Tag: plantanarchy

plantanarchy:

Hello friends please take a gander at these beautiful creatures who live in my swamp. These are Skunk Cabbages and they are very unique special snowflakes who are some of the first plants to pop up and bloom. Currently in late February it is peak Skunk Cabbage bloom time.

These fun and sexy kids can actually produce heat to melt snow if need be so they can bloom early as fuck. That hasn’t been a problem this February as it’s been so rainy and warm, though the rains have actually exposed some of their root systems which is cool because their root systems are neato as well and VERY extensive. Also in spring and early summer, they grow big ole leaves that if broken smell awful and I remember as a kid stomping down the creek bed and tiptoeing around where I knew the skunk cabbages grew so I wouldn’t disturb them.

They are very industrious, enduring little fellows and to me they have such a spirit of survival and stubbornness. Deep-rooted in the cold earth, literally generating heat to melt through ice and withstand freezes, attracting the very first pollinators of spring and the very first warm rays of sun. We could definitely learn some important things from the skunk cabbage.

plantanarchy:

Journey of my wee Rex Begonia ‘Stardust’. The pictures in the pink pot were from before I realized that pot wasn’t draining which led almost to his death before I realized and was able to save and repot him but also led to the loss of most of his leaves. Butttt we’re now at four leaves with one more growing so close to the original leaf count.

This plant just has VERY large and delicate leaves so it’s hard to get the moisture and humidity levels ideal enough to keep them looking good. The salts in my water also probably aren’t great for it. It’s absolutely not a forgiving plant, but good thing is that it’s only difficult keeping it looking good, actually keeping it alive isn’t hard at all.

plantanarchy:

cultivating-echo replied to your post “So you got Low Light but want a houseplant?”

I love that you changed it to Wandering Dude- that’s WAY better

Yeah! I first saw someone use that alternative name in a plant tour on Youtube and I don’t want to be presumptious (I’m not Jewish) but the name Wandering name has always made me vaguely uncomfortable knowing that the folklore behind it is uhhhh… basically there’s a legend from the Middle Ages of a Jew who mocked Jesus at his crucifixion that was then cursed to wander eternally until the Second Coming.

And various Tradescantias are called “Wandering Jew” in reference to that story, most likely because they’re difficult to kill, spread everywhere if allowed to, and root very easily. It could also be in reference to Moses wandering about in the desert with the Israelites which is less sinister and I suppose you could also interpret the plant’s nature (hard to kill, roots everywhere, spreads easily) as a comment on Jewish resilience but it’s overall just…. a weird and uncomfortable name.

Let’s accelerate plant common name evolution and all call tradescantia Wandering Dude from now on. It even sounds similar so not that hard to relearn, yet it could make a huge difference, as small as it may seem.