I’ve got a good post for today…but have a seminar to give this morning and the blog has to wait. If you have time, go onto the web and look for “water drops burn leaves” or something like that. You’ll find reference to an article in New Phytologist that has the gardening world all a-twitter. I’ll be dissecting the paper – and the surrounding hype – later today.
Month: January 2010
Help! Help! The Sky is Falling!!!
You all remember the story of Chicken Little, right? Chicken Little thought she’d been hit on the head by a piece of the sky and ran around alarming the rest of the barnyard animals, who assumed Chicken Little knew what she was talking about. Had they not all been eaten by Foxy Loxy, I’m sure they would have felt foolish discovering that an acorn, not a piece of the sky, had bopped Chicken Little on the noggin.… Continue reading this article “Help! Help! The Sky is Falling!!!”
Learning to Grow
The best part of my job is teaching, especially the plant production course (kind of Floriculture and Nursery management rolled into one). Today all the students are back on campus, and it’s an energy infusion for me, after weeks of quiet and mountains of paperwork. I made copies of the syllabus, and walked in to a class full of unsuspecting and slightly stand-offish students. They stared at the list of plants I handed them for the "crop lottery", where they draw for what they will be growing for the semester – from classic red geraniums to cutting-edge Colocasia (bartering is allowed for 5 minutes). They’re faced… Continue reading this article “Learning to Grow”
Blue Spruce Blues
One of the roles I’ve evolved into over the past decade as an extension specialist at MSU is that of ‘the Conifer Guy’. Conifers are great and fascinating plants. The oldest trees in the world are conifers, the largest trees in the world are conifers, and some of the most interesting (at least to me) landscape plants are conifers. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, in the Upper Midwest we have gravitated to Colorado blue spruce more than just about any other conifer. … Continue reading this article “Blue Spruce Blues”
Friday’s puzzle solved
Here’s Friday’s photo without my edits:
As you can see, there are tell-tale globs of hot glue around the base of the bud on the right. Hap was correct – it’s yet another “cactus strawflower” whose cactus portion had disintegrated, leaving only the strawflower graft behind. But out of context it could easily be mistaken for a bulb of some sort. Let the buyer beware!
Friday fun, part 2
OK, enough tormenting of my fellow GP. On to today’s photo challenge.
Is it a miracle? Is it a resurrection plant? How do you explain these large buds emerging from the soil?
A disclaimer: a portion of this photo has been Photoshopped. I promise the altered area was not of plant material. Monday’s answer will include the untouched photo in bigger context
Friday fun, part 1
This posting is for Holly, who I am sure is desperately trying to finish her annual review. I feel your pain! And I’m going to add to it today.
The poinsettia in these photos is not from this Christmas, but from 2008. You can see it thriving happily in its office environment. I’m told by its caretaker Nick (a nongardener) that it has no bugs or other problems, and seems very happy. And it’s blooming, without the benefit of the extended night period. … Continue reading this article “Friday fun, part 1”
Is This Really a Good Idea?
Transgenic plants have been with us for well over a decade now. I have had the opportunity to work with many of the tools used for this technology, though most of that is far behind me (over 15 years now since I “ran a gel”) — I’m much happier being outside or even in front of a computer writing than in a lab. Fortunately I have a number of “lab rat” colleagues so I’m relatively up to date on what’s going on and what “gene-jumper” scientists can and can’t do.… Continue reading this article “Is This Really a Good Idea?”
Why I dislike rootgrafted plants
I’m pretty much a live-and-let-live person in terms of plant choices (as long as they’re not invasive). But I’m becoming convinced that oddities grafted onto hardy rootstocks are poor choices, because the rootstock always seems to win. I posted one of these several months ago (see October 28, 2009 ), but just today have just found the poster tree for my anti-rootgraft movement.
A little backstory. I’m currently out at the Washington coast, trying to get some writing and seminars done without disruption. … Continue reading this article “Why I dislike rootgrafted plants”
And now for something completely different…
From this week’s e-mail file…
“Dear Dr. Cregg:
As I’ve done for many year, this year I harvested my “wild” Christmas tree from the Huron-Manistee National Forest. I cut the tree at ground level. Soon after I brought it home, it started sprouting new light green clumps of needles at the tips of many branches. Is the tree actually growing? It doesn’t seem possible that it’s still alive, but it seems to be thriving and I hate to toss the tree to the curb if it’s fighting for life.