A Gardener’s Diary
When I was a very young boy I always had difficulty remembering the difference between bulbs, corms, tubers, and rhizomes. All children at school nowadays are taught the difference, which I suppose is simple enough. It’s like riding a bicycle. Once you know it you’re not likely to forget it.
The bulb (onion, tulip, and so on) is just a condensed shoot at the centre of which is a flower, surrounded by leaves. Roots grow from the base of the bulb which is called the base plate. It contains enough food to get it into flower, and doesn’t require feeding with fertilizer. The corm is a condensed stem and a bud sits on top of the stem. Roots emerge from below it. It also contains enough food to get it established to the point of flowering. Both bulbs and corms need the leaves which come with the flowers because it is the leaves which produce the food for the ‘new’ bulb and corm produced during the growing season once flowering is completed.
Tubers come in two kinds. There are the root tubers such as the dahlia, and the stem tuber like the potato. Shoots only arise from the top of the root tuber, and in the case of the dahlia these provide the cuttings which the gardener wants to increase his stock. You will all have observed that potatoes are quite capable of producing shoots if they are left too long before they are used. This shows clearly that they are stem tubers. They will produce roots and shoots quite readily, and if they are earthed up in the usual way will produce another crop of potatoes for you. Try growing them in a large pot and gradually earthing them up.
Rhizomes are more or less flattened stems growing on or slightly below the soil surface. These include the gingers, and iris. The ginger is in fact one of the most widely used herbs in the West Indies and features large in the culinary arsenal of the Warrington family. It grows perfectly well in any ordinary soil. It grows superbly well in rich loam, producing roots of enormous size, and lasts for years. I have tried with a great deal of success to grow rhizomes and tubers such as dahlias. Both grow marvellously under conditions of high fertility (plenty of compost and sufficient moisture).
I never cease to be amazed at the defences mother nature gives to members of the cactus family, and am always pleased that it so often works to our advantage. I have not got so many cacti but the ones I do own, have fearsome spines with which to defend themselves. I suppose that there are few plants that look so attractive when they are out of flower as when they are flowering. My dogs have all come to respect the few that I do have, and so has my entire family. There are plenty of old dodges that are used to get rid of spines embedded in the skin. In the case of Mammillaria spines in the flesh I suppose one of the most effective is candle wax. When the wax is allowed to dry and then taken off it will very often take all the spines with it. Clever eh?
One lot of spines that I have never been able to get relief from are the wounds inflicted by those of the bougainvillea. They can be excruciating. Bougainvilleas are planted for their flowers but also to act as a protective barrier against intruders, be they two legged or four legged, and at this they are superb. Plant bougainvillea where you wish to deter intruders, and they are marvellous. Finally may I wish you continued success with your plant collection and may your God go with you wherever you live in Guyana.
