A certain percentage of the population here consider the day after Thanksgiving as the day to decorate their homes for Christmas, so there is plenty of holiday sparkle already visible on the homes in metro Atlanta.

I thought I’d spread a little more sparkle, Victory Garden style.  This gorgeous foliage was photographed early this afternoon as my sister transplanted a few last-minute begonias that are still holding on well, in spite of the chill.  Because they live in Zone 7(b), it’s just possible that in a warm and relatively sheltered pocket of the property, the thriving begonias may survive the winter and go on to bloom another year.

Isn’t that leaf incredibly lovely?  After that shimmery show, the blossoms seem almost unnecessary.

Here is a glimpse of the last bit of our container garden remaining in bloom. There are some white begonias planted in our favorite pot, hand decorated by a dear friend years ago. It stands on a table on our roof, catching all the sunlight fall has left to offer. Sadie and Lily lounge underneath that table for much of the sunniest afternoons. They simply love the views and breeze, sounds and smells. We are eager to make better use of the space, but for now our starry pot is enough.

MM & RY 2009

It is official, the begonia has passed the day lily as my favorite flower.  Maybe it is because they require even less care than the day lily or maybe because the deer have not eaten them, so I have actually seen a begonia bloom as opposed to the deer food tender lily blooms that have a hard time making it to maturity.  The posted pictures will serve as a reminder to me what the begonias looked like before I brought them inside for the winter to start their slow death in the sunroom.

My sister arrived for a visit at the beginning of Week Six of The Artist’s Way — and coincidentally right at the beginning of the intense deadline madness.  All summer we’d discussed visiting Park Seed Company and Wayside Gardens, as their trial gardens and headquarters are about a two-hour drive from where I now live in South Carolina.

These companies have had a profound impact on me ever since I caught the gardening bug in college.  I used to peruse their mail-order catalogs until I had practically memorized them, and I learned so much about growing things in my region from them, as they are also located in USDA Zone 7.

In short, I really, really wanted to go see their home territory.  Their famous trial gardens.  Over two acres of them, just to test the newest varieties and seeds in these hot and humid conditions.  The very idea had a pilgrimage feel to it.  And yet… I had all this work waiting for me.  I knew what I “should” do, because my Ego was repeating it sans cesse in my ear:  cancel and stay chained to the desk.

But my heart whispered, “Just go.  The work will be here when you get back.”

I’m so glad I ignored my guilt-tripping internal voices and went day-tripping instead.  I ended up spending time with my sister (one of my all-time favorite people, and a creative fuse lighter for me) and experiencing a portion of the journey as my artist date for the week, as we took off in opposite directions to explore on our own for a while.  (We’ve perfected this art since my teen years, during visits to bookstores when we had wildly divergent interests, finding each other only when there was a find we just had to share — or merely comparing notes and discoveries at the end.)

These gorgeous trial gardens also seemed a particularly apt choice of Artist Date for Week Six:  Recovering a Sense of Abundance.  Nature is abundant even when it’s the end of the season and things are shutting down…as we discovered when we got to the visitors’ welcome center, which had a little sign posted in the window:  Closed for the season.  No signs advised us not to explore the Beauty that was right out there in the open, though.  There was so much to see still, even at the end of September.

And it certainly looked like I made the right choice when we arrived there — if the glorious weather was any indication.  The sky was breathtaking, and the weather was mild and perfect.  Well, mild for South Carolina, at least, which means I only had to escape twice to a bench in the shade.

1. Entrance 2. Nasturtium ‘Salmon Baby’ 3. Late-blooming, ethereal clematis 4. Bi-colored basil* 5. Clematis close-up 6. Mandy getting a closer look at the begonias 7. Begonia blossom 8. The part of the gardens that made me feel better about how bedraggled parts of the Victory Garden are looking lately 9. Chinese flame tree 10. Seed pod of same (doesn’t it look like a sleepy dragon’s eye?) 11. An abundance of gomphrena that made me reconsider my attitude to this plant 12. Close-up of the ornamental grass Mandy wants to plant in her front yard 13. She even brought her planting diagrams with her — amazing, no? 14. Flowers within a flower

* If any of you just happens to know the name of this basil, well, shoot me an e-mail or put it in the comments, okay?  My sister brought an entire gardening notebook, organized and with a layout of her home and planting areas carefully drawn, questions to ask any gardeners we stumbled across, etc.  I brought a tiny notebook in my purse, which I immediately forgot to bring out of the purse in the oohing and aahing and general gushing over the sights.  But I would like to try this bi-colored basil with purply blossom stems next season…

Customs officials, take note that this post is based on legend and not necessarily fact.

My maternal grandfather was an Army officer and was twice stationed in Heidelberg, Germany, with his young family. On one of these tours of duty, family lore has it that my grandmother, Grace, became besotted with a begonia of such beauty, she simply had to have one of her own. And when it came time to make the journey back to the United States, that begonia was coming with her, come hell or high water.

Her solution: to smuggle cuttings of that begonia in her suitcase — amidst her unmentionables — during the journey (by boat, no less) back across the Atlantic.

To this day, nearly every female member of my family has at least one descendant of that immigrant begonia potted on a windowsill or taking root in in a jar. One of my aunts is rumored to be coddling no less than 32 cuttings at any given time, to ensure the line doesn’t die off.

This particular begonia plant produces tiny, delicate pink flowers on a rather irregular basis (at least according to  my own experience). Here is a picture of buds my plant boasted earlier this summer.

After my mom died, I found one tiny begonia bud preserved in a flower press among her possessions. I included it in a scrapbook I just completed about her (pictured here with what I think is a Gerber daisy flower — these were her favorite).

Clean floors,

enjoy the sunshine,

pick figs and make fig jam*,

knit a little,

and generally discomfit the cats.**

Huzzah. (It all beat the hell out of listening to bongo man down the block practice outside.)

*3 little bags of freezer jam, carefully put in a larger freezer bag to protect them. There is a small bowl of jam waiting for cheddar sandwiches tomorrow.

** The cats hate floor mopping, especially in a room that has been a battlefield of “thinking outside the catbox.”

Well,  after such a long absence, at least I know enough to return with a handful of pretty posies to delight and distract you.

Check out the purple aster, recently begun blooming in the driveway fence garden.   It was one of the most recent additions, hopefully one we’ll enjoy for many autumns to come.  Not far away, some tiny pink anemone flowers have appeared on the plant division my friend Gail gifted me from her garden last spring.  Thanks, Gail!

Sorry to be gone from here so long.  I’m afraid I tripped and fell into a pit of Mucky Meh-ness.   It turns out the anniversary I wished to commemorate early in the month is followed by another and while that second one is no longer celebrated, it still lurks there on the calendar page and last week lept out to drag me into some  shadowy territory full of recriminations, second guessing, self-loathing and knot-tying.  Bleah.  No fun.  Can’t recommend it.

Thanks goodness for the flowers and The Catsby and a few good friends.  I’m better now and have come out the far side of it with an answer or two, but as always, loads more questions for pondering and writing about.   But at least it seems like a healthier assortment of questions than before.

The container gardens on the deck continue the cool-season blooming they’d begun earlier in the month.

The dwarf cosmos are especially prolific now, which is fun.   Their flowers, like their taller cousins, only last a day or two, but as long as I remember to deadhead them regularly, they’ll keep churning out these lovely blossoms until frost puts them to bed in a few weeks.

June’s seemingly endless rains put me badly behind schedule for seeding in the bachelor buttons this year, which means the first of them are only just blooming for the first time this week.   Sadly, this means a shorter season for one of my favorite flowers,  but still, even just a few of them will be a delightful addition to Fall, when so many things are done blooming.  Hopefully they’ll get to do their thing for a while before the season draws to a close.

The nasturtiums are blooming pretty heavily now, too, as we build toward a big finish.  It doesn’t look like the canna lily will bloom this year.   I expect it will be happier next year if I actually plant it in the ground when spring comes, rather than try to keep it in the container on the deck, as I did this year.   It makes a lovely foliage plant, too, but I do miss it not blooming this year.   Ah, well.

Here’s a new addition to the houseplant collection.  Not even that new, really, since this spotted-leaf begonia (I believe it’s a begonia, but to be honest, I’m unsure) was gifted me by a friend in town (thanks, Bev!!) in June.

To give you some sense of how enthusiastic this new addition is, it was only two leaves and a few inches high back then and you can see it’s climbing toward the three foot mark now as September slides toward October.

This plant looks quite similar to the monster begonia in Patrick’s collection, so I’ve written him for advice and guidance about how to protect The Purrmeister and myself from this invader, or if we ought to simply abandon the Nest to this fast-growing, but pretty specimen while we are still able.

In other gardening adventures, the summer brought the surprise of an unexpected cluster of vines growing in the garden near the stoop on the southern side of the house, which eventually produced these two small pumpkin-y gourds.

Their appearance solved the mystery of where the vines came from, resembling as they do the harvest time decorations from last autumn, the remains of which were swept off into the garden as the winter turned to spring.

Our catwalks continue, though I’ve been experimenting with our going out to explore at different times of day lately, in an attempt to have time for a good long wander without being out after dark.   Earlier this week, we had a mid-day ramble around the yard and we took advantage of some patio furniture cushions for a bit of lounging in the cool September sunshine.

We’ve been blessed with a lot of sunshine this September, which has been lovely.  Of course, the other side of that coin has been a long string of weather forecasts which promised rain that never materialized.   But at least there was nice weather for running around to thirsty gardens with hoses and watering cans once it was suddenly apparent the precipitation wasn’t coming each day.  Finally this past Sunday, it did rain, gently at first and then pretty heavily as the day wore on.   It was pretty lovely, actually, and the gardens couldn’t look any happier now.

“I sing the body electric. I glory in the glow of rebirth.

Creating my own tomorrow, when I shall embody the earth.“

As I pulled myself from the recent doldrums, I was amused to discover that the remake of the classic 80’s film, FAME, had opened in cinemas this past weekend.  I loved the original movie and the TV Show that followed.  I never imagined I had quite the level of talent the kids in those stories had, and certainly didn’t have their ambition, but I was still inspired enough to have some hope, to work with the gifts I did have, to get excited about music and dance and Shakespeare and acting…and in the process, to try to find inside myself the person I wanted to be.

I’ve never tired of the movie soundtrack and have continued to find inspiration in it over the years.   After all, we are “always proving who we are, always reaching for that rising star…”, aren’t we?  So as I find myself once more discovering myself, getting to know who I am and what sort of person I want to be, it seemed right to revisit this particular inspiration.

I didn’t imagine it might make me feel the same way I had in my late teens.   Ha ha.   Candlesticks as microphones while dancing on coffee tables.  Re-imagining one’s freshman dorm-room window as the balcony of the Casa Rosada.  Dancing in the dark where no one could see with a Walkman on.  Hmmm,  perhaps I didn’t want to fully revisit the madcap energy of such youthful exuberant folly.  Good god, I could break a hip.

Of course part of the attraction of FAME for me was that it had at least a minor storyline about Monty, a gay character with whom I could identify, if silently so at the time.  (Please, how cute was Paul McCrane?)  Not many movies in those days had such a character, and fewer still found him alive at the film’s conclusion (But let’s save discussion of how disappointed I was that they completely unsexed him for the TV adaptation for another time, though, shall we?).

I was intrigued to see if the new version of the movie could, in any way, compare to something that had been so important to the Younger Me.   Although I was dubious about how it might inspire me (is it really possible for anyone to recapture the feelings of infinite possibility that exist when one is so young?), I had a feeling I was going to enjoy myself.   After all, Debbie Allen is involved in the new version and nobody is FAME if she’s not.   Maybe I would come out of the cinema humming “I’m gonna learn how to fly…” after all.

How funny that, before I even got to the theater, I should found myself singing that.   An afternoon walk found me fascinated by a pair of turkey vultures in the marsh, reveling in their gift of flight.  Flapping their massive wings to take them up high enough to catch the air currents off the bay, then swooping and soaring and spiraling and looping…all the things I would totally be doing if I could fly.   What a treat, and so much so that I happily missed the late afternoon movie matinee I’d been planning to attend.

It’s true, a bald eagle or red-tailed hawk or even a great blue heron might’ve made a prettier picture.   Beauty is not particularly counted among the turkey vulture’s gifts, most would agree.   But that can’t take away from the pure pleasure these birds seemed to be taking, or the soaring spirit they passed along to me with their example.

I did get to a later showing of the movie and I thought it was pretty great.   It was a better movie for not trying to be a complete remake of the original, I thought.   A couple of favorite tunes from the original are reprised here, and a variety of scenes echo the original, but most of the music was new, to me, at least.   The names have changed, but overall, the story is the same:   talented kids, bright futures, working for their dreams.  If there was a gay character in this remake he was a stealth gay.   Perhaps there are enough other places gay kids can look in these enlightened days for inspiration (thank goodness for Curt from GLEE, eh?).

Predictably, the new FAME is a little slicker than the original, but I have a feeling it’ll inspire a new generation of shiny young kids to look inside themselves to see what they have to offer and maybe reach for a dream or two.   For me, it was fun to re-visit the hallways of the fictionalized High School for the Performing Arts and to be sent back to some fun old memories of my earlier days (I may have to seek out the TV show on DVD), reminding me now to celebrate the Me Yet To Come.

Well, our garden didn’t turn out to be as glorious as we envisioned.  But, considering our late start and short growing season we’re happy.

The tomatoes in the yard are kind of stumpy; the potted plants on the deck fared much better.

I’m very happy with the multi-colored carrots and the cilantro loves its spot under the porch.

The begonia has recovered nicely after nearly dying due to my enthusiasm for the sun at the beginning of summer (I got burned too).

And Jackie, here’s the aloe I’ve been growing for you.  Someday we’ll figure out how to get it to you in Virginia.

A mixed bed with porterweed, across a path from pentas, planted to attract butterflies that come across the open space next to a field road.

I’m disappointmented in the chartreuse alternanthera, which has not grown as big nor as brightly yellowish as it would be in more sun.

Greetings, all!

I see no need to bore or repulse you with talk of things post-surgery (plus, if I wait a few more days, it might be funnier, although have no fear, there’ll be no pics of “interesting scars” – it’s simply not that kind of blog), so I thought instead I’d distract us all with some pretty flower pics I’ve been holding in reserve for just this occasion, from some of the many gardens of Provincetown.

I know you are all pretty internet savvy and you may already have done your own Googling or Wiki-ing about this place I keep talking about called Provincetown…here on this other place called Cape Cod, but here at the Midnight Garden, we are sometimes all about the one-stop (or click) blogging and so I thought I’d throw in a little educational component as orientation for anyone who’s maybe newly-arrived to this here blog.

Here’s a satellite view of Cape Cod, a little arm of sand that juts fifty or so miles out into the Atlantic from the eastern edge of the state of Massachusetts (which, for now, I’ll assume you all know is on the east coast of the United States).  From this outer space angle, it is perhaps easier to see and understand that the Cape was formed during the last Ice Age, as the glacier pushed sand and rocks ahead of it on its march south.

The Cape marks the southernmost point of that glacier’s advancement, all that stuff having been left behind when the ice sheets retreated.

Chunks of ice that broke off as the ice melted formed what they call kettle ponds throughout the Cape, some of which can offer a nice alternative to ocean swimming, and all of which support a broad variety of wildlife.

I’ve marked the view a little, for the purpose of additional orientation.   The purple mark way up at the top curl of the Cape indicates the location of this crazy little place called Provincetown.   The green mark, about thirty miles south, indicates roughly the area of my neighborhood.

Here’s an aeriel view of Provincetown and it’s naturally deep harbor (the second deepest on the east coast, after New York, in fact).   You can see here that the town is all clustered along the harbor shore, and is really only a few “blocks” deep.

When I first vacationed in Provincetown, I was a fledgling gardener from the Adirondack Mountains of New York state (USDA planting zone 3).  I arrived in Ptown for the third week of September, by which point my home gardens had already been put to bed for the season by hard frost and a few snow flurries.

But I arrived in this coastal town on the edge of the continent to discover gardens everywhere.   They were a little stormworn, having just weathered a near pass from Hurricane Eduardo, but were still in full bloom:  marigolds, impatiens, mums, cosmos, petunias, cleome, morning glories, roses, nasturtiums, bachelors buttons and more were spilling out of garden beds all over town, their colors echoing the multitude of rainbow flags flapping on the seabreeze.

And I remember this touched me more than anything:  white sweet allyssum grew like weeds, pouring out of the least pavement cracks all over town and perfuming the salty sea air with its honeyed fragrance.  You’d be correct in assuming it was love at first sight.

Here was USDA coastal zone 7, a magical bit of New England real estate where the growing season is extended long into the autumn by the warm ocean waters around it and the planting possibilities are similar to those further down the coast in the Carolinas.

1.1 Classify the specimens according to their types of root systems:

corn (Zea mays L.) – fibrous

mung bean – tap

carrot (Daucus carota L.) – tap

radish (Raphanus sativus L.) – tap

sweet potato – tap

ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) – fibrous

ginger lily (Hedychium coronarium Koen.) – fibrous

taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott.) or any Araceae – fibrous

onion or any Liliceae or Amaryllidaceae – fibrous

roots or leaves of life plant (Kalanchoe sp.) – fibrous

cuttings of begonia (Begonia sp.) – fibrous

bowstring hemp – fibrous

3. Examine the root system of water hyacinth and note the sequential development of tissues from the tip to the base.

3.1 Where are the youngest roots located? the oldest?

Youngest located at the tip of the root. Oldest located that the base of the root.

3.2 Identify the structure covering the root tip.

Root cap.

4. Examine under the microscope a cross-section of a young monocot root of spiderwort, Commelina benghalensis L. or corn and any dicot root. Locate and note the following primary tissues: epidermis, cortex, stele and pith.

4.1 Do you see the sub-epidermal cells (hypodermis or exodermis) in your specimen? If so, how many layers?

Yes

4.2 In which tissue are the intercellular spaces evident?

Sclerenchyma

4.3 What features make the endodermis morphologically distinct?

Casparian strip

4.4 Determing the number of layers and cell types in the pericycle

Single layer.

4.5 How many protoxylem poles do you see in your specimen?

4.6 Is the pattern of xylem differentiation endarch or exarch?

Exarch.

4.7 Is there a pith in the root core of your specimen?

Yes.

4.8 What tissue gives rise to the lateral root?

Pericycle

4.10 Differentiate a root hair from a branch root

Root hairs are unicellular, epidermal outgrowth which are only temporary. Branch roots are multicellular, endogenous, long lasting and develop from mature roots.

4.11 What region occupies the largest in the root?

Region of elongation

4.12 Tabulate the anatomical differences between monocot and dicot root.

Dicot – tetrarch, shows second growth, phloem between arms of xylem

Monocot – polyarch, vascular bundles arranged in a ring

5. Examine the cross section of a woody dicot root

5.1 Enumerate the cell components of the bark and wood

5.2 Do you find root hairs? Why?

No. Epidermis, where root hair is found, is sloughed off during secondary growth.

5.3 Which tissue usually functions in food storage in an old root? Young root?

Parenchyma

6. Examine the intact (entire) and cross-section of the root or radish, turnip, Pachyrrhizus erosus (L.) Urb. and sweet potato.

6.1 What tissues of these roots are edible?

Secondary tissue produced by cambia and upper part of root

7. Examine other specialized roots and tabulate their functions.

Plant Specimen – Specialized Part – Modification – Function(s)

Radish – Tap – Enlarged, fleshy – Food storage

Carrot – Tap – Enlarged, fleshy – Food storage

Sweet Potato – Tap – Enlarged, fleshy – Food storage

Turnip – Tap – Enlarged, fleshy – Food storage

Mangrove – Fibrous – Aerial root – Support

Pandan – Fibrous – Prop root – Support

8. Examine the cross section of the root of an aerial orchid and study the tissues

8.1 How does its morphology compare with the corn root?

Orchid has velamen which protects the aerial roots.

Notes:

Some answers differ for each class/group. You need to do the experiment.

For 4.1, 4.4 & 4.5, answers depend on your specimen/slide.

1. Place a drop of water at the center of the clean slide and place a thin layer of skin peeled off from the inner surface of onion bulb, Allum cepa L. With a dissecting needle, put a cover slip on the specimen by tilting it along one side of the slide so that one edge touches the water. Gently lower the cover slip by withdrawing the needle slowly to prevent air bubbles.

2. Examine one cell under the HPO.

2.1 Is the cell wall uniform in thickness?

Yes

2.2 Can you observe the narrow canals or depressions along the walls? If yes, identify these structures.

Plasmodesmata

2.3 Can you distinguish the protoplast clearly?

No

2.4 Can you see the cytoplasmic strands? No

3. Using filter paper as absorbent, remove the water from the slide by gently pressing one side of the coverslip. Immediately apply a drop of iodo-potassium iodide solution on the opposite side of the coverslip. The solution will slowly replace the water. After a minute or two,wipe off the excess solution

3.1  Do you observe the cytoplasmic strands now?

Yes

3.2 In what part of the cell is the nucleus found?

Cytoplasm

3.3 Do you see more than one nucleolus?

Yes

3.4 What structure(s) is/are between the cytoplasmic strands?

Organelles

4. Take a leaf from the actively growing shoot of a water plant, hydrilla, Hydrilla verticillata (Roxb.) Royle which has been previously exposed to bright light. Make a water mount by placing the upper surface of the leaf next to slide. By moving the  LPO up and down, you can see two layers of cells. Under the HPO observe the streaming protoplast (cyclosis) and note the direction of its movement.

4.1 What structure in the cell contains the green pigment?

Chloroplast

4.2 What is the shape and arrangement of the structure?

In stacks (grana)

4.3 Do they move along with the streaming protoplast?

Yes

6. On a slide, make separate mounts of the skin and pulp of a ripe fruit of tomato, Lycopersicon lycopersicun (L.) Karsten and red pepper, Capsicum frutescens L.

6.1 What structure in the cell contains the pigments?

Chromoplast

7. Make water mounts of both upper and lower surfaces of the leaf of boat of Moses, Rhoeo discolor (Hert.) Hence. One surface contains a vacuole pigment and the other a plastid.

7.1 What types of pigment are found on each surface?

Anthocyanin – vacuole

Chlorophyll – chloroplast

7.2 How do these pigments differ from those of the tomato pulp and hydrilla leaf?

Differ in location and color.

8. Prepare free-hand sections of any 5 of the following specimens representing the different types of crystals: petioles of Begonia sp.; castor oil plant, Ricinus communis L.; the laminae of santan, Ixora sp.; bowstring hemp, Sanseviera zeylanica Roxb.; the midribs of fringed waterplant, Raphidophora merili Engl.; dumbcane, Diefferenbachia sp.; guava, Psidum guajava L.; pigweed, Amaranthus viridus l.; purslane, Portulaca oleracea L.; sweet potato, Opomoea batatas Lam. and stem of Pilea cadieri.

8.1 Identify and sketch the types of crystals observed.

9. Examine prepared slides of a cross-section of any stem or root and fresh surface sections of the lower epidermis of the leaf of the boat of Moses under the LPO and HPO. Locate cells that ar bounded by a single cell wall called the primary cell wall. Locate the middle lamella (the intracellular layer) between the primary walls of adjacent cells.

9.1 What must be the function of the middle lamella?

Cement adjacent walls together

10. Examine fresh sections of green and ripe tomato fruits.

10.1 Compare the appearance of the cells

Cells in the unripe tomato fruit are closer together

10.2 What happens to the middle lamella when fruits ripen

Loss of cell wall components particularly pectin, which makes up the middle lamella

11. Scrape cells from a shell of a coconut, Cocos nucifera L. and stain with 18% alcoholic phloroglucinol-sulfuric acid solution. Examine under the compound microscope. Lignin will turn red with this solution. These cells have both the primary and secondary walls.

11.1 Draw a cell and label parts

a basic sketch of cell from coconut husk (sclereid cells)

Notes:

Some questions are dependent on the specimen and therefore differs for each student. Questions 2.2,. 2.4, 3.1, 3.3 may be answered yes/no dependent on what you observed.

For the types of crystals:

CaC₂O_4:

prismatic

raphides

druses

styloids

CaCO_3:

cystolith

wormlike cystolith

Your instructor will draw a basic sketch of what these crystals look like and that’s pretty much it.

Begonyagillerdendir. Anavatanı bilinmemektedir. Begonyaların yaprakları yeşil, kimi zamanda koyu kırmızı renkte olur. 35-40 cm kadar uzayabilir ve uzun yıllar çiçek açabilirler. Gül gibi katmerli olan çiçekleri koyu kırmızı, pembe, sarı veya beyaz renklerdedir.

Uygun toprağa yapraklarının daldırılmasıyla çoğaltılırlar. Bitkinin yapraklarında küllü mantar lekeleri görüldüğünde, bu yapraklar hemen koparılır ve bitkinin havalandırma koşulları ile diğer isteklerinin karşılanışı kontrol edilir.

Katmerli Açan Begonyaların Yetiştirilmesi için Gerekli Şartlar:

Toprak: Bu tür begonyalar, asit nitelikli ve zengin karışımlı toprakları sever. Bitkiye uygun toprak hazırlamak için humusça zengin bahçe toprağına, kaba dere kumu ve yaprak çürüntüsü eklenir.

Su: Çiçek açtığı dönemler boyunca bitki bolca sulanmalı ve yapraklarına su püskürtülmelidir.

Işık: Bu tür begonyalar, yarı gölge yerleri severler. Üzerine doğrudan gelen güneş ışığı karşısında bırakılmamalıdır.

Sıcaklık: Ilık ve havadar yerleri seven bitki, çok havasız ortamlarda kesinlikle bırakılmamalıdır.

Gübre: Bu cins begonyalara ilkbahar ve yaz mevsimlerinde, ayda iki kez standart sıvı gübre verilir.

Saksı Değiştirme: Bu türe yıllık bitki işlemi uygulanır. Çiçek açma dönemi bitip de bitki bozulmaya başlayınca gözden çıkarılır.

Quer uma festa de casamento bem decorada? Lógico que sim, todas as mulheres querem que o dia mais importante de sua vida seja lindo. Então, anote aí: na decoração de uma festa de casamento as flores não são detalhes. A escolha da flor certa, bonita, na quantidade adequada e no local apropriado é o que vai fazer a diferença no seu casamento.

Normalmente, as flores estão presentes na decoração da igreja, na decoração do salão, nos enfeites de mesa, na lapela do noivo, no buquê das daminhas e no buquê da noiva.

Além de dar um colorido especial a toda celebração, os arranjos florais também são responsáveis pelo aroma perfumado que ficará no ar. Por todos estes motivos, é preciso escolher com muito cuidado e carinho o tipo de flor.

Na igreja, a elegância deve prevalecer na composição floral, porque nada pode tirar o brilho da noiva. Já na recepção, a decoração pode ser mais audaciosa. Portanto, os arranjos das mesas devem ser altos e bonitos e, abusando do uso de velas, que ajudam a compor um ambiente romântico.

É bom salientar que a decoração varia de acordo com o tipo de evento que os noivos estão desejando. Por exemplo: se for um casamento realizado pela manhã, ou em um sítio, recomendo uma decoração mais simples, com flores do campo. Se for à noite, o mais usado é algo requintado, com flores nobres como lírios, copo-de-leite, orquídeas etc. Mas fique atenta, já que estas flores costumam ser mais caras.

É preciso sempre levar em consideração o gosto e o orçamento dos noivos. Uma dica importante: pergunte ao seu decorador quais são as flores da época, pois são mais abundantes e seus preços bem mais baixos no mercado, além de não correr o risco de ter flores queimadas ou não muito vistosas.

Veja qual flor é mais facilmente encontrada em cada mês. E tenha um casamento bem florido!

Flores mais usadas em arranjos e decorações de casamento

Janeiro/ Fevereiro/ Março / Abril: Angélica, Boca-de-Leão, Clarquia,Copo-de-Leite,
Cravina, Laços-Espanhóis, Lobélia, Magnólia,,Margarida, Mimosa, Papoula, Petúnia, Sempre-Viva
Verbena,Amor- Perfeito,Camélias,Gipsófila

Maio/ Junho / Julho / Agosto: Amor- Perfeito,Camélias,Angélica,Azaléias,Clarquia,Crisântemo
Gipsófila,Laços-Espanhóis,Margarida,Papoula,Petúnia,Primavera,Anêmona,Begônia,Verbena

Setembro/ Outubro/ Novembro/ Dezembro: Açucena, Amor- Perfeito, Anêmona, Begônia, Boca-de-Leão, Campainha, Gardênia,Gipsófila, Miosótis,Margaridinha,Primavera,Sempre-Viva, Verbena, Açucena,
Lobélia,Hortênsia,Lírio, Lobélia, Petúnia,Azaléia, Copo-de-Leite, CravinaLaços-Espanhóis