During the build-up to the bloom phase, the titan can grow between approx. 1-3 inches a day. I find that remarkable. This titan's bloom date is projected to be sometime midweek.
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| As of today, I think she stood around 2' tall. |
I also discovered a couple of really interestingly scented orchids during my shift today.
The orchids in the photo below give off a lovely, cinnamon scent. When visitors asked me what I found interesting in this particular gallery, I took them over to the 'spice orchid', as I referred to it. (I couldn't find a name spike for it, so there you go.)
These sort of weeping willow-looking blooms smelled vaguely of lemon-scented cleaning agent. -not really all that pleasant, to be honest!
But back to cinnamon--I had some really fun interactions with children regarding the cinnamon tree we have at the Conservatory. Well, we have two, actually, but the Ceylon (Sri Lankan) cinnamon plant yields a much larger leaf than that of its SE Asian counterpart & its scent is also more robust. The gardener was kind enough to cut down for me a rather sizable branch of the Ceylon cinnamon. I didn't tell the children in advance from which plant the branch came. I then invited them to choose the leaf they wanted before plucking one off and handing it over. They were told to scratch a bit of the stem with their fingernail before smelling the stem.
'What does that smell like?'
'Cinnamon!!!'
One little girl, aged 6, then demonstrated everything I had shared with her to a friend who had arrived a bit later. She'd remembered virtually everything I had told her about the cinnamon & had a great delivery. I was duly impressed. Her mother whispered to me that her daughter suffers from stage fright. I told her, that I thought her daughter was sort of on stage right now! She agreed.
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| Ceylon Cinnamon leaf, about 6'' in length |
How sweet. I was going to order a cinnamon plant online, but decided not to as I'd probably kill it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder, though, if your climate matches the lowland tropics in any way. If so, then it might be a go! :D
DeleteI never realised that there was more than one cinnamon plant. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I really didn't either. I think what we here find in the store is usually cinnamon from Vietnam.
DeleteCinnamon is such an evocative smell. It triggers comfort for me, always.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was fifteen I grew 8 inches in a year - which I always thought was impressive. I have been put to shame by a corpse flower.
Haha!
DeleteYou would love the smell of the Ceylon leaf stem. It's really a robust scent.
Such a lovely spiked orchid.
ReplyDeleteI never actually realised where cinnamon comes from / how it is grown. Trees, shrubs or plants. Shame shame.
Nevertheless it's one of my favourite spices :-)
Also of note: the bark is removed & dried in preparation for being used as a spice!
DeleteHow great to have impressed a child, so. I have a scrubby little orchid presented me by a granddaughter, ten years ago. When it grows a fifth leaf, a bottom one dies, so only four remain. It blooms every year. It must like me and/or appreciate its home.
ReplyDeleteHow fantastic that your orchid plant is still kicking. I think the child rather impressed me, to be honest. :)
DeleteIt's always a little disconcerting to hear someone else repeat your words, isn't it? But kind of fun at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't believe that she'd paid such good attention! It was a trip.
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