Guus Bosman

software engineering director


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Plants

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plants

New starfish

When we lived in Haarlem, the Netherlands we had a beautiful cactus; a present from my grandmother. The full name is Stapelia Grandiflora, or Starfish for short.

Several years ago I found a starfish at a local store but it was sick. I bought it for $1 and tried to revive it for several weeks, but all the cuttings were infected.

I'm going to the Netherlands in a few weeks and when making my list of things I'd like to bring back to the States I regretted once again that I couldn't bring the starfish. I searched for starfish on-line and found it at the Tucson Gardener, a store in Arizona.

The plants arrived yesterday, with a very nice letter from Dave, the owner, and the plants are healthy and strong. I've put them in water for the roots to develop.

plants

Failed experiment

Chervil plants.Almost all my chervil plants died this week when I forgot to water them.

It is safe to say that growing herbs has been unsuccessful for me, and for the herbs.

Perhaps I'll find chervil soup when I'm in the Netherlands for a week at the end of November.

plants

Let's try this again

Plants.We're both under the weather -- colds and that sort of thing. It's tiring since we don't sleep very well; hopefully it will be over soon.

Anyway, it gives me time to do some homey things. Two years ago I tried growing some herbs. That went well until most of them died when I forgot to water them. I'm trying it again. I'm growing only 1 herb this time, to minimize confusion. It's chervil, or kervel in Dutch, which is a popular cooking herb in the Netherlands. A few weeks ago I actually dreamt of chervil soup.

Today I spent quite some time on my French. I'm reading my first real French book in years, Salut et Liberté, which is a nice challenge. It's a detective story, 45 pages long, and it's good way of getting (re)started with a language. There is a lot of dialogue, and a story that makes you want to turn the page to see what's going on.

plants

Poor plants

Poor plants.In the last 6 months we've traveled quite a lot for work, mostly between North Carolina and New Jersey. The plants in our apartment in Durham have survived quite well, thanks to help from friends.

We bought a few plants for the apartment in New Jersey also, to make it a little more cozy.

They are are tough enough so survive a week without water, although they look like this after that week (a few hours after getting water they will be fine again).

plants

Unknown herb (3) - paprika

Paprika.The paprika plant that was a mystery for a while, is getting fruit!

There were two flowers next to each other, and one of them is now growing a beautiful green pepper.

plants

Unknown herb (2)

Unknown herb.Well, the mystery is getting closer to a solution -- the unknown plant has its first flower. And indeed, it looks like a pepper or paprika plant like many readers suggested two months ago.

Perhaps I should start placing it on the balcony, for some direct sunlight. At the other hand, it's doing quite well in the study room.

plants

Beautiful plant

Beautiful plant.We received a beautiful plant this week via the mail, a present from Jerry and Marjolein. It's a bromelia and a pink orchid.

The plant arrived in a very solid box, with lots of protective materials and it arrived in perfect state. We transferred it from it's temporary pot to a permanent one, and it's beautiful and cheers up the living room. Thank you!

plants

Unknown herb

Unknown plant.A few months ago I planted various herbs. Sadly, most of them died, but two plants survived.

Last weekend I tried one of the basil plants, and I took a bite from its leaves.

Well, it turned out that it wasn't basil. Now I'm not sure what plant it is.

plants

Growing herbs (3)

Growing herbs.My first experiment in growing herbs was not entirely successful. Of all the seedlings I planted, only one grew out to a full and healthy plant, the others didn't make it. I'll try it again.

I'm not sure of what type the surviving plant is, we'll find out over time.

We didn't go to the official fireworks in the Bull's stadium last night since the weather was really bad. We went for a walk around the Duke golf course, and about half way we heard a thunderstorm coming our way -- we made it out just in time before the rain began. There was a lot of lightning, at least one per minute.

plants

Growing herbs (2)

Growing herbs.I transplanted some of the herbs that I planted three weeks ago.

It's the first time I'm doing this; I'm curious to see how things will work out. Not all plants looked ready to go outdoors, so I'm keeping about half of them inside.

The weather has been really nice, but with the herbs outside I'm a bit worried about frost at night. It would be rare, but one night could be enough to do damage. I haven't found an RSS feed yet that can tell me if there's frost predicted for our area.

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