Jardinerong Sunog (the Burnt Gardener)

In a bid to rekindle the lost fire between myself and aquatic plants, I recently placed an order for some bucephalandras- a perfect choice I reckon, given my interest in both aroids and aquatic plants. Now, despite experience in maintaining a wide range of aquatics, admit I must that I have never yet tried my hands on any Bucephalandra . That changes today. Bucephalandra 'S Blue' Now, I know I said 'aquatic plants' and all, but maybe I should establish at the onset that I intend to maintain the plants in an emersed state. I do have tanks, but I am not yet willing to take the full aquatic gardening plunge, so to speak. That will come much later. Potting up the plants is straightforward and done exactly with the same methods as outlined in a previous post about Cryptocoryne . But for the lazy, I only used repurposed containers with gravel beneath, topped by filter wool and overlaid with a layer of activated carbon, then topped again by filter wool.  The deepest layer con...

An Asiatic genus of aquatic aroids, Cryptocoryne (kreep-to-ko-rye-ne) are popular plants for aquatic gardeners but seldom kept by mainstream aroid collectors. I think they're missing out! During the dry season, then water levels in their habitats recede, leaving the plants partially to wholly exposed. During these periods, the so-called 'immersed' foliage dies away, to be replaced by 'emersed' leaves; these are shorter and more compact with denser cuticles that allow the plants to tolerate atmospheric air. It is during this (semi-)terrestrial stage that the plants are triggered to bloom. Despite being on the small side, Cryptocoryne inflorescences are curiously complex in structure. This short post is intended to illustrate how I grow crypts (as they are colloquially known) emersed, and for that purpose, I am showing a still undescribed Philippine species similar to, but still distinct from, C. usteriana . A photo of an inflorescence is shown below. Basically...