This won’t be a particularly long post, since I was really busy today, but still wanted to update my blog.
For my folklore and foliage post, I did a bit of reading, and found out that the Ancient Greeks used to believe that ivy was able to stop people from experiencing drunkenness if it was left to sit in wine. They believed this was the case because when dipped in wine, over time, sprigs of ivy would gain a reddish colouration, leading them to hypothesise that the ivy removed the alcohol in wine.
They were obviously wrong, but I got to thinking: “If I were to water my ivy with coloured water, would the leaves gain different coloured undertones?” I was a little afraid to use food dye (or any kind of dye) in the water I use to water plants, so instead, I used some old orchid fertiliser I had lying around which stained the water light pink. Today, I went out and checked on my ivy, and lo and behold:
Okay, so it wasn’t the spectacular show of colour that I was expecting, but for such a vibrant shade of pink to appear on the edges of the leaves as a result of using water that was only a little bit pink, then it would’ve been quite a sight for the Greeks, who dipped sprigs of ivy in their wine. I’m planning on using a different fertiliser I have on hand which can stain the water so it becomes reddish. I might see how it goes. Maybe it’ll give my Ficus elastica Ruby and Philodendron erubescens Pink Princess a run for their money (temporarily, at least).
