If you happen to come across a pawpaw patch in the springtime, when the trees have covered themselves in small, deep red blossoms, please don’t be tempted to step closer to smell the flowers. Admire them from afar. Zoom in to take a photo. Like skunk cabbage and jack-in-the pulpit, pawpaw flowers have a putrid odor to attract the flies and beetles that pollinate them, and the dull color of their flowers resembles rotting meat. Pawpaw’s small flowers, rarely...
Remembering Our Cats in October Many of us who enjoy making gardens and nurturing plants also enjoy caring for our companion animals. October begins with The Blessing of the Animals, or St. Francis of Assisi Day on October 4, and our awareness of animals, both wild and domesticate continues as we watch birds flock up to migrate, squirrels chase one another across our yards. We celebrate Global Cat Day on October 16 each year and National Cat Day on...
The Elements of Life Water, light, and air fuel our lives. We depend on them, as does every plant and animal. Light energy powers the chemistry of photosynthesis to transform elements like carbon and hydrogen into sugars, food. Oxygen fuels the production of life energy in every living cell. And water fills every cell of every living creature; gives us sap and blood; powers every process of life. There is no life, not even the tiniest microbe, without water. ...
The Fern Solution Once upon a time, I considered ferns the magical solution to most of my gardening challenges. Deep dry shade? Plant some Polystichum, Christmas ferns. Soggy shade? Plant some cinnamon or ostrich ferns. A wet meadow in partial sun? Marsh ferns, Thelypteris, will thrive. Winter color in part sun? Plant some Dryopteris ‘Autumn Brilliance’ ferns. Deer? Bunnies? No worries, grazers normally ignore the ferns, and especially avoid the Cyrtomium holly fern species. Slopes with too much erosion? ...
The Olympic Games, a symbol of international unity and athletic excellence, incorporate plants and flowers into their ceremonies. These botanical elements enhance the visual appeal of the events and carry cultural and historical significance as well. Laurel and Olive in Ancient Greece In ancient Greece, victors of the Olympic Games were awarded olive wreaths, known as kotinos, made from the branches of the olive tree which is sacred to Zeus. This tradition dates back to 776 BCE and symbolizes...
A Mythic Forest The American beech, Fagus grandifolia, once covered most of North America from Canada to Mexico and from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts. Before colonists cleared our ancient forests for farmland, large beech groves grew as part of the climax forest community. A single beech tree can live for centuries, and as it ages it surrounds itself with sapling trees growing as suckers from its relatively shallow root system, forming an expanding grove of graceful beech trees....
May, 1607 Jamestown Island was uninhabited and covered in native vegetation in May of 1607 when the first English settlers chose to establish their colony on a small peninsula in the Powhatan River, now the James River. That peninsula, along with most of the shoreline of the lower river, was under the control of the Powhatan Chiefdom, a confederation of thirty tribes by that time, based to the north at Werowocomoco, in what is now Gloucester County. This chiefdom of...
What is a mycorrhiza? (my-kor-rise’-uh) A mycorrhiza is a symbiotic relationship between a plant and a network of mycelium in the soil. Over 90% of plant species depend on mycorrhizal fungi to assist their roots in accessing water and minerals from the environment. Mycelium extend the reach of a plants’ roots. Why are mycorrhizae important? Fungi share in the abundance of sugars and other carbon-based phytochemicals produced by a growing plant each day. They use carbohydrates absorbed from a...
“To use the world well, To be able to stop wasting it and our time in it, we need to relearn our being in it.” Ursula Le Guin A friend and I were chatting about recipes one afternoon. She is a talented cook and loves to feed her friends and loved ones. I asked for the recipe for something delicious she had served, and she avoided disclosing the details. Finally, she gently explained that among her family, no...
Used as a commercial potting soil since the 1940s, peat is one of the gardeners’ most beloved potting mediums, but is it time to break up with this old standby? Let’s explore peat, its dangers, and some sustainable alternatives. Peat is a type of soil composed primarily of partially decayed organic matter, typically plant material. Found in peatlands, bogs, and swamps, it has been used for centuries as a fuel source and soil amendment. However, the extraction and use of...