A while back, Adam and I ventured into the jungles of upper Manoa on a hike/sprout gathering mission. One of the plants was this ficus, which he plans to bonsai. As you can see, he is growing the roots around a rock. However, the plant is so healthy that we can't stop it from growing, at least a little.
On the same trip, we encountered wild orchids. I dug down into the ground, to try and pull one up by the roots. I was unable to accomplish this, but I did see a few round seeds. I pulled a couple and planted them. Just a week or two ago, the first one sprouted. Thanks to the incredible rains we have had lately, it has been thriving. The distinct rippling in the green leaves convinces me that this sprout is indeed from the purple orchid we saw in Manoa. A second sprout was coming up, but it was sadly eaten during the night by an unknown beast.
We have a few mystery sprouts coming up as well. I have recently been keeping a sprout diary, which records which seeds were planted where. However, before this new level of organization, I had planted a variety of seeds all over the place. A few mysterious sprouts appeared; it is possible that they are friendly weeds that blew into the pots in the yard. However, I allow them to grow for a while, in order to attempt identification--or at least to get intuition as to whether I like them. One very interesting mystery sprout is the one pictured below. At first, it looked like some small mushrooms were sprouting in the soil. I moved to pluck them out, and to my surprise, found out that they were not mushrooms at all, but rather sprouts! I gently placed them back in the ground, and eventually they emerged from their mushroom-esque shell.
I am quite curious to see what they become, for at the moment I do not know what to make of them.
