In an era of rising eco-consciousness, homeowners are gradually moving away from lawns and other heavily irrigated landscapes. The trend is toward xeriscapes, landscapes that are designed for climate they are located in, with plants adapted to thrive on little more than rainfall, and gardens that use efficient irrigation systems like drip systems or, in …
Category Archives: science
Why snow cover is good for your garden
Because snow is mostly air, it is an excellent insulator, keeping temperatures stable at around 25 degrees even in sub-zero weather.
Do trees die of old age?
Many common trees have potential lifespans in the centuries, yet we rarely see single-stemmed trees grow past a thousand years old. So what limits them?
Why are there so many dying trees? What emerald ash borer damage looks like and what we learn from it
If you follow news about trees and gardening, you’ve probably been hearing for many years the ominous news of a devastating invasive insect called the emerald ash borer. History of the emerald ash borer in North America Ash trees are—or were—one of the most common tree types in North America. Our native ash species include …
A primer on the cactus family, and growing mountain ball cactus, Pediocactus simpsonii, from seed
Cacti make up one of the most diverse and rapidly-evolving plant families in the world, native exclusively to the Americas. First appearing about 35 million years ago (fairly recent for such a large group of plants), the first cacti were thorny tropical shrubs with woody stems and lush leaves. They’re hardly recognizable as cacti, but …
Helpful Concepts In Gardening: How Plants Decide When To Recycle Leaves
Plants don’t spring back vigorously after hard pruning because they so appreciate having been deadheaded or cropped. They do it as a survival strategy, because they need to get out of energy deficit as quickly as possible.
Wealth for worms: what a gardener should understand about soil
Soil is one of the most important concerns for gardeners, so I want to take a moment to address a few basics. It’s the medium into which we add our plants, it’s where non-woody plants retreat when dormant, it’s where water is stored, nutrients are recycled and it is the home for countless bacteria, fungi, …
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