Roof garden: Part 1

Sorry I should have posted this in Winter 2014-15 instead of Winter 2015-16


In anticipation of Spring along with an undeniable craving for more plants around me I think I got a bit carried away buying bulbs, seeds and seedlings to grow. On the heater (which I do not use) under one window amidst the African violets (Saintpaulia) are some Daffodils (Narcissus) and Grape hyacinths (Muscari neglectum), not to mention to Begonias which I am still waiting to see signs of life from.

So with one window chock full of plants already I pretty much did the same to the other. Here (above) I have Asiatic Lilies (Lilium), Siberian Irises (Iris sibirica), Dicentras (Lamprocapnos spectablis), Aquellegias and Fuscias.

I also have more pots of lily bulbs on top of my cupboard.

What can I say they were on sale and my green fingers started itching when I saw them. Okay there were several other reasons. One being that I wanted to be able to get photos of more plants as well as more varieties within each genus or even species (variations and sub species). Another reason was that having the plant myself would mean that I could be in a better position to photograph it at leisure not to mention manipulate it better and even cut the flowers and or pull the whole plant up to photograph its root structure etc.
Basically owning a plant gives me much greater flexibility, freedom and control over what and how I could photograph it especially if I want to take more detailed photos showing specific characteristics of certain plants. I also wanted to be able to show the planting and growth process.

Then as you can see how things were getting a bit crowd with onion and garlic bulbs, Hostas, Dutch irises and Glorisia lilyies and fuscias e inside which is why it was getting a bit crowded.

On the window sill outside I put some Nasturtiums that I had transplanted from their seeding tray into some planting troughs. I was worried about the cold but the seem to be doing fine so far. The daytime lows are around 10 degrees Celsius which is why due to our fridge being too small for the number of people in our flat, I often put milk outside on those few occasions I buy milk. So far the plants I have decided to risk outside seem to be holding up.

Binomial Name: Saintpaulia

Common names: African Violet (English); Violet African (French); (Samoan); 

Taxonomic hierarchy: 

Kingdom: Plantae - Plants

Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae – Green plants

Infrakingdom: Streptophyta – Land plants

Superdivision: Embryophytea – 
Division: Tracheophyta – Vascular plants, tracheophytes

Subdivision: Spermatophytina – Spermatophytes (seed plants)

Infradivision: Angiospermae – Angiosperms (flowering plants)

Class: Magnoliopsida – Diocotyledons

Superorder: Asteranae – Asterids

Order: Lamiales –

Family: Gesneriaceae – 

Genus: Saintpaulia – 

Species: Saintpaulia inonatha, Saintpaulia rupicola, Saintpaulia brevipilosa

Notes: 

• I am using the taxonomical classification system used by ITIS (Intergrated Taxonomic Information System). I have decided to use this system in order to avoid confusion as well as because it offers a comprehensive hierarchy from kingdom right through to subspecies whereas other sources only go as far as order or  provide the names of some of the higher taxonomical ranks but only indicate "unclassified" rather than providing the rank.
• When and where possible I will endeavour to include alternatives classifications although  I may limit this to occasions where an opportunity arises to discuss the reason for the different classifications.
• Taxonomical data used in this post was retrieved [February 11 2015], from the Integrated Taxonomic Information System on-line database, http://www.itis.gov.

References:

Books:

• 
  

On-line sources:

• Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Entry for Saintpaulia
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Entry for Narcissus
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Entry for Muscari neglectum
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Entry for Begonia
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Entry for Lilium
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Entry for Iris sibirica
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Entry for Dicentras spectablis
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Entry for Dicentras spectablis alba
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Entry for Aquellegias
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Entry for Fuscias.
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Entry for
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Entry for
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Entry for
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System: Entry for
•  
• United States Department of Agriculture: Entry for Celosia argenta L.
• The Plant List: Entry for Celosia
• University of Tennessee Herbarium Entry for Celosia argentea
• 
  
• Texas A & M University: Entry for Celosia (Celosia cristata)
• Missouri Botanical Garden: Entry for Saintpaulia ionatha
• 
  
• Dave's Garden Entry for Celosia
• Grow African Violets
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for Asparagales
• Wikipedia: Entry for Asparagaceae
• Wikipedia: Entry for Amaryllidaceae
• Wikipedia: Entry for Iridaceae
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for Iris sibirica
• Wikipedia: Entry for Lilium
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for Liliales
• Wikipedia: Entry for Liliaceae
• Wikipedia: Entry for Muscari
• Wikipedia: Entry for Muscari neglectum
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for
• Wikipedia: Entry for Saintpaulia
• Wikipedia: Entry for Gesneriaceae
• Wikipedia: Entry for Lamiales
• Wikipedia: Entry for Asterids
• Wikipedia: Entry for Amaranthaceae
• Wikipedia: Entry for Caryophllales

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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· Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/
· The Blood of Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

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