Tag: pigments

Better Red than Dead!!!

David, one of our newer readers, asked why his red-stemmed roses seem to be more cold hardy than the green-stemmed cultivars.  So today’s blog will be dedicated to a brief discussion of why it’s better to be red than dead.

The brilliant red, blue, and purple colors seen in flowers and fruits are due to anthocyanins (and the closely related betacyanins).  These water-soluble, non-photosynthetic pigments are also commonly found in stems, leaves and other vegetative tissues.  … Continue reading this article “Better Red than Dead!!!”

Foliage fun flaunted!

Not much activity on the Friday quiz!  It was a tricky one.  Take a look at our photos in total:

As you can see, these aren’t plant “problems” in the strictest sense.  (The “landscape” in question is a retail nursery.)  They are cultivated anomalies – little mutations that have been discovered and propagated.  There are several points to this exercise:

1)  Be sure you know your plant material!  Many peope mistakenly assume that plants such as these are diseased, pest-ridden, or lacking some nutrient and need to be “fixed.” … Continue reading this article “Foliage fun flaunted!”

Autumn color puzzler

Here’s a photo I took in Buffalo about 20 years ago.  Buffalo, like many places in the northeast part of the country, has fantastic color changes in the fall.  This maple seems to have changed its mind part of the way through the process:

What do you think caused part of this tree to retain its green leaves?  Answer and another photo on Monday!