PLANeT Plants in Saint Andrews, Victoria | Landmark & historical place

PLANeT Plants

Locality: Saint Andrews, Victoria

Phone: +61 448 188 899

Address: 90 Shaftesbury St Andrews 3761 Saint Andrews, VIC, Australia

Website: lloydgodman.net/bromeliads/Bromeliads.htm

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23.01.2022 Tillandsia dorotheae in flower today. An Argentine species found near Salta that is an introgressive hybrid between T. argentina and T. albertina. Native of Argentina and growing on rocks, saxicolous in bare lands, in crevasses, crags and bluffs.

23.01.2022 Next installment with some ramblings on light, Tillandsias and architecture. The split photograph of the trichomes shows the same section under a microscope wi...th ring light and the image on the right with oblique side light which emphasizes the shadows the trichomes cast. The photograph of the roof screens illustrates the extreme temps some Tillandsias can endure. Trust you enjoy. Light QUALITY In photography light quality can be defined as direct or diffuse. Direct light is observed as sunlight on a clear day, where areas of a subject are fully lit or fall into deep shadow. Diffuse light is soft and comes from many directions, as in overcast cloud cover where no shadows are present. The light is broken up endlessly reflecting as it passes through the clouds and offers even lighting on a subject with few shadows. When light hits a surface, it reflects at the same angle it strikes the object. The angle light hits the object is called the angle of repose while the angle it reflects off at is called the angle of reflection. Direct light is like a ricocheting bullet or how a billiard ball bounces off the cushion. Theoretically, hit the cushion at 45 degrees and the ball bounces off at 45 degrees. The surface of a leaf form or the façade of a building reflects light in the same manner. When light strikes a surface it is either absorbed, reflected, or transmitted. When light is absorbed it is converted to a different form of energy. Sunlight, or white light comprises of frequencies from around 400 to 800 nm which can be broken into the colours of the rainbow. When we look at a red object it is absorbing the other colours and reflecting the red-light waves. The green leaf of a plant is reflecting green and absorbing other wavelengths. The plant is discarding the green light and using the energy of the other colours to grow. The classic process of photosynthesis in plants is an example of how light energy is converted once absorbed. However, light absorption does not occur exclusively in plants, but in all creatures, and inorganic substances. In technical terms, absorption depends on the frequency of the light waves and the nature of the object’s atoms. Light absorption relates directly to wavelength frequency. If they are complementary, light is absorbed. If they are inharmonious, then the light passes through the object or gets reflected. Depending upon the nature of the material absorbed light can be transmitted through the object, as in the wonderful translucent patterns of some plant leaves, or coloured glass. When light is absorbed heat is generated, the greater the spectrum of light that is absorbed, as in a black object, the hotter it becomes. So, the selective absorption of light by a particular material occurs because the frequency of the light wave matches the frequency at which electrons in the atoms of that material vibrate. At some point during the day, objects exposed to sunlight reach terminal absorption. In the heat of summer this can be high and with a changing climate is sure to increase. I have Tillandsia screens sitting on the galvanized iron roof of the house for over 4 years that move over the skylights in hot weather to mitigate heat. On a 40-degree day, the iron was reading 84 degrees C, while the shadow from the plants reduced the temperature to 53 degrees C. While xeric Tillandsias tend to absorb all the light that reaches the internal cells, as mentioned earlier they have trichome cells that are highly reflective and efficient in lowering internal heat. My understanding is that plant DNA dies at 60 degrees C, and it is the highly reflective nature of the trichomes that protect the Tillandsias. However, there is another aspect to consider. By consequence of the reflection from the trichome a shadow is created which cools the plant, and as in the roof screen example, this cooling may be considerable. David Chapin, Calvin Fuller and Gerald Pearson of Bell Labs in the United States are credited with the world's first photovoltaic solar cell in 1954. Currently the technology is still evolving, but the principle is to convert light energy from the sun into electricity. The drawback is that when there is no sunlight there is no energy conversion, so this is solved via a storage battery where energy can be released at any point. Tillandsia plants use a CAM cycle to grow, which means they use a slower but more sophisticated system of photosynthesis. They store the energy like a battery during the day and use it at night to grow. This allows them to close the stomata (the cell that takes in CO2, releases oxygen but transpires water in the process) during the day and open it at night there by conserving water. Driving pass suburbs with endless black tiled roofs with no solar panels on a 40-degree day I wonder about the extreme energy absorption. It is obviously poor design. In tropical regions with higher humidity, the light tends to be more diffuse, while in areas with low humidity the light is more direct and can be harsh. Latitude affects the daylight hours. At the equator, the hours of daylight (12 hours) and darkness (12 hours) are relatively equal. As one moves from the equator north or south the differential increase in summer and decreases in winter. These factors play a role in both growing plants and architectural design.

20.01.2022 A new mask today with Tillandsia capillaris - it is in flower with tiny yellow flowers

20.01.2022 The leaves of this T. delicata were stuck because of quilling, and when more water was applied they released producing this amazing twisted leaf formation.

20.01.2022 Plant 3 - $15 Bromeliad - Aechmea pica Seed parent plant: Aechmea victoriana v. discolor Pollen Parent Plant: Aechmea recurvata... Taxonomic rank: Hybrid Hybridizer: Bullis? DeLeon? Habit: The plant has long slender serrated leaves - similar to Burgundy but the leave are much darker. The pups form on short stolons. Cultivation: The plant is hardy and like all Aechmeas the plant responds to misting - if in a pot, the medium needs to be open and drain quickly. It will grow as an epiphyte on a tree branch or vertical wall garden.

20.01.2022 Not often Available - Bromeliad Nidularium rutlins $20 Known as the bird's nest Bromeliads Nidulariums can grow in lower light conditions. This is a great Nidularium - medium growing plant with vibrant green leaves and bright red bracts when flowering. It keeps the colour for over 6 months. Grow in bright light to intermittent shade. Although it is suggested they respond to temperatures of 13-30 degrees - Mine are out side where the temp drops to near freezing in winter and over 40 in summer.

18.01.2022 First trip to the beach house near Cape paterson since January and then the lockdown. During the intervening time many of the trees I had tillandsias on had dro...pped branches and there were plants all over the ground. Grass had grown up and smothered the tillandsias some had rotted. I salvaged this lot and mounted them on the old disused dunny. See more

16.01.2022 Plant 95 - $20 Billbergia royal vase The plant has vibrant red leaf colour Although Billbergias produce flowers that are shot lived, they are very spectacular. These very hardy plants often have few leaves but they form in such a manner as to produce tall tubular structu res that hold deep reservoirs of water. These leaves are often dusted with silver bands, or the plant may take on an over all silver dusting.

12.01.2022 Tillandsia Anderleigh Margaret Patterson hybrid

11.01.2022 Some Tillandsias have vibrant leaf colour which can be masked by dense trichome cover. However when the plants are watered the trichomes flatten onto the leaf s...urface and become transparent. These two photographs are of the same plant (Tillandsia capitata red) dry and wet, the lighting is exactly the same. At the bottom left a new pup is forming which has not yet from the red anthocyanian pigments. See more

06.01.2022 I set an email to David Benzing about this double flowering Tillandsia straminea - generously he sent this reply that offers an in depth explanation. Thanks D...avid - And now what about that anomalous Tillandsia flower? A fair amount is known about the genetic control of flower development. Simply put, floral ontogeny is mediated in part by a series of organ-determining genes that are expressed in sequence to induce the production of sepals, then petals, then stamens and finally carpels (monocots produce three cartels fused to make the single pistil) from floral primordia located in the developing bud. These genes are in turn regulated by so-called homeotic genes analogous to the genes that mediate many aspects of animal development such as the linearly aligned body segments of fruit flies (where homeotic genes were first discovered). The six stamens produced by most monocots occur in two whorls of three each the two whorls developing separately and again as part of the overall floral sequence. Control of the primordia destined to develop into stamens versus petals tends to be somewhat imprecise hence the frequent occurrence of flowers that include extra petals at the expense of fewer stamens. It’s a pattern that appears to reflect an earlier stage during floral evolution. Relatively primitive flowering plants such as certain waterlilies and Magnolia typically produce flowers that contain many petals born in a single tight spiral (rather than in separate whorls) the latter becoming more stamen-like toward the floral apex. Petals for example rarely become sepals. The carpels being many and separate in these species also are born in that spiral. It’s quite possible that a stress (e.g., low or high temp) of some sort triggered a malfunction during floral development or perhaps a mutation occurred somewhere in the regulatory mechanism itself. Such events are fairly common in certain groups of plants and if genetically fixed yield multifloras versions of roses for examples. In extreme cases all of the floral appendages become petaloid rendering the plant sterile. If such a mutation is somaticoccurring in a vegetative meristem (bud) rather than what will be a sex cell (egg or sperm) the plant’s additional shoots will bear normal flowers. Which of these mechanisms is responsible will be revealed when your plant pups. In the meantime stay healthy. David

06.01.2022 Another gem from the beach trip normally I collect tillandsia seed as it ripens. Because we were not down for 10 months the seed had popped and began to germinate. This tillandsia looked great with the dead flower head and green seedlings

05.01.2022 As words describe a subject for a writer, light describes a subject for a photographer. I taught photography at art schools for 30 years and not surprisingly le...arned a great deal about how light affects a subject. While light can be broken into three key areas: intensity, quality, and direction, photographically it also relates to the nature of the surface and the physical shape of an object. For a photographer, reading light is the key skill one aims to develop and refine. Despite the ubiquitous nature of contemporary photography via phone cameras, light remains the foundation stone. Over the past 20 years my interests have shifted to photosynthesis, plants and how living biomatter might be integrated into architecture in a sustainable manner; like the projects I have engaged in with Tillandsias. However, the more things change the more they remain the same. Not only can the same three critical areas of photography (intensity, quality, and direction) be attributed to how light affects plants, they can be applied to aspects of urban architecture, and even more importantly, a fusion of the two. While not all this relates directly to Tillandsias, over all the connections will emerge. During the next few weeks, I will aim to post more on my ideas about this, so if you are interested keep your eye out for the posts and offer feed back.

04.01.2022 The word Plant becomes Planet when we add e for engage. As part of open studio at the Baldessin press I have plants for sale. Engage and turn plant to planet 10am to 4pm ph 0448188899 to book a spot to have a look