Whenever you breathe out, I breath in

Hello hello. Looks like the blog post is only a day late as opposed to two this week. Yay, baby steps! Anyways, not too many eventful things to talk about this week. I haven't been at my place that much lately but I have been dropping in to say hello to my plants. At the beginning of the week they were trying to soak up the sun so much that they were leaning at a 45 degree angel towards my window. I started rotating them so that they would stand upright again. One of my plants (not the spider plant I got for this class) started to flower this week. They flowers are purple and I anticipate their probable beauty. I also learned about soil tis week. Plant soil needs to contain certain micronutrients so that the plant roots can absorb these nutrients in order to keep the plant healthy. The most essential nutrients are: Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, and Sulfur. They need these nutrients to help with water uptake, cell wall formation, protein synthesis, creating chlorophyll, creating ATP, DNA, membranes and for other key processes. Some plants, such as garden beans, evolved a symbiotic relationship with rhyzobia, which is a nitrogen fixing bacteria. These rhyzobia live in modified root structures of legumes called nodules. The plant provides oxygen and carbon to the bacteria in return for nitrogen. These plants CAN live independently, but they can't fix nitrogen without each other.
I think that the relationships organisms can build with other organisms to help them survive is phenomenal. I was thinking about human symbiotic relationships as well and that's when it hit me! I have a symbiotic relationship with my plants at home. I give them water and they provide me with oxygen. I am part of a beautiful natural cycle and it's happening every day!
When I was doing my own little research on symbiotic relationships I stumbled upon something AMAZING. There is a salamander that has a symbiotic relationship with algae and this algae allows the salamander to preform photosynthesis. The algal symbionts live inside the salamanders cells. The reason this discovery is surprising is because all vertebrates have what's known as an adaptive immune system, which naturally destroys any foreign biological material found inside the cells. How the algae in the salamander's cells bypass this defense is still a mystery. Here is a link to the entire article:
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/salamander-is-worlds-first-photosynthetic-vertebrate




Until next time!

T

Destruction leads to a very rough road, but it also breeds creation

I don't know what my deal is with remembering to post exactly every week, but it always takes me more than a week to remember that I forgot! I really just can't remember to complete internet assignments. I think it's because they are never right in front of me. If I have pages I have to read from a book I will always remember because I keep the books I am reading on my night stand right next to my bed and I always see them. I must create some sort of reminder so that this doesn't keep happening.
Im sure that that absence of a post these past few days made my many blog readers fret about the well being of my plants, but it's okay, I assure you they are still doing just fine. I did have a scare last week though. I finally came home after staying at my boyfriend's place for five days in a row and noticed my plants were looking quite sad. A few of their leaves were dying and they were starting to wilt and turn more of a brownish color. I gave them water and opened the blinds and put them right in the sunlight. I also wrapped each individual pot in a little blanket to keep them warm. It's very cold by my window and I don't think they are handling the temperatures well, but they don't get enough sunlight if I move them further away. But my good care taking paid off because I saw my plants again today and they are looking almost tip top again. I pulled off the dead leaves last week because if you don't then the plant wastes too much energy trying to revive them. The leaves have already started to grow back this week and it looks like they're going to be alright. I have so many plants at the greenhouse right now that this week I am going to have to take some more home to have enough space. I guess that means my spider plant will have plenty of plant friends to keep him company. This week I am going to make or buy (depending on how much time I have) new plant holders for them. I think I have some pretty interesting containers around my apartment that are not in use. Maybe I can make a little art piece out of it.
The reading that we had to do for class made me recognize how important plants are going to be in the future. As our population continues to grow the demand for food and other plant products will grow. If we are faced with famine, growing plants might be the only way to recover. That's why I feel so fortunate to have this skill. It makes me feel self sufficient. If I had to stop relying on grocery stores and industry for my products I feel confident that I would be able to still provide for myself. That's something I am trying to do regardless because I don't want to rely on industry for my basic human necessities.
I think that one of the reasons people aren't willing to join environmental causes is because the effects are so unnoticeable. Until people are being directly effected, they wont care to change our current trends. The article said something about how eco-efficiency was contributing to making our harm remain almost invisible. I think what people dont realize is that nature will continue on even if the human race does not. The natural world has the ability to repair itself over time (even if it takes millions of years). The main reason that the depletion of the natural world is so threatening is because without it humans cannot survive. Too many of the resources that we constantly depend on come from the earth. We are destroying the planet, for now, but ultimately we are destroying ourselves. I think that people assume that technology holds all the answers. That with technology, we can finally bend natures will. But nature is not just plants and animals, it is an agent that is creating and controlling everything in the universe. Nature's will cannot be bent or broken. It does not care if we run out of coal and diamond industry goes under and the jewelry industry follows and the tradition of diamond rings exchanged at a wedding is broken. It does not care if we pollute the waters until we can no longer enjoy a swim, or eat the fish in the sea, or have fresh drinking water. Nature does not care if we run out of food, or supplies needed to create shelter. We can not control it and we will never be able to reproduce it no matter now much technology we create. All we can do is try to preserve what's left and nature will decide what's next.

These pictures ended up being in reverse order, but you get the idea. This is a lighthouse on Lake Eerie.

A new week brings more new plants. This week I planted sage and basal. I also planted some mint rhizomes. This grow laterally in the ground, which I think is really fascinating. I also planted sunflowers, marigolds, a venus flytrap, and a pitcher plant. I got the venus fly trap and pitcher plant outside of class this weekend. Dom and I both went to lowes and found that tropical plants were 75% off! I couldn't pass up a bargain like that. Dom couldn't either. Normally, carnivores plants wouldn't be able to survive in such cold weather conditions, but greenhouses trap the sunlight inside of them and allow plants to survive despite the weather outside.
Carnivores plants are astounding to me because of how much they have had to evolve in order to survive. In a venus flytrap, if the prey is unable to escape, it will continue to stimulate the inner surface of the lobes. This causes a further growth response that forces the edges of the lobes together, eventually sealing the trap hermetically and forming a 'stomach' in which digestion occurs. Digestion is catalysed by enzymes secreted by glands in the lobes. A plant that can digest! It baffles me. Venus fly traps were forced to evolve into what they are today because they live in areas that have little soil and the soil lacks nutrients (such as nitrogen). Their carnivorous traps were evolutionarily selected to allow these organisms to survive these harsh environments.
Recently, I read a CNN article about a carnivores plant that eats rats! Its a giant pitcher plant that botanists discovered on Mount Victoria in Palawan, central Philippines. After I read it I was reminded of a play I saw called Little Shop of Horrors. If you haven't heard of it it's about a plant that lives in a barber shop and survives off of human blood. It's a really amazing play, but it makes me think about how humans, including myself, so often forget that we are not necessarily the most threatening creatures on this planet. There are so many living organisms out there, many of them even undiscovered. Anyways, here is a link to the article: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/18/meat.eating.plant/ AND here are some photos:



A venus flytrap or Dionaea muscipula.



Nepenthes northiana, the meat-eating pitcher plant

Oh yes! I forgot to mention how all my plants are doing. My vegetable garden has finally sprouted. I have five bean plants that have reached over four inches! I saw their cotyledons emerge, saw their first true leaves grow, and saw the cotyledons shrivel away. It's really spectacular; seeing a progression of time through watching these plants. My plants for this class are also doing well. I haven't been to my apartment in a few days so I'm saying this possibly in blind faith, but when I was there a few days ago they were looking nice and perky. I think it will be time to replant them very soon. I would like to get a really nice hanging basket for them, but I lack the porch I also desire to hand them on. Maybe I can make a nice indoor hanging basket of my own. I think that's enough for plant updates. I will leave you with some nature pictures that caught my attention this week:

Trees











Rivers

Personally, I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus's garden in the shade

Everything seems to be going well with the plants! I check them about every other day to see if they needs water and then normally end up giving them a little bit three times a week. I've decided that it's so nice having other living things in my apartment that I am considering buying a pet. I have narrowed it down to a rat or a hedgehog. Today my friends and I drove way out into the country to find this pet store that supposedly carries hedgehogs only to find no pet store at all. We got totally lost. But! We did find a Petsmart and decided that would do for the day. I found a brown and white rat that is very adorable and smart. She has some personality. So I am thinking about getting her. Rats eat vegetables and I could feed her from the vegetable garden I have at the botanical gardens! It would be so perfect. You can potty train hedgehogs though. You can teach them how to use a litter box. They are very intelligent animals. Either one would be exciting! I am a little nervous though, because even taking care of all these plants requires responsibility. I would want to be confident in my ability to be a good pet caretaker. I think I can handle it though. I'm a pretty responsible young lady.

All that aside, I have been researching all the most interesting gardens of the world lately and I would like to share them with you all. They are very fascinating and I really think that gardens can be beautiful works of art. I don't think people always give gardeners enough credit. You have to have an eye for color, you must be very patient, and you have to be able to work well with your hands. It's something I could definitely get into. Maybe I could even make some sort of garden for this class. Anyways! Here are the amazing, creative gardens! Enjoy.



The Garden of Cosmic Speculation is the brainchild of architect and architectural critic Charles Jencks and his late wife Maggie Keswick, an expert on Asian garden design. Open to the public only once a year, the 30-acre garden is on Jencks's private estate in Scotland. It took nearly two decades to complete.



England's Lost Gardens of Heligan have a storied history of prosperity, neglect and rejuvenation. The once glorious Heligan estate fell into disrepair as World War I creeped into England and priorities shifted. Nature took its course in the decades that followed, swallowing the gardens and obscuring the walkways. It wasn't until 1990 that two descendants of the Tremayne family—the owning family of the estate dating back to 1200—discovered a small garden and decided to revamp the site.



Originally destined to become a fruit plantation, the pristine grounds of Thailand's Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden sprawl over 500 acres. With a year-round tropical climate, the location is versatile enough to have cactus and pineapple gardens, as well as more sculpture-based displays, like the bizarre Umbrella Garden.



here are thousands of people around the world who are active aquascapers—men and women who spend countless hours cultivating spectacular landscapes in fish tanks. Some enthusiasts enter their work in competitions, while others merely seek the satisfaction that comes from difficult design work. Larger-scale aquascapes are often displayed at aquariums, and maintaining the vitality of plants submerged in a tank of water poses a host of challenges not associated with potting a few geraniums.



Weighing in at more than a quarter of a ton, Hotel Indigo claims this is the world's largest hanging flower basket. The 20-foot by 10-foot basket hangs from 25 feet up in the air and took engineers three weeks to build and a solid day of work to install. Over 100 varieties of flowers and plants are in the pot, and, given London's reputation for rain, they will likely have a prosperous future.



Not all gardens are about leisure; some are money-making machines. The roughly 20,000 square hectares of greenhouses on the southeast coast of Spain churn out fruit and vegetables by the ton on a year-round basis, fueling the province of Almería's economy. The greenhouses are packed together so tightly that they're visible from space.

Plants! What are they good for? Absolutely Everything.

Again, please use you're imagination and pretend this post is for Friday January 21 2011.

Lately I have been thinking about plants almost every day of the week! I'm also taking a botany class this semester and I now have three house plants. I also have beans, corn, corms, lettuce, carrots, potatoes and a tincture at the botanical gardens. Talk about a lot of plants! I'm very enthusiastic about this whole experience though. I think that gardening is a very rewarding, useful skill to have.
Because I have been around plants so often I have been thinking a lot about why plants are important in the first place. Plants can be used for clothes, they're used for food, they are synthesized to make almost all medicines, they can be used to make paper, they can be used for shelter, AND they're beautiful. Plants are the source of human life. They're everything. So why do people insist on destroying them? People introduce toxins to plants, they move them out of their natural habitats, they clear them out to put buildings all over the land. I'm convinced that only humans destroy beauty. It makes me frustrated at my own kind, at myself. BUT I think that's why I decided to take botany. I want to give something back to the world. I want to be able to plant plants that I know will not ruin the ecosystem and harvest them and use their gifts, whatever they may be. I think this could become a very positive part of my life.
Something else is bothering me now though. It's the lecture we had this past week about water conservation. I couldn't believe the statistics I was hearing. I knew that running out of water was becoming a bigger threat to the world, but I had no idea that it is almost a reality now. What would this mean for agriculture? What would this mean for plants? It's only been a little over a week and I've already grown attached to my garden. I've already given those plants a lot of my time and care. What if one day we all have to stop caring for our own plants because there's not enough water for people to have their own gardens? Water for plants would be limited to the farmers. Farmers that are a part of huge industries, that America would then have to continue to feed in to and it's these industries that consume all the water in the first place. It's just one big cycle.
It really makes me feel like such a small person sometimes. Who am I? I have no political power. Im not a part of any environmental activism groups. I don't tell people that I am fighting for important humanitarian causes. But then I tell myself: Hey! You're Taylor Bultema. You;re taking classes so you can be get informed about these kinds of things. You have a vegetable garden and three house plants and healing a tincture. And I hold on to that because it's the best I got to offer right now and its good enough for me.

My very first house plant

For those of you who don't know I created this blog for a class where I will be learning, discussing, and making art about nature. This blog will be used to document a plant I received on my first day of class. I will also be reflecting on nature and my relationship with my new house plant! Unfortunately, I am a little behind. We were supposed to start this blog two Friday ago, right after we first got the plant. So please use your imagination and pretend this entry is for Friday January 14 2011
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This week I received a brand new house plant. I discovered that my plant is called Chlorophytum comosum, otherwise known as a spider plant. Spider plants are native to South Africa and therefore don't like being below 50 degrees. They need to be watered once a week and can survive in semi-shady to partial-direct sunlight. For class, we had to come up with ideas of how to house our plant and how to help it survive. Here are sketches of my two ideas:




The first picture is a planter that uses negative reinforcement to get me to water the plant. By having the plant set up to an IV I will be reminded that it is a living thing that is capable of die and will therefore remember to water it. The second image is a planter that uses positive reinforcement to get me to water it. If I give the plant water, the water will power the pot to play a song.
When I was first given my plant I was strangely nervous. It's the first plant I have ever been given. With that comes a pressure to keep it alive. I think I felt that if I killed this plant it would prove in my inability to be a good care taker, or a great gardener for that matter. The pressures of having to be responsible for a living being can be very overwhelming, even if it is just a simple house plant. People don't normally get satisfaction from killing things. At the same time I am thankful that I have something to look after that I can call my own. Taking care of things makes people feel like they have a purpose. Which is a very healthy feeling to have. Right after I got my plant I named it Herb. I've already played it a classical song because I heard that that is stimulating for plants ( I should do some research to confirm or deny this). I think the future will only bring more bonding experiences for Herb and I. So far, he's looking mighty healthy. I am a little concerned though because in order for Herb to get sunlight I have to place him by the window and it is quite cold by my window. I had to take him away for a break because he was looking a little droopy one day, I will have to find a solution to this and will share it with you all in the future. Until next time!

TBultema