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March 21, 2009

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You Grow Girl Seedling Growing Collective

Hey Toronto! Let’s grow some seedlings together!

I posted about this in the forums but wanted to push it here as well since seed starting season in Toronto is happening NOW.

So here’s the deal: I’ve managed to secure shelving space in a local, community greenhouse to grow seedlings this spring. Because You Grow Girl is also a community, I’ve wrangled enough space for more than just myself to grow. Many of you are also living in small apartments without the space, money, or supplies to grow healthy seedlings, so I thought this was a good opportunity to share in.

This has come about quickly so I haven’t had much time to work through the logistics; however, what I am thinking is that a few of us share the shelf space and in turn share the daily workload of planting, watering, checking up on seedlings, etc. We can arrange a day to work together to get seeds started so if you are a new seed starter, no worries, I’m happy to walk you through the process.

The greenhouse itself also has some expectations as far as membership goes but they are around volunteering time to the park and greenhouse, not payment.

Seed growers always overdo it so I figure that in addition to growing for ourselves we could also grow some that can be donated to a charity that needs transplants. I have some ideas of those in need, but we can decide on a charity collectively.

Are you interested? The greenhouse is in Trinity Bellwoods Park.

I’d like to get an idea of interest and then decide how to proceed from there. We don’t have much time so if you’re in please comment in the forums and we can continue to work this out together.

Update: Just wanted to let everyone know that the space is filled up now.

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March 20, 2009

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Cactus Bokeh

During our trip to Austin, Texas last week, Ted Forbes, a fellow photo and design geek, drove out to Austin to go on a photo safari. After a series of snafus (mostly my fault), we ended up driving out to Hamilton Pool Preserve, an amazingly gorgeous waterfall about an hour outside of Austin. If you live in the Austin area and have never been, plan to go as soon as possible. It’s one of those places that is so perfect, I suspect it was constructed by aliens.

Unfortunately, we arrived at the preserve about an hour before it closed so there was very little time to explore. We headed straight down to the waterfall and spent all of our time there snapping pictures. On the way back up we walked quickly past a Prairie Restoration Area, and I tell you, I truly wish we’d had more time to explore. It was so, so beautiful. Unbeknown to me, Ted caught a plant discovery on video (it’s just past the first part in which we were making fun of overuse of the word “bokeh”). Watching this video was a bit of an eye-opener for me since this is exactly how I freak out whenever I discover a plant I’ve never seen before. I’ve just never had my ridiculousness played back to me.

Here’s the cactus I was going nuts over:

In the video none of my friends got what all of the fuss was about. But I suspect that you, my fellow plant geek brethren, will.

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January 28, 2009

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Let’s Identify This Euphorbia

While in the Cuban countryside, we came upon a number of very old cemeteries that always sat right next to the ocean. I was told that one cemetery dated back to 1919. How they managed to survive the hurricanes when so many homes with much more distance from the ocean haven’t is beyond me.

This particular type of euphorbia seemed to skirt the edges of all but one of them. That one was fenced by a much tougher euphorbia. This plant looks very similar to Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) and I’ve been struggling to decide if it is or isn’t since our trip. Here’s a closer shot.

My argument FOR identifying it as Poinsettia are:

It gets very scraggly and vine-like when growing in tropical countries. Nothing like the potted plants North Americans display and then subsequently toss every holiday season.
Let’s compare. Here’s a picture I took in Mexico years ago. This particular plant was growing in the tended garden of someone’s backyard. Plants were being watered with hoses through the duration of our stay. So the difference here is a tended plant versus a plant that is left to fend for itself.
It was the dry season, which would account for extra straggliness.
It was growing in sand literally just off the beach. The beach was right on the other side of the cemetery. There were some trees providing a bit of shade but many plants were fully exposed. Let me tell you, it was HOT and the sun was punishing. That’s a lot for a poinsettia to take. They prefer a bit of shade coverage.
Look at the leaves and the little red bracts. They look right, albeit on the small side. But numbers 2, 3, and 4 could account for that.

My argument AGAINST identifying it as Poinsettia are:

I find it shocking to believe that poinsettia could survive that degree of extreme heat, sun and drought. See #4 (above).
There are gazillions of euphorbias in the world. I’ll admit my experience of them barely begins to cover the myriad of species out there. There is a very good chance that there is a plant very similar to poinsettia.
I am not an authority on poinsettias. I can barely stand the plant. Although I will say that I much prefer it growing wild and straggly. The cultivated potted varieties do little for me.

What do you think? Yay or nay?

Photo by Gayla Trail All Rights Reserved
As an aside, here’s another shot of the same cemetery. It was pretty incredible. Sigh. Let’s all get on a plane right now and go to Cuba together. I hear it’s warm there.

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January 12, 2009

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CUBA!

I’m back! I’m covered in mosquito bites. Itchy. I’m sunburned. Also itchy. I’m feeling much more alive and functional than I was before I left, although my brain is also super scrambled from the complexity of this trip.

What a trip! I went in with certain expectations based on our previous trip and a certain familiarity with the area around the hotel we chose. But when we got off the plane we were informed that something was busted at our hotel and there was no water so we were being sent to a “fancy” resort 3 hours from our hotel and to a region (Guama) I knew literally nothing about. This new hotel was considered an upgrade, one we would be happy with if we could stand the idea of spending a week at a resort, but we decided right away that when you go to Cuba you have to expect the unexpected. So we just accepted that whatever happened would be what it was and we would go with it.

It turned out to be much better than I expected. I could do without the dynamics of the resort, but boy was the landscape beautiful. The buildings were situated on the side of a mountain so we were right there with stunning views and amazing plants all around. I found it difficult to reconcile the beauty of the landscape and the complexity of being where I was, in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by poverty, with the ugliness of resort life. But again, we just decided to chalk it all up to experience and soak it all in.

Anyways… the plants. Bromeliads and tillandsia everywhere! Some flowering. Palms of every kind. I hugged a lot of palms. This region, more than the area closer to Santiago was covered in the majestic Cuban Palm (Roystonea regia), the national plant of Cuba. What a gorgeous, regal plant! I’m so glad I got the chance to get up close to them this time around.

To my surprise and delight the hotel had a stunning botanical garden as well as a productive food garden. I was also able on this trip to see more agriculture and gardens. So while I missed a second chance to visit the Cactus Garden, I got a lot of unexpected and equally amazing botanical experiences in exchange.

I have lots to write about but I also have a ton to accomplish on my first day back. More soon.

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December 31, 2008

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The Last Post for 2008

It’s that time of year again. I’m supposed to write some kind of rundown of the year highlighting the ups and downs. Look to the future. Make resolutions. Count my blessings. Recap events. Write some kind of list, maybe? But the brain. The brain is dead. The brain was worked overtime for too long and has nothing left to give. I am a shell of my former self. I’m not depressed, just depleted.

But never mind all that. I’ve been a broken record of “poor me” lately to the point of embarrassment, but in a few days I am off to refuel. I should have done this ages ago but the schedule wasn’t permitting, nor was the money, and then there was the sudden realization that something had to give. Now or never. And so I’m off to recapture a bit of the summer that was lost staring at a computer screen for too many hours. Off to spend a few days refueling, refreshing, and experiencing all of my favourite things: sun, warm breezes, ocean, PLANTS, fish, greenery, grasses, rocks, birds, taking photos, seeing, smelling, listening, walking. I’m not a sit on the beach vacationer. I can’t stand the idea of lounging around with a whole new world to discover. What I always seem to need more than rest and relaxation when my perspective is swayed by exhaustion and depletion is to SEE things, have small adventures, and experience those little moments of wonder that bring me back to who I am and what I value most in life.

Funny how plants got me here in one way, yet they are also always a big part in finding my way back.

Oddly enough, by chance and luck, we are going back to Santiago de Cuba. I never thought I’d go there again and yet I am. I’m pretty excited about it for about a million reasons and am absolutely crazed with anticipation about getting to see some of the things we missed or had to pass over too quickly. One of the things that comes immediately to mind is The Cactus Garden. I had to run through it like a maniac last year. This time I hope to spend lots of time looking at each plant and watching the teeny, tiny hummingbirds flutter from one agave flower to the next.

If you’d like to see some of the pictures I took last year I have some plant photos here and non plant photos over here.

I hope you all have a great holiday and get a chance to spend some time filling up with the things that inspire you most and keep you in touch with who you are. Until next year!

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You Grow Girl™

Books by Gayla Trail

You Grow Girl Seedling Growing Collective

Cactus Bokeh

Let’s Identify This Euphorbia

CUBA!

The Last Post for 2008