Plants for a sci-fi enthusiast?

Hello.

I wonder if you can help me I am hoping to create a small but very special house plant installation in my home but I would like it to contain really weird and amazing looking plants to fit with a sci fi theme.

Some of the ideas I have had so fare are pretty interesting, I have been looking in to plants and flowers which change color under UV light, around the plants and flowers will be small UV LEDs to make parts of the scene glow, but the most important part is the plants temselves, there are some bio-luminescent plants and fungus which glow of their own accord which could be nice to use, there are also many types of rocks which contain UV responsive minerals which will also glow.

Perhaps another idea might be to use some water plants as well, but believe it or not, I am not very knowledgeable about house plants or exotic flowers, I just have a bit of a wild imagination.

Please tell me what you think offer me any advice or ideas, I will be very grateful for your help.

This message was edited Sep 23, 2012 5:27 PM

A friend of mine once had a huge green bottle ( I think it must have been used for wine , olive oil, or some other type of liquid that was imported and arrived in these huge glass bottles) maybe a warehouse distilled or re-bottled the contents then sent out to suppliers, I really cant remember that much.

She placed Charcoal in the bottom, well drained soil next and started a living garden by selecting tiny Plants like mini ferns, and other plants that could take this type of damp environment, the bottle top was sealed with a specially made stopper as she then inserted a table lamp fitting, added a lamp shade and it really looked wonderful in the evening when the lamp was lit and the green glass of the bottle changed and the little plants looked so strange yet, somehow looked like they were meant to be there.

Wish my old dad was around as he would have remembered more about the type of Bottle as he worked in the Docks where the ships came in to land their cargo, I do remember these huge green glass bottles arrived (Empty) but were in a metal cage around them and there was straw around the cage for protection. OHHHHH just remembered the bottles were called Carboy's.

Well after all that Feeding time, I would also suggest you get to library / book store etc and find out about bottle gardening or planting up enclosed containers, I would start off with NON flowering plants to see how any foliage plants respond.

Some plants to start with could be like Dryopteris dilatata (broad buckler fern) Small leaved Ivy, several Mosses. Senseverria could make a nice contrast with the ferns if you get the Senseverria with the yellow tips on the leaves.
Hope this helps a little to give you ideas to get you started.
Best of luck. WeeNel.

Edited to ask: Hey Feedingtime, where'd you get those pictures you posted?

I Googled "plant change color uv" without the quotation marks, and found this link...
http://www.ehow.com/black-lights-for-plants/

Answers some questions about black lights and plants. Basically, plants can't grow with black light alone. Your Sci-fi display would have to be designed knowing that you would have to install real plant growing lights along with the black light fixtures for "special occasions".

To pick plants, pick ones you like when the lights are on. It's always good to find a small fern or moss-like thing with a texture you like for the low part of your display. Then for more of your "main attractions", take a miniature black light fixture that runs on batteries with you to the plant stores - and shine it on the plants to see what happens. I found a mini black light at this link... http://ledchristmaslighting.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8739 It's a good time of year to think about this, because you might be able to get to the nursery when it's dark, and be able to see the results under the black light better. I'm sure anything white would certainly look terrific.

Edited again to say, maybe you should Google "how to grow mushrooms indoors". That first pic you posted is very interesting, but not knowing where that came from - it almost looks like that's a picture of some kind of art installation, and not a live display at all.

This message was edited Oct 2, 2012 4:17 PM

This message was edited Oct 2, 2012 4:23 PM

Ah, the mushrooms are not specifically UV responsive though they probably are, rather these are Bio luminescent so they glow naturally of their own accord, here a google search. http://www.myamazingearth.com/2012/09/glow-in-the-dark-mushrooms/

Thank you ever so much for your suggestions, both brilliant ideas I will certainly be following up.

feedingtime