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The Rest of the Blooming Royens Photos, Images 18-40.
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“Hey, that’s not a yardlong bean!”
These were so cute as not to generate the usual scream from Ma at several of the regular stops on the farm. I melted at the sight of this sweet baby Southern coachwhip snake catching sun and hopefully a passing breakfast while resting on a squash leaf. Known to eat rattlesnakes, as does the Indigo snakes that we have, you definitely want these around in this part of the country. The largest I have seen was in excess of eight feet in length on the house lawn recently. Perhaps they’ll make a meal of any squirrel that makes a move on the corn now coming up in the Duck Garden’s…
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Pilosocereus Royenii has Set Fruit and Flowered Again
Well, it was a success! Self-pollination with the expert advice of a botanist in AZ and those 3AM wanderings into the backyard resulted in fertilization and the first fruit on this cactus. The Royen’s tree cactus is busting out in a conveyor belt of buds, flowers and now fruit that should contain genetic clone seeds if I can keep the critters from getting it first. The second flower opened last night and was even prettier than the first. In the past two weeks the growing tip of the stem has become an ever-changing activity center full of intriguing protuberances with inspiring shapes, colors and functions. I’m not sure how many…
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Open for Business, One Nite Only!
I feel like I’m 16 again! I think I’m in love, or at least drooling at the prospect of seeds. I went ahead and hand-pollinated the first round of a self-fertilization attempt tonight and will go out later at 3am for the second round. Hoping I don’t step on a diamondback or end up a snack for the oversize pack of coyotes patrolling the area lately for our chickens. These will be clones if the flower goes into fruit and germinated seeds result, and it will be a game changer for the nursery if they give us an armada of seedlings. If not, there’s always next year and the continued…
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Scene around the Farm
This week’s work gave me plenty of image material for the blog, as is so often the case while tending the different stations on the land. I’ve never seen so many species of swallowtail, and this pipevine swallowtail on a zinnia was striking. Sometimes what I see isn’t so good, namely the grasshopper eyeing the bean leaves, but then our handy egg hens never turn down a snack – there’s a cordless power tool for everything. The orb weaver spider I found one morning on the hard nursery shade cloth created it’s own patterned weave at the center of its web. These always get a break for the insect control…
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Cactus Island is Earning its Stripes…Blooms, Arms and Spines
It has been a spectacular month for growth and transformation with the namesake plants on our farm. I finally have the very first flower buds emerging from the cephalium wool on the Royen’s tree cactus (Sebucan), and I’ve put the word out to growers and botanists who might also have this species of Caribbean island cactus in bloom so that pollen can be exchanged. It’s uncommon in U.S. mainland exhibits and collections so the opportunity to produce fresh viable seeds shouldn’t be wasted. I suspect its blooming season will be a long and gradual fireworks display, luckily. The native Harrisia Fragrans I planted around the East pasture have been putting…
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Rhinoceros Beetle
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What We’ve Been Tending this Week
And what a week it has been. With this heat it’s a good thing the watermelon is plentiful because we’ve been sucking it down to stay hydrated and fueled while caring for everything here. The birds have been working hard too, so their share of the melon crop has been earned. I think they’ve figured out that leaving some juice in the eaten out melon halves attracts a week’s worth of bugs, therefore extending the buffet. Farm and homestead plants need daily monitoring, watering, fertilization and repositioning. Mom’s orchids are flowering for an unexpected bonus round since December, and her Gasteria succulent has divided into a handsome clump on The…
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Everything Loves Our Produce
If it’s turned a bit gnarly and not safe for us to eat, no worries….the chickens will take it. Tomorrow there won’t even be rind left in that coop. It’s better not to attract deer and vermin with aromatic goodies plowed back into the compost situation, so the birds usually get first crack at it. Growing food here has surprisingly been easier and more productive. All of the work we put into creating and building up organic beds now keeps us well fed. The wild blueberries outdid the first-year cultivated blueberries by a factor of at least ten. Watermelon picked today were each 30 and 40 lbs, and it is…
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Observations from a Summer Solstice Week
