Friday quiz – with a twist!

On our hike to Horse Thief Creek, I found this plant nearly ready to bloom:

But I have no idea what it is!  The area is about 3000 ft. in the Santa Rosa Wilderness.  I’ve checked all the wildflower books I have for these deserts and am not having any luck.  It doesn’t help that I can’t see the flowers, of course.

So take your best shots!  I’ll check out all the guesses and come up with a list of best possibilities. … Continue reading this article “Friday quiz – with a twist!”

Products!

Just returned from a mega field trip across the state of Virginia with my Ornamental Plant Production & Marketing class. We toured major wholesale nurseries, greenhouses, and retail garden centers over the course of three days. The trip went well, I believe (university field trips are a considered a success if you return with the same number of students you left with).

One over-arching trend is, of course, that growers and retailers are going after the veg/fruit thing in a big way.… Continue reading this article “Products!”

Friday investigation – April Fools!

I didn’t exactly cheat on this one…but it was a mean trick nevertheless.

This is a contorted cultivar of Larix (can’t remember the exact name and I’m out of town this week), hence the twisty needles.  And indeed the tree is senescing.  The newer growth (the second flush of the season) just wasn’t as prepared for fall as the older growth, which is yellowing naturally.  So everything is just peachy with this tree.

Just goes to show you how important it is to know all the details when doing distance diagnosis!… Continue reading this article “Friday investigation – April Fools!”

Friday investigation

Today I’ve attached a photo of a conifer displaying two symptoms:  chlorosis of the older needles and a twisted appearance:

What do you think are the causes of these symptoms?  Answers on Monday!

Devious dandelions

As Austrian reader Johannes explained, the difference in dandelion flower height is due to herbivory – in this case from a lawnmower.  Dandelions are quite adaptable to variable environments (the phenotypic plasticity Johannes also mentioned) and flower heights will increase or decrease depending on these variables. This ensures that the flowers will be accessible to pollinators, yet not decapitated by lawnmowers.  It’s just one of the fascinating traits that make weeds successful!

 

A Taraxacum teaser

It’s spring and the dandelions are happy to see you!  I’ve taken photos of two groups of dandelions just footsteps away from one another. The populations are both in full sun, with similar types of soil and water availability. You’ll note that one group has very short flower stalks, while the second has longer stalks:

So what’s responsible for the difference in flower stalk length?  And for extra credit, what’s the scientific term for the phenomenon?… Continue reading this article “A Taraxacum teaser”

Friday puzzle revealed

And we have a winner!  As Karen guessed, these are lichens on decomposing granite:

This photo is from the Fortynine Palms oasis area in Joshua Tree National Monument.  These lichens (symbiotic amalgams of fungi and algae) could be decades or centuries old – they are very slow spreading. 

Most creative answer goes to TT, who thought it looked like sweet potato casserole!  The quartz does look like marshmallows.

Friday mystery photo

Another close-up photo for you to analyze and identify:

A more inclusive photo on Monday will solve the mystery.  (Sorry for the brevity – I’m on the road and internet access is variable.  I’m taking what I can get!)

Enjoy your spring weekend!

Disney and Japanese Beetles

This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak at Epcot Center in Florida.  It was, without a doubt, one of the highlights of my career so far.  I spoke 6 times over the course of 3 days.  The focus of my talk was garden remedies.  I started by talking about Paris Green (a good story for next week), then made fun of some of Jerry Baker’s, Myles Bader’s and Joey Green’s recommendations, and then proceeded to talk about which homemade cures do and don’t work and why. … Continue reading this article “Disney and Japanese Beetles”

Friday puzzle answer

So many interesting answers to Friday’s puzzle – thanks to all of you for putting out the effort!  It most certainly is an abiotic problem – but was it temperature, suggested by Deb?  Water, suggested by Foy, Gayle and Ed?  Light, suggested by Nancy?  My plan was to have an extensive soil test run to address the possibility of pollution (suggested by Jim, Heather and Paul), except we discovered the source of the problem last summer when we finished digging our pond:

 

As you can see in this photo, we have solid clay about 12″ below the surface. … Continue reading this article “Friday puzzle answer”