I’m out of town this week, and taking lots of plant pictures. Here’s an interesting tree, quite common in the city where I’m staying:
Question 1: What kind of tree is this? (Genus is good enough – species might be hard to tell.)
Question 2: In what geographical region might I be staying? (The tree is native as far as I know.)
Question 3: What are these woody structures called, and what function do they play?… Continue reading this article “Three part plant quiz”
Paul, Joseph, Kandi and Derek are all, apparently, Puya fanciers. But! It’s not P. alpestris, but P. berteroana – a species whose flowers are more turquoise than sapphire:
Yeah, Kandi, check out those spines! Even taking pictures is deadly!
And Paul and Joseph were correct – the long green structures are sterile (they bear no flowers) and serve as bird perches. The nectar almost runs out of these flowers, and as the birds get a sugar fix their heads are covered in pollen.… Continue reading this article “Answers to blue flower quiz”
Like many readers of this blog, I’m like a kid in a candy store where plants are sold. I try to justify the extra cost of a large annual pot instead of a scrawny 4-pack, or I imagine I’ll find room for that lime green Heuchera and my wife will learn to love it. But unless I keep my blinders on and stick to the shopping list, I’ll probably leave with a fertilizer. This year, I’ve purchased 12-0-0, 5-6-6, sulfur, and some 5-1-1 liquid. … Continue reading this article “Our visiting GP takes on fertilizers”
I was driving around town recently and saw a tree service crew clearing up some storm damaged trees. Because of my line of work I usually do a little rubber-necking and try to assess why type of tree came down and what issues may have preceded it’s demise. In this case, however, I was struck not by the trees but by the tree crew. What I saw left me speechless. Well, here, see for yourself…
No eye protection. … Continue reading this article “Safety first?”
The university’s server was down for scheduled maintenance over the weekend and I missed getting this posted. So you have until next Friday to consider this interesting flower from the Berkeley Botanical Gardens:
What is this plant?
And what is the function of these long, green horizontal structures?
Have fun
Over at my favorite blog (besides this one of course!) Garden Rant, Amy Stewart posted about exploding watermelons — which Linda blogged about below — and about how Bt from genetically engineered food had found its way into our blood stream (and the bloodstream of unborn children). Sounds pretty scary doesn’t it? I’m not going to tell you it isn’t a little troubling, because it is, and I absolutely do not think this finding should be disregarded. … Continue reading this article “Bt in the Bloodstream!”
One of our loyal blog readers passed on this interesting article about exploding watermelons in China. Seems that Chinese farmers have been overapplying a synthetic growth regulator which has led to the of proliferation of plump pepos (gotta love alliteration!). Of course the media has “blown” this out of proportion with action verbs like “explode” and “erupt”, when what’s actually happening is that the melons are merely splitting. (It’s a pretty boring video if you take time to watch it.)… Continue reading this article “Exploding watermelons and exploding hysteria”
In light of the comments on Dr. Jeff’s latest post (When Trees Don’t Know They’re Dead), especially those by Shawn, Ed, and Dr. Linda, I absolutely have to post this.
To the best of my knowledge, the number of stand-up comedian bits related to tree health can be counted on one finger. Here it is, transcribed, as close as I can without having Linda ban me from the blog/WSU server.
Ron White is a big, bawdy, laid-back Texan, permanently armed with a cigar, glass of scotch, and high-beam smile. … Continue reading this article “Trees: Dead or Alive”
Seemingly once a week we see a report in the news about how Science and Math education in the US lags behind many developed countries around the world. http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-15/us/education.obrien.response_1_math-and-science-national-robotics-competition-education?_s=PM:US
While we typically think of Chemistry and Physics when discussing science education, biology is in there too.
I bring this up because I am continually amazed at how little many people know about basic biology. Some of this funnels its way into extension calls and e-mails. … Continue reading this article “Science Education and Lichens”
Last week a neighbor of mine called me up to ask how likely it was that their 4 year old (or so) crab apple tree was dead. Sometime over the course of the winter cute fuzzy bunnies had decided that the tree’s bark was tasty and decided to eat it. Naturally they ate it all the way around the circumference of the tree with the exception of a strip about an inch wide. At this point you’re probably asking yourself why the neighbors suspected the tree might be alive. … Continue reading this article “When Trees Don’t Know They’re Dead.”