WELCOME

Welcome to My Sandbox!

This is my eclectic playpen.  I consider myself a talented (if not unconventional) web designer who is tired of the endless multitude of cookie-cutter sites that look the same.  So I chose to build this site entirely from scratch, coded by hand, with the deliberate intention of breaking custom and convention.  I hope you enjoy my effort.

The Squirting Cucumber
(Ecballium elaterium)

Pressure builds up within the fruits as they ripen so that the slightest contact will cause the fruit to release pressure forcefully, sending seeds, covered in a mucus-like slime, as much as 20 feet away from the plant! They stick to whatever animal came close enough to make them squirt. The mucus is bitter so the animal will avoid mouth contact with the seeds. In time the mucus disintegrates and the seeds fall to the ground.  Unlike the edible cucumbers we grow in our gardens, these are very toxic.  As houseplants, they’re a bit…  messy

The Sensitive Plant
(Mimosa pudica)

Just about everyone has seen or grown the Sensitive Plant at some time in their lives. It’s also called a “Tickle-Me Plant” as well. It’s easy to grow, provides endless entertainment, and produces little pink “powder puff” flowers. It can grow as a perennial, but is mainly re-grown by seed yearly as an annual.  It’s also a fascinating example of how physical sensations can be rapidly transmitted in plants without nervous systems as we think of them.

The Telegraph Plant
(Codariocalyx motorius)

This is my favorite moving plant because I can easily watch it move entirely on its own all day long. Each leaf has two small leaflets that rotate continuously during the day. At night all the leaves point straight down.  Many theories exist as to why it does this, and the prevailing theory has to do with its environment:  It grows in the rainforest and the small leaves move quickly to detect brief and random rays of sunlight shining down through the canopy.  The larger leaf then moves to that position.

The Venus Flytrap
(Dionaea muscipula)

The Venus Flytrap most certainly needs no introduction, so instead I’ll discuss how NOT to kill it:  DON’T plant it in soil.  DON’T give it plant food.  DON’T give it tap water.  DON’T let it sit in water.  DON’T let it dry out.  DON’T keep triggering the traps.  DO plant it in sphagnum moss.  DO keep the sphagnum moist.  DO give it distilled water.  DO give it as much sunlight as possible.  DO let it catch its own bugs.

AND FINALLY:

DON’T freak out when the traps die in the fall – they all turn black and die because it goes dormant each winter.  This is normal.  Healthy VFTs are thrown away because of this.

The Cape Sundew
(Drosera capensis)

Of all carnivorous plants, this is the easiest to grow.  It doesn’t go dormant in the winter like other Sundews.  Give it as much sunlight as you can and set it outside and it will readily catch more than enough insects.  But, like the Venus Flytrap, don’t plant it in soil, don’t give it plant food and don’t give it tap water.  Grow it in sphagnum moss and let it sit in a tray of distilled water, because it likes more water than the VFT.