Mangroves

 

 

 

At a nature center in Ding Darling preserve I finally got an answer to my question about what those bean looking things are that are often found on the beach on Sanibel and Captiva. The first picture is a poster showing the germination of mangrove seed. the flowers are pollinated by bees and the seed actually germinates and elongates through the fruit. It finally drops off into the water and floats away. Eventually one end of the propagule as the germinated seed is called becomes waterlogged and drops down in the water so that the propagule floats in an upright position.It will hopefully touch a suitable site and root there. the last picture shows the propagules floating vertically.
Mangrove roots form the basis of a nursery for many marine organisms including oysters, crabs, and shrimp. In the second picture you can see the shells clinging to the roots. Mangroves help prevent erosion by stabilizing and actually building land.
The area around the mangrove roots is very smelly as the root zone is usually anaerobic and produces such things as methane and sulfides. There are also a lot of mosquitoes and no-see-ems that are laying in wait for you if you get too close. so look quick and move on, but they have an important job to do for our world.

Sanibel island is Noted for Shells

 

This picture gives you an idea of the number if not the diversity of shells at Sanibel Island, Florida. The beach is littered with caches of shells, even mounds in places. Having just returned from a wonderful few days there, it is very fresh in my mind, even though there were fewer shells there this time than any other time I have been. One woman on the beach said there were fewer shells in the fall than any other season. She did not say why. There were still gobs of shells but they tended to be much smaller in size. In a mound like the one pictured here we found tiny conchs, tulips and several other spiral kinds of shells. I did find a huge lightning whelk (about a foot long), but it had a live animal in it and taking live shells is prohibited. It had apparently been washed up in the tide and was digging down in the sand to escape the sun when I found it. (I will post that picture later.)After admiring it we waded out as far as possible and tossed it as far out as we could to make sure it did not come ashore again.

Pretty Funny Signs

While we are waiting for me to return from the beach, I found this for your entertainment. Some is fairly risque but all of it is funny. Click here to go to the site.

Voltaire Quotes

Voltaire wrote, "God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."

And, "To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered."

And, "Let us read and let us dance ... two amusements that will never do any harm to the world."

I ripped these from the Writer's Almanac. I think they are just as applicable as they were in the 1700's. People don't change much, do they? I do think the last quote may not be exactly true. Reading may cause thinking (o no, Bob) and thinking tends to stir things up, a fact that many do not like.

Deer Shop and Go to Church

A Deer in the Target by Robert Fanning

I only got a ten-second shot,
grainy footage of the huge deer
caught in the crosshairs
of a ceiling security camera, a scene
of utter chaos in a strip mall store,
shown on the late local news.
The beautiful beast clearly scared
to death in this fluorescent forest,
its once graceful legs giving out
on mopped floors, think Bambi
as a faun its first time standing.
Seeing the scattering shoppers,
you'd think a demon had barged
into this temple of commerce,
as they sacrificed their merchandise,
stranded full carts and dove for cover.
And when the aisles were emptied
of these bargain hunters, who was left
but an army of brave red-shirted
team members, mobilized by
the store manager over the intercom
to drive this wild animal out.
I wager there's nothing on this
in the How to Approach
an Unsatisfied Shopper
section in the Target employee handbook,
but there they were: the cashiers
and stockers, the Floor Supervisor,
the Assistant Floor Supervisor,
the Store Manager,
the Assistant Store Manager,
the District Associate Manager,
the District Supervisor,
the District Assistant Supervisor
and visiting members from
the Regional Corporate Office,
running after it, it running after
them, bull's eye logos on their red golf shirts,
everyone frenzied and panting: razor hooves
clattering on the mirror-white floor tiles,
nostrils heaving, its rack clearing
off-season clothes from clearance racks.
All of them, in Target,
chasing the almighty buck.


A couple of years ago a deer burst through the plate glass windows at Auburn United Church on a Sunday morning and lead a merry chase till it was apprehended by the Auburn police. It is tempting to try to make some connection here (was the church deer praying for the shopping deer or vice versa?)but I suspect that it is more the result of deer being crowded out of their habitats and being forced to live in the city where things can become very confusing.

Marvelous Animal Pictures

Here are some unique animal pictures. Click here to take a look.

Collecting Seed

 

 

 

Fall is typically the best time for finding the most seed ripe for collecting. I enjoy participating in the American Horticultural Society Seed Exchange, so every fall I check around to see what plants I have with lots of seed. This year the definite winner was South African foxglove. In the middle picture you can see the little pouches of seed that have two sharp ears. Believe me, they are sharp and will get you if you are not careful. The pouch opens up as it dries and the small black seed pop out at the least shaking of the plant. The easiest way for me to collect seed is to get a bunch of large paper grocery sacks. These are not as easy to accumulate as they used to be since most stores use that infernal plastic and put in one item per bag. It would work almost as well to just carry the groceries in your hands. But I digress.
Take the bags to the garden and cut off the whole stem with the seed and drop it quickly upside down in the sack. Be sure to hold it upright till it is over the bag. This works well with all kinds of flowers and seed. When you are through collecting, close the top of the bag and shake to jar the seeds loose. I usually let them set in the bags in the house (it is dryer there) for a day or so, then shake again. Then I pull out the stems and throw them somewhere I would not mind having a few volunteers. I do NOT throw them in the compost. The seed can then be poured into a pan or bowl and allowed to dry a few more days before being packaged up for storage. It is very important that stored seed be completely dry or mold may start to grow on them and ruin the whole batch. I usually store my seeds in a zip lock or film canister (saved from when we used film)or other small bottle or jar. LABEL. This is extremely important. Put the name of the plant and the year collected at the very least. You will NOT remember unless you label.
Fleshy seed like the ones in the third picture need either additional drying to make sure they do not mold, or else planted immediately.
Collecting the seed when they are ripe is also extremely important. If they are picked immature, the seed will not germinate. Seed in fleshy fruit is typically ripe when the the fruit is ripe. If the fruit is edible, you can be pretty sure the seed are ready when the fruit is ready for eating, for example an apple or orange. If the fruit in not edible, it is best to wait till it drops off the plant and then collect the seed from the flesh. One time I collected seed from an osage orange. Eee Oweee what a mess!
Seed from daisy type plants or other seed that form in pods is ripe typically when the seed pod or flower dries and turns brown. Harvest too early and the seeds will not be viable, harvest too late and the seed will already be dispersed. Seed pods open to release the seed and when you notice the pods beginning to open, get ready to collect. If you have to dig the seed loose from the pod or seedhead, they are probably immature and will not germinate.
This week I saw some seed of Empress Tree for sale at the flea market. The green pods were sealed in ziplock bags and moisture had collected inside. I would guess that the seed in the pod might not be mature, but even if they were mature, they were likely to go through a heat in the bag and that would kill the seed.
Seed collection is a fun project and one that enables me to trade plants with people across the country and across the world. (I have sent and received seed from Reunion Island in the Caribbean).