Friday, November 9, 2012

Little Green Men

Have you ever seen a UFO?  I have not, but I like to read about people who think they have had an experience with one.  Maybe I shouldn't have admitted that, but I think it's fascinating, even though I'm not quite convinced that Earth is being visited by space aliens.

However, I am beginning to wonder.

I haven't seen any UFOs around here, but something strange has been going on in my garden.  I'm beginning to suspect little green men.  After all, little green men would be appropriately camouflaged in the garden!

What makes me suspect these little green men have been experimenting in my garden?  Because they have left evidence behind.  They have made one of my rose bushes grow a bloom that has odd, extra growth in the middle of it.  It's as if the rose forgot that it had already made a bloom, and kept making more.  Must be radiation, right?

proliferation

Well, I guess I'll let you know that in reality, this is called proliferation.

Usually it occurs in spring, or when the weather fluctuates.  It can happen to just one bloom, or to every bloom on a rose.  Some people love it, and find it interesting.  Some people hate it.

It's just one of the strange occurrences that can happen in a garden sometimes.  Or, it may be that the little green men have come calling!

40 comments:

  1. Nature can do strange things sometimes!

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  2. Too funny. But what makes you think they will be green? Because them came and messed in a garden? LOL

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    1. haha - It seemed surely that they were the little green men of old-fashioned sci-fi lore, because they would be so well camouflaged in a garden! I can't even imagine purple men or silver men messing with a garden! :)

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  3. Yes, I also have that sometimes in my roses, actually only in the Madame Isaac Pereira, and indeed it's mostly seen in spring.
    Have a nice weekend!

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    1. I have read that some roses are more prone to it. I'm hoping this was a one-time oddity in this rose.

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  4. I have never seen this happen to roses before. Now I will be prepared should any of my roses be effected by seasonal proliferation. Marcia, brings up a good point. Why are aliens from outer space little "green" men? I am sure it must have something to do with early science fiction movies.

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    1. Yes, I think those little green men were from Mars, weren't they? I still expect them to find some of them while probing Mars! :)

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  5. What? Your roses are always so perfect! Cut it hurry!

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    1. As you can see from the photo, I kept it until the rose petals all fell off. I wondered if the little buds in the middle would try to bloom, too. It was so interesting to me, I had fun looking at it every day - but I don't want to see it very often!

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  6. Very strange. I would suspect aliens, also.

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  7. more in the spirit of England's Green Man? Just nature green in all her ways. Bit creepy, like cresting - which has afflicted some of my aloes. Perhaps your little green men have been messing with my garden too!

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    1. Yes, you are right about the Green Man! I could imagine his face in this bloom! :) I hope your little green men leave your garden soon. It's hard enough to garden without space aliens messing with us! :)

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  8. Honestly, not my favorite rose look. I have had that on my roses too. I agree with Pura Vida, your roses are too beautiful to have this ugly duckling in their midst.

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    1. Since it has been rare on my roses, I rather enjoyed looking at it, but I would find it extremely frustrating if it presented itself more often. Once in a blue moon is fine, but like you, it's not my favorite look!

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  9. Ewww, I've had proliferations - on Mlle Franziska Kreuger and on her offspring Blumenschmidt. Franziska was beautiful but most of her flowers had this malady - flush after flush, so I evicted them both from the garden. Recently, a friend told me MFK never did that in her garden. Maybe they WERE UFOs. Oh, BTW, I nominated you for the Beautiful Blogger Award. I did that because I truly do think you have a beautiful blog. Check out my blog to see what the rules are. Hope you don't mind.

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    1. If I had a rose that did this often, I would evict it, too. Interesting that your friend's rose never did that in her garden, especially if you live in a similar area. And thanks so much for the nomination. :)

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  10. Very interesting! I think it must be some sort of virus, no doubt little green men on a microscopic level!

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    1. I hadn't thought about those little green men being so very small! I hope some bug eats them! ;)

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    1. I don't see it often, and I have a lot of roses. Although some roses seem to do it more than others, so I guess the number of roses one has doesn't really matter!

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  12. I've never seen this before. Very strange looking!

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    1. It is strange. I like to see odd things - as long as it's not something that's going to spread in my garden. So, I enjoy the occasional proliferation, as long as it's just occasional!

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  13. Kind of reminds me of how the central cone of purple conedflower looks with aster yellows, but that is an incurable viral infection.

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    1. I think this has more to do on a cellular level, and thankfully not a virus, but yes, the outcome looks about the same.

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  14. I think your alien might have been here in London for a visit early in the spring last year...on one of my roses. I have read that frost can make such genetic mutation happen, possibly what happened to mine, it was just one rose so I wasn't too worried and it didn't happen this year - maybe because the alien left and went to the States?!

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    1. This happened in my garden after a frost, too. Perhaps the aliens like to move around the world on the cold fronts!

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  15. You might be right! At least it is a thought to ponder with such a strange looking growth on your rose.

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    1. It seems as good a theory as some of the other conspiracy theories I've heard! :)

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  16. Every time I go to Walmart I'm convinced we've already been inhabited by aliens. I think 'proliferation' is a cover up. Your rose is spying on you through all that green weirdness. ;o)

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    1. I hadn't thought about it spying on me - so glad I threw the bud away instead of drying it for potpourri and placing it in my house! :)

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  17. That usually happens to my Cecile Brunner rose late in the season. It kind of reminds me of the movie Alien... (a wee bit more visceral than little green men!) I didn't know it had a name, now I'll be able to google it :)

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    1. Yes, it does look a bit like something's trying to escape out of the middle of the rose. Your comparison with the movie Alien is spot on! :)

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  18. Nah Holley, I am not having anything to do with that proliferation stuff, I believe your first explanation. And its quite obvious to me they were green, although I wouldn't exactly like to tell you why I think so.

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    1. Have these little green men been doing some strange things in your own garden, Alistair? ;)

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  19. I'm curious... a proliferation in a daylily can be planted to make a new clone of the parent plant. Can you do this with a rose proliferation?

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    1. Good question, and the answer is no, I don't think so. Although, I have never seen it in daylilies -I just don't grow that many daylilies - so I can't truly compare the two.

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  20. Proliferation--how interesting. I think that has happened with my Daylilies, too. Fascinating stuff.

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    1. Hmmm, I grow just a few daylilies - I'll have to start looking at them closer!

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