In case you are not familiar with this plant, its Mimosa pudica, aka "Shy Plant", "Humble Plant", "Sleeping Grass", "Touch-Me-Not", "Sensitive Plant" and "Modest Princess." Their website actually has videos of this plant being all sensitive and ticklish in case you don't believe their claims. What I love most about this whole Tickle Me deal is that Mark is out to educate children. You can see by the picture of the seed packet that it is designed to appeal to the kiddies. Now, I have no kids, but I'm extremely immature and my level of gardening knowledge is about that of an 8 year old so I'm pretty sure I'm qualified to grow these babies!
Did I mention that Mark is a science teacher? I think that's just awesome that he's trying to teach kids about growing stuff in his classroom and encourage other teachers to do the same. From their website...
"Our mission is simple: We want every child to have a positive experience growing plants. Growing the TickleMe Plant from seeds, will be an adventure children will never forget and neither will you!!"
I split my seeds with GB and then followed Mark's directions to get them started. He suggested soaking them in hot water to make them germinate faster. From the looks of the website he's got his students doing all sorts of crazy experiments with these seeds. Good luck, Mark's students!
Here's one of my little guys today. Stay tuned for more details on Operation Tickle Me!
Oh, these are fun plants. They grow wild here in Texas and I remember, as a child, being delighted when I was able to make a plant MOVE just by touching it.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, I wrote one myself about the "sensitive plant". I had no idea that they had renamed it?
ReplyDeleteOh, Gina!
ReplyDeleteLucky you!
I got some last fall from a very nice lady in SC (I think? Can't remember) and mine all rotted but 1.
I think she harvested the pods too early, but I'm giving the last one a try anyway. Good luck with your plants. They're so much fun!
My granddaughter, who is 20 now, asked me just last week if we could find a sensitive plant at the store. She found them fasinating when she was little and still does. Mark has a great idea! You know you could just raise your flats on bricks or phone books (something like that) and then they'd be closer to the light. (But you probably will find it much easier just to get the chains.) They are looking very good - you are a professional already!
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother gave us a tickle plant that she planted by seed - so I know it is doable. But we killed it - :(
ReplyDelete