Site-related: Blogiversary

This is, in fact, a single pot. We got two like this where the mound of flowers was on the order of four feet across. Why? I do not know, but they make for a hell of a picture.
PATSP is officially a year old today. In that time, we've met sixty-eight plants:

There were the groups (Horde, Fraternity), the professionals (Actor, Landlord, Community Organizer, Lawyer, Teacher, Supermodel, Secret Agent Man, Avant-Garde Artist, Athlete, Dancer, Infomercial Pitchman) the not-so professionals (Employee, Dilettante, Also-Ran), a couple real people (Greta Garbo, Amy Winehouse), a few fictional people (Auntie Entity, Goody Two-Shoes, Romance Novel Heroine, The Wandering Jew, John Q. Public), royalty (Princess, King & Queen, Celebrity), mental patients (Psychopath, Neurotic, Basket Case, Sadist, Melancholic, Paranoiac), romantic interests (Exotic Stranger, Ex-Girlfriend / Ex-Boyfriend, Hooker With a Heart of Gold, Blind Date, Femme Fatale, Mister Right), losers (Schlub, Stoner, Dork, Brain), winners (Lucky Bastard), some bad boys (Criminal, Bad Influence, Con Artist, Evil Genius, Cult Leader), some friends (Friend of a Friend, College Roommate, Pal), tragic figures (Sacrificial Virgin, Feral Orphan, Unsung Hero, Ghost) and a wide and motley assortment of others that fit into no particular category (Teenager, Kamaaina, Practical Joker, Messenger of God, Identical Cousins [1] [2], Urban Cowboy, Single Mother, Damsel in Distress, Schoolgirl of the Underworld, Samurai in a Dress, Twenty-something, Caveman).

I do occasionally wonder what happens when I run out of plants to profile, but I can think of a half-dozen uncovered plants in the Bromeliaceae alone, off the top of my head, so I think we're probably safe for another year, at least. And there's no shortage of characters to go with the plants, either.

A festive NOID Anthurium photo, because I've recently realized that I can't rely on Gazania to do all the celebratory heavy lifting around here. I mean, until next spring, I've only got just the five Gazania pictures.
What's next for PATSP? Well, there'll be some more of the same: work-related posts, profiles, pretty pictures, random plant events, all that good stuff. I would also really like to bring back the LOLplants, who I've missed, and finish the pest profile series (still to come: scale, fungus gnats, thrips, aphids).

And besides more of the same? Well, I have some ideas. I've been wanting for some time to introduce a regular weekend round-up feature where I could put up links to other blogs with noteworthy posts, sort of a just-in-case-you-missed-it post. The main obstacle to doing this so far has been that I don't always have enough time to read as many posts on other blogs as I would like, so collecting the links in the first place is kind of an obstacle. But I'm working on it. I also have a similar idea involving interviews -- but I've said too much already. There's at least one item of plant-related fiction on the way, which I have to say is not really working out that well at the moment but I'm still hopeful, and I expect to see more imaginary plants in the fictional botany series. Also, I know I've been promising to write one forever, but I really will get to a review of Amy Stewart's Flower Confidential at some point, and then at some point after that I'll start on a review of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief.

The other monster mum. There was also a maroon one, that I didn't get a picture of before it sold.
So I'll try to make it worth your time to show up. Thanks for reading.