“THE CLOCK!! THE CLOCK!! WHERE IS THE CLOCK!!?” The words echoed down the leaf corridors of the Thanksgiving cactus(Schlumbergera truncata). The director of leaves and flowers stared at a blank wall where the calendar clock should be. The nearby workers were clearly distressed as their supervisor was off hunting down the wayward clock. The workers tried to busy themselves, the director looked about. She stared at a video screen showing an outside view…a flower bud filled the screen. It was almost May and clearly the bud should not be there. The last flower opened months ago. Her schedule called for new leaves, not a flower. “WHO IS IN CHARGE HERE?” She demanded. Workers tried to avoid the directors piercing eyes. The director stormed out of the work area much to the workers relief. “I guess working on more flower buds is out?” Commented one worker to another. Perhaps a new leaf would keep the director at bay. Just then the supervisor appeared with the repaired clock. The hands now pointed to new leaves. The workers went about starting new leaves, glancing nervously at the doorway for signs of an angry director. A frightened worker came out of the shadows with a bucket of nutrients for the flowers, quickly fed the new buds and just as quickly disappeared. The supervisor mumbled to himself, “leaves, no leaves, flowers, no flowers,” springtime is very confusing. A nervous worker with a bucket reappeared in the shadows….. Jerry
Cute story Jerry. Interesting thing is, all 4 of my Christmas/Thanksgiving cacti are also in bloom right now. What gives? Your bloom/leaf team seems to be passing around their faulty clock.
Funny thing is that plants do not own clocks or calendars so they really do not understand that somewhere, some human determined that through forced situations they could make certain plants bloom when they wanted them to. Those plants have realized their dreams of blooming when the conditions that are right for them occur naturally....not when the humans that think they can alter things to their own desires have decided they should bloom. Silly plants, don't they know humans always know what is best for other living things?
