Sunflowers 2016

I bought a pack of sunflower seeds for a few dollars. The packet said they get between 10-16 feet tall. I walked around my apartment and town planting the seeds in early March 2016. There was an abandoned flowerbed at my job site. Bare, I decided to plant more sunflower seeds there early May 2016, just after the last frost. Frost in May, yes. The seeds grew and I had 10 around my apartment and 72 at my job site.

Apartment Sunflower

Job Site Sunflowers

I did see evidence of the plants around town, but they were mowed, a risk I knew I was taking. Five  at my apartment were destroyed by a weed eater, the lawn care people, a risk I knew I was taking. The other 5, I put mulch around them. The mulch help. Out of those 5 remaining, 1 grew to 7-8 feet right now and is producing a flower. The 72 at my job site are between 4-6 feet tall, they were planted much later.

Aerial Photo Apartment Sunflower Estimated 7-8 Feet

Job Site Sunflowers

Enjoy your day!
:)

Venus Flytrap Seed Collection 2016

Venus Flytrap Seed Collection 2016

I got a Venus flytrap in 2014. After that first winter, I separated the single plant into 7 plants in 2015. 3 of those plants lived. They flowered in 2015 and I got 2 poor small looking seeds. The 2016 seeds haven't been looked into yet.

I saw another Venus flytrap plant at the store. It had bigger traps than mine and I wanted another plant. I bought this plant in Winter 2015. I kept it upstairs near a window. It flowered this season. I took a small paint brush and tried to pollinate it. That was months ago. Today I looked and was amazed to see many seeds!

Venus Flytrap Flower Stalk with Seeds

This is a picture of the single flowering stalk. It had a group of white flowers. Now shown is the dried flowers with seeds, the black part, within them.

Single Flower With Seeds of the Venus Flytrap

I carefully cut each flower from the stalk. Then using a saucer, white sheet of paper, and a needle, I harvested and collected the seeds.

Flower|# Seeds Collected
1| 22
2| 20
3| 26
4| 28
5| 28
6| 22
7| 17
Total 163
2 additional flowers did not seem to mature with any seeds. Maybe I missed the pollination, maybe they were just duds.

Collecting the seeds revealed the dispersal mechanism. The seeds are small, black, shiny, and tear shaped having a pointed end and a bulbous end. A seed separated from the flower is pictured with the cut flower, but hard to see. The pointed end of the seed fits into a socket of the flower receptacle. The bulbous end sticks out. When the seeds mature, they are visibly seen on the flower. Maybe due to drying, change in temperature or moisture, or water content of the plant maybe after a rain or watering, the receptacle probably expands and contracts. This pinches the seeds and launches them from the flower. I estimate without any measurements that a seed can be launched a foot away from a flower stalk, with the potential to bounce further if lucky or to flow with water. For harvesting, I pointed the receptacle down, and pushed the flower into the paper; the paper contained within a saucer. The seeds popped out, some bouncing off the paper into the saucer. I then counted the seeds and placed then into a container.

These seeds are larger and more robust looking than the 2 seeds I harvested before. Compared to my previous plant and its clones, this new plant is definitely a breeder.