's like a little surprise bonus of serotonin

[lilworkerbee]

a hard working little sweet potato tried to produce

[lilworkerbee]

spotted this little viceroy butterfly today

[wordsofbee]

i met a coworker from another department today. turns out she's an infp as well and she's been psychoanalyzing our coworkers in her department like i have been in mine. we had a fun time sharing our discoveries and i look forward to talking to her again

[lilworkerbee]

it was a day for finding turtles. my coworkers and i found three and named them raphael, donatello, and michaelangelo. we also saw a vole, so that's our master splinter 🐢

[lilworkerbee]

bidding farewell to may

[lilworkerbee]

05/31/2022

o listener mine,

whew. we did it! the busiest month of the year is done.

to be honest, it's been a fun month, overtime and all. we worked hard and managed to keep up, getting things done despite being short-staffed.

that said, i'm looking forward to the calm of summer. i suppose it's one of those "excited to do it but glad when it's over" things.

with the change from spring to summer come changes to my greenhouse as well. changes sparked by one of my coworkers leaving after twenty years. changes reinforced by our slow, rainy year granting us anxiety and uncertainty with what our future holds.

"what kinds of changes?" you may ask.

a question to answer in a future post, i suppose, as my manager hasn't filled me in quite yet.

however, i'm interested and optimistic about what he has in mind.

i do know that we're starting our chrysanthemum crop this month, and soon we'll begin the annual summer cleaning of our greenhouse. our cutflower garden will also be planted in the very near future, and i have been told we'll be growing sunflowers and ornamental corn in abundance, which is a new and exciting change.

summer, while hot, holds the promise of new opportunities and growth for plants and employees alike, and i, for one, am hopeful and ready for the journey.

busily yours,

~ 🐝

[lilworkerbee]

it's been a long week of making combo pots

[lilworkerbee]

some friends helping out around the greenhouse

[lilworkerbee]

fascinated by plant fasciation