What's Up Tiger Lily?

Plant Journal

[zopikristjanson]

2 NOVEMBER 2015

With the shorter day lengths, the buds on the Rhododendrons have already formed for next year. In mid-May, they will burst out in a riot of pink bordering on garishness.

[zopikristjanson]

30 OCTOBER 2015

I should have guessed when I saw the little white flowers blooming a couple months ago that the Asparagus Fern was not really a fern, but the fruit pushed me to look it up. It’s in the Asparagus family! My dog doesn’t care.

[zopikristjanson]

29 OCTOBER 2015

And the awards for longest bloomers in the 2015 perennial garden go to...

Echininacea ‘Hot Papaya’ and Salvia ‘Maynight.’ These champs have been blooming continuously since the beginning of June and they’re still rocking. Bravissima! (applause)

[zopikristjanson]

28 OCTOBER 2015

This lemon tree was basking outside all summer and now that I’ve brought it in for the winter, it’s budding and flowering profusely. I wonder if the tree has a short-day photoperiod as it bloomed near the end of autumn last year, and continued all winter. Like other flowers in the Rutaceae family, the lemon blossoms pack a pungent fragrance that makes the kitchen a fairly pleasant place to be in December.

[zopikristjanson]

26 OCTOBER 2015

Atlanta reserves it’s finest landscaping for the dead. It was drizzling and I took a short driving tour of Oakland Cemetery, which was studded with beautiful perennial beds and trees. I couldn’t identify the tree up top, but carefully walked over the grave (eep!) and plucked a branch for my pressings. I emailed the garden director when I got home and she clued me in - a young Sourwood  (Oxydendrum arboreum), native to eastern North America, from southern Pennsylvania to north Florida in the Ericaceae family.

[zopikristjanson]

24 OCTOBER 2015

I’m in Atlanta for the weekend. Crepe Myrtles appear to be the dominant tree species in this town. There are rows of new and established plantings on most major roads, highway exits, and in all of the urban neighborhoods I’ve driven through. They are lovely trees, especially at this time, but perhaps they’ve gone overboard.

[zopikristjanson]

21 OCTOBER 2015

As luscious as they appear, the petals of a strawflower (Xerochrysum bracteatum) feel as thin and dry as paper...or straw. It turns out they are not petals at all but bracts and, unlike most other leaf or flower parts, are composed mostly of dead cells that have a thick secondary cell wall. This quality enables the strawflower to maintain its structure for a couple years out of the ground. Kind of like the walking dead...       

[zopikristjanson]

19 OCTOBER 2015

Constitution Marsh on a Monday is about as peaceful a place can be. Surrounding the boardwalks are marshy fields of Typha latifolia, also known as cattails, punks or corn dog grass. The male flowerets died off at the end of summer, and now the female part of the cattail is producing seeds. Each seed is connected to a bit of white fluff to catch the wind or land in the gullet of a nearby blackbird. 

[zopikristjanson]

18 OCTOBER 2015

First frost of the year today, about a month ahead of schedule. The Gingko didn’t have any time to strut its gold before the icy winds signaled nearly all the leaves to fall. I read that with most deciduous trees, the petioles form protective layers in succession. So as leaves drop and expose interior leaves to colder temperatures, these interior leaves form new protective layers, and additional leaves drop. Eventually, a hard frost causes all the remaining petioles to form this protective layer and all remaining leaves fall. This process usually take several weeks. But with the Ginkgo, the petioles form the protective layer simultaneously and wait for a hard frost to trigger all leaves to drop at the same time. Blam. They they are.

[zopikristjanson]

16 OCTOBER 2015

I was tidying up my container garden when I came across this fungi, whose common name makes me smile: “Dung loving bird’s nest.” Cyathus stercoreus, as its formally known, prefers growing on dung (duh) and resembles groups of birds nests with little black eggs inside. Cute!  The nests are peridiums and the ‘eggs’ are peridioles, or spores, which are dispersed by water splashing into the cup and sloshing them out. I was wondering where the manure they so love came from, because as far as I know nothing has been pooping in this box. I thought back to when this container was mulched last fall and we did use “Sweet Peet,” which has a ton of composted manure in it. Ah! Entire books have been written on birds nest fungi, but I’ll stop here.

[zopikristjanson]

15 OCTOBER 2015

I hiked in Shunnemunk Mountain State Park today. The pageantry of fall has begun. I’m sure it never gets old for long-time residents, but it’s only my second year in New York so I can’t even get on the highway without tearing up. Besides the beautiful changing of the leaves, this is also when the asters start to shine. I came across some New York iron weed (Vernonia noveboracensis) in the field leading to the trail, humming with bumblebees in its riotous pink hue. At the summit of the trail, I found swaths of a low growing brilliant red shrub, which I identified later as lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium.)

[zopikristjanson]

14 OCTOBER 2015

The male pollen cones have emerged on the atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica), and though I see the birds doing their part by enthusiastically pecking, the pollen relies mostly on the wind for dispersal. There are no female cones yet, so for now, the only raison d’être of the male cones is to make us sneeze...and feed the birds.  

[zopikristjanson]

12 OCTOBER 2015

I was watering my Croton ‘Harvest Moon’ plant and saw an orb weaver today, which I’m tempted to say is the same orb weaver I spotted and sketched last November. They typically live about a year, but can go longer if the weather’s nice.

[zopikristjanson]

10 OCTOBER 2015

No, I didn’t find this weirdo in the woods, but I just discovered it on the world wide web trying to identify a NY wildflower so I know that it’s real. Unlike most “normal” plants, the indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora) lacks chlorophyll, which contributes to its ghostly appearance and prevents it from being able to make its own grub. And so, its roots tap into the mycelia of fungi typically found on beech and pines. But while the mushrooms give back to their tree hosts through mycorrhiza, the indian pipes are just plain ol’ parasites. They do, however, provide nectar for bumble bees and look really cool.

[zopikristjanson]

9 OCTOBER 2015

Tonight I was introduced to pulque, fermented sap from the maguey agave plant that was enjoyed in the ancient highland city of Teotihuacan, Mexico back in 100 B.C. and today at La Contenta in LES, Manhattan. The top image is a detail of the plant sent to me by the bartender, who enthusiastically explained the process after I told him about my plant blog. To produce pulque, they cut off the flower stalk of the Agave, which would otherwise reach up to 20 feet high,  leaving a depressed surface 12-18 inches in diameter. In this center, the maguey sap, known as aguamiel (honeywater), collects. It takes a maguey plant 12 years to mature enough to produce the sap for pulque. The sap is then placed into fermentation vessels, and naturally occurring yeasts and a bacterium called Zymomona mobilis begin the alcohol-production process, which is rapid: Pulque can be ready to drink in as little as four hours, though some allow the fermentation to continue for as long as two weeks. I found it a tad viscous, but all together tasty and refreshing.  

[zopikristjanson]

7 OCTOBER 2015

Like a fine actress, this Cimicifuga wears many faces. I pulled a seed pod off and thumbed it open to find three pubescent seeds.

[zopikristjanson]

4 OCTOBER 2015

I tugged the last few petals (getting a bit mildewy) off the spotted bee balm (Monarda punctata) today and got a whiff of the same yummy bubble-gummy scent as Agastache. Wait a minute...they’re relatives! I should have included this in my previous entry on the Mint Family.