CULT: timing of growth & bloom
- To: i*@onelist.com
- Subject: CULT: timing of growth & bloom
- From: M* H* <M*@worldnet.att.net>
- Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 13:08:13 -0700
From: Marte Halleck <MorJHalleck@worldnet.att.net>
Recent bloom reports from the S. African & Oz contingents has caused
this North American to wonder -- how do plants endemic to the northern
hemisphere "know" when to bloom in the southern hemisphere & vice versa?
My brain can more-or-less get around the idea that plants you raise from
seed make the adjustment easily -- perhaps their growth instructions
aren't hard-wired to the extent they are in mature plants & the internal
clock (genes?) only starts once the seed germinates, wherever in the
world this happens. But if you're starting with imported
bulbs/tubers/rhizomes, which in a sense are mature plants at rest, isn't
the reawakened plant terribly confused?
Sally Guye mentioned that bearded iris rz she has obtained from the US
*generally* take a year or more before blooming for her in SA & maybe
that's the answer -- the internal clock needs a run of seasons before it
can make the adjustment to living in the "wrong" part of the world.
This is probably silly but it intrigues me. Personally, I have a heck of
a time thinking of October-November as SPRING & it makes me wonder how
irises & other plants deal with living upside down, as it were.
Comments?
Marte in the mtns Zone 4/Sunset 1 Colorado/USA -- where the weather
continues to teeter-totter between FALL & WINTER (but I'd put my money
on the latter...)
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