New Foliage Plant Website...........

Spent the day finishing up an ad for the ProfessorsPride website.....we now have 12 "Nursery Partners" in this little program......it will be interesting to see what happens.......In the meantime I think I will go surf fishing.

Plant Daddy visits NASA

Plant Daddy, Plant Doctor and Our Buddy Beeson visited NASA today.
It was an official trip to discuss putting Aglaonemas on the moon…just kidding.
But we did meet with space researchers there to talk about cooperative projects.

They gave us a tour. One of the unique features at Kennedy Space Center is the large numbers of alligators that live in the ditches along the roads there. I was on the alert the whole time.

Here’s the scenic photo…shot from the car window so as to stay clear of alligators.

Dieffenbachia 'Star White'...

Always has been one of my favorites........a triploid even...........it takes me back to a simpler but more stressful time in the research program.......

Not much else to think about on a Friday........except going home to see Mosiac Mom.....YEAH....

My TC Stuff Looks Good........

My baby potential somatic embryos are looking good after 4 weeks as shown in photos below....
We have initiated several more cultures in the last 3 weeks and this is getting good....
We have some really interesting plans for these babies (if they continue to cooperate)....
The upper photo shows that there is a real pile of little rocks developing.......

How they finally develop and grow out is the key.........will they be uniform like the mama plant or variable in appearance....The best part of this experiment is that either way is a WIN/WIN.........I love my plants.

Featherly Clouds Today.............

This morning the clouds were featherly............like someone thinned them out with a paint brush.....completely different from the other day......
Florida clouds are very variable....especially in the winter.......

YEP.....clouds are good..........I like clouds.

The Brazilian Cloak is Flowering Again.............

The Megasmapasma (sp.?) is flowering again.............looks great...........so do the oranges that are ripening in the back.........looks like a good year for "citrus salad"........
Putting up with the summer heat and humidity is starting to pay off.........plus the pompano should be running pretty soon.........yum, yum all the way around..........

Pancake Clouds..........

This morning these clouds looked good enough to eat......they looked like a wonderful batch of pancakes......
You get to see some great clouds down here....especially with the winter fronts.......

Time to Dry Down the Adeniums.............

Adeniums are great plants with beautiful stems and flowers... Bugs like them too.... So now with winter coming it is time to cut the water and let them go dormant.... Makes caring for them much easier....No leaves and no bugs.....All we have to do is keep them from freezing.....So here is a last look at some of this years flowers.....New hybrids coming in bloom next year.......The cycle never ends......

Tissue Culture Success........????

We have this new hybrid foliage plant that we want to produce somatic embryos......Here are two photos of leaf tissue in culture. The upper one shows some undifferentiated callus while the bottom photo shows what might be my first somatic embryo......done be me in person from start to current status (i.e. today). Can't say what the hybrid is or the genus at this time but TRUST me it could be exciting.......real exciting......(for me anyway)...........

Mosaic Mom's Mandevilla.............

Mosaic Mom can grow plants...........here is her latest attempt at Mandevilla culture...........
Awesome..............just like her..........

Back to the Z Shop..............

Practice fenders with racing stripe..........

The Z boys were out in force Saturday working on the race car.............its name is to be "leftovers".... it was put together from parts laying around..........after putting on a layer of white paint (for the stripes) we ate hotdogs and 'volt' soda......they couldn't stop talking after that blast of caffeine.......
The main color will be a darkish blue green that should go well with the white stripes (top photo).....this could get interesing...........

The racing I refer to is "autocross"..............not drag or track........240z are built for handling not strait away speed...........

Epcot cont..............food............

No question that they grow some interesting stuff over there..........YUM..........

Virtual Epcot Tour.........

My legs are tired today after tearing apart several 10 foot tall pothos totem poles that we grew for breeding in my research greenhouse. After suffering thru 6 months of 90 degree plus tempertures it is finally cooler and the flowers are looking better. Anyway, here is how things are looking at Epcot now. Sure beats the snow......YEAH Florida winter....... and.......coming later......just wait until you see Mosaic Mom's awesome tomato plants...........OMG..........

A Safe Place to Be...............

Since I cannot fix the world in general it is always nice to have a place to go where you can be at peace..............Luckily my research house is one such place...........(photos below).........I have been spending a lot of time in there lately..........quiet........lots of nice plants........always something nice to focus on...........a great place in my life.......I love plants.........

Finally a nice weather week........73 and cloudy.....

I have to give a tissue culture talk today..........it will be fun.....
We are working in the lab on pothos and philodendron TC also......
Divided up 2 new Aglaonema hybrids for future testing....

Tomorrow we will propagate our stunning new pothos hybrid to put in growth tests for eventual plant release data. Can't show photo yet because I do not want to start the patent clock....
Probably will submit the patent early on this one so nothing goes wrong....It could be our signature release....