Hello everyone! On Friday, we had another meeting in the greenhouse. Instead of the usual presentation, we talked about the biggest event we hold each semester - the plant sale.
We try to hold 2 plant sales per semester to give people many chances to get the plants they want. Since we were only able to squeeze 1 sale in last semester, we're doing 2 in the spring - one next Wednesday, February 27, and another one on April 2 (check out our Google calendar to see the schedule!)
We hold plant sales to promote awareness of our organization, to recruit new members, promote horticulture and to raise funds for general greenhouse maintenance. Since they are always in PGH, many people see our tables, and a good deal of students/faculty purchase our plants for their homes and dorms.
For our first spring plant sale, we are selling some classic plants such as tomatoes, basil, rosemary, and aloe vera. Additionally, we are also going to be selling new plants like coleus, celery, and kalanchoes. Unfortunately we won't be having any cacti this semester, but we may get some succulents like sedum in the second spring plant sale.
This is the blog for the Horticulture Society at UH.
News and information will go here, and discussions can be carried out in the comments.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Plant of the Day
Venus Fly Trap
This is perhaps the most interesting and alien plant we have in the greenhouse - the carnivorous plant Dionaea muscipula, more commonly known as Venus' fly trap.
.JPG)
Carnivorous plants are a group of plants that survive in nutrient-poor soil and obtain many of their essentials from living animals (usually bugs). They have evolved over the years to develop unique mechanisms to trap their prey, from pitchers to sticky dew to the famous trapping technique utilized by the Venus fly trap.
Venus fly traps, like all carnivorous plants, are very slow growing, and it would take 2 years for a fly trap to grow to an appreciable size from seed! Thus, most people avoid growing them from seed and buy the plants instead, but both paths are a bit pricey. Carnivorous plants take a very long time to flower, and it drains a lot of energy from the plant, so cut the flower off when you see the stalk forming unless you want the seeds.
Our Venus fly trap is growing in a homemade terrarium with long fiber peat moss as the growing medium. The terrarium keeps the humidity high and the peat moss provides a low-nutrient substrate. Some of the peat moss began growing, as you can see in the pictures.
This is perhaps the most interesting and alien plant we have in the greenhouse - the carnivorous plant Dionaea muscipula, more commonly known as Venus' fly trap.
.JPG)
Carnivorous plants are a group of plants that survive in nutrient-poor soil and obtain many of their essentials from living animals (usually bugs). They have evolved over the years to develop unique mechanisms to trap their prey, from pitchers to sticky dew to the famous trapping technique utilized by the Venus fly trap.
Venus fly traps, like all carnivorous plants, are very slow growing, and it would take 2 years for a fly trap to grow to an appreciable size from seed! Thus, most people avoid growing them from seed and buy the plants instead, but both paths are a bit pricey. Carnivorous plants take a very long time to flower, and it drains a lot of energy from the plant, so cut the flower off when you see the stalk forming unless you want the seeds.
Our Venus fly trap is growing in a homemade terrarium with long fiber peat moss as the growing medium. The terrarium keeps the humidity high and the peat moss provides a low-nutrient substrate. Some of the peat moss began growing, as you can see in the pictures.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Green Roof Update!
Today, the officer's for Horticulture Society went up to the green roof to get some work done. We worked for about an hour and a half and got the UH logo plotted on top of one of the beds. We used stakes and yarn to make a tentative outline, which will be finalized later. However, unlike previously planned, we had to plot the logo on the fifth bed instead of the fourth bed. There is a tree blocking the view to the fourth bed and we had to make sure it would be visible. We are also planning on planting Redhead Coleus for the logo with a two feet border.
Our next meeting is Feb, 22nd. Make sure you're keeping up with the Google calender on the blog page. Also, if you have any suggestions or questions, please feel free to contact us.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Plant of the Day
Aloe vera
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
Today's plant is the succulent Aloe vera. Aloe have thick, serrated "leaves" and rather shallow root systems for their size. They are well-known for the gel within their leaves, which can be used for treating burns or making drinks and desserts. Aloe vera plants are very drought tolerant and grow well in most soils, making them very popular as house plants.
.JPG)
Aloe vera
Aloe vera are also easy to propagate, since most species naturally form 'pups' that grow from the roots of the 'mother' plant; these pups can be separated and will grow into genetically identical plants. However, because of this vegetative propagation, it can be difficult to find a suitable pair of plants for pollination since they are not self-fertile.
There are hundreds of Aloe species out there, but only a handful are used for medicinal and consumer purposes. We have a small collection of Aloe here in the greenhouse.
.JPG)
"Buena Creek"
.JPG)
"Golden Tooth"
"Blue Elf"
Friday, February 1, 2013
Plant of the Day
Thanksgiving Cactus
There are two similar looking cacti known as Thanksgiving and Christmas cacti - the main differences lie in their anthers (Thanksgiving have yellow, Christmas have purple), their flowering times (occur during their respective holidays) and their leaflets.
There are two similar looking cacti known as Thanksgiving and Christmas cacti - the main differences lie in their anthers (Thanksgiving have yellow, Christmas have purple), their flowering times (occur during their respective holidays) and their leaflets.
The top is Thanksgiving, the bottom is Christmas
Thus, contrary to the labels, we actually have a Thanksgiving cactus belonging to Dr. Pattison in the greenhouse. It still has beautiful pink flowers that occur towards the winter time. The cactus can be easily propagated by breaking leaflet segments off and putting them into an appropriate growing mix. I took many cuttings of the cactus in the greenhouse and have produced quite a few clones of the original plant.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Despite being cacti, they are more akin to tropical plants and thrive in standard potting soil. I wanted to pollinate the two cacti we had in the greenhouse but a member took one of them home, so I attempted to self-pollinate the remaining cactus with no success.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Plant of the Day
Today's plant is a favorite for all Texans - our state flower, the bluebonnet!
.JPG)
The bluebonnet is a hardy annual flower native to Texas. It is very drought-tolerant and forms a rosette of low-lying leaves. When it blooms, the bluebonnet sends up a 20-40 cm stalk of familiar blue and white flowers. To care for your own bluebonnet, use well-draining soil with little fertilizer - bluebonnets form a symbiotic relationship with Rhizobium bacteria that produce nitrogen for the plant to use. The one pictured above is in a hydroponic setup.
Growing bluebonnets by seed is rather tricky, since the flower is designed to grow in arid climates. The seeds are covered by a very hard coat that delays germination; thus, many of the seeds you plant will not germinate until the next growing season. Their natural habitat is quite unforgiving, so if one generation of plants dies out, there will be another one waiting to sprout. Unfortunately, gardeners do not want to wait that long to see the bluebonnets flower, so you can scarify the seeds with a knife or sandpaper or use acid to break down the seed coat.
It is a common myth that picking bluebonnets is illegal in Texas. However, it is not against the law to do so, despite what you've been told. There are other laws that are often broken when people try to pick bluebonnet flowers, though, such as trespassing on private property.
.JPG)
The bluebonnet is a hardy annual flower native to Texas. It is very drought-tolerant and forms a rosette of low-lying leaves. When it blooms, the bluebonnet sends up a 20-40 cm stalk of familiar blue and white flowers. To care for your own bluebonnet, use well-draining soil with little fertilizer - bluebonnets form a symbiotic relationship with Rhizobium bacteria that produce nitrogen for the plant to use. The one pictured above is in a hydroponic setup.
Growing bluebonnets by seed is rather tricky, since the flower is designed to grow in arid climates. The seeds are covered by a very hard coat that delays germination; thus, many of the seeds you plant will not germinate until the next growing season. Their natural habitat is quite unforgiving, so if one generation of plants dies out, there will be another one waiting to sprout. Unfortunately, gardeners do not want to wait that long to see the bluebonnets flower, so you can scarify the seeds with a knife or sandpaper or use acid to break down the seed coat.
It is a common myth that picking bluebonnets is illegal in Texas. However, it is not against the law to do so, despite what you've been told. There are other laws that are often broken when people try to pick bluebonnet flowers, though, such as trespassing on private property.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Plant(s) of the Day
We already had a post covering a similar topic last year, but there are many different kinds of plants in the greenhouse, each with its own attributes that make them unique. There will likely be more of these posts to show off the large variety that we have in the greenhouse.
Sedum
One of them that's actually been mentioned before is Sedum nussbaumerianum. It is a succulent that has been in the greenhouse for almost two years now, and it's grown significantly ever since. It was formally known as Mexican sedum until recently; the scientific name is Sedum nussbaumerianum, and another common name is "Coppertone Sedum". I posted a picture of it on GardenWeb Forums to see if anyone could properly ID it and got a response within an hour.
.JPG)
Notice that some parts of the 'stem' look unusually barren; I plucked leaves off of those places in an attempt to propagate the succulent. This sedum can be propagated via cuttings, but it's a very slow process, and so far I've only gotten two out of ten or so cuttings to root. Naturally, sedum grow slowly, and many of the cuttings I took rotted before they could root. Sedum nussbaumerianum would be great for plant sales or for the green roof, if we had more plantlets, but for now, the few clones I have will remain in the greenhouse.
Snow Pea
The other interesting plant is the snow pea. It is a fast-growing plant that utilizes tendrils to wrap around anything nearby to provide support. Without a trellis or some support system, snow peas don't do very well since their stems (vines) are rather thin and weak. One of our members used chicken wire to provide an initial trellis (there are at least 3-4 plants in the pot), and once they had outgrown the wire, he trained the tendrils towards the PVC pipes used in the greenhouse watering system.
.JPG)
However, even after that, the snow pea continued to grow, eventually reaching the top of the greenhouse (the glass panes). Normally, snow peas can grow up to six feet (two meters) tall, so this one still has a long way to go before it reaches its full potential height. Also, we have yet to see it flower, but snow peas are known for their beautiful displays of color when they flower, so we're all looking forward to it.
Sedum
One of them that's actually been mentioned before is Sedum nussbaumerianum. It is a succulent that has been in the greenhouse for almost two years now, and it's grown significantly ever since. It was formally known as Mexican sedum until recently; the scientific name is Sedum nussbaumerianum, and another common name is "Coppertone Sedum". I posted a picture of it on GardenWeb Forums to see if anyone could properly ID it and got a response within an hour.
.JPG)
Notice that some parts of the 'stem' look unusually barren; I plucked leaves off of those places in an attempt to propagate the succulent. This sedum can be propagated via cuttings, but it's a very slow process, and so far I've only gotten two out of ten or so cuttings to root. Naturally, sedum grow slowly, and many of the cuttings I took rotted before they could root. Sedum nussbaumerianum would be great for plant sales or for the green roof, if we had more plantlets, but for now, the few clones I have will remain in the greenhouse.
Snow Pea
The other interesting plant is the snow pea. It is a fast-growing plant that utilizes tendrils to wrap around anything nearby to provide support. Without a trellis or some support system, snow peas don't do very well since their stems (vines) are rather thin and weak. One of our members used chicken wire to provide an initial trellis (there are at least 3-4 plants in the pot), and once they had outgrown the wire, he trained the tendrils towards the PVC pipes used in the greenhouse watering system.
.JPG)
However, even after that, the snow pea continued to grow, eventually reaching the top of the greenhouse (the glass panes). Normally, snow peas can grow up to six feet (two meters) tall, so this one still has a long way to go before it reaches its full potential height. Also, we have yet to see it flower, but snow peas are known for their beautiful displays of color when they flower, so we're all looking forward to it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)