Happy New Year! -- Plant Jokes Again

Happy New Year!

I had great fun publishing plant jokes last in the New Year post last year, so here are some more: 

1) Why couldn't the gardener grow any flowers?



He hadn't botany.

Plant Story--Amaryllis, well, actually Hippeastrum

Amaryllis, the big bulbs that are often given as holiday gifts because the flowers that emerge are so glorious, are in the genus Hippeastrum not the genus Amaryllis. The naked ladies that bloomed in the garden in August, those were Amaryllis.

Scientific name Hippaecastrum, common name amaryllis

Flowers of the Colorado Winter

pansies, December 16

Its mid-December at about 5000' on the east side of the Rocky Mountains. Often we have mild temperatures this late in the year but this year is unusually warm. We have had several snowstorms and some really cold days, but for most of the last two weeks its been below freezing overnight and as high as 60 F by day.

Plants are flowering.

Wildflowers: Weeds in Northwestern Argentina

The rainfall in Salta Province, Argentina, ranges from nearly 30" a year to 17 or less, almost all during the hot summer months. The countryside, though beautiful, can be rather inhospitable to plants.

Plant Story--The Majestic Cottonwood

The summer sun beats down, no breath of wind stirs the hot, hot air. You sweat even in the shade of the cottonwood. And,

Cottonwood leaves are almost always in motion, no matter how still the air. 

The tribes of the northern plains revered the cottonwood--big, sturdy trees found in diverse locations, often indicating water. The rustling leaves reinforced the mystic nature of the tree because winds were the path of the Higher Powers and cottonwoods always have those inexplicable little winds moving their leaves. Check for yourself.

Flowers of the Atacama Desert, Chile

I expected the Atacama Desert in northern Chile to be totally desolate. It is the driest desert in the world. In some places no one has ever seen it rain. Other spots go four to five years without rainfall. I read that residents don't bother to repair their roofs since no rain is going to come in through the holes. There was virtually no humidity: my hand-washed hiking socks dried in about six hours (36 hours is normal).

Plant Story--Perplexing Pumpkins

We have no problem recognizing pumpkins

and yet, botanically they're difficult.

Four plant species are "pumpkins": Cucurbita moscata, Cucurbita argyrosperma, C. maxima and Cucurbita pepo.

That would not be particularly confusing, except that those same plant species also give us summer and winter squashes. Thus, different varieties of Cucurbita pepo, for example, are acorn squash, zucchini and sugar pumpkins.