Celosia: My old flame and lackluster ones

The ongoing work is to transplant some of the volunteered celosia that came back on their own, hundreds of them; with the blazing colors and shaped like a flaming torch; they are indeed my old flames literally and figuratively.

Not knowing they will come back, I planted some new celosia in late May or early June.  They obviously cannot compete with the naturally grown or “old flames”; they lack luster and barely survive.  Some like it hot, celosia loves sun and heat.  I moved them away with a faint hope that they may regain vitality and radiance.  One cannot beat nature; the best we can do is to mimic it.

These photos (below) are some of the “old flames” that came back on their own.  Yes, one can buy “beauty” with precious money; a few celosia costs $6.88 at the Lowe’s yesterday (see photo left).

Lack luster is lackluster which means lacking radiance and vitality.  A company with a lackluster earning; its stock price may plummet.  It also means “dull or uninspired” such as “looked into space with lackluster eye”.

Sex in the luffa garden: Scientific and scholarly, not lascivious

I modified the title of this enticing post, lest my daughter would rate it “R” again.  Katy has been the pollinator-in-chief for our garden for many years.  It is about time to demonstrate, graphic though it may seem, so you guys can get a long overdue sex education.

The photos show Katy (the pollinator) holds a male luffa flower on top of a female flower; you will see the anthers (part of stamens of male flower containing pollens) and the stigma (part of carpel, the female flower reproductive organs that receive pollens) look different.  They are eager and ready.

Katy lightly touches the female stigma with male’s anthers: “Their moment consummated” as Emily Dickinson would write.

"Their moment consummated"

a withering budding female flower

Katy pointed out, confirmed by my observation, that any given branch will produce either male or female flowers exclusively.  However next day we discovered that the male and female flowers are on the same branch, actually on the same spot.  This is the best arrangement as they will be likely visited by the same bee and be pollinated.  近水樓台先得月, so to speak.

It is not lacking the female flowers that matters.  Katy also pointed out most of the female flowers wither for lacking sunlight; this was again confirmed by my observation.  We’re in the process of removing many layers of luxuriant and dense leaves that block the sunlight from the budding female flowers.  Male flowers tend to extend high above the layers of leaves to seek sunlight.

Our garden teacher also lamented (說我們不聽話) that we planted luffa, or anything else for that matter, too close together, resulting too dense and too many layers of leaves.  We planted luffas 42 inches (or 3 ½ feet) apart along each post; no luffas were planted along the posts inside the luffa garden.

According to an authoritative (in Taiwan) article of growing luffa that Katy brought to my attention, in which it says the luffas were planted only 0.45 meter (about 1.6 feet) apart.  That is much more densely planted than ours.

目前農民主要栽培法以隧道棚架單蔓密植栽培，畦寬 4 公尺、株距 0.45 公 尺。以母蔓任其生長結果，子蔓(側芽)全部摘除，不但採收期長，亦能提高產量。 

male flower extends high above layers of leaves

It was said the success rate of a female luffa flower budding, blossoming to be pollinated is 30% in the best hands of the professional.  Ours is probably less than 10% with my conservative estimate.  A work to be done; we should do better.  We cannot blame for lacking of bees; one photo shows two bees are going after one female flower.

I came across one article saying providing phosphate fertilizer, instead of nitrogen fertilizer, will increase the number of female flowers.  Having little or no knowledge about horticulture; I may be gullible in what I read, but I am cautious enough to be skeptical to question the validity of what it claims.  Was there any controlled study? Any publication in the peer reviewed horticultural journal?

As far as I know that the leaf growth depends on nitrogen nutrient whereas the development of roots and flowers depends on phosphorus.  That means abundant supply of phosphate fertilizer helps flowering, but why just female flowers?

The luxuriant and dense luffa leaves create a luffa cabin, in which I found my perfect spot to sit, to rest, and to reflect.  I am having my second thought about it as we may have to aggressively trim the leaves to give female flowers chance to grow and blossom. We cannot overdo it as we have to remind ourselves the importance of photosynthesis that leaves contribute.

Bitter melon galore: a twice-a-day harvest

We searched and harvested 10 bitter melons (see photo above) yesterday morning, thinking we have got all the ripe ones.  Searching more thoroughly, Katy got another 8 (see photo below) in the early evening; all in the same day.  With that much luxuriant and dense leaves it is easy for the bitter melon fruits to hide.

Looking at the photos of the bitter melon garden taken a bit over three weeks apart (July 5 and July 29); you will be amazed at how much they have grown.  However they did have an ignominious beginning; recall they had to be dug out and replanted as the last spring frost came after their planting.  They asked me not to post their pictures during their trying and difficult days as they looked 半死不活 (half dead, not alive).

July 5, 2016

July 29, 2016

We delivered some bitter melons, kales, zucchini and tomatoes to our good friends in McMurray area today; we didn’t want to go all the way to Pittsburgh.  There is advantage to live in the neck of the woods of gardener friend.

I am writing this post with a grateful heart to Esther from whom we received the seeds of these bitter melons with helpful advices along the way.

Vine: to climb or to crawl ?

We let all the vines, including Taiwanese pumpkin, climb. But we noticed our garden teacher let the Taiwanese pumpkin crawl all over the ground, allowing the stem to grow new roots along the way, thus more robust growth and more and bigger pumpkins.

Vines are supposed to climb; in fact, vines are called climbers in England.  I am of the opinion of following the nature.  If vines are supposed to climb, let them climb.  As Francis Bacon said, “Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed.”

Luffa: “Sex” in the garden

Luffa is a tropical vine that grows ever so slowly in western Pennsylvania.  It takes 150 to 200 warm to hot days to bear luffa fruits.  Katy has kept vigilant eyes on luffa flowering.  A female flower would go wasted without pollination from a male flower.  Bees are the best pollinators.  However there seem to have less bees around than the years past, despite the fact that we also have planted so many flowers.

Pollination is a “boy meets girl” thing.  Seeing a female flower, Katy would act like a pollinator.  We have seen too many male flowers and few female ones.  But it is not just the ratio of male to female flowers, but also whether they are nearby.

The photo shows a bee buried his (I say a bee is a “he” to go along with Dickinson’s poem, in which bee is male and flower female) head busy having a feast in one female flower (埋頭苦吃).

 I wrote a post of “Emily Dickinson romanticized bee-flower relationship with sexual allusion” in 2010.  I might repeat the story here as well.  Without sex one cannot produce, luffa is no exception.  In The Seduction of Emily Dickinson, Robert McClure pointed out that flower is, after all, a sexual organ and pollination is a sexual act, thus we read “Their moment consummated” in Dickinson’s poem.

A Bee his burnished Carriage

Drove boldly to a Rose –

Combinedly alighting –

Himself – his Carriage was –

The Rose received his visit

With frank tranquility

Withholding not a Crescent

Their moment consummated –

Remained for him – to flee

Remained for her – of rapture

But the humility

Stop to smell the rose, nay, stop to smell the lily

While transplanting celosia in the area where our rose and lily are in the seemingly peaceful coexistent, I was oblivious of the presence of lily until tranquil wind brought the pleasant fragrance of the lily, asking me to “stop to smell the rose”, nay, to “stop to smell the lily”.

Rose and lily have been fighting for the title of the “queen of flowers” for ages.  Being sentimental about Queen Catherine claiming her of being lily, I am in the camp of lily.

In Act III Scene 1 of Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey tried to persuade Queen Catherine to accept the divorce from the king, Queen Catherine said,

Almost no grave allowed me; like the lily,

That once was mistress of the field and flourished,

I’ll hang my head and perish.

Our garden is fluid and dynamic

The beauty of a garden is man-made design; it cannot be too busy, lest it becomes “chaotic beauty” at best.  What complicates our garden is that many of the veggies/vines and flowers, especially celosia, are “volunteers”, coming back on their own.  I am in the process of sorting it out, moving them around.

One will see black-eyed Susan and milkweed

Initially we have designated flower sections, ending it up with flowers here and there and everywhere.  Fortunately there is no such a thing as too many flowers.

Our garden is fluid and dynamic, changing the face all the time.  These photos are the face of the garden now.

milkweed

Black-eyed Susan and milkweed