Winter blooms

As many of you likely know, I am in the midst of growing my first tobacco plants. The seeds were ordered and planted this summer. By mid-July I had quite a number of relatively small tobacco plants.

While early progress and growth was quite rapid, things really began to slow down once winter set in and the available sunlight was drastically reduced. While growth has continued all winter, it has been much slower than it was in the fall.

Interestingly, since we returned to Halifax after Christmas I have noticed a somewhat substantial increase in the rate of growth. At first I attributed this change to the increased sunlight that the plants were getting (a minute or two more each day). Now I am starting to think that while the sunlight may have contributed to this change, it is most likely that the plants reached a certain developmental stage and were engaging in a particular kind of growth.

What I mean by this is that a number of plants are now showing flower buds. The leaves leading up to the buds are relatively small, and presumably faster and easier to develop.



One of the plants has even begun to show flowers, which is rather surprising given that we are now in the midst of winter and this isn't when I would expect most plants to be flowering.



My understanding is that the plant's seeds will be found in the part of the plant behind where the flower is. I am hoping to be able to collect a few of these seeds and then try to re-plant them this summer (though I don't think that I will grow quite as many plants the next time around).

Anyway, I am really pleased that a few of these plants have been able to reach this stage of development. For a while I was worried that my late planting date may have permanently retarded their development and prevented them from fully maturing. Turns out that all that was needed was a little extra time (a few months) and a relatively serene environment in which they were able to grow undistracted by the changing seasons and weather.