Education, Garden Vocabulary, Horticulture, Plants, Science, Trees No comments yet

Garden Vocabulary: Stoma

By on March 19th, 2013

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This Garden Vocabulary series seeks to introduce and explain to you — and in many cases, myself — words and terms associated with gardening. Please let me know if  there are any terms you would like me to explore. You can leave your ideas in the comments section and we can learn together!

Stoma

“In botany, a stoma (plural stomata) (from Greek στόμα, “mouth”[1]) is a pore, found in the epidermis of leaves, stems and other organs that is used to control gas exchange. The pore is bordered by a pair of specialized [parenchyma] cells known as guard cells that are responsible for regulating the size of the opening. ” – Wikipedia.org 

Sometimes, because they don’t move from place to place, we don’t think of plants and trees as truly living things. They just seem to exist in place. Even though they might grow new limbs and new leaves, these happen on such a slow timescale that humans have a hard time understanding how much physical action is happening every moment. If it isn’t the time scale of events that fool us, it is the size of the event. Plants are living — and more importantly for this vocabulary word — breathing organisms who must regulate their physical processes from moment to moment. Trees can’t pick up and move when the sun becomes to hot or  more water is needed. Most plants use the stoma in their leaves — which is typically the largest surface area of a plant — to control the movement of gases such as carbon dioxide and oxygen and water between the atmosphere and themselves. They can close to retain water during the hottest day of the year and open them wide at others to bring in more carbon dioxide for aid photosynthesis.

The next time you look at a leaf, try to imagine all these little portal opening and closing as needs dictate and allowing the plant to breathe deep of the world. Here is a microscopic photograph of what stoma might look like if you get get unclose and personal with them.

Stoma wikipedia

Photo: Wikipedia.org

More information on stoma:

 
 

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Container Garden Update, Food, Herbs, Plants, Podcast, Show, Video No comments yet

Video: Container Garden Update 19: A failed container, worm castings and some new basil

By on March 18th, 2013

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This time I talk about a failed container, add more basil to the pots, along with some worm castings for added nutrients.

What’s happening in your garden? I’d love to know! Leave your questions and comments here or on any of the web and social media sites linked below!

Can’t see the video above? Watch “Container Vegetable Garden Update 19″ on YouTube 

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Music: “Whiskey on the MIssissippi” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  - Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Education, Flowers, Horticulture, Interesting Plant, Plants No comments yet

Interesting Plant: Primula ‘Victoriana Silver Laced Black’

By on March 18th, 2013

Interesting Plant: Primula ‘Victoriana Silver Laced Black’

Primula victoriana silver laced

Interesting Plant: Primula ‘Victoriana Silver Laced Black’

Silver and Gold-laced Primroses have been grown in gardens for centuries. This strain produces blooms of deep black-brown with a scalloped silver-white edge and a golden eye. Blooms are fragrant with stems just long enough for cutting, appearing in spring. It’s best to plant these where they will be seen, perhaps beside a woodland path. Primroses prefers a moist site with protection from afternoon sun and will not cope well with dry shade conditions. Consider planting alongside a stream or pond, or under the downspout. Slugs are sometimes a problem. Clumps should be divided every 3 to 4 years, immediately after blooming. – Perennials.com

Wow! I love high color contrast plants and this one really caught my eye when I saw it on Pinterest. The deep red-brown of the petals provide the perfect background for the golden center. Looking at its growing habits and sun requirements, it looks like this might find a place in my garden someday. I can foresee several places in the back garden where it might fit in.

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More information on Primula ‘Victoriana Silver Laced Black’:

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Announcement, Elsewhere, How-to No comments yet

Latest Issue of “Leaf” Magazine

By on March 17th, 2013

Here is a link to the most recent edition of the excellent, e-magazine, Leaf.

 

There is lots of great info to be had here, presented in a beautiful package.

You can subscribe and get email notification for each new edition on the Leaf Web Site.

Education, Garden Inventory, Natives, Plants, Shade No comments yet

Garden Inventory: Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum)

By on March 16th, 2013

Garden Inventory is a series where I begin an inventory of all the plants and trees in my garden. Along with some of my own pictures, I will link to various sources of information about each plant and tree so we can learn a little more together.

I would also like to highlight your special plants and tress. Pass along your favorite plants in the comments and I will use them for future Garden Inventory posts. — Douglas

Garden Inventory: Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum)

“Polystichum munitum (Western Sword Fern) is an evergreen fern native to western North America, where it is one of the most abundant ferns. It occurs along the Pacific coast from southeast Alaska south to southern California, and also inland east to southeastern British Columbia, northern Idaho and western Montana, with isolated populations in interior northern British Columbia, the Black Hills in South Dakota, and on Guadalupe Island off Baja California. – Wikipedia.org

I have a couple of sword ferns in the garden, both imported from a friend’s hillside, where they have far too many. They are trying to remove quite a few to make more room for a few more natives that they would prefer to have in their garden. They focus heavily on native plants and native wildlife in their garden, so there are some plants that could provide more a food source for the birds and other wildlife win their garden.

I have a plant of spending a day collecting a large amount of these ferns to fill in some of the bare spots in the very shady back garden in an effort to green it up a bit, especially during the summer when many of the other plants tend to go dormant.

 Garden Inventory: Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum) - 7

Garden Inventory: Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum) - 6Garden Inventory: Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum) - 5Garden Inventory: Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum) - 4Garden Inventory: Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum) - 3Garden Inventory: Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum) - 2Garden Inventory: Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum) - 1

Photos of Sword Fern with closeups of leaves,  growing habit, and stems.

More information on Lemon:

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Books, Education, Flowers, Food, Fruit, Horticulture, Plants, Tech, Technology, Trees No comments yet

App/Book: The New Sunset Western Garden Book: The Ultimate Gardening Guide – IInteractive Edition (iOS, iPhone, IPad, iPod Touch)

By on March 16th, 2013

One of my favorite gardening books, The New Sunset Western Garden Book, is now available for your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The price is $19.99 and I am thinking of purchasing it for my iPhone. I think and iPad would be more usable, though, due to its larger screen size. I’ll have to look at some more iPhone screenshots to see how usable it might be.

Sunset ios icon

From the iTunes App Store…

“Green thumbs go digital! Sunset Magazine’s unparalleled reference guide for Western gardeners springs to life for iPad, iPhone, and the web on Inkling. Now, dig deeper with almost 30 how-to videos, more than 100 slideshows with high-res photography, easy navigation, and additional features and content not found in print.

As the best-selling gardening book in the country, the New Sunset Western Garden Book is already the go-to resource for any gardener in the West. With the beloved print book rebuilt for your iPad and iPhone, it’s even more useful and beautiful than ever before. From embedded videos and gorgeous high-res photos to seamless navigation tools, social sharing features, and in-book gardening notes, the interactive version of your favorite gardening resource is sure to breathe new life into how you garden.

Top Features:

* How-to videos: Watch almost 30 videos to get the dirt on gardening techniques that help you create a hardier, healthier and more beautiful garden.
* Interactive images: There are approximately 30 interactive images, including 15 Climate Zone Maps with tappable poptips to help with climate zone identification and key characteristics of each zone.
* Instructive slideshows: Tap through more than 100 high-res photo slideshows to learn how different plants will work together in your garden.
* Lush layouts: Browsing your book can be as colorful and delightful as wandering in your garden. Science and art go hand-in-hand with gorgeous layouts that automatically adapt for different screen sizes.
* Gardening notes: On every plant card, make notes about how that plant works in your gardens. Notes sync between devices automatically.
* Extra content: Use more plant listings, regional gardening calendars, and even a special new section on the history of the book itself.
* Search: Need to find something quickly? Search the book, your notes, and even Google and Wikipedia, while barely lifting a finger.
* Personal notebook: Highlight text and bookmark cards with ease. It’s all saved to a notebook that lives inside your book for easy reference.

Bonus feature on iPad, iPad mini, PC & Mac:
* Notes: Make notes anywhere in the book that can even include web links. All notes are also saved to your notebook.”

Sunset ios screen1 Sunset ios screen2

Print Edition form Amazon.com

Education, Flowers, Garden Alphabet, Photos, Plants, Water No comments yet

Garden Alphabet: Water Lily (Nymphaeaceae)

By on March 15th, 2013

Water Lily (Nymphaeaceae)

Garden Alphabet: Water Lily (Nymphaeaceae)

We don’t see water lilies much here in arid LA, except in lovely little pond developed specifically for that purpose. This photo was taken at a water lily nursery near Fillmore, California, to our north. The lighting and setting was very nice, so I ended up shooting a lot of photos that day.

“Nymphaeaceae /ˌnɪmfiːˈeɪsiː/ is a family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called water lilies and live in freshwater areas in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains eight genera. There are about 70 species of water lilies around the world.[1] The genus Nymphaea contains about 35 species across the Northern Hemisphere.[1] The genus Victoria contains two species of giant water lilies and can be found in South America.[1] Water lilies are rooted in soil in bodies of water, with leaves and flowers floating on the water surface. The leaves are round, with a radial notch in Nymphaea and Nuphar, but fully circular in Victoria.

Water lilies are divided into two main categories: hardy and tropical. Hardy water lilies bloom only during the day, but tropical water lilies can bloom either during the day or at night, and are the only group to contain blue-flowered plants.” – Wikipedia.org

 
More information on the Water Lily (Nymphaeaceae):

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Design, Garden History, Landscape, Trees No comments yet

Garden History: “Villa Sciarra,” George Wurts house, via Calandrelli, Rome, Italy. (LOC)

By on March 14th, 2013

What is there so special about overarching trees, even relatively young one’s like these. There is a sense of protection, enclosure and peacefulness. It is almost like the trees are keeping the dangerous outside world…outside. Of course, the wolves can always get through the woods, if they wish, bit as humans we still feel enclosure and safety.

In my hometown of New London, Ohio, all four main streets were overarched with huge 50-60 year old maple trees and it always lent a special air to the town, Even when one would toppled in the occasional thunderstorm or near-tornado or felt the brunt of an automobile that had gone out of control, they remained stately and comforting.

This photo holds a newer meaning for me, too. Since we have visited Sicily 3 times now, I find that any picture of Italy touches me in some way. There is a familiarity in what I have seen there. While this is near Rome, it could, just as easily, be the road leading to the 19th Century cabin on the flanks of Etna owned by some in-laws. We visited there on our last trip and I want to return again. The road to that house looked a lot like this, if a just a bit wilder.

["Villa Sciarra," George Wurts house, via Calandrelli, Rome, Italy. (LOC)

“Villa Sciarra,” George Wurts house, via Calandrelli, Rome, Italy. (LOC)

Johnston, Frances Benjamin,, 1864-1952,, photographer.

“Villa Sciarra,” George Wurts house, via Calandrelli, Rome, Italy. Alley

[1925 summer]

1 photograph : glass lantern slide, hand-colored ; 3.25 x 4 in.

Notes:
Site History. Landscape: HeniettaTower (Mrs. George) Wurts and her husband restored the garden, adding sculpture, a botanical garden and aviary. Today: Public botanic garden.
On slide (printed): “Edward Van Altena” and “29 West 38th St., N.Y.C.” (Slide manufacturer)
Title, date, and subject information provided by Sam Watters, 2011.
Forms part of: Garden and historic house lecture series in the Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection (Library of Congress).

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA,hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.16974

Call Number: LC-J717-X110- 67

More info on Villa Sciarra…

Previously in Garden History:

DIY, Food, How-to, In the garden, Podcast, Vegetables No comments yet

Video: In the garden…March 14, 2013 – Sweet Potatoes rising, an unknown squash and more

By on March 13th, 2013

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“In the garden…” is a series for A Gardener’s Notebook highlighting what is happening in my garden, my friend’s gardens and California gardens throughout the seasons.

Sweet Potatoes rising, an unknown squash and more.

Watch all the past “In the garden…” videos in this YouTube playlist.

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Education, Flowers, Food, Fruit, Garden Vocabulary, Insects, Plants No comments yet

Garden Vocabulary: Parasite/Parasitism

By on March 13th, 2013

Garden Vocabulary Logo

This Garden Vocabulary series seeks to introduce and explain to you — and in many cases, myself — words and terms associated with gardening. Please let me know if  there are any terms you would like me to explore. You can leave your ideas in the comments section and we can learn together!

Parasite/Parasitism

“Parasitism is a non-mutual relationship between organisms of different species where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. Traditionally parasite referred to organisms with lifestages that needed more than one host (e.g. Taenia solium). These are now called macroparasites (typically protozoa and helminths). Parasite now also refers to microparasites, which are typically smaller, such as viruses and bacteria, and can be directly transmitted between hosts of the same species.[1] Examples of parasites include the plants mistletoe and cuscuta, and organisms such as hookworms..” – Wikipedia.org 

It is a rare garden that doesn’t host parasites. From the smallest aphid to the largest Japanese Beetle, gardeners can be caught between this bug and that, this parasitic plant and that (such as mistletoe or dodder often spotted here in the Souther California chaparral lands). The most important definition of a parasite or parasitism for me is the term “non-mutual.” Some insects, like bees do no harm to the plants, assist in pollination and gain nectar and pollen as their reward. Aphids, on the other hand, will literally suck the life out of your plants given enough time and population. The plant gains nothing and often loses as part of the aphids “relationship” with it.

In some cases, parasites can work in our favor. Various forms of parasitic wasps prey on aphids, catepillars and beetles and use them from the own ends. Just a reminder than not all parasites are bad to everyone in the same way.

With organic gardening and farming on the rise, the natural control of parasites is of on-going concern. Often this involves using a parasitic insect, like the wasps mentioned above, to control a more damaging plant parasite like aphids, tomato hornworm and others. With the proper application of the proper parasite at the proper time, farmers and gardeners can reduce crop damage without resorting the use of strong chemical controls.

Aphid

Aphid Photo by Flickr User Antti J (Antti Jämsä)

More information on xeriscaping:

 

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