Plant Quarantine and Pest Prevention Measures With all that is going on in the world right now, I have been thinking about the ways in which we mitigate risk to protect ourselves and those around us. I have been thinking the many ways we are combatting this virus, and how there are parallels to be […]
Most rhizomatous species when kept indoors (and kept on a natural photoperiod) tend to bloom over the winter. The species below were mostly grown from leaves this past Fall, so are on a different rhythm than the rest of the plants. Begonia ignita, with its strange orange male flowers. It produces many flowers at once, […]
This past fall I started collecting seeds from some of my Begonias, something that I would not have been able to do without the help of Randy Kerr and Stephanie Willis. So, thank you both, for all your help and patience! I’m awful at following directions, so am especially grateful for the help that I […]
Matthew at Another World Terraria was kind enough to show me his collection when I was in Seattle this winter. He specializes in plants that stay under six inches tall, and, amazingly, has filled up an entire house with these tiny plants. I took some photos but, Matthews are better, so I will mostly be […]
Inevitably, if you collect plants long enough, and with enough vigor, you will run out of space. My partner and I bought our house two years ago, at which time all my plants and frogs were confined to two walls of a small bedroom. Both of the small spare rooms are now filled to the […]
Hi Everyone, The email exchange posted in the previous blog post is one that I feel needs attention, as the customer posted some rather misguided information regarding my shipping policies and treatment of plant material on social media. This is the kind of discourse that I would prefer not to engage in at all, but, […]
This article is meant as an introduction to collecting Begonia seed, primarily for those who are new to identifying flower parts and collecting seed. I have only been doing this since early fall, so take this with a grain of salt. One of the purposes here is to combine information from multiple sources into one […]
Let me start off by saying that Vasya is one of the most humble and kind people I have ever met. He is incredibly generous with his plants and time. Thanks so much to Deann for inviting me. Even though his greenhouse looks like it has been set up for decades, it is only seven years […]
I have been following Lorees blog, the Danger Garden, for over a year now. It is amazing for lots of reasons, but one of my favorite things about it is Loree’s ‘it’s possible’ attitude. Not only in regards to working with prickly plants, which are one of her many areas of expertise but in regards to […]
For the first time ever I am starting to enjoy the flowers as much as the foliage on these plants. The blooms below are all from plants that have bloomed this fall. Mostly Begonias, but also some orchids, Melastomes, and Gesneriads as well. The large number of Begonia blooms seem to have been triggered by […]
This is a shallow 1 gallon bowl housing various unidentified Bucephalandra. The substrate is a thin layer of turface, with some lava rock and wood as a growing surface for the plants. It gets medium light and has nearly no ventilation. I believe some of these are ‘brownie’ type Buces. An Aridarium species pictured below, […]
This tank is about a year old now, and houses over 50 species of plants. It stands 36Lx18Wx26T and has zoomed cork tiles on three sides. The substrate is a mix of turface and red infield conditioner in no specific ratios. The primary purpose of this tank is to give shingling species room to grow […]