{"id":476,"date":"2025-04-28T10:17:45","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T15:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenwbrown.com\/?page_id=476"},"modified":"2026-03-14T12:16:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T17:16:42","slug":"test","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lenwbrown.com\/","title":{"rendered":"WELCOME"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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Look What I Can Grow!<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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I sell African Violet plants and custom accessories.\u00a0 Depending on the season, plants are not always available.\u00a0 However, non-perishable products are always available.\u00a0 If you see plants you want that are not currently for sale, let me know and I’ll gladly notify you when they are.\u00a0 My webcam and blog are both active year-round.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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Here’s just a few of the plants I like to grow:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Squirting Cucumber
\n<\/strong><\/span>(<\/strong>Ecballium elaterium)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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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.\u00a0 Unlike the edible cucumbers we grow in our gardens, these are very toxic.\u00a0 As houseplants, they’re a bit…\u00a0 messy<\/h6>\n
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The Sensitive Plant
\n<\/strong><\/span>(<\/strong>Mimosa pudica)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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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.\u00a0 It’s also a fascinating example of how physical sensations can be rapidly transmitted in plants without nervous systems as we think of them.<\/h6>\n
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The Telegraph Plant
\n(<\/span><\/strong><\/span>Codariocalyx motorius)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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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.\u00a0 Many theories exist as to why it does this, and the prevailing theory has to do with its environment:\u00a0 It grows in the rainforest and the small leaves move quickly to detect brief and random rays of sunlight shining down through the canopy.\u00a0 The larger leaf then moves to that position.<\/h6>\n
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The Venus Flytrap
\n(<\/span><\/strong><\/span>Dionaea muscipula)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Venus Flytrap most certainly needs no introduction, so instead I’ll discuss how NOT<\/span> to kill it:\u00a0 DON’T<\/span> plant it in soil.\u00a0 DON’T<\/span> give it plant food.\u00a0 DON’T<\/span> give it tap water.\u00a0 DON’T<\/span> let it sit in water.\u00a0 DON’T<\/span> let it dry out.\u00a0 DON’T<\/span> keep triggering the traps.\u00a0 DO<\/span> plant it in sphagnum moss.\u00a0 DO<\/span> keep the sphagnum moist.\u00a0 DO<\/span> give it distilled water.\u00a0 DO<\/span> give it as much sunlight as possible.\u00a0 DO<\/span> let it catch its own bugs.<\/h6>\n
AND FINALLY:<\/span><\/h6>\n
DON’T<\/span> freak out when<\/span> the traps die in the fall – they all turn black and die because it goes dormant each winter.\u00a0 This is normal.\u00a0 Healthy VFTs are thrown away because of this.<\/h6>\n
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The Cape Sundew
\n(<\/span><\/strong><\/span>Drosera capensis)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Of all carnivorous plants, this is the easiest to grow.\u00a0 It doesn’t go dormant in the winter like other Sundews.\u00a0 Give it as much sunlight as you can and set it outside and it will readily catch more than enough insects.\u00a0 But, like the Venus Flytrap, don’t plant it in soil, don’t give it plant food and don’t give it tap water.\u00a0 Grow it in sphagnum moss and let it sit in a tray of distilled water, because it likes more water than the VFT.<\/h6>\n
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Look What I Can Grow! I sell African Violet plants and custom accessories.\u00a0 Depending on the season, plants are not always available.\u00a0 However, non-perishable products are always available.\u00a0 If you see plants you want that are not currently for sale, let me know and I’ll gladly notify you when they are.\u00a0 My webcam and blog […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lenwbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/476"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lenwbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lenwbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lenwbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lenwbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476"}],"version-history":[{"count":139,"href":"https:\/\/lenwbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1664,"href":"https:\/\/lenwbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/476\/revisions\/1664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lenwbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}