The desert blooms

All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.
Swedish Proverb

You might be inclined to think that the Desert Roses (Adenium obesum) pictured below were store-bought, that one crazy day my mother went on a shopping spree and bought nothing but these plants alone. The truth is these plants came from just one source. And they are not from cuttings either, they were all grown from seeds.

The second generation of locally grown Desert Roses around the Cardboard Palm.

I know, some big trees come from teeny-weeny seeds so it should not be surprising to see where a Desert Rose begins. But I had no idea what the seed of a Desert Rose looks like. Heck, I didn't even know that it develops inside a seedpod and that there's plenty of seeds in one pod alone. So when Mom sent pictures of the seedpod and the seeds inside the pods I was amazed.

The seeds of a Desert Rose.

From the picture above, one can deduce that the seeds of this plant are dispersed by the wind. The light and delicate strands of silky hair attached on one end of the seed allows the seed to be picked up by even a slight breeze. This type of wind dispersal is called "parachute." For other ways on how seeds are dispersed by the wind, click here.

These are two of our Desert Roses with pods. On the left the pods are encased in plastic bags so that the seeds would not scatter when the pods burst open. The pods on the right are still immature.

In my older post A rose is a rose is a rose I mentioned that our first batch of baby Desert Roses came from a seedpod that was already developing in a plant when it was bought from a plant store. The second batch also came from one of the bought plants but the pods came months after it was bought, enough to say that they're already farm-grown just like the pods shown above.

These will be the next generation of Desert Roses in the garden, safely bagged for future use.

As long as our Desert Roses continue to produce fertile seeds it is safe to assume they won't go extinct in the garden. I can say the next generation of Desert Roses are "in the bag" ... literally.
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Imported

"Wow imported!" --- is a common exclamation we hear in the Philippines when we see something that is not locally produced. Somehow there is this deep-seated fixation for anything that comes from abroad. An exception to this would be any kind of pests or diseases :)

Even in gardening, some gardeners easily succumb to the desire of acquiring a newly introduced breed of plant. Having a little of such mentality myself, I thought I'd send some non-native vegetable and other garden seeds back home and see if they would successfully grow in our farm with this crazy idea that maybe we would be the first to produce these vegetables locally. Well not really, I just wanted to experiment and see which of these imported seeds would grow in our farm.

Below are a few of the seed samples I sent home that they tried growing in the farm.

Zucchini squash (Cucurbita pepo). Some sprouted but some didn't. Those that grew rotted after a few days. Maybe they were sown during the wetter days. It's still worth another try although I've read that it's already commercially grown locally.

Packets of Zucchini squash seeds.

Birdhouse gourd (Lagenaria siceraria Birdhouse). I wasn't sure about the success of this plant because from what I read and seen on TV it needs the aid of certain night moths to pollinate the delicate flowers that open only at night and only for one night.

It grew! It climbed the trellis, flowers developed and produced young gourds. So there are night moths in the farm! Alas, the gourds did not mature, the plant rotted. Again I blame it on the rainy weather. But the fact that it produced fruits means that it can grow in our area, so it's also worth another try.

Young Birdhouse gourds hanging on a trellis.

Unlike the local vegetable "Upo" this gourd will produce a thick and hard shell, which can be fashioned into a birdhouse, a vessel to carry water and many other purposes. I was thinking if we succeed on this we could help our local community develop a backyard industry in producing handicrafts made of this gourd's tough shell.

Butternut squash (Cucurbita moschata). I love this squash. It has the same taste and texture as the squash I like back in the Philippines but it doesn't look like any of the locally grown squash.

A young Butternut squash.

And it also grew! They let it crawl on the ground which then produced several baby Butternuts. Most didn't mature though. Another victim of the wet days. Like the song of the late 80's duo Milli Vanili, I blame it on the rain.

But all was not lost. They were able to harvest one squash each from the two seeds they sowed. And the verdict? They like its unique look and most of all they loved the taste. Definitely worth another try!

We had a very short summer this year, around three months. Even in those supposedly 'dry' months rain would intermittently soak the ground. The growing season for these plants is definitely over this year. My eyes are already set for a more normal summer next year. For the mean time, I'm out scouring garden stores for more seeds for next year's garden experiment.
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Like shelling peas

For a seed that hides behind a tough shell, growing Lotus from seed is like shelling peas. Scarring the shell is the hardest part, but after that just drop the seed into a container of tepid water or plant it directly into the soil in a small container then drown it with water.

Young Lotus seedlings growing in clay pots.

A row of Lotus seedlings in various stages of growth.

Mom was quite surprised that a week after she planted her first Lotus seed, it began to sprout and form little leaves. She was not surprised because the seed germinated, but rather, she was astounded that after spending more time scouring the tough shell that protects the seed, germination was relatively quick and uneventful.

Inspired by her success, mom started to plant the other seeds she collected. I had to tell her to stop, otherwise we'll end up having too many Lotus plants with nowhere to put them.

I asked mom to save the rest of the seeds for future use. I read that seeds with intact shells are viable even after several years in storage. There were reports that Lotus seeds hundreds of years old still germinated after they were sown.

Young Lotus leaf compared in size to a plastic spoon.

Before trying her luck at growing Lotus from seeds, mom observed that the mother Lotuses were sprouting new, small and heart-shaped leaves at their bases. She immediately notified me and mentioned that we don't need to plant the seeds since the mother plants were producing many new shoots.

I was quite perplexed by her statement. I know Lotus also grows from tubers, but they don't have leaves that are heart-shaped. I suspect these plant are not Lotuses, they are just trying to deceive my unwary mother.

Some unknown water plants now growing in their own pot which mom mistook for young Lotus plants.

I told mom to collect the impostors and plant them in a separate container. When I received the image above, my hunch was correct, these are not Lotus plants. What they are, I do not know. But since they have beautifully-shaped leaves I told mom to just let them grow and see what happens as they mature.

A tough nut to crack

A Lotus flower bud and seed pod.

When Mom told me that the Lotus plant is already forming seeds where the spent flower (the very first in our garden) used to be, I immediately searched the net for info on how to grow Lotus plant from seed. With the knowledge fresh in my head, I called home and told Mom the steps to take to entice the seed to germinate.

First scarify part of the seed using a rough object like a file, until the flesh of the seed is almost visible. This will help the seedling break out of its hard shell when it begins to germinate. Then drop the seed into a container that has several inches of water and put the container in a warm place, preferably where the sun can shine on it. Then let nature take over, just change the water often.

A few weeks later, I was on the phone with dear Mom and she was complaining how hard the seed of the Lotus plant was. It took her almost an hour to scarify the seed with a knife. I told her she should have used a file. She replied: "If a sharp knife could not crack open that seedcoat how can a nail file help? It's harder than the shell of a chestnut."

I could not say anything more. If I were there I could have been the one doing that and knowing that Mom is a very patient lady and she almost gave up, I know I would have given up in a couple of minutes.

The seeds of the Lotus are almost ready to pop out. A plastic bag is waiting underneath to catch the seeds when they decide to come out of the pod.

Anyway, had she used a rasp or wood file, it would have been more effective than a knife or nail file. But, she accomplished her goal anyway (the hard way) and now all she needs to do is wait.

And while she's waiting, she can experiment on the other seeds that are just about ripe for harvest.


This is just another of those that frustrates me about the pictures I get from home. It doesn't help if the person I ask to take pictures just don't care about the quality of the images.