Here’s a snippet of a photo I shot this summer:
What is this mysterious glowing object? (I did not manipulate this photo in any way other than to crop it) Answer Monday!
By the way, Lynn asked if we could do a posting on how to make our landscapes more wildlife friendly. We’re doing even better than a posting – we’re doing a whole week’s worth of blogs on the topic! Thanks for the suggestion – and the rest of you feel free to suggest topics as well.
Well, this was a tricky puzzle! Here’s a more complete picture of this interesting plant:
This, believe it or not, is a weigela – specifically, a patented cultivar named Kolmagira. You can see part of a tag in the lower left part of this photo:
As the patent description reads, this shrub possesses “…yellow green and dark green variegated leaves with purple-colored margins…”
Some of you guessed that the leaves might be variegated due to fall senescence, or disease, or drought stress – all very good guesses.… Continue reading this article “Tricky tricolor leaf”
It’s that time of year – leaves are turning all shades of yellow, orange, and red – so I thought I’d use this leaf for today’s puzzle:
I had to photoshop this extensively so it’s a little rough looking. But it does have a toothed margin.
So – is this an example of autumnal coloration? Or something else? Extra bonus points if you can identify the genus of this plant.
Answers and another photo on Monday!
Here’s a bit of the fact-filled, intrepid reporting we at Garden Professors are pleased to provide.
Just back from a visit/droolfest to Pennsylvania’s "Golden Triangle" of horticulture: Swarthmore’s Scott Arboretum, Chanticleer, and Longwood Gardens.
At closing time on Saturday, I was wandering through the cavernous halls of the Longwood conservatory, looking for either my travel companion John Greenlee (Mr. American Meadow Garden), or the restroom. Found one, then followed the signs to the other…
Whoa.… Continue reading this article “When You Gotta Go, Go Green”
Readers were too smart this week! Yes indeed, this is a coconut, improbably found at a Home Depot in Seattle:
Unfortunately, in our climate this can only be an indoors plant, and even a McMansion won’t be able to contain it for long.
Gold stars to Ed, Deb, John, Jess, Jimbo and Ginny!
Today’s photo is part of the ongoing "what the heck is it?" series. As you can see, there’s a shoot emerging from a brown mass:
What’s the brown mass? And what is the shoot emerging from it? Answers and more photos Monday!
After reading Linda’s excellent post yesterday I got to thinking about all of the discussions I have had over the years with people who didn’t know or understand where we (and by we, I mean my research group) got the money to do the work which we do. Oh, they thought they knew, but they were usually way, way off. So here I’m going to give you a terribly over-simplified version of the types of money that a professor can get to conduct the research that they want to conduct.… Continue reading this article “Where the Money Comes From”
Just when I thought I had you all fooled, Judy slipped in at the last minute with the correct answer – the “pruners” in question are deer:
The pruning ends when the deer can’t stretch any further, giving the tree its odd bell-shaped crown:
This is also a great demonstration of how pruning stimulates new growth – you can see the dense healthy growth at the base of the “bell,” even though this part of the crown normally would be much sparser.… Continue reading this article “Pruning perpetrators”
In an otherwise nicely maintained Japanese Garden (at Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park), this black tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) stands out, and not in a good way:
Why would someone prune a tree in this manner? Answer and more photos on Monday!</d
The comments on Friday’s puzzle have certainly been imaginative! (Tribbles indeed!) But this weekend nature cooperated to give me some more information.
My little fungus family expanded over the weekend. As this photo shows, we definitely have a mushroom-type fungus:
Looking at a young member, you can see what look like stalked spores emerging from the gills:
And the edges of the mushroom curl upwards as the spore mass grows
until we end up with the black furry ball shown on Friday:
So the discussion continues: What the heck is this? … Continue reading this article “Fungal fun continues!”