All the Dirt on Gardening

St. Louis Public Radio announced The Plant List , the first comprehensive, global online plant list. This free reference is a result of coordination between the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Royal Botanic Gardens in London. It includes scientific names of all known plant species on our planet. And, it's free.

This year the catalog list includes several new seed sellers, many of which produce their own seeds in open pollinated fields. Every year I buy seed to try, testing the germination rate, so I can recommend sources you may not have tried in the past. Most of the companies listed below charge under $5 shipping for small orders. Hopefully, this list includes some that are new to you.   Bountiful Gardens - heirloom seeds including Creasy Greens medicinal and culinary herbs. The Cold Comfort collection includes Echinacea, mint, yarrow, horehound, catnip, chamomile and hyssop, $11. www.bountifulgardens.org and 707-459-6410. Chiltern Seeds, England - unique flower and vegetable varieties for U.S. gardeners, including Pumpkin Nuts, a peel-less pumpkin grown for its seeds which can be eaten without peeling. Request the vegetable catalog www.chilternseeds.co.uk and 44-1229-581137 Fedco has 4 divisions: Seeds, tubers, organics, trees and bulbs. Vegetables include Poona Kheera cuc...

If you live far enough south to grow citrus, Monica Moran Brandies' new book is one you'll want to pick up. Brandies writes books about gardening in Florida. Her previous volumes include "Florida Gardening", and "Shade Gardening for Florida". "Citrus" has plenty of growing tips but stars in recipes, too. Brandies has tips for using citrus for house cleaning, pesticide, worm growing, and as a beauty aid. "Citrus" books are available through the publisher, B. B. Mackey Books for $16.95 postpaid. Contact Mackey through their website www.mackeybooks.com or email bbmackey@prodigy.net for more information.

The University of California in Santa Cruz has a full story ( online at UCSC here ) about Jacobs Farm founders Larry Jacobs and his wife Sandra Belin. After an unfortunate experience with pesticides, Jacobs converted to integrated pest management and organic growing. Founded in 1980, Jacobs Farm is the largest producer of culinary organic herbs in the U.S. Jacobs has won a couple of important lawsuits in 2008 and last week, against producers that spray pesticides that can drift onto his fields. Christmas morning walk - Carmel River His problem came to light when a health food store chain refused to accept his dill, saying that it had pesticides on it. Reported in the Oakland Tribune , Jacobs said, "It didn't take more than half an hour to find several papers on the movement of these materials and their volatilization." It took Jacobs and his significant resources 4 years to win the case; the tainted dill was discovered in 2006.

More plant names and their origins as promised Our backyard swamp magnolia Magnolias were named for the French botany professor Pierre Magnol who lived 1638 to 1715. Our swamp magnolia, or Sweet Bay, Magnolia virginiana, of course was first identified in Virginia (ergo Virginiana). It was planted in our yard for the benefit of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly . Rudbeckia Chocolate Orange Rudbeckia was named for the Swedish professor Olof Rudbeck (1660-1702) - the elder, not the son. Olof the elder was Bishop Johannes Rudbeckius' son and the father of botanist Olof the younger. Rudbeck's career was human anatomy and linguistics, but he was  interested in botany, establishing Rudbeck's Garden. I grew the Chocolate Orange ones in the photo (seeds from Ivy Garth ) and by the end of the summer they reseeded. The offspring reverted to having smaller, but equally beautiful and durable flowers. Hollyhock, Alcea or Althea Malvaceae Hollyhocks grow...

At this time of year there is so much going on that I assume gardeners are busy with activity. Maybe a novelty article is in order. Take a few minutes, relax and enjoy. Cyclamen at Cagle's Flowers in Muskogee Flowers have a Latin name and usually more than one common name. The origin of those names is an interesting study. For example, petunias are named for petun, the Brazilian tobacco to which it is related. Lettuce is named for the white sap inside its ribs because lac means milk and the Latin name for lettuce is Lactuca satvia. Astilbe’s name means lack of beauty and is a combination of two Greek words: a, meaning without and stilbe, meaning brilliance (without brilliance). It is also called spirea because it resembles Aruncus spirea or goatsbeard. Buddleia or Butterfly Bush is named after English Rev. Adam Buddle. Buddle was a horticulturist who studied and wrote about moss. The most common variety, Buddleia davidii was named for the Jesuit missionary Pere Armand Da...

When I slipped this stevia rebaundiana plant out of its pot to see if it could benefit from a larger container it looked like it was ready for a new home since the roots are visibly growing through the soil to the edge of the pot. So, first I filled a slightly larger pot with fresh soil and poured warm water on it both to settle it and so the water would absorb into the perlite and peat moss. That takes a little soaking time. (Using warm water helps the plant's roots adapt and reduces transplant shock in the cold months.) Then I gently teased the roots out, so they could grow quickly into the fresh dirt. That done, I moved the plan out of direct sun for a week or so, while it was busy underground. NEXT A green striped - variegated - spider plant had fallen onto the ground and was forgotten for a few months. By the time I wondered what happened to it and found it, the roots had sort of grown..... It is a tropical plant that does very well outside in the summer but...