Monday, March 26, 2012

Ypsilandra thibetica...we waited along time for this to flower

And it couldn't be plainer. Hey, it's nice. I don't want to hurt it's feelings. Actually pictures of it show a much more attractive plant. White petals are missing. There are three possibilities. They're coming, they're done, or this  is it. I see petals, they're greenish so I'll just watch them to see if they turn white. I''m not feeling optimistic but I'm going to do it anyway.

It's in the Melanthiaceae, a family with some of my favorite genera: Xerophyllum, Helonias, Trillium, Veratrum, ... . I have a vague childhood memory of vastly preferring dicots to monocots. At this point in my life I could almost grow only monocots. That's not true; I'd miss a lot of dicots especially Asclepiads. Anyway, things change.

I planted it in a perfect spot about five years ago. It did well for two years. Then a tree fell on it. A huge Cedar that went down in blizzard conditions. The next year, newly exposed by the loss of the tree, they roasted in the sun. The year after that, Amanda took pity on it and moved it into a shady location. I thought it was too shady; I was wrong. They marked time for two years, didn't seem to grow much and didn't flower. But this spring they finally bloomed.

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