In a recent discussion about relationships, the son of an Irish horticulturalist said to me "Eh there are millions of interesting plants, anybody who thinks they can compete with that has an over-inflated sense of their own worth."

Just goes to show how plant people take their shit seriously.

But in an ongoing effort to explain to people why I love plants so much (everyone asks me how I got interested in this stuff) I want to submit a TED talk. I would tell everyone to read The Botany of Desire but I know few people will - this vid doesn't take much time, but it does show some of the vast array of tricks that plants, rooted in the soil, will take to "have sex" and prosper. These organisms evolved to make other factors (wind, animals, etc) do the work for them, and be successful at it. They're sneaky, beautiful and complex, and I'd like to point out that until quite recently in Earth's history the "beauty" of flowers was irrelevant as far as humans go. They evolved to attract pollinators that have nothing to do with us - and I find that as fascinating as the beautiful cave formations I posted that no human eyes would ever see. (Just because unlike some religious people I know, the idea that we are really insignificant to the glory of this world fills me with joy to even be a part of it.)

"In gardens, beauty is a by-product. The main business is sex and death." Sam Llewelyn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmVZ8zXJO48


Also, I found another TED talk about urban gardening - window gardening to be specific, and I think it's quite interesting as far as our talks about the economy and working together on a global scale.

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” Frances Hodgson Burnett

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhvfOlPYifY


http://perrone.blogs.com/horticultural/2...-free.html

Incidentally this blog post came up on my feed just as I was about to get the stuff to be an indoor salad farmer. I built my "rig" last night (but have changes I want to make for the next one). It cost about $40 to make, though I think I could have done it for a bit cheaper with some modifications considering I'll be growing salad out of it, and after that initial cost and seed packets, which are about $2.50 a packet and will continue to grow leaves even as some are sheared off for eating, I shouldn't have to buy "spring green" salad mixes from the store for a LOOONG time. Salads greens are "cold weather" plants here - they can't take our summer heat, and thus are perfect plants to keep in a climate controlled area of your house under grow lights to add leafy things to your diet. After seeing the last video, you should know there are a host of things you can grow indoors to save yourself money and eat a little healthier. The all-threads (which I need to put little "feet" on to make steadier" allow me to raise and lower the lid based on plant height. The tub allows me to water from the bottom and not have to worry about drainage issues. I'll be sorting through my leftover seeds and buying perlite this week. Here goes nothing!

(PS - when people see you wandering around with multiple grow-lights, tell them you're following your passion to start a large fish tank with plants in it and then head to the animal section. Trust me on this.)

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Oh, and when I talk about the initial cost - for $40 I have a rig I'll be using over and over to start flowers, herbs, whatever - and could quickly make that money back if I sold the plants at 2-4 bucks a pop. Usually I give shit away to my friends who ask for it, but it's pretty feasible and easy to make money off of plants that basically give you a seed packet's worth for free in one fruit - and that's not counting the plants you can easily take cuttings from as well.

I hate plants...I step all overt them, kill them and eat them

I kill and eat 'em too, but they ARE awesome.

Cool videos. Thanks foor sharing, Summerqueen.

You're so obsessed , but I have no doubt what you say is true. A lot of our nutrition comes from plants and I cant even count how many daily objects we use which are made of wood (which comes from plants). Then you have all the medicines from plants.

Plants are very very important for us as a species.

Passionate. Not obsessed. Passionate.

(December 11, 2011 at 1:04 pm)thesummerqueen Wrote: Passionate. Not obsessed. Passionate.

Passionately Obsessed?

What is obsession?

(December 11, 2011 at 11:10 am)thesummerqueen Wrote: I kill and eat 'em too, but they ARE awesome.

They ARE awesome when they are in a big bowl with some balsamic vin dressing and a nice chunk of medium rare blackened tuna steak on the side with an ice cold Guiness.

I dont have a green thumb. My thumb is for slapping the funk out of my bass and scratching my sphincter...not for growing celery or petunias.

Or hellebore or belladonna or wolfsbane or mandrake...

Or coca or marijuana or tobacco or opium poppies...

Or flax or cotton or bamboo.

Or meadowsweet or comfrey or st. john's wort

We grow your poisons, and we grow your intoxicants and we grow your clothes and your medicines. Our thumbs are for healing, for killing, for partying and for feeding.

Petunias be damned.