All the Dirt on Gardening

Excerpts below. Full story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22991838 Plants have a built-in capacity to do maths, which helps them regulate food reserves at night, research suggests. UK scientists say they were "amazed" to find an example of such a sophisticated arithmetic calculation in biology. Mathematical models show that the amount of starch consumed overnight is calculated by division in a process involving leaf chemicals, a John Innes Centre team reports in e-Life journal. Birds may use similar methods to preserve fat levels during migration.  Discovery.com The scientists studied the plant Arabidopsis , which is regarded as a model plant for experiments. Overnight, when the plant cannot use energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into sugars and starch, it must regulate its starch reserves to ensure they last until dawn. Experiments by scientists at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, show that to adjust its starch consumption so p...

The Tulsa Herb Society is hosting Patricia Lanza - the queen of lasagne gardening July 8th Tulsa Garden Center 2435 S. Peoria Ave www.tulsaherb.com The Tulsa Herb Society is thrilled to host An Evening with Patricia Lanza , July 8 th from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm at the Tulsa Garden Center.   Your invitation to this free event includes an evening of garden exploration; where enjoyment meets functionality.   Join THS as they welcome this knowledgeable gardener to Tulsa. Originally from Crossville, Tennessee Patricia remembers what it was like to keep a garden from watching her grandparents’ garden in rocky, clay soil. She remembers how they rented a mule to plow in the spring then raked out the rows by hand. How they planted, watered and hoed weeds all summer. She also remembers the taste of fresh vegetables right from the garden: red, juicy tomatoes, tender green beans and corn, indeed lots of corn picked by the apron full every day. Patricia began gar...

Gardeners love plants and appreciate being outdoors.   Whether you prefer cottage gardens, a themed garden or plants in tidy rows, we all enjoy being in nature to watch wildlife and to relax. To the extent that we enjoy having wildlife around, we also realize the importance of including native wildflowers in our plantings.  Merv Wallace who has owned Missouri Wildflowers Nursery since 1984 has developed a passion and a purpose in his work. Wallace said he wished people understood the important connection between native plants and all wildlife. “Doug Tallamy’s book “Bringing Nature Home” changed my way of thinking,” Wallace said. “Native plants allow so many things we enjoy to have a place; they depend on them.” In the introduction to that book, Tallamy said that gardeners can (and should) create small slices of native ecosystem in their gardens to help prevent more animal species from falling behind and eventually moving into extinction. “… for our own good an...

Vinca minor and Periwinkle now have to exit our garden as we eliminate invasive plants in favor of native plants.  They are invasive but for a change not from Asian countries, but this time from southern Switzerland southward around much of the Mediterranean basin, from Portugal to Turkey, and across much of north Africa according to www.invasivespecies.IN.gov . Vinca minor They were introduced as a medicinal herb and as an ornamental ground cover. Planting alternatives, will depend on where you live. At the IN. gov site they recommend Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata) Palm Sedge (Carex muskingumensis) Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) Creeping Phlox (Phlox subulata)   But! As you and I both know, those desirables are much more difficult to become established and provide ground cover and weed prevention.

Debra Lee Baldwin , the acknowledged leader in the popularity of succulents, has a new book out - "Succulents Simplified: Growing, Designing, and Crafting with 100 Easy-Care Varieties"  published by Timber Press . Like her other books, this one is filled with gorgeous photographs of succulents. Baldwin gardens on half an acre in southern CA foothills so her ability to grow succulents and cacti is part and parcel of the perfect weather they have there for them (temps range from 32 to 110). The chapter on replacing a lawn with succulents makes complete sense in warm climates. From the beginning of the book, Baldwin explains why she loves succulents: Low maintenance, easy to propagate, and non-invasive. She recommends growing them in containers so they can easily be moved with changes in the weather. "Low Water Plants for Lazy Gardeners" is a chapter I can relate to and the resilient Jade Plant is one of the examples of these. You can expect to learn a...

Bugwood Blog announced that "The North American Invasive Species Network (NAISN) has launched a new informational website ( www.naisn.org ), which provides a wide variety of invasive species management and research resources, links to a multitude of potential partner organizations, and access to streamlined data-sharing platforms for users throughout the USA, Canada, and Mexico. Mimosa  NAISN website development and design was undertaken by three of the eight NAISN member hubs: the Center for Invasive Species Management, Montana State University; the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health , University of Georgia; and the Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, University of Florida .   Because invasive species cross governmental jurisdictional boundaries, NAISN aims to unify and connect existing regional invasive species management and prevention efforts into a single network to improve communication, collaboration, and overall coordination in North Ameri...

If you have been contemplating helping nature by putting more native plants in your garden, you are not alone. Planting natives is one part of a cultural shift toward living a greener lifestyle with a smaller carbon footprint. Gardeners hope to leave the world a better place and are teaching the next generation that planet earth is precious. By the purest and purist’s definition, native plants grew here before the European settlers arrived. In contrast, plants brought into the area from other places and hybrid plants are non-natives. Naturalized plants are those that were brought into the region as non-natives but they escaped the cultivated area and thrive as weeds. Wherever they originated, natives are often low-maintenance plants that grow well without much assistance after they become established. Wild Things Nursery ( www.wildthingsnursery.com ) in Seminole grows and sells OK native plants. Owners Marilyn and Ken Stewart converted their acreage to a butterfly, moth a...