The most famous drought-adapted plant in the world, or at least in the United States, may be a saguaro cactus. Towering over the Sonoran Desert, these plants grow up to 60 feet tall and can swell with several tons of water after a thunderstorm. The influx of water stored in the fleshy stem helps the …
Tag Archives: ecology
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 …
Collecting wild plants for gardens: how to forage responsibly
If you like gardening and native plants like I do, you know there are some mixed messages about collecting wild plants. We hear growing native plants is good, but only if they come from reputable commercial nurseries. We’ve learned the harms of picking a wildflower, but give little thought to building with wood, meaning somebody …
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Botanical tourism: bringing plants from Hawaii to the mainland
When I was a kid, my dad sometimes brought me bits of plant life from his work trips around the country. I was more interested in those kinds of souvenirs than anything from an airport gift shop. They were nothing ecologically-sensitive or fancy. Just nuts or seed pods from trees in a public park, or …
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Growing your garden’s resilience to drought
How to design and prepare your garden to coast through summer’s heat without becoming severely drought stressed.