Feb 16 2021 - How Do Plants...

 

How do plants know when to bloom?  Why do some bloom early in the spring and others late in the fall?   Have some snow drops in the greenhouse and I wonder why they aren't blooming.  They were potted up from the garden at Christmas and now there's more light and they are early bloomers.   This article from Washington University HERE says:  Scientists believe they’ve pinpointed the last crucial piece of the 80-year-old puzzle of how plants “know” when to flower. "Determining the proper time to flower, important if a plant is to reproduce successfully, involves a sequence of molecular events, a plant’s circadian clock and sunlight. At specific times of year, flowering plants produce a protein known as Flowering Locus T in their leaves that induces flowering. Once this protein is made, it travels from the leaves to the shoot apex, a part of the plant where cells are undifferentiated, meaning they can either become leaves or flowers. At the shoot apex, this protein starts the molecular changes that send cells on the path to becoming flowers."   And so there are Clematis blooming in the greenhouse, but now Snow Drops.  On the other hand, when I look up "first signs of flowering stage" the articles and mages that are retrieved are all about Cannabis!  That's it's own story. Here's a beautiful blooming view- Toronto's Guild of All Arts in Scarborough. Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Portals

I guess portals have been with us for centuries.  These two are at The Guild Inn, in Scarborough, ON, and would've originally been in the downtown financial district.  The first is imposing and decorative  and likely an entrance to a bank building. A portal is:  "a doorway, gate, or other entrance, especially a large and elaborate one."  It also has a meaning of a magical or technological doorway that connects two locations, dimensions, or points in time.

Mid-Summer Remember - Hiroshima

Today is the 70th anniversary of Hiroshima.  It seems to be an event that haunts our mid-summer each year, so I thought today I'd send two gorgeous summer images.  The first was taken at the Guild Inn, in Toronto, and the second is a beautiful heritage house in Grimsby.