John Bartram Lives!

Yep, there he is. Showed up at our state Master Gardener College, just last week. I even went to dinner with him. The snake-on-a-stick startled the bartender just a bit.



The elder Bartram (his son William was also a great botanist and explorer) was the Royal Botanist to King George III and a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Stockholm. As with many of the Great Plant Explorers, his life combined botany with politics,
adventure, and lust [for plants,anyway].… Continue reading this article “John Bartram Lives!”

Questions on sustainability

Linda’s recent post on the sustainability of topiaries got me to thinking, is any horticultural practice sustainable?  And, does it matter?

 

Picking up on the topiary theme I thought of the ultimate form of tree manipulation, bonsai.  I few years ago I visited the National Arboretum in Washington DC, which includes an incredible bonsai display.  Some of the bonsai specimens in the collection originated in Japan and are over 300 years old.  Is 300 years long enough to consider this a sustainable practice? … Continue reading this article “Questions on sustainability”

Clematis mystery solved

Friday’s quiz was a tough one. Bernadette and Lisa B. gave it a good shot, guessing that this might be a phosphorus deficiency. While they’re on the right track (it is a nutritional disorder), the mineral of interest is iron, and it’s a toxicity problem, not a deficiency.

Under wet conditions (the affected Clematis is in the part of our landscape with a perched water table – see the March 15 posting), iron is predominantly in the Fe+2 form (ferrous) rather than the Fe+3 form (ferric).… Continue reading this article “Clematis mystery solved”

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”

An interesting blog for science-loving oenophiles

There’s a new blog already generating a lot of discussion among wine aficionados.  The not-so-subtly named “Biodynamics is a hoax” discusses all things related to Rudolph Steiner and his philosophies, including the pseudoscience of biodynamics.

Organic farming study at – gasp! – a research university

There is a common misperception among some that university researchers are in the pocket of Big Ag (see June 11 and 13 posts). So here’s a link to an article in today’s Seattle Times about the benefits of organic farming from a study at Washington State University.  The research was published in Nature (one of the most revered of the scientific journals).

Cornmeal myth busted

As my colleague Fred Hoffman says, the horticultural silly season is upon us. This week I heard from one of our European readers, questioning the use of cornmeal as a fungicide. He referenced an online article entitled “Cornmeal has powerful fungicidal properties in the garden.” He hadn’t been able to find any reliable information and thought it might make a good topic for our blog. So Johannes, this rant’s for you!

If you’ve followed the link to column in question, you’ll see that the original “research” is attributed to one of Texas A&M’s research stations in Stephenville, TX.… Continue reading this article “Cornmeal myth busted”

The Other Lamb’s Ears

I’m assuming even you tree people (aka other
Garden Professors) are familiar with the soft, silvery leaves of Stachys
byzantina or Lamb’s Ear (variously Lamb Ears and Lamb’s Ears).  Not to
disparage S. byzantina, but in our part of the world it looks like a
pile of wet dryer lint in the winter; and can become similarly
disfigured during a hot, wet summer.  Spring brings bright,
pet-able new ears, followed by woolly flower spikes that could serve as
Q-tips for Shrek.… Continue reading this article “The Other Lamb’s Ears”

Garden seminar coming to a place near you?

I just got back from British Columbia where I spoke to 2 garden club/Master Gardener groups.  It’s always easy for me to do seminars in BC or along the west coast, but I rarely get a chance to go elsewhere.  Many times it’s the expense that keeps groups, especially garden clubs and nonprofits, from bringing in speakers.

So here’s my idea:  I keep a gift account budget here at WSU with the donations people make towards my educational program. … Continue reading this article “Garden seminar coming to a place near you?”

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”