Moss-tacular!

Mosses are soft, green, and tough as nails, as shown in a recent article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (prestigious, high impact journal with a rather unfortunate acronym).

Dr. Catherine La Farge and associates, from the University of Alberta, visited a remote glacier on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut while studying the wild, wide world of arctic bryophyte systematics. Bryophytes are ancient, non-vascular, non-flowering plants – mosses and liverworts, mostly.

Long story short, they harvested bits of moss that had been trapped in ice for about 400 years and were now exposed.… Continue reading this article “Moss-tacular!”

Lights!

Today I want to share something that I’ve been working on recently with Fine Gardening that is really cool!  So you know all of those lights you can buy to get your plants started over the winter?  Did you ever wonder which of those lights really work?  I’m going to leave the final answer for my article, but let me tell you, there’s a world of differences between the lights.  The best seem to be some LED lights that aren’t available yet, but are made by a company called Heliospectra.   … Continue reading this article “Lights!”

The Canary in the Coal Mine

Three weekends ago marked a milestone of sorts as mean daily CO2 levels at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observatory at Mauna Loa, Hawaii topped 400 ppm for the first time ever.  Rising levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases could result in significant increases in temperature in the Upper Midwest over the next century.  When we think about trees in cities the scenario is even worse since not only will urban trees have to deal with overall temperature increases but they must also contend with urban heat island effects, which can add another 8 deg.… Continue reading this article “The Canary in the Coal Mine”

Container planting: intuition vs. reality

I’m just starting to think about getting my containers planted for the summer and happened to get an email on the topic from a blog reader. John was frustrated with a local columnist’s advice on using gravel in the bottom of the containers for drainage. When challenged, the columnist refuted John’s accurate comments with “logical thinking.” (You can find the posting and comments here.)

Here’s part of the post: “I like to cover the hole with a layer of gravel to improve drainage.… Continue reading this article “Container planting: intuition vs. reality”

Buying locally-grown plants

Of course we want to buy locally-grown plants! There are a gazillion sound reasons to do so.  In a paper that may be from near here, or not, I perused the gardening column over Sunday coffee, written by (a human) (name withheld to protect the very, very nice and usually accurate author). But in this particular article, the writer ventured deep into huh? territory.

And that territory is my area of expertise: nursery and greenhouse production and marketing.… Continue reading this article “Buying locally-grown plants”

Rubbing salt into wounds

Last week I posted about some horticultural disasters I witnessed in the Czech Republic.  This week the chamber of horrors is little closer to home; virtually in my back yard to be specific.  Our property backs up to US 127, the main North-South through route in our area.  It’s a limited access highway with a posted speed of 70 mph, which means an average speed of 82.7 mph.  It also means the road is regularly salted whenever it snows during the winter.  … Continue reading this article “Rubbing salt into wounds”

Five little lavenders…four years later

If you’ve been following us for a while, you might remember a post from August 2009 when I got cranky about a pot of lavenders with horrendous root systems.  I intervened with my Felcos and planted out the patients, hoping for the best.
Lavender #2 before root pruning

In July of 2010, I gave an update on their progress.  At that point, one of the lavenders had died but the other four were perking along. And now it’s time to show them in their floral glory:

Root washing is still controversial, as is corrective root pruning. … Continue reading this article “Five little lavenders…four years later”

My Thoughts on 14 Foods…

Yesterday on Facebook I posted a link to a list put out by the Rodale Institute which takes a look at 14 things that you should never eat.  Some I thought were reasonable, and some I thought were a little nuts.  All in all though, it was an entertaining experience that made me think.

Here are my thoughts on the 14 foods.  Please feel free to disagree, and also realize that, while I am relatively familiar with the production of fruits, vegetables, and, to a lesser extent, staple crops like wheat, I’m not nearly as knowledgeable about meat and fish, and I’m certainly not a dietician. … Continue reading this article “My Thoughts on 14 Foods…”

Random acts of horticultural violence

I’ve been traveling in Europe the past few days working on a project with some colleagues in the Czech Republic.  While we typically think of our friends in Europe as being more progressive and cultured than us, it appears there are still a few areas where they have a ways to go – such as banning smoking from restaurants and bars – and in learning about the art and science of Arboriculture.  (And before the hate mail from Europe starts pouring in; yes, I realize we can find plenty of scenes like this in the US – just hoped I’d find better on this side of the pond).… Continue reading this article “Random acts of horticultural violence”

Valentine’s in May

Lamprocapnos spectabilis (the species formally known as Dicentra
spectabilis) is an easy, tough, arctic-hardy, spring-blooming perennial
that always makes me happy. I’ve posted previously about the wonders of
‘Gold Heart’ – all the screaming yellow foliage you can stand, topped
with magenta flowers.

Last fall, I’d finally gotten my mitts on a hard-to-find one named ‘Valentine’.  Already dormant in the pot, I planted it with hopes that it would somewhat resemble the tag photo (and hype) as I’d not seen it in person.… Continue reading this article “Valentine’s in May”