Bloom Watch #1 – Hope Awakens

Hello everyone. Hope you all had a good fall and winter. Now that spring is giving way to summer the Queen is waking up and preparing for another season of ups and downs. Overall the collection looks pretty good, although a few have provided snacks for pack-rats. I believe they will recover and maybe even make a flower or two.

I started checking plants two weeks ago and only found one with the telltale fuzzy spots telling me the Queen is awake. The photos featured below show her progress. She now has ten buds in various stages from fresh fuzz to almost stall size. Looking at all the plants every couple of days has provided an ever increasing number of buds.

This could be an interesting year for the Queen, but I guess I say that every year. I’m ready for the excitement and aggravation that will culminate for the wonderful night of Bloom Night. Hope all of you will put up with my stories and be ready for the night and I look forward to seeing you all at the event.

I will report again in a couple of weeks unless the Queen makes a big ruckus and provides me with some extra interesting tidbits!

Until Next Time – Lee Mason, Director of General Services, Tohono Chul

Another Bloom Watch Comes To A Close

Thank all of you who attended Bloom Night and sent me pictures of your bloomers. Hopefully all of you had a good time. This has been delayed due to the late forming flowers and the final bloom. The last flower bloomed last week, which gave us a total of 72 for the year.

It was a different year to say the least. There was The Queen, that wanted to be famous and bloomed for Elena Acoba’s article in The Arizona Daily Star in May. Then, Bloom Night came in June. And finally, the week following the Bloom Night The Queen decided to make more flowers. Most of them on plants that had not bloomed previously, but five were on plants that had already bloomed. This is the first time I saw a plant that already bloomed and then produced a new round of flowers. Pretty cool actually.

The downside of this year is the lack of fruits. The pollination rate was 46%, which is outstanding, however the pack rats and javelina ate all but three fruits. So as you can tell I am still battling the hordes. Hope you all have a good summer and I will be looking forward to seeing all of you next spring.

 

Until Next Year – Lee Mason, Director of General Services, Tohono Chul

 

*Photo courtesy of Larry Parkhurst.

This Weekend: Bloom Night?

I checked and measured all the buds on Friday and found the majority to be in the 40mm to 45mm range. I figured the weekend would be safe because they seemed to be stuck in stall and they just couldn’t get there in two days. I actually figured they wouldn’t even break stall before Monday and planned to stay away for the weekend.

 

The problem is she was calling and I couldn’t ignore the call, so I came out on Saturday to measure again. After my rounds I suspected The Queen had decided to make the move, as the buds advanced to 45mm to 50mm and had the look that only she can get just before she breaks stall. On Sunday I didn’t measure, but could see the change and knew the push was on.
 
Monday I went out to measure and found the majority of the buds had advanced between 60mm to 80mm, and on Tuesday they had increased to 80mm and 100mm. For those of you that follow Bloom Watch every summer, you know we’re looking for blooms ranging from 170mm to 230mm (7-9 inches). You also probably remember that I carry with me a little ruler, which ends at 120mm, and when The Queen pushes the buds greater than that length we are, as a rule of thumb, 2 to 3 days away from the celebration.
 
Still, I can’t tell you the exact day The Queen will open and display her beauty and emit her fragrance, but I can tell you we are getting very close. So keep an eye out for a Bloom Night email. I will update you as she whispers the information to me. I look forward to seeing all of you soon, so get ready for the fun.
 
Until Next Time – Lee Mason, Director of General Services, Tohono Chul

Bloom Watch #6 – To Bud, or Not to Bud

I just got back from communing with The Queen and boy is it hot. Last week it looked like there was one flower breaking stall. It was at 45mm and started to move and made it all the way to 50mm before she stopped again. Monday I checked and measured all the buds and did the same on Tuesday, and it looks like the stall is continuing with flowers stuck between 25mm and 50mm with the majority at 40mm.
There were several people who thought the increase in heat over the weekend would push The Queen into action, but as always she makes up her own mind regardless of what we think. For this year anyway, the jump in heat was not the trigger.
 
It seems as though the new bud formation has stopped. Two plants decided they had more buds than they could support and dropped one bud each, and one plant decided to reserve all her energy for growth and dropped both of her buds. This may be a good sign; at least she is making some solid decisions.
In the meantime, we are continuing with Bloom Night preparations. The luminaria bags are ready with candles and lighters at hand. The Desert Queen perfume and body lotions are being gathered, and the Peniocereus greggii in three sizes are ready to transfer to the Retail Greenhouse. The Garden Bistro is also finalizing their plans for the Bloom Night festivities. It seems like we are at the same place as last year, and all the previous, waiting for The Queen of the Night to say it is time. More info to come next week, unless she makes a move earlier.
 
Until Next Time – Lee Mason, Director of General Services, Tohono Chul

Bloom Watch #5 – Six Degrees of Maturation

After the long Memorial Day weekend, the major change I’m seeing is more buds moving into the stall stage of development. It appears that last week’s stalls are going to wait for more buds to catch up. There are 7 new starts and one that looks like it is about to move into stall-the next couple of days will tell. On some cereus new growth continues, while others have more arms starting each week.
Because it’s going to get hotter this and the coming week, there may be some interesting activity all around.
 
I have been asked what the different stages of the bud development look like. I’m not much for taking pictures, but did take the time to snap a few photos to show the different stages of flower development. The terms I use for my observations are small, buds, stall and moving:
  •   Images #1 & #2 show a starting/small bud
  •   Image #3 shows an intermediate bud
  •   Images #4 & #5 show a bud in stall
  •   Image #6 shows a bud with the subtle crook on the end indicating it is about to break stall and get “moving” into blossom
I will continue to commune with the Queen every day from now until the big day, and hopefully, she will see fit to let me in on the big secret: what triggers the bloom? Keep your flashlights and walking shoes handy for the announcement of Bloom Night. More to come next week.
 
Until Next Time – Lee Mason, Director of General Services, Tohono Chul
 

Bloom Watch #4 – New Buds Take Shape

It’s been another week and there are some nice changes. I was out of town part of last week and was surprised to see that the Queen has been busy. There are several new buds, but the most interesting thing is there are now as many new buds as there are in stall status ones, however the majority remain somewhere in between. We will see if the stalled flowers wait for the rest. It seems to me she is doing what she always does; trying to confuse me. I make the rounds three times a week now, which is soon to be daily. I have received a couple of pictures of early bloomers and will post them on Bloom Night for everyone to see.
Many of the plants continue to put on new growth with several growing three or more new arms. Now the priority is to continue controlling the pack rats and give the Queen the opportunity to succeed. It is very encouraging to me to see the growth.
 
The Garden Bistro has planned a special menu for Bloom Night:
  •  Single Taco’s for $3: Choice of carne asada, marinated chicken or roasted vegetables topped with cabbage, cotija cheese, and salsa
  • Bacon wrapped Sonoran Dog Slider $2: Topped with black beans, pico de gallo, mayo and mustard
  • Assorted ice cream bars $2
  • Cash Bar with domestic and imported beer, two choices of red wine and two choices of white wine, prickly pear margaritas, prickly pear lemonade, iced tea and sodas
It is shaping up to be a fun time as always, and I hope to see you there. More to come next week, so stay tuned.
 
Until Next Time,
– Lee Mason, Director of General Services, Tohono Chul

Bloom Watch #3 – Hope For The New Growth

Last week I told you that Jessie Byrd, the Pima County Native Plant Manager, contacted me. I just wanted everyone to know that I made another one of my major blunders. I spelled her name incorrectly and misidentified her as a he. My deepest apologies to Jessie and everyone who knows her.
On Friday of last week I had the pleasure of meeting with Jessie and touring her nursery. Jessie’s team, comprised of a staff of two and a cadre of volunteers, is doing a spectacular job of salvaging Peniocereus greggii and many other plants from Pima County construction sites. Her Queen collection is impressive and it seems that her blooms are right in line with ours. She has sent several plants to other botanical gardens to see if they will be in-sync with ours even if they are out of the area. It will be interesting to find out and add another intriguing fact to the list of mysteries. If you haven’t been to the nursery it is worth the trip. The address is 3500 West River Road.
I am writing this on Monday after my weekly trip to look at and talk to each plant. I haven’t started to make the trip daily yet, but that will come. The buds are still small and haven’t reached stall yet. There are a few new buds and some additional suspicious spots that may turn into buds or could be new arms. Many of the plants that were chewed on by the pack rats have started to regrow and with some luck will be in good shape next year.
 
For me the new growth on the plants is almost as exciting as the flowers, and a whole lot less stressful. It shows that they are happy with me and with what we are doing for them. I get asked several times a week if the bloom is going to be early this year, and my best guess at this time is no. Stay tuned and I will be back next week with the latest.
 
Elena Acoba’s article should be in the Sunday edition of The Arizona Daily Star on May 22, so be on the lookout for that. Our Retail Greenhouse has Peniocereus greggii available so you can have your very own Queen to enjoy. Also, on Bloom Night we will have Desert Queen perfume and body lotion available, whose fragrance was inspired by the Queen of the Night.
 
Until Next Time,
– Lee Mason, Director of General Services, Tohono Chul

Bloom Watch #2 – To Bloom Too Soon

As I had mentioned last week, one of the Queens had a bud in stall status and that I would be watching her closely to see if it would hold and go with the rest. Regretfully, no. She must have heard that Elena Acoba is writing an article on the Peniocereus greggii and the Bloom Night festivities and decided she wanted to become famous as the first flower for this year. This has not been the earliest single bloom we have ever had, but she is close. In that endeavor, she broke stall on the May 4 and never slowed down. Acoba will chronicle the progress in her article for The Arizona Daily Star, so keep an eye out in late May for that. Dyana Z. Furmansky, of The Desert Leaf, also featured the Queen in the May issue with a nice article and quite a lot of photos, so a special thank you to them.
 
This one famous Queen has accelerated to bloom and should go tonight (May 11, 2016). The rest of the flowers are still very small or merely fuzz balls. This week we’ve seen a 12% increase in starts and 20% increase in ones that actually look like buds. Our work of replacing the Peniocereus greggii that have passed this season is almost complete.
 
A few days ago I was contacted by Jesse Byrd, Pima County Native Plant Manager, who is responsible for salvaging native plants from county construction project sites. He has an astonishing collection of 100 Queens and is looking to place some of the collection in our custody at Tohono Chul. It is interesting to note that last year his plants bloomed in conjunction with ours and seem to be on track this year as well. Every year this process gets more and more interesting. I will keep you posted as I continue to diligently watch this process unfold.
 
This year’s Bloom Night festivities gear up as the Garden Bistro opens for dinner, so come early and come hungry. The Garden Bistro will also be serving a selection of food and drinks in the Performance Garden once the festivities begin at 6 p.m. Stay tuned for the announcement of menus.
 
We will continue preparing the trails and hope you are getting as excited as I am.
 
Until Next Time,
– Lee Mason, Director of General Services, Tohono Chul

Bloom Watch #1 – She Shall Overcome: Beating The Odds

Hi everyone. I hope you’ve had a good year. The time has come, and the Queen is beginning to wake.
I have been watching our Peniocereus greggii plants all winter and our collection isn’t as vigorous as I’d hoped. It seems the winter rains were not enough to spur them on. That, combined with the destructive activities of my “favorite friend” the Pack Rat, has several of the ladies struggling. Over the past couple of years there were several plants that just stopped trying to overcome the odds, so I am in the process of replacing them. It is sad to see one pass. But enough of that, life always finds a way.
 
And so, last week I went out and counted the fuzzy spots that are the beginnings of buds; it looks like they are on the way. Despite the odds, I’m sure the Queen will overcome, and we will have another wonderful night of flowers and good times. One of the plants has a bud in stall status already, and two new fuzz balls are starting. We will see if the one remains in stall and blooms with the rest. As always, I’ll keep you posted on the Queen’s progress.
 
This year I would also like to try something different. We know that there are always some flowers that bloom early, and some that bloom late. I thought it would be fun to receive pictures of your Peniocereus greggii blooms as they happen, whether early, late, or on time. I will post the pictures I receive on a large board during Bloom Night as well as on social media, so we can appreciate all the little Bloom Nights that happen closer to home.
 
Please send us pictures of your Peniocereus greggii, with your name and the date they bloomed, by replying to Bloom Watch emails at info@tohonochul.org, 
post them to social media with the #MyBloomNight, or even send printed photos to:Attention: Michelle Armstrong, Tohono Chul, 7366 N. Paseo del Norte, Tucson, AZ 85704 (Please only mail images that you are willing to let go, since we may not be able to get them back to you).
 
I also have a surprise planned to further liven up Bloom Night. With that in mind, start looking for your flashlights and walking shoes, because the Queen and I will miss you if you can’t make it to the festivities.
 
If you have a Queen, enjoy watching her, send us pictures, and stay tuned for the twists and turns to come.
– Lee Mason, Director of General Services, Tohono Chul