I've put a different sign up at work everyday for almost two years. I have a file with thousands of sayings, but I'm always on the look out for more. I did a Google search on weird facts and came across one that stated that Luffa sponges grew on a vine and were not from the sea as I always thought. Sometimes these "facts" are quite right but this one was. See Figure 1 & 2. It's a long green gourd with a large yellow flower.

From Rachel's Loofah Sponge Page http://www.rachelssupply.com/loofah.htm
I learned that "The Loofah Gourd is a member of the Cucurbitaceous (Gourd) family. The Loofah is spelled several different ways, i.e., Lofah, Luffa or Lufa. It's commonly known as the Washrag Gourd. It is the only plant known that can be raised and used as a sponge.
The sponges are very versatile in that they can be used for bathing, washing dishes or scrubbing. The Loofah is widely used for bathing to invigorate the skin as well as gift giving and crafts.
It is a very fast growing annual that produce vines up to twelve feet or more. I have seen them grow over 20 ft. high in trees and produce dozens of gourds per plant. Figure 3.
When fully matured, you can peel off the dried and crisp outer shell to expose the fibrous sponge. Figure 4. To clean your Loofah you wash it in clean water and then soak it in a solution of bleach and water and allow to dry in the sun (Figure 5). Loofah sponges will last a long time if washed and allowed to dry after each use. (Figure 6)"
So I ordered some seeds (they look like watermelon seeds to me) from the good people at www.localharvest.org http://www.localharvest.org/store/item.jsp?id=3379

Now being a gourd it's going to require a lot of water. My co-worker Big "T" Tony was telling me about the Earthbox(TM) that he was using. So I decided to look into it, you can find out more about it here. http://www.thelaziestman.com/earthbox.htm

UPDATE: July 18th I got today and checked the water level, it was almost empty already, I think I'll have to water it every two days or so, I took a peek under the cover to find shoots already. (Figure 7)the first one is a luffa, about 2" tall, the next one (Figure 8) are sunflowers I put in. The other luffa is trying. I'll have better photos soon, it was raining when I took these.

August 7th. Here we are, 20 days later and now stands about two and a half feet high. (Figure 12). The plant is growing so fast that I can see the progress every day. The Earthbox(TM) is working well, through I have to fill it more often than I thought. Most days now are about 105 with the heat index. I've taken the Sunflowers out as they were hogging all the water.

August 17th. The luffa has now started to spread very very quickly. It's like I can watch it grow. I've run cord around the fence for it to follow (Figure 10 & 11). With hurricane season, (Florida only has two seasons, hurricane and tourist), coming I don't want the gourds on the ground as they may rot. (Figures 9 & 14) Toby is checking out the sunflowers.

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