A surplus of hibiscus flowers as a learning moment

jsheffield

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I noticed my Russian tortoise Chili eating around the pistil of the hibiscus I fed him today....

It's funny having started this post about my Redfoot tortoise Darwin hoping for the pistils first... maybe they could work something out.

Jamie
 

dozers butler

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Yup, one of my Redfoots, Tonks, rips at the pistil like it’s a Black Friday deal. The other, Talula, ignores them altogether.
Dozer is a maniac for hibiscus. He wipes em out. Never leaves a bit. He eats them right off the bushes. Along with his roses and grape leaves.
 

polDurna

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I have a Dehydrator that I use to dry what is in-season for whenever whatever is out-of-season, but before I got it I used to dry my herbs in the oven on "warm" or the lowest setting for a few hours. With small children in the house for the last 28 years, drying fresh herbs (or anything) has been impossible to do by "air".
 

method89

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do you harvest them while they are still on the bush or do you wait for them to fall?
 

polDurna

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I pick/snip/harvest half, leave the rest to fall(or be eaten in the RF yard). I generally plant lots more of whatever than I expect to take in and dry, the tort yard looks like an out of control herb/flower garden with lots of 8 inch wide maze paths, LOL. Some is raised pots or semi sunk box planters, most is dropped seeds that have 2-4 months of growth before the torts get out to it full time. We just put the yard "to bed" for the winter the day before the snow started here.
 

Canadian Mojo

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Tord, our Redfoot, loves dandelions, broad leaved plantain, and clover as his principle weed browsing in the yard. Grass is mostly incidental although occasionally he shows interest young annual crabgrass-types. The Rose of Sharon flowers aren't plentiful enough for him to be picky so they just disappear starting from whichever end is closest to him. Zucchini flowers are ever tastier but he usually only gets the spent ones so he gets to enjoy the zucchini too. The little **** will also cut the leaves off, munch on the stem for a little bit, and then go get another one.

Hen-n-chicks, ajuga, geranium, chicory, and creeping thyme are all summarily ignored as are the leaves of strawberry, raspberry, and grapes.

He is also a voracious slug hunter.

...and bird poop scrounger. I guess if they steal some of his berries (the poor boy has to share his Haskaps and raspberries with everybody) he'll settle for the leftovers. :rolleyes:
 

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