Albert's Greenhouse

This asclepiad has one of the larger ceropegia flowers, about the size of my thumb. I made some cuttings from friend's plant this spring, and now they are starting to flower. The plant barely grows any leaves, which it quickly sheds, leaving the succulent green stem as the only photosynthetic surface. It's amazing that it can summon enough energy from a foot or two of stem to make such a large flower, but all four cuttings are either in flower or in bud right now.

The flower is an insect trap - hairs inside will keep flies there overnight before releasing them covered in pollen the next day. I'll have to dissect one soon, but meanwhile I'm enjoying the very strange flowers from the outside.

A note on the cuttings: the cut ends need to dry out before being plunged into soil, which should be allowed to dry almost completely between waterings. Otherwise, one ends up with melting cuttings, which is what happened the first time I tried this. Standard succulent practice, really, but something to remember.

This particular plant does better than most ceropegias in a moist, tropical lowland greenhouse once it's established.

I do love ceropegias - the flowers grow in such interesting forms.

Haemanthus unifoliatus apparently thinks it's Fall already, and I don't really want to disagree. Thunderstorms and rain unseasonably early this year, but as usual for the area, some of the warmest temperatures of the year as well. Aside from Arum pictum and some Zantedeschia odorata peeking out, it's the first of the fall emergents to actually emerge.


It is a pretty little thing.

Peristeria elata - national flower of Panama.
The first flower opened in my greenhouse tonight.
After what must be about ten years of watching this thing grow...