Yeah, yeah, more adenium flowers............has to be.....

Adenium Brain Freeze........

I have had adenium on the brain lately............
too many ideas...........a few research breakthroughs.........
several potential publications..........all the usual.......this is getting quite exciting......
Below (and above) are a couple of important adeniums used in my genetic research......

They are special plants...........beautiful to look at and to research.........and the data is even better..........

Gopher Hole.............

Our gophers are bigger than yours........
Gopher tourtise that is.........

Our Garden on 7-15-11......for the record.....

I made the title as a gardening reference for next year.......
We still have peppers, okra and eggplant that are doing well.....and,
the sweet potatoes are going crazy (as in crazy good).........
also mosaic mom's sunflowers just started blooming.....

Below is a photo of one of my Adenium hybrids that I am playing with at this time.....
It might have potential.....at least for seed production anyway.......

It is a nice reddish color with overlapping petals - a trait I seem to like..............

My 3 Step Program for Bad Plants......

Life as a plant in my research greenhouse can be brutal......
"Do as we want of pay the price" that is our charge.....
Any recalcitrant plants must go thru a 3 step program.....

Step 1: Pilerized...

Step 2. Dumsterized......

3. Laid to resterized.........

Community service message for the good of the general public: This is necessary to stop spread of bugs and diseases and from keeping unfit plants out of the market place.

VET Trip.............wait a minute.....

Took Bones to the vet yesterday...
The vet really seems to like Bones.......
The Vet has a yellow male tabby cat of his own.....
He says this is the best kind of cat....
He claims the Bones is a great cat and that they had a great time with him -
(Bones stays with them while I am at work).....
Then I gave him $70....
What a racket.....I pay him to play with my cat......
He says to bring Bones back SOON so they can play again......
Wait a minute.....
Maybe I should offer to play with the vet's cat......

Heartleaf Philodendron.....small, medium and large......

Here are 3 forms of heartleaf philodendron that I found in the research greenhouse yesterday.

1. Small narrow leaves.....unique secondary branching habit.....

2. A little wider leaf but still small compared to normal.....these guys also branch naturally......

3. The big guy (below) has larger leaves and shorter internodes than standard heartleaf....

Adenium.........more than just flowers.........Caudex

From time to time I toss in a few photos of Adenium flowers. They can be really nice.
Adenium also have a very interesting swollen base called a caudex (plural = caudices).
However, in my opinion, it is the caudices that make these plants special.
Following intensive study for the past 2 years I have found that certain crosses make incredible caudices.
For example, the plant in the first 2 photos below is in a 3 gallon pot and is about 1.5 years old.
Closer view of caudex from above photo.

Below is another vigorous hybrid with a nice caudex in an 8-inch pot.

Because of very detailed and time consuming "old fashioned traditional genetic engineering"I can now easily produce hybrids that make a large caudex.

Of course these crosses generally do not have great flowers.....grrrrr..........

Summer Strawberries.........Cycle of Life..

I cleaned up the strawberry stock plants yesterday - there are still a few tiny berries on them.
That means I took off the old leaves and thinned them out.
Tossed in some fertilizer and a copper spray due to all the rain.
Now we wait for new runners to develop so we can cut and root them for next years plants.
Then we toss the old plants.
This little cycle has worked for 5 years with the same plants.
Of course we only grow a dozen plants.
These plants give us all the berries we can stand from January thru May.
We pick a lot, eat a lot and freeze the rest of the berries for MM's fresh strawberry jam.
Awesome.......

The New Kitty........Big dreams....

'Bones' is a real active little kitten.
He runs and chases everything - boundless energy - always looking for new prey.
So far our lizard population in the greenhouses has taken a pretty good hit.
But.............this morning I caught him stalking the sand hill cranes.
Maybe he is getting a little over confident.
Kind of reminds me of the song about the "Ram and the Dam".

What a Playhouse.............

A friend of mine works in a private company's research greenhouse. What a place !!!!.......
Maybe I can retire and become his assistant one day.....

Lots of different colorful foliage and flowers........

Yum, yum, yum..............