Susan Harris over at Garden Rant has done a terrific write up of all the details, so I’ll be brief here: Linda Chalker-Scott, the founder and fearless leader of The Garden Professors, is facing possible termination from her job at Washington State because she’s doing exactly what it says in her job description — extension, providing gardening information to the public — instead of bringing in big research grants. Universities love grants because they means money, and educating the public doesn’t.… Continue reading this article “Founding GP under fire… for doing her job.”
Dear big box store: please make up your mind.
Report from the Center for Food Safety, April, 2015:
My photo from July, 2015:
Yes, sometimes folks want or need to kill bees, wasps, etc. But given the current hullabaloo, this particular sales display was too ironic for words.
Of potatoes and blue roses: be a mad plant tinkerer
A few weeks ago, I saw an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal (of all places) talking about people who are bioengineering plants at home to develop, among other things, a true blue rose. I love to see this. “Tinkerers” have long been a proud tradition of people who make true impacts and discoveries. I think of the ultimate plant “mad tinkerer” Luther Burbank who established himself as a foremost expert on developing new plants all from his crazy tinkering that developed the potato that you’ll find at nearly every fast food joint and created plants such as the shasta daisy and the wonderberry. … Continue reading this article “Of potatoes and blue roses: be a mad plant tinkerer”
Is a tomato a fruit? Or a vegetable? Yes. And yes.
I’m not sure why this is the question that just won’t die, but I got it again at a event where I was speaking recently, so I am hereby going to issue the final, official, definitive ruling on the age-old question: Is a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable?
The answer is:…
(Drum roll please)
Both!
That’s right, folks. Vegetable and fruit are not mutually exclusive categories! Fruit is a technical, botanical term like leaf and petiole and petal which refers to a specific part of a plant.… Continue reading this article “Is a tomato a fruit? Or a vegetable? Yes. And yes.”
Why you (probably) shouldn’t be starting seeds yet
As a beginning gardener I learned that to give plants like tomatoes and peppers more time to grow and produce the largest possible crop, it was best to start the seeds early indoors.
As soon as I learned that, I wondered: Well, if starting my tomatoes 6-8 weeks before transplanting them outside is good, surely 10 weeks would be better, right? Or 12? Or 16?
Turns out, earlier isn’t always better, and here are some of the reasons why.… Continue reading this article “Why you (probably) shouldn’t be starting seeds yet”
Not raking leaves: Too good to be true?
Rejoice, gardeners and homeowners, for your deliverance from the drudgery of raking leaves has arrived. Or so goes the proclamation from a viral article that popped up on social media this past fall.
The article in question was posted on the Woman’s Day magazine website based on information from the National Wildlife Federation As the article points out, leaving piles of leaves on the lawn are good “habitat” and homeowners should just let the leaves fall where they may for the sake of supporting critters in the lawn.… Continue reading this article “Not raking leaves: Too good to be true?”
Our brightly colored world
By Dr. John Palka (from his blog site)
We are now headed into the dark part of the year. The winter solstice is less than a month away. For the moment, however, let us think not about these short days and long nights, but back to the summer—and especially to summer’s brilliant flowers. How do all these colors come to be? What allows us to perceive them? Why don’t we see the world in the black-and-white of old-style photographs?… Continue reading this article “Our brightly colored world”
Blast from my petunia past
A few days ago I recorded a podcast with Margaret Roach were we talked about all our favorite seed sources. One of the many things we mentioned were the great species petunias available from Select Seeds. Which caused me to flash back to my time in graduate school doing research on petunias, and dig up these old images.
At the top are Petunia integrifolia (purple) and Petunia axillaris (white) and below are an assortment of flowers from a population of F2 hybrids between the two.… Continue reading this article “Blast from my petunia past”
2015’s top plants in my garden
For normal people, I gather, New Years is all about making resolutions to loose weight or spend more quality time with family. For me, New Years means reviewing everything I grew in the garden in the past 12 months and deciding what I love and what I’m over. I always try lots of new things, and so I thought I’d share my top new favorites for 2015.
The only Dianthus chinensis I’d grown before are the modern selections which are about three inches tall with huge flowers and as ugly as can be (in my opinion) but ‘Chianti’ and ‘Victoriana’, two charming old-fashioned seed strains won my heart in a big way this year.… Continue reading this article “2015’s top plants in my garden”
Why some plants are “fooled” by a warm December and some aren’t
Here in Michigan – and, it seems, most of the Eastern US – we’ve been having unseasonably warm weather and there are odd things afoot in the garden. Some plants that would normally be dormant coming back into growth. But perhaps odder is that while some plants have been “fooled” by the unseasonable heat, others are still resolutely dormant and not pushing any growth at all despite the warmth. Why is that?
There are a lot of factors that determine when a plant is dormant and when in active growth, a key one in this context is whether they have a vernalization requirement or not.… Continue reading this article “Why some plants are “fooled” by a warm December and some aren’t”