Vegetal Studies

Hi I have a couple of additions here about plant possibilites, and more about human -plant interactive potenial.  

I think that given the praxis of the lab, plant choices could be determined not only by what can be grown, but what you want to grow and why.   The way we interact with plants can be much more varied than the excitement of having green, alive things around or the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, or even the negotiation of care and semi-automated systems.  (Of course, the negotiation of care is what I am primarily interested in.) 

I am thinking of gardens for the blind, which is all about the smell and feel of a plant, and combinations of plants together, and the even the field of aromatherapy (which can actually get pretty strange if you look into it.)

There are also staggered and strange flowering cycles of nicotania or four o'clocks, for example.  (One of the things I enjoyed most about the morning glories in the lab was the way they marked time - each bloom existed for one day only, and the fading of the bloom traced the hours of the day dying.  Tending to them, and watching the footage, affected my sense of time, and I began to view the cycle of a day  differently.  (Something about the presence of the eternal within it?   ...see Mushishi anime episode 6 for a lyrical variation of this perspective.)  I have not formulated this experience, just lived differently while we had that relationship with them.)

Or further into it, plants that respond to stimuli like touch or insects - sundew, venus flytraps, mimosas, of which the second and third are more hardy than the first.  These are active plants - they respond with much more measurable movements than (forgive me) garden variety plants.

Anyways:  I am sure you have come across Carsten Höller's Solandra Greenhouse?  Yes, it is an enclosed space, but the plant/human interaction is intensified, in a pretty interesting way.  While it may not offer quantifiable data, the qualifiable experience sounds well worth the effort!  Would that I had seen/smelt/experienced this piece!!

And second, below is a list of plants that are used as groundcover for several reasons: not only are they hardy, but they can stand being walked upon.  (Walked upon!  A bare-feet section of the lab!  Plant mats under people's desks!  Tiny invasions! Surface coverage!) 

For me what is exciting about moss is not only is it green green, but a sense of relationship occurs as you imagine walking on (or under) these soft, magical little fronds.  However, these magical little fronds require much more humidity than the lab is capable of (it grows in temperate rainforests), and does not survive being trodden upon.  The moss I painstakingly cared for in my cool shady studio under plastic with a dedicated misting system died after two weeks of being downstairs in the FoFA vitrines, even with daily waterings and gel in the soil.  I think it was because it needs constant humidity, and cannot survive extreme drying/dousing cycles, and so really would need a nearly closed terrarium-type set up.  Perhaps Francine has some different solutions.)

Anyways, check out these plants, and see if they appeal to you:

tough plants:
Blue star creeper Isotoma fluviatilis
Bungleweed Ajuga 'Chocolate chip'
Elfin Thyme Thymus Serpyllum 'Elphin'

drought/ or low water conditions -tolerant:
Irish Moss Sagina subulata
Bird's foot trefoil Lotus corniculatus 'Plenus'
Golden Creeping Jenny Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea'
Mazus Mazus reptans Purple
Scotch moss
Golden Beauty
John Creech

My current favorite-
Wooly Thyme

These are lots of words from me. 
Cheers plantss people,
Flower