Category: Diversions

Friday quiz – a tale of two clematis

These two Clematis are the same cultivar growing in my landscape about 15 feet apart. Both are growing on a fence facing north. Compare the leaves of the two:


Normal, happy Clematis


Not-so-happy or -normal Clematis

What do you think is causing the leaf discoloration? Very large hint: this is not a biotic stressor. Another hint: you’ve seen this part of our landscape before…back in March. For full credit, identify both direct and indirect environmental stress (in other words, [1] what is directly causing the discoloration in the leaves, and what is allowing [1] to occur, thereby causing stress indirectly)?… Continue reading this article “Friday quiz – a tale of two clematis”

Mystery berry revealed

You guys are just too smart – I was hoping to trap someone into guessing a Vaccinium species. But no, you all knew this was a Taxus spp. (yew):

Because Taxus is a gymnosperm, this reproductive structure is actually a cone.  It’s botanically incorrect to call it a fruit of any sort, as the term "fruit" refers specifically to angiosperms. Taxus cones are modified for seed dispersal to include an edible, fleshy aril (very good, @GardenHoe!),… Continue reading this article “Mystery berry revealed”

Friday mystery

I just got back from Nanaimo BC, where I had gooseberries with my afternoon tea.  Below is another "berry" found on a commonly used ornamental.  (I use the term berry loosely – as you may know, the botanical definintion for berry excludes fruits like strawberry and raspberry, which are aggregate fruits.)

I’ve photoshopped this so that only the two "berries" are visible. On Monday I’ll post the entire photo, along with some botanical fun facts! See if you can guess what this is before then.

Visiting Virginia

The first thing that I did, gardening wise, when I moved to Minnesota from Georgia was to try all of the plants that I had grown to love in the South in the North — hoping beyond hope that perhaps someone had made a mistake when listing the hardiness zones of these plants.  The result was a mess of dead lacebark elms, Japanese maples, and butterfly bushes.  One plant that I did find could live, albeit just barely, was the beautyberry — a purple fruiting shrub that would survive as a perennial in Minnesota, just barely getting up to my knee — just enough to tease me.… Continue reading this article “Visiting Virginia”

Creative Uses For Old Water Breakers

Why, oh why, can’t someone engineer a sturdy, long-lasting, horticulturally-correct water breaker.

We have, at last count, six hoses in use at our very spread-out garden & farm.  I go through a lot of breakers, and am down to two, which I rotate around.  In dire need of some new ones (as well as a huge bale of TP), I perused the garden aisle at our local big box (rhymes with “Target”).  Pistol grip schnozzles abound – these things that propel the water
like a 95 mph fastball. … Continue reading this article “Creative Uses For Old Water Breakers”

Mystery photo uncurled!

There were a few brave souls who ventured to ID the mystery plant – a trunk shot is not particularly helpful, I know.  But I was hoping that its contorted nature might help a little.  (It wouldn’t have helped me at all, but you all know by now that I am NOT a taxonomist.)

So our mystery tree is a curly willow (Salix matsudana):

…which may or may not be synonymous with Salix babylonica.… Continue reading this article “Mystery photo uncurled!”

Niagara Parks Botanical Garden mystery photo

In addition to the cool Poison Plants garden, I also found this curious trunk – what tree might this be?

This question will appeal to collectors of plant curiousities.  Answer and more photos on Monday!

What About the Corn?

Year after year farmers in the US plants a lot of corn.  A safe estimate is around 80 million acres with another 70 million acres or so going to soybeans.  Corn comes from South America,  soybeans are from East Asia.  When we plant these crops we plant them in such a way that we exclude or, at the very least, limit the ability of native plants to grow.  A safe estimate is that 99 percent of our cropland is planted in non-native species. … Continue reading this article “What About the Corn?”

Friday puzzle solved – better late than never!

I spent yesterday flying from Seattle to Buffalo and didn’t get a chance to post the answer to the puzzle on Friday.  This was an easy one for our readers – the shrub is (was?) a mesquite, and the bushy growth in the photograph is mistletoe (as identified by Bob and seconded by Ginny and Jimbo). 

I am pretty sure this mesquite was dead, as it had been a wet spring and everything was leafing out. … Continue reading this article “Friday puzzle solved – better late than never!”

Garden invaders

I’m running a bit ragged between travel and getting ready for my grad student, Amanda, to defend her thesis in the morning.

Here’s something a little lightter from our friends at Utah State Extension…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0foMKAxCww