Diversion No. 1
Countless members of the
Gryllus bimaculatus clan, also known as field crickets, have faced off in the Beijing’s narrow alleys in a revival of a uniquely Chinese blood sport whose provenance extends back more than 1,000 years, reports The New York Times. Last year, more than 400 million renminbi, or about $63 million, were spent on cricket sales and upkeep, according to the Ningyang Cricket Research Institute in Shandong Province.
Indoors, watch out for the amaryllis! The plastic pots they come in all too often tip under the weight of the beautiful blooms. Instead, drop them, plastic pot and all, into a clay one, which is heavy and stable enough to support the top heavy display.
Like most of our Christmas season gift plants, they can dry out at an astonishing rate. And all will appreciate regular fertilizing, as will any other houseplants in bloom this month. But put all the rest on diet – no nutrients until March. This will encourage semi-dormancy during the long, dark, dreary months of winter when indoor growing conditions are grim.
Diversion No. 2
The flower nectar causing Australia’s red-collared lorikeets to become regularly sozzled have been revealed as those of
Schotia brachypetala, known as the drunken parrot tree. Originally from southern Africa, it has become popular in gardens in Australia’s Northern Territory because it produces masses of ornamental red flowers.
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) has estimated that 12 million people now seek treatment for indoor allergies and six million are so seriously affected they need specialist help. While it is not the complete answer, perhaps they should be made aware of the ability of many houseplants to clear indoor pollutants. Brightens up the home, also especially in the long gloomy winter months. This was established over a quarter century ago when NASA released the results of an extensive study. A single 10-inch hanging basket of spider plant,
Chlorophytum, was said to be sufficient to freshen the air of an average-sized room.
Diversion No. 3
Italy’s Patrizia ‘Black Widow’ Reggiana, who used to spend $15,000 a month on orchids prior to being convicted of arranging the murder of her husband multi-millionaire fashion heir Maurizio Gucci, now shares her prison cell with potted plants and a pet ferret reports
Maclean’s. She will be over 80 before completing her 26-year sentence imposed in 1998.
On the subject of orchids that, across the pond, are Britain’s second most popular potted plant after poinsettias, still maintain their mystique and fascination. On the remote island of New Britain, off the coast of Papua New Guinea, Dutch orchid specialist Ed de Vogel made an astonishing discovery when he was allowed to collect orchids in a logging area. He discovered the world’s first known orchid that flowers only at night. But
Bulbophyllum nocturnum proved a puzzlement for Dr. de Vogel. Back at the Hortus Botanicus in Leiden, the Netherlands, the orchid produced flower buds but they failed to open. In an attempt to discover what was going on Dr. de Vogel took the orchid home. There one night he discovered a bud that opened at 10 p.m., closing the following morning. Just why
B. nocturnum chooses to be a lady of the night remains a puzzle. Botanists have suggested that since the blooms resemble fungus, perhaps they emit a scent undetectable to people but that attracts pollinating flies.
Diversion No. 4
Drinking cherry juice can help you sleep an extra 25 minutes a night, a study by researchers from the School of Life Sciences at Northumbria University, U.K., has found. Montmorency cherry juice significantly increases the levels of melatonin in the body, the hormone that regulates sleep say the scientists. Their study was published this in the European Journal of Nutrition. Queen Victoria’s favourite tipple was cherry brandy, made from the same Montmorency cherry juice. Perhaps she was on to something.
Far away from the rain forests of Papua New Guinea and orchid hunting botanists, horticulture is being practiced aloft. Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are attempting to grow vegetables, herbs and fruit in the space. The scheme is to learn how to raise food for future space voyagers heading out on prolonged trips to Mars and perhaps, one day, beyond. There, weightlessness poses a problem for plants as well as people. Scientists have devised a shoe-box-size growth chamber sown with arcillite, grains of clay enriched with time-release nutrients and capable of holding water via surface tension instead of gravity, explains Victoria Jaggard in the current issue of
National Geographic magazine. But, she writes, for safety reasons U.S. astronauts haven’t yet been allowed to sample the bounty. Perhaps the powers-that-be are unaware of the designation NOEL used in other scientific circles: no observable effect level. Well, at east of unworldly effects.
Now let us sign off for 2011 with yet another offering from Ogden Nash who wrote in his ‘A Carol For Children’:
“God rest you, merry Innocents/Let nothing you dismay/Let nothing wound an eager heart/Upon this Christmas day.”
