Friday, 29 May 2009

Wednesday, 27 May 2009

fiddle heads on the french fern

It doesn't seem to mind the mediterranean sun and heat so far. To be named.

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

new home for the floating fern

let's see how it does in his new - less sunny - home

cutting - propagation methods

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_(plant)
Sent from my iPhone

Old botanic garden - around Montjuic, Barcelona

Sunday, 24 May 2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymbalaria_muralis

Cymbalaria muralis (Ivy-leaved toadflax or Kenilworth Ivy) is a flowering plant native to Mediterranean Europe and widely naturalised elsewhere. It spreads quickly, growing up to 5cm tall—it commonly grows in rock and wall crevices, and along footpaths. The leaves are evergreen, rounded to heart-shaped, 2.5-5cm long and wide, three-seven lobed, alternating on thin stems. The flowers are very small, similar in shape to snapdragon flowers.[1]

This plant has an unusual method of propagation. The flower stalk is initially positively phototropic and moves towards the light—after fertilization it becomes negatively phototropic and moves away from the light. This results in seed being pushed into dark crevices of rock walls, where it is more likely to germinate and where it prefers to grow.[2]

fig cutting

water landscape

finally flowers

A cutting from 2 months ago.

Geranium

the flower growing out of the stem

this is the main stem that keeps growing

Saturday, 23 May 2009

the newbies just after re-potting..

hopefully a good enough excuse for those easily disturbed by bits of soil everywhere. it's not the plant, it's me!

Tropaeolum majus - Nasturtium

2 days later..

is growing fast

fern - not yet identified

did a bit of reading on "growing ferns from spores" and immediately found a nice manual starting "it's remarkably easy..."
http://website.lineone.net/~margaret_cole/SFG7/growing%20ferns.htm
It seems easy enough but the fact that it takes YEARS is a bit discouraging..

Callisia repens (bolivian jew, turtle vine)

not at all a succulent or crassula as the woman in the plant shop suggested - the soil is not supposed to dry out entirely!

Friday, 22 May 2009

green shopping

The grass even feels nice

unnamed mini-succulent starting to flower

After a long winter, surviving on a stone in 3 tiny holes, it started growing faster recently and now it's even getting some flowers.

Thursday, 21 May 2009

identifying the so called south-african dangling plant

well, it turns out to be Australian...
Although according to wiki most of the Carpobrotus family is from South Africa, the one I always mean is from Oz.

Here's an old pic from the one on my balcony, taken in it´s first year when it had 1 flower. Now it´s huge but it has never flowered again. (needless to say I never seen any salty pigface fruits either):

(yes, the flowers are really that huge, the wasp is full-size. )

And below is the story and pic from wiki

Carpobrotus glaucescens

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carpobrotus glaucescens

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Aizoaceae
Genus:	Carpobrotus
Species:	C. glaucescens

Binomial name

Carpobrotus glaucescens

Pigface, or Carpobrotus glaucescens, is a succulent coastal groundcover native to eastern Australia.

Succulent leaves are 3.5–10 cm long and 9–15 mm wide, straight or slightly curved. Flowers are 3.2-6 cm wide, and light purple. The fruit is 2–3 cm long, 1.6–2.4 cm wide, red to purple.^[1]

Uses

The fruit pulp is edible, with a flavor like salty strawberry or kiwifruit. The skin is discarded.

Leaves are also edible cooked, and can be used as a preserved pickles.

asparagus ID

Asparagus densiflorus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Asparagus densiflorus (Sprenger's Asparagus; syn. Asparagus aethiopicus L., Asparagopsis densiflora Kunth, Protasparagus aethiopicus (L.) Oberm., Protasparagus densiflorus (Kunth) Oberm.) is a weed native to South Africa, which is often used as an ornamental plant. Asparagus densiflorus is toxic to domestic housecats.

Also known as 'Sprengers Asparagus', named after Carl Ludwig Sprenger who made it popular in Europe as an ornamental plant.