Gardeners love asters as part of their autumn floral palette. Yet these native asters are blooming now – in the spring!
These specimens were purchased last summer and planted in the fall in Florida. Why might they be blooming out of season?
Reader Ginny Stibolt contributed today’s puzzle. If you’d like to be a guest inquisitor on our blog, send photos and explanatory text to Linda Chalker-Scott.
I really liked the answers you brave few came up with for Friday’s photo. I could absolutely see how each one made sense – but unfortunately none of them were correct. It’s actually a raindrop sitting on top of an expanding larch bud:
This turned out to be much trickier than I anticipated. I promise the next one won’t be.
(And no, the raindrops do not magnify sunlight and cause the expanding needles to burn!)
What am I? (There are two distinct entities.)
Answer and a complete photo on Monday!
Sunday addendum:
No guesses yet…maybe it’s too tough? Here’s a more revealing photo:
A short post from our ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ file. This what we work up to today at Daisy Hill farm 
If anyone has seen Spring, please e-mail it some MapQuest directions to Michigan ASAP!
The odd oak in Friday’s photos is shin oak, or Quercus sinuata var. breviloba:
This trunk “puddle” is a really cool adaptation called a lignotuber (good job Matilija!) or burl. These are common in woody plants found in wildfire zones. New sprouts can arise after fires have roared through, or perhaps after heavy browsing by deer, as the park ranger suggested to Ginny, our guest inquisitor.
Thanks, Ginny, for sharing the photos and question. If you have an interesting plant quiz topic, preferrably with pictures, feel free to pass it on for our Friday Question!
Reader Ginny Stibolt passed this one on to mull over the weekend:
“We stayed at the Llano River State Park in Texas where I spotted this weird growth pattern of a gnarly oak–it’s like a puddle of trunk from which the main trunk arises. The camp host, who seemed to be well informed, said that these were Spanish oaks in the white oak division and that a root disease causes the expansion of the base of the trees. About 1/4 of them, here in the camping area, have this malady and often new sprouts grow from the wide base. Spanish oak does not seem to be the “correct” common name, and in looking at the native oaks for Texas, I couldn’t readily identify it. So a mystery or two…”
So what kind of oak is this, and why does it have this weird trunk base?
Ginny has an update, and I’ll post it on Monday.
…To get to the other side. Of course.
All the rain we’re having is causing the earthworms to crowd the sidewalks and driveways. They fling themselves out of the ground and onto the pavement because they’re drowning, right? Nope. Urban myth (by the way, why are there no Rural Myths?). The punchline is not too far off: they can only move about above ground while it’s raining. They use rain events to safely relocate, and can allegedly live for a while in a puddle. But we all know what happens when the sun comes out…crispy Ramen time.
I had just come in from flinging a bunch of worms off the pavement in front of our building – they were going to get mashed or eaten by robins otherwise. I probably put them right back from whence they came, against their earthwormy wishes.
Then I read Bert’s post…it’s like reporting that the Easter Bunny has rabies or something. I’ve always been delighted to see earthworms, under any conditions. To the point of saving their squirmy little lives whenever possible. Not sure what to think about this new bit of information.
Today I thought I’d go just a little off topic. Lots of people out there are really upset about the idea of putting genes into plants, like putting genes for Round-Up resistance into soybeans, or genes for caterpillar resistance into corn. And, I do agree, this is a pretty powerful technology that needs to be used carefully – probably more carefully than it’s being used right now with plants.
But the funny thing is, one of the places where transgenic creatures really dominate the market is in a place that is almost never considered. Today 80-90% of cheese made in the United States is produced using bacteria genetically engineered to produce rennin. What is rennin you ask? Renin is the stuff normally found in a cow’s stomach which causes milk to curdle – and cheese to be created. For those of you interested in looking into this further look up rennet which is the substance in a cow’s stomach which naturally contains rennin.
After looking around a bit I really can’t find that many people upset about the use of genetically engineered microbes to produce rennin. Actually, some people who are quite sensitive to environmental concerns may prefer it. Historically rennin comes from dead young cows – it’s a byproduct of veal production (kind of a nasty industry if you ask me). Rennin that comes from genetically altered bacteria has nothing to do with dead cows and so vegetarians often find cheese produced with genetically engineered rennin to be more appropriate.
[Try to say post title three times fast. Heh.]
Here on the GP blogski, we’ve discussed both the merits and shortcomings of many non-traditional forms of mulch; rather, stuff that covers the ground that is referred to as mulch. Shredded rubber, marble chips, lava stone, dyed lava stone (ick), etc.
But this is a new one on me:
Naturally, I immediately shoved my hand in the biggest tub of glass (part of the Scientific Method). It was not…super smooth. A couple of pieces stuck, and there was a bit of sparkly-dust residue. I tried to remember not to rub my eyes for the rest of the day. Not sure I’m buying the recommendation to “use in pathways.”
Pretty colors…soooo shiny. And recycled!
What’s this? A warning label on the aqua mulch: “Parents, please watch your children’s hands around the glass mulch.”Whoops.
You certainly had fun with this! Yes, it’s “lucky bamboo,” a name which is completely inappropriate given that it’s not bamboo (but Dracaena sanderiana) and it’s certainly not lucky:
Now “spiral lucky bamboo” is usually dracaena (or as I like to call it “not-bamboo”) that’s been exposed to a unidirectional light source and turned at intervals to create a contorted spiral shape:
These plants, on the other hand, have been cut into straight sections and bound with shiny gold wire in ever increasing lengths so that we have a leaning tower of not-bamboo surrounded by adulating ceramic frogs (good eyes Anne and Jam!). Given enough time – a few weeks, maybe – whatever architectural appeal this arrangement had will be covered with leafy growth from all those sprouting nodes.
There’s a homework assignment for someone: buy one of these, then film it under time lapse photography. If our tech guys ever get our video capability up on this blog, I’ll post them!