the secret life of plants

is a title of book written by peter tompkins and christopher bird. here is text from the book cover:

astounding discoveries about the physical, emotional and spiritual relations between plants and man

a plant attached to a lie-detector reacted violently when an expert thought about burning one of its leaves.

a chemist became so attuned to his house plants that they reacted excitedly when he made love to his girl friend 80 miles away.

a plant repeatedly identified with a sweep of the needle one of six volunteers secretly chosen to 'murder' another near-by plant.

'this study is sometimes merely astonishing and often almost incredible. from antiquity to the present, it marshals facts, revelations and scientific theories from many disciplines that add up to a startling hypothesis: lowly vegetable matter - the carrot you peel, the onion you slice - seems to possess feelings, intelligence and hitherto untapped powers of communication, not only with fellow plants but with man and possibly with mysterious presences in outer space.'

end of the book cover quote



i enjoy taking pictures of plants, especially trees fruit and flowers

i always adored plants and i naturally believed they are alive and able to feel and react to hot, cold, love, hate and so on.

many years ago, i would occasionally visit a friend, and the kitchen he was occupying the most was like a jungle, full of beautiful indoor pot plants, obviously super healthy and strong at first glance, radiating with life and a healthy glow of many hues of green colors. the first time i visited the friend, i was amazed by his green house kitchen, and i asked: 'how come your plants are looking so well?' back in those days, i was a very young unexperienced plant grower. he smiled very pleased that i noticed and expressed curiosity about his plants, keen to answer: oh, i love my plants, i play great music and i sing for them, i talk to them, i make sure they have enough water to drink, that is why they look so great they feel happy and they make me happy as well. i believed that it was his true love for plants, that made them so outstanding.



purple flowers

here is another plant story from a long time ago:

one summer night i was chatting with my mum in my parents living room decorated with many pot plants and after some time our conversation turned to them, mum was telling me their history including interesting stories from their lives. the last plant she spoke of was a little ficus. "i got this ficus as a present from my friend, he works at skalna's (name of the village) nursery, and i go there often to buy plants and flowers for civic celebrations like welcoming new born, or personally on behalf od the town congratulating elderly citizens on birthdays, and so on. it has been five years since my friend gave me this ficus, and the plant is still the same it hasn't grown an inch. i have lost my patience with it, it does not grow and tomorrow morning i am going to throw it out on the compost heap." i said: "hmm, that is strange, other plants are growing well and i am sure you are taking great care of this one as well". my mum said, "yeah, something is wrong." then she spoke directly to the plant expressing her disappointment also in her voice talking very firmly: "you silly ficus, too lazy to grow, i am going to throw you out tomorrow for sure". i felt a bit sorry for the plant, i don't like any kind of punishment, but i kept my feelings to myself and soon after we went to sleep.

as usual i slept in and when i woke up in the late morning as soon as i ran into my mum she was telling me with big excitement: "guess what happened? you know the ficus i spoke to last night? it has grown 2 new leaves over night! this is amazing." i found it difficult to believe and i followed her on her way to the living room, and there i could see that she was right, the plant had grown and i would not have believed it if i hadn't seen it, and i was very excited as well, saying this is a miracle, i am sure that the plant must have heard you." mum said: "yeah, i am sure as well, the ficus got afraid of being killed and grew." since then the ficus grew every day a few new leaves and in about two months had reached the ceiling and it continued growing along the wall. amazing.



cute and yummy watermelon from our garden

i have been for many years now, a very enthusiastic gardener and i love to grow indoor or balcony pot plants as well. at times when i travel and i leave for 2-3 months my plants are taken care of by someone else, they are visibly suffering while i am gone. when i am leaving the plants look strong and healthy and when i return from my travels they are almost dead. i never give them any extra care, i just water them when needed and they recover very fast, and within a few weeks they regain their healthy look. i am always amazed by such fast recovery and because some plants look almost dead, i feel like i am resurrecting them. it feels good.



me

i am enjoying summer fruits: nectarines, grapes, melons, bananas, lychees, longans, cucumbers, tomatoes, mangoes, passion fruit, oranges, pineapple, jackfruit and the best of the best mighty durian. i am sharing most of my fruity meals with my sweet partner mango, he is having avocados as well, i stopped eating them about 3 months ago.

enjoying summer time and the rainy season.

life is beautiful