Sunday, June 10, 2018: MoBot, Goldfish

Yesterday I attended a class in plant propagation at the Missouri Botanical Garden (MoBot). There were eight people in the class. The instructor was Justin Lee, one of MoBot's propagators. It seems MoBot has individuals who specialize in propagation of specific types of plants. Justin implied he gets all the weird ones. Interestingly, prior to joining the MoBot, Justin was in IT and never thought he had a "green" thumb. He said his IT background has helped in that exhaustive documentation of everything he does is required. Don't want to repeat mistakes or forget what actually did work well.

The class consisted of about one hour to go over the eight page handout provided, covering the essentials of plant propagation. We then got a tour of the Garden's greenhouses...which was worth the cost of the class on its own. Finally, we got to go into Justin's greenhouse and take some stem cuttings to take home and propagate. I brought home a container with four cuttings. Two different Rosemary's, a succulent and an Acalypha Inferno.

Looking at the MoBot web site, I am assuming the Acalypha is an Acalypha hispida, a native of the South Pacific (New Guinea, Malaysia). MoBot describes its notable characteristics as:

Acalypha hispida, commonly called chenille plant, is a beautiful flowering plant that has a long bloom period. The flowers, which droop in cattail-like pendent clusters up to 18 inches in length are bright red to deep pink. In zones 10 to 11 it is a vigorous, upright, coarse-textured shrub that usually attains a height of 5 to 6 feet that is commonly used as an accent, hedge, specimen or container plant. In St. Louis, it is a good container, hanging basket and greenhouse plant, when taken indoors in the fall. Its long period of bloom makes it a showy centerpiece for any tropical or subtropical garden. It features leaves that are 6 to 8 inches long, ovate and medium green.

It was an interesting class and I took many notes. I need to get some butterwort. These are carnivorous plants that the Garden uses to control gnats which they say are inevitable around indoor plants. I used fly paper this past winter to keep them under control.

This morning I took a cutting off the two fruit trees we have had for several years. I don't know if they are lemon, lime or whatever. But they have never flowered or born fruit. I followed the tips I got from the class yesterday.

The instructor also mentioned the technique of "wounding" a plant to invite new growth. I decided to try this on the Brugmansia. It is now over six feet tall with all the leafing at the very top. I made a wound about 20" above its ground level.

Before wounding

After wounding

A couple of days ago, I decided to try to turn some of our larger flower vases into goldfish bowls. I chose two vases (about 1-1/2 gallon each), put some gravel in the bottom along with some of the aquatic accessories we had in our aquarium down in Lake Jackson. I also put two Marimo Moss Balls in each. I also placed an order for a small aerator which arrived yesterday. I captured one small goldfish from the pond and put it in one of the vases. I wanted to start with just one to see if it would survive at all. After a couple of days, while lethargic, it was still alive. Yesterday, the aerator arrived and I installed it and also added a companion goldfish. The first goldfish took on new life. Not sure if it was due to the aerator or due to having a swimming partner.

 That seemed to go so well, I ordered another aerator (to arrive next Tuesday) and captured two more goldfish for the second vase.

I also replaced the pump in T's gargoyle fountain.