Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: ruweiss on July 17, 2008, 08:56:12 PM
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10 days ago we visited the Wilhelma at Stuttgart.a well visited combination of Zoo and Botanical
Garden.Sorry,they have no alpines;so I hope,that it is not too boring for you.
It was founded in the 19th.Century as a private property of the King of Wuerttemberg and opened
to the public in 1919. After severe damage in the war it was rebuilt in the old style.
The homepage is www.wilhelma.de
Little Wilbaer(from Wilhelma-bear)is everbody's darling and the staff is mighty proud,because he gets
raised by his mom and not by humans.
Wilhelma
(2)Eucomis comosa
Eucomis comosa
(2)Agave victoria reginae
(2)Agave parrassana
Echinocactus grusonii
Scadoxus multiflorus ssp.Katherinae.
Fuchsia diplay
Willbär and Corinna
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A lovely place Rudi. I'm not so sure about the bears but maybe, with global warming, such places are their future homes which would be terribly sad.
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Rudi, what a good place to visit, thank you!
Agave victoria reginae is so beautifully marked, it is a perfect sculpture, is it not?
Corinna is a very good mom it seems, since Willbär is such a fine young fellow 8)
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The waterlily pond is another attractive place because it gets heated from April on and all these
tropical beauties enjoy it and flower profusely already in spring.
Amorphophallus titanum is a special highlight for all those who are interested in botanic. At our
visit the flower stalk was about 60 cm in height,today,9 days later it measures 199 cm! It flowered
in October 2005 for the first time and now for the second time.The picture was made by my brother
in law,the total height was 294 cm! The actual weight of the tuber is 52 kilos,a bit too much for us
humble amateur gardeners.It weighed just 2.5 Kilos when they got it 1999 and originated from tissue-
culture.At the above mentioned wesite www.wilhelma.de is a daily diary about this rare event.
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The actual weight of the tuber is 52 kilos,
Good grief, the Bulb Despot is weighing in at 55 kilos at present...... fully clothed.... the tuber is the same size as he is.... mind you, he smells better! ;)
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Really nice.
Especially the tropical water lilies.
(I note the pictures with the greatest number of 'hits' are those of the polar bears, and the titan arum !!!!!)
We are awful, aren't we?
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(I note the pictures with the greatest number of 'hits' are those of the polar bears, and the titan arum !!!!!)
We are awful, aren't we?
Well, yes maybe we're awful but the bears and the arums are awesome! 8)
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The actual weight of the tuber is 52 kilos,
Good grief, the Bulb Despot is weighing in at 55 kilos at present...... fully clothed.... the tuber is the same size as he is.... mind you, he smells better! ;)
Maggi,
How do you know that the tuber is a he? ;)
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Rudi,
Great pics. If we were only restricted to Alpines then most of the things i post pics of would be invalid. Can't grow much in the way of alpines here in our summer heat. ::) The pictures you posted show another wonderful garden/zoological garden.... what could be wrong with that? Most enjoyable to me at least. Thanks. 8)
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The actual weight of the tuber is 52 kilos,
Good grief, the Bulb Despot is weighing in at 55 kilos at present...... fully clothed.... the tuber is the same size as he is.... mind you, he smells better! ;)
Maggi,
How do you know that the tuber is a he? ;)
My first reaction on reading this, Paul, was to say it was an educated guess ;).... then I realised you are teasing me about the fragrance of the Bulb Despot! :o ;D The BD smells of sun and honey, mostly, by the way!
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Coincidentally I also found a flower of Amorhophallus titanum (with a
' window ') at the Botanical Garden of Bonn.
The second pic is Nymphaea gigantea und the third one a blue flowering cultivar.
Gerd
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Had some vandal cut the window Gerd? or maybe the BG people in order to facillitate pollination? It looks very odd.
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The flower was over and I believe the window was cut for pollination and for
showing the visitors the male and female parts of the flower.
When I pollinated Arisaema sikokianum I treated the flowers in a similar rude
manner.
Gerd
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In that case, I may try it myself next flowering season as neither A. sikokianum nor A. candidissimum makes seed for me. They start to look good then flop over and fail to grow any larger.
On re-reading that it begins to sound like an ad for Viagra but I'm sure you know what I mean. :D
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The BD smells of sun and honey, mostly, by the way!
and the odd sock or two?
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In that case, I may try it myself next flowering season as neither A. sikokianum nor A. candidissimum makes seed for me. They start to look good then flop over and fail to grow any larger.
On re-reading that it begins to sound like an ad for Viagra but I'm sure you know what I mean. :D
Lesley, in my garden Arisaema candidissimum makes seeds without any additional human help, so I never looked inside a spathe. Arisaema sikokianum is either female or male. Stronger plants tend to be female (according Homo sapiens).
So if you have some plants of sikokianum have a look inside and you only have to take a brush and transfer the pollen of a male specimen to the female parts of another plant.
See a sketch which I made for an Italian friend.
And believe me - there are no blue pills needed for this transaction! ;D
Gerd
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Thanks Gerd. It could all be a good occasion for a party. ;D
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Back to the Wilhelma,-I am pleased and astonished about your interest and the many views.
Our local newspaper wrote today,that the flower opened itself with an evil fragrance which
attracted a lot of flies.The height of this "monster" is "only" 2.34m this time,but a second flower is
forming.They collect pollen from the actual flower to pollinate the second flower and hope to get some
viable seeds. Good luck!
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"a second flower is forming".... it that not quite unusual? I thought only one flower was made each year?
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Maybe they have a second titan?
I have plants of the titan growing here as well. No idea what I am going to do once they get up in size. Never have enough space to get them to flowering, but it is SO much fun to be growing them, knowing what they are. ;D
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Maybe they have a second titan?
That seems likely, especially if they are hoping to get seed by pollinating one with the other.