Month: November 2011

I’ve been teaching plant physiology or related courses for a long, long time, and one of the tenets is that woody plants don’t heal.  In contrast to animal tissues, when trees and shrubs are wounded the damaged tissues are permanently destroyed.  Wounds are compartmentalized and covered with wound wood.  Arborists are fond of saying "plants seal, not heal."

That’s all fine and good for woody plant parts, but what about grafts?  Since grafting reconnects cambial and phloem tissues, is this "healing?" And… Continue reading this article “Do plants heal?”

(with apologies to Blue Oyster Cult)

‘Tis the season for all things Christmas, including the annual hysterical reports of the dangers of real Christmas trees.  Along with heartwarming reports of Thanksgiving feasts at the local homeless shelter and live remotes of frenzied Black Friday shoppers, footage of Christmas trees going up in flames seems to be a staple of every network affiliate in the country.  In fact, in some cases the intrepid reporter will go to great lengths to insure that the Tannenbaum ignites the obligatory conflagration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9dNS5WPncU… Continue reading this article “I’m burnin’, I’m burnin’, I’m burnin’ for you”

So far a mild fall has lingered here in mid-Michigan.  With temps in the mid-50’s I was able make much more headway on my fall clean-up than usual.  Typically we get enough early snows or cold-damp November gales that I don’t get to the last of the leaves and frosted hostas until spring.  Leaves are especially challenging here at Daisy Hill farm.  We have about dozen hardwood trees, mainly oaks and hickories, that drop a sizable load of leaves each fall.… Continue reading this article “People let me tell you ’bout my best friend…”

Back in 2006, when I first started garden writing, I was invited to give a talk in Michigan.  It was really exciting to get this kind of invitation so early in my writing career and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to talk to an audience that wasn’t composed primarily of students or academics. 

Looking back at those talks…well…they weren’t particularly good.  Sure, there was good information, but I wasn’t particularly comfortable giving talks at that stage and so I’m not sure I got my information across nearly as well as I should have.… Continue reading this article “Jeff Ball”