Reiki Plant Notes and Two Final Flower Portraits

Another week has gone by for the Reiki/non-Reiki zinnias, and there is a peculiar difference:

Reiki Zinnias, below: July 22, 2014, MR

Both sets of plants are growing well, and are about the same size. The Reiki zinnias sprouted a full 24 hours before the non-Reiki, but now they are growing apace. However, the non-Reiki zinnias are growing further apart, while the Reiki zinnias have grown closer together. In addition, they are given the same amount of sunlight, yet the non-Reiki zinnias have longer stems and show stronger positive phototropism, whereas the Reiki plants are growing straight, and their stems are shorter. Is this because the non-Reiki plants need more light than the Reiki plants? I don't know. What do you think? The experiment continues....

And now for something completely different-- my two final "flower portraits" (really, I know I said that before) from my spring garden, one for Mexican tuberose, the other for sunflower:

Mexican Tuberose Portrait, MR, 2014

Sunflower Portrait, MR, 2014

Weekend Walkabout: Final Tuberose Portrait and Some Ibises Cross the Road

Well, gardening season is really over. Only a few shade plants and my cacti/mesembs are growing outside. But it was wonderful to try tuberoses this year. In the evening, they scent the whole block. Here is my final portrait of the Mexican Tuberose:

Our White Ibis population is up substantially from last year. Every day I have a flock in the front yard, eating breakfast. I drive very slowly in the morning to avoid strolling ibises and hopping cottontails:

Why did the ibis cross the road?? MR_2014

Weekend Walkabout: Tuberose, Sunflower, Ceramics!

My single flower, Mexican Tuberoses are blooming, so exciting! And very, very fragrant....

There are more green facets to fresh tuberose than  you can ever smell in tuberose absolutes or attars. I will have to try an enfleurage someday, because I cannot hope to waft actual tuberose blossom in any commercial perfume I can think of. So I say, just grow some tuberoses if you can.

This year, the aphids are not so bad but the spider mites are taking over my world. Despite that, I have some lovely sunflowers....

Though technically, we are getting normal rains, and are not in drought, we are having problems. Our rains come down in "walls of water". We had about 2 inches in an hour, then nothing for weeks. This is not easy for plants to deal with. So our inches per month are pretty normal, but our rains are freakin' weird.... I water everything in my vicinity every morning, but I have to wake up pretty early to get it done.

My herbalism class is going well. I've been making a few smudge pots and drying trays....

And strange things keep washing up on our beach...here's a ball.

Volleyball? Hard to say where it came from, but I'll bet the Bahamas, where they are severely trash-challenged. Note the barnacles? All in all, though, our beaches were pretty clean and lovely this week.
Have a wonderful weekend walkabout!

New Lithops and Mexican Tuberose, and More Dahlias

I couldn't resist buying a few very cute Lithops a few weeks ago. They had no label of any kind, and the store clerk wanted to know "what the heck those weird plants" were! I particularly love the colors of the (presumed) karasmontanas on the lower right:

 L. karasmontana x2 on the lower right.

I've been growing some Mexican Tuberose near the dahlias and geraniums. Here is what the tubers of Polianthes tuberosa look like:

I planted them a couple inches deep in rich but well-draining soil with moderate water and strong morning sun, and about 2 weeks later, I had this!

Single Mexican tuberose are the most fragrant, which is why I chose them over the showier, but milder-smelling Pearl tuberose. They have been cultivated in Mexico since Pre-Columbian times for their spectacular scent. The Spanish fell in love with them and took them back to Europe. In their ideal environment they can grow 2 meters tall! Mine are only about 25cm at this point, but hey, it's a sand dune. They grow best in Zones 8 through 10, so I'm very excited to smell these in another month or so. If they bloom I will certainly post photos.

The dahlias have been blooming prolifically, and I can't say sunflowers are my all-time favorite flower anymore- it's a tie. They never reached dinner plate size, but flowers grown near beaches tend to be dwarfed a bit. And I didn't have the heart to pinch off 90% of the buds as I was supposed to; I'd rather have more, but smaller dahlias than just one huge one:

Now I've got to get some watering and weeding done, and mustn't forget the Tillies...!