There’s been a lot of theft in my life lately. It’s not the world I want to live in, and I hope it doesn’t change me. A year ago, my bicycle was taken from the rack in front of my building on Tower Road, but that was my own damn fault. I didn’t lock it – not my style.
Interacting with students is a big part of my life at Cornell. I study plants, and how they evolve and interact with animals around them. I love to talk about them, grow them, eat them and visit them both close and far from home. A hobby for some time has been to grow water-storing succulents, often spiny, typically poisonous and usually quite hardy.
Several years ago, when I spied the glass rotunda, on my way down to the Uris Library cocktail lounge, I thought it would be a magnificent place to share my love of succulence. However, it wasn’t until last year that I got up the gumption to ask the Director of Uris whether this was a possibility. Much to my surprise, my request to add a little jungle to the library greenhouse was met with enthusiasm. It was a convergent collection of caudiciforms, independently evolved barrel-like plants, one from Madagascar, another from Guatemala, and still others from the Sonoran desert of Arizona.
Of course, I knew the risks, but I wanted to share some of my prized specimens. Both the Dr. Seuss tree and Thick Foot Pachypodium were over 35 years old. The saguaro cactus I had germinated from a seed 24 years ago may flower in the next decade or two, and perhaps grown an arm in twice as many years.
To those who now possess my green gems, I only have the following to offer. These succulents are desert dwellers, water them judiciously and only after a complete dry-down. Blast them with your sunshine, and put them outside from May to October. Offer a tiny bit of fertility once a year, and repot around 2030. I hope these slow growing and forgiving solar panels will bring you joy and help you cultivate a world you want to live in.
– Dr. Anurag Agrawal
James Perkins Professor of Environmental Studies
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology