Re-mother’s day gift.

Posted on May 7, 2016 by luckyotter

I’ve always liked to buy small gifts for myself when I can afford to (usually something natural like rocks or plants). Because I’m reparenting myself (with the help of my therapist and God), I decided to treat myself to a Mother’s Day gift. I bought some wind chimes, a few summer outfits from Goodwill (don’t knock it — you can’t beat the prices and I can always find something perfect), and this ridiculously adorable “string of pearls” plant (Senecio rowleyanus, a succulent vine that grows in Southwestern Africa) hanging from a tiny clay pot and surrounded by a copper wire in a heart shape:

Isn’t it cute?

My tuxedo cat, Sheldon, reminding me he wants to be the center of attention.

Fine, Sheldon. Are you happy now?

Do plants get cancer?

Posted on January 2, 2016 by luckyotter

A random thought popped into my head today. That happens to me a lot. I always find out interesting new things that way. I’m as curious about the world as a 6 year old. That can’t be a bad thing. I think I might post these questions whenever I get an answer because maybe someone else was wondering the same thing. Today I started to wonder if plants can get cancer. The answer is, yes, they can, but it usually won’t kill a plant. Popular Science explains why:

In animals, a tumor develops when a cell (or group of cells) loses the built-in controls that regulate its growth, often as a result of mutations. Plants can experience the same phenomenon, along with cancerous masses, but it tends to be brought on via infection. Fungi, bacteria, viruses, and insect infestation have all been tied to plant cancers. Oak trees, for example, often grow tumors that double as homes for larvae.

The good news for plants is that even though they’re susceptible to cancer, they’re less vulnerable to its effects. For one thing, a vegetable tumor won’t metastasize. That’s because plant cells are typically locked in place by a matrix of rigid cell walls, so they can’t migrate. Even when a plant cell begins dividing uncontrollably, the tumor it creates remains stuck in one place usually with minor effects on the plant’s health—like a burl in a redwood tree.

Plants also have the benefit of lacking any vital organs. “It’s bad to get a brain tumor if you’re a human,” says Elliot Meyerowitz, a plant geneticist at the California Institute of Technology. “But there’s nothing that you can name that’s bad to get a tumor in if you’re a plant. Because whatever it is, you can make another.”

Meyerowitz points to another difference between plant and animal oncology with regard to those redwood burls: “Instead of treating plant tumors by surgery and chemotherapy, we make them into cheesy coffee tables.”

$3,200 for tree cancer on legs.

This article originally appeared in the February 2014 issue of Popular Science.
http://www.popsci.com/article/science/ask-anything-do-plants-get-cancer

Wild carrots.

Posted on July 16, 2015 by luckyotter

There’s always something by the the side of the road worthy of a photograph. Even weeds like these can be beautiful. Click photos for more detail.

Japanese maple in bloom.

Posted on April 28, 2015 by luckyotter

Click to enlarge photos.

My “lucky” bamboo plant

Posted on November 23, 2014 by luckyotter

I don’t have a green thumb. At all. I love plants, but usually, no matter how well I care for them, or how closely I follow the instructions on the little plastic card they come with, my plants still shrivel up and die.

The fact I also have cats doesn’t help either. Plants and cats in a house do not usually mix.

But my lucky bamboo plant is different. And my 4 cats are indifferent. I guess bamboo doesn’t have a smell or something.

I purchased this little bamboo plant as a tiny 3 inch seedling about a year ago. As you can see from the photos below, the pretty little grass-green ceramic planter it came in is now far too small for it. It needs a new home soon.

Still, the bamboo continues to thrive. Its leaves are glossy and bright green, and it keeps throwing off new shoots. Maybe the muted light from the fake stained glass in the kitchen window (really a clear plastic decal from Home Depot I cut to size and stuck on the glass to cover the ugly hardened sap stains from the poplar tree that used to drip its effusions before it was finally chopped down) helps. Like people with sensitive eyes or allergies to the sun, bamboo doesn’t like bright, in your face sunlight. Or maybe it’s the tiny Laughing Buddha who’s sitting there in front of the planter, throwing off little sparks of positive energy, that’s keeping the plant so hale and hardy.

Another view of the bamboo without all the background distractions.

2 images of my Laughing Buddha (turn him upside down and around and he grins instead of laughs!)

Unlike my other plants, there is no soil in the little planter the bamboo lives in. Instead, there are squishy round spheres that look like clear marbles, but adding water to them makes them expand and diffuses water through the plant’s tissues–so it always gets just the right amount of water. It’s like a self-feeder for cats, only it’s for plants. Since I will have to rehome my bamboo soon, I purchased this jar of “Water Gems,” the name of the little squishy spheres that keep my plant healthy and thriving. when I repot it (I hope I can find something as cute as the pot it came in), these will go into the new planter.

In case you’re wondering, the glass, mirror and tile baubles hanging from the window sash are a couple of the suncatchers I made for awhile. The one on the right is broken but it’s still pretty there in the kitchen window.