The high number of visitors to the Conservatory continue to
amaze me. It’s great to see
everyone here! The nice aspect of
having many visitors is that there are more people to talk with about the
Conservatory collection. I'm
always impressed with the folks visiting the Conservatory because they always
have a smile on their face and a 'hello' ready to share.
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| Calathea Plant - in the Palm Dome |
I met a very nice visitor today named Dave. We talked about the plant collection in
the North Garden and then walked into the Palm Dome to identify a beautiful
Calathea floor cover plant that does not have a name label. What is your favorite plant app? I’d like to learn more about what apps that are used by gardeners and botanists!
Dave told me about an app named
"Garden Answers" that will help identify a plant species using a
picture (taken by your cell phone) of the plant's leaf.
In addition to the cell phone apps, another good source of
information for what's going on with the Conservatory plant collections is the
Conservatory Gardner's Blog located at
http://www.comozooconservatory.org/blogs/gardener-blogs/.
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| Fig Tree |
The plant of the day is the Ti (pronounced 'tea') plant -
Cordyline terminalis – also known as the Hawaiian good luck plant! This lovely plant is a member of the
Lily family (Liliaceae). This
plant is found on many Polynesian islands and in the South Pacific. Early Polynesians believed the Ti plant
had divine power. To bring good luck and to dispel evil, fresh leaves were hung
around dwellings, worn around the neck, waist, and ankles, and planted around
homes.
Leaves can be
different colors depending on the cultivar. One really cool use for the Ti plant is to make Hawaiian
hula dancer skirts and ceremonial neck ornaments and other decorations for the
high ranking chiefs and other tribe members. The long leaves have been used as food wrappers, plates,
cups, table coverings, rain capes, thatch, clothes, hula skirts, sandals, and
braided into leis. The leaves have
also been used to create beverages to fight diarrhea, to feed livestock, make
fiber and cloth, store food and to thatch roofs. These plants are grown as both house plants and are used in
yards for landscaping.
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| Ti Plant |
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