|
The fruits and seeds that we eat are plant ovaries. Botanically, an ovary is the enlarged base of a pistil. Pistils are the female reproductive organs of angiosperms, or flowering plants. A flower’s pistil can be made up of one or more carpels.  (Mariana Ruiz) Public Domain Parts of the ovary Plant ovaries have walls that surround small eggs, called ovules. Ovaries often have chambers, called locules. Ovules are found inside the locule(s). Some locules contain fruit flesh, while others do not. The number of carpels also determines the internal structure of a fruit. When you cut open a melon, you will see one locule, in the center, and four distinct sections, which were formed by the carpels. #/media/File:Piel_De_Sapo_Melon.jpg) A melon with one locule and four carpels (Foodista) CC BY 2.0 Plant ovaries and pollination When pollen lands on the style (stalk) and stigma (sticky knob) of a flower, the pollen grain ‘germinates’, sending a pollen tube down to the ovule. This is pollination. When that pollen grain merges with the ovule, fertilization occurs. At this point, three new structures are produced: seeds, pericarp, and the placentae:
#/media/File:Tomatoes_plain_and_sliced.jpg) Tomato seeds grow from placental areas of the ovary (FoeNyx) CC BY-SA 3.0 Ovary placement Plants are classified by where their ovaries are found within the pistil, relative to the attachment of the petals and sepals. This point of attachment is called the insertion point. Ovaries can be superior, half-inferior, or inferior, and their flowers are described as hypogynous, perigynous, or epigynous, respectively.  Ovary placement (a) superior, (b) semi-inferior, (c) inferior (Gustav Hegi) Public Domain Inferior ovaries
To say a plant has inferior ovaries is not a genetic slur. Instead, it refers to fruits in which the seeds are located below the other floral parts, within the hypanthium. The hypanthium is a cuplike structure at the base of a flower, that surrounds or is attached to the gynoecium. The gynoecium (‘woman’s house’) is the female part of a flower, or pistil. Pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, pomegranates, bananas, pears, and apples have inferior ovaries. Superior ovaries Superior ovaries are no better than other ovaries, they are simply found above the insertion point. Legumes, such as peas and beans, true berries, and plants that produce drupes, such as blackberries, raspberries, and soapnuts, feature superior ovaries. Half-inferior ovaries Half-inferior ovaries are surrounded by the receptacle, with parts equally above and below the insertion point. Some botanists take this classification to the extreme, by saying a plant has a “two-fifth inferior ovary” but I think that’s taking things a bit far. Peaches, nectarines, and crape myrtles are in this group. Take a look at the flowers in your garden that are destined to become fruits and nuts. Where is all the action taking place? Can you tell? One way plants store food and reproduce is with a structure called a corm.
 Gladiolus corm with cormels (Hardyplants) Public Domain
Many corms produce two different types of roots. Familiar fibrous roots anchor the plant in the soil and absorb water and nutrients. Contractile roots pull corms deeper into the soil, away from animals and extreme temperatures. Contractile roots stop pulling the plant downward as conditions above improve.
Caring for corms When a plant grows from a corm, it draws moisture and carbohydrates from that underground structure. By the time the plant reaches its mature size, much of those resources have been used up and must be replenished. Use these tips to help your corms stay healthy:
Do you any corms in your garden? Cambium is the layer of plant tissue responsible for the secondary growth of roots and stems. When a plant first starts to grow, all it knows is up and down. But, once it’s basic systems are in place, the plant can start filling out. This secondary growth is why tree trunks, branches, and some roots get thicker as they grow. This secondary growth is all because of cambium. What is cambium? Cambium is a thin layer of living tissue, found between the xylem and phloem of vascular plants, that manufactures the new cells used in secondary growth. Cambium cells are parallel to each other and they encircle the stem or trunk. The cambium layers produce secondary xylem and phloem cells. Where is the cambium layer? There are actually two different layers of cambium tissue and each is found where it will do the most good. But, before we explore the different types of cambium, let’s review a little plant anatomy. Working our way in from the outside, a tree trunk is made up of various layers:
 Interior of redwood tree (NPS) Public Domain Types of cambium
There are two different types of cambium. They are cork cambium and vascular cambium. Cork cambium produces new bark on its outer edge and it has a layer of cells containing chlorophyll on its inner surface. If you scrape the outer bark off of a twig, you can usually see a green area under the bark. This is the cork cambium layer. Potato skins are another example of cork cambium tissue. If you are ever lost in the woods and hungry, you can eat the cambium layer of most pines, slippery elm, black birch, yellow birch, red spruce, black spruce, balsam fir, and tamarack trees. [I have no idea how it tastes. At that point, you probably won’t care.] Vascular cambium is where most of the width of dicots and gymnosperms is produced. [Most monocots lack secondary growth.] Vascular cambium is found between the phloem and the xylem. Vascular cambium produces xylem tissue on its inner surface and phloem tissue on the outer surface. You can see the vascular cambium in herbaceous plants as beads on a necklace when a cross-section is taken. Cambium through the seasons In spring, when water is more abundant, the ring produced by the vascular cambium is usually wide and light colored, while the portion of that ring produced later in the summer is usually darker and thinner. These two rings together represent one year of growth. The cambium layer is relatively inactive during cold periods, which is why plants don’t do as much growing in winter. Many gardeners take advantage of this fact when grafting new scions onto existing trees and other plants. It is the cambium layers of both plants that must connect for a graft to be successful. Damage to the cambium If the cambium layer is killed by fire, freezing, pests, or disease, the plant will die. Many animal pests are attracted to the moisture found in the cambium layer. Gophers, ground squirrels, voles, deer, horses, and rabbits will gnaw through the outer bark, especially during severe drought. This activity can girdle a tree, killing it. Deliberate girdling (removal of the outer bark around the circumference of a tree) is used to increase fruit yield, size, and quality, but care must be taken to not damage the cambium layer. Tree supports, left on for too long or tied too tightly can also damage the cambium layer, killing the tree. Many insect pests will burrow their way into the cambium layer, using it as food, breeding grounds, and protection. Very often, these insects can kill a mature tree. They include bark beetles, American plum, shot hole, Pacific flathead and other borers. If that weren’t enough, freezing temperatures and fungal cankers, such as phytophthora, armillaria, crown gall, and crown rot, can also kill the cambium layer. Sapsuckers are a type of woodpecker that drill a series of holes in the bark and cambium of trees to get at the sap and the insects attracted to the sap. Who (or what) is attacking your plants' cambium layers? Saddle up, garden buckaroos! Today we are going to learn about spurs - fruit spurs, that is! Fruit spurs are where fruit grows. Sometimes. Sometimes fruit grows on twig tips. And some fruit trees use a mix of the two. This is called their cropping behavior. Knowing which method your tree uses and being able to tell the difference between a leaf bud and fruit spur will help you make better pruning choices when training fruit trees. This is best done while trees are dormant because there are no leaves to block your view.  Apricot fruit buds Leaf buds v. fruit buds Fruit trees generate two different types of buds: fruit buds and growth buds. Growth buds can become leaves or twigs, while fruit buds hold flowers. On some trees, a cluster of leaves may end up surrounding a fruit bud, but those tend to come later in the season. Growth buds are slender and pointed. They are smaller than fruit buds, as well. Fruit buds tend to be round and fat. In some cases, fruit buds are covered with fuzzy scales. And, many times, they grow on fruit spurs.  Apple spurs What are fruit spurs? Fruit spurs are stubby little twigs that grow only 1 to 6 inches long. Sometimes they grow singly along a branch, as with peaches, and sometimes they grow in clusters, as on apple trees. Depending on the type of tree, the fruit spurs may produce fruit the first year, the second year, or for several years in succession. Some fruit spurs are productive for 10 years or more!  How to use this chart
The chart above tells you the cropping behavior of many common fruit and nut trees. Using it, you can see that fig trees produce fruit laterally, on long, first year wood. This means that regular annual pruning of various branch lengths will increase fruit production. Apple trees must be treated very differently. Apple fruit buds rarely occur on long shoots, laterally (along its sides) or at the tips. Nearly all apple fruit buds are found at the end of fruit spurs. This means that you would want to avoid pruning those spurs until they have stopped producing fruit altogether. [There are apple varieties that produce fruit at stem tips, called tip-bearers, and others that use a mix of the two, called partial tip-bearers, which is why it’s a good idea to find out as much information as you can about each of your fruit trees.] The easiest way to tell if your fruit tree produces fruit buds on spurs is to go outside and look. Branch collars are one way trees seal off injuries.  Branch collars help trees heal (Mokkie) CC BY-SA 3.0 Picture, in your mind’s eye, a young tree growing towards the sun. Every so often, a branch starts to emerge from the side of the thickening trunk. This is what they do. Now, picture a side branch that grows in a way or a place that requires its removal. Where do you make the cut? Tree pruning is an excellent way to maintain good tree health and increase production. Doing it incorrectly, however, can kill your tree - and it's all about the branch collar.  Branch collars create visible lines, if you look closely What is the branch collar? The branch collar, or callus roll, is the raised area that surrounds the base of every branch. This where tree growth changes from trunk to branch. You may also see a wrinkled area where a branch meets the trunk. This is called the branch bark ridge. But the branch collar is where trees produce the protective callus. Damage the branch collar and infection is sure to occur. If you want to learn more about branch collars at the cellular level, check out Horticultural Science’s pdf Tree Branch Attachment to Trunks and Branch Pruning. In it, Alex L. Shigo describes how branch tissues develop, bringing the xylem and phloem along for the ride, to feed the new branch. Fascinating stuff! How trees heal When a limb is cut, the tree seals off the area with a dry covering called a callus. The callus is generated in the branch collar and slowly works its way toward the center of the cut. If the branch collar is damaged, the tree cannot seal the area off properly. Often, this is how moisture enters a tree, leading to rot and decay and, potentially, the death of a tree.  Dying branches form a chemical protective layer (red arrows). Removing the collar destroys that layer. Blue arrows show the branch bark ridge. (USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org) CC BY 3.0 Tree pruning - the Wrong Way Research has shown us that there are many common misbeliefs about tree trimming:
In each of the above practices, more harm is being done than good, and all because of the branch collar. Making a better cut Looking at each of the Bad Ideas listed above, let’s see what makes them detrimental to your tree’s health:
 Correct pruning of larger branches avoids cutting the branch collar (MPF) CC BY-SA 3.0 Instead of doing it the Wrong Way, you can put the branch collar to work for you and train your tree to grow better and stronger.
In the world of plants, climbers have access to more sunlight and better airflow than many of their low-growing neighbors. Plus, these climbers don’t have to invest time and resources into generating a substantial trunk. Most people believe that all climbing plants are vines of one sort or another, but that is not accurate. There is an entirely separate category of climbing plants known as bines. Bines or vines? Vines use specialized stems (suckers and tendrils) to grab tiny handholds on their support, be it a fence, cattle panel, or a tree. Bines grow skyward by winding shoots into a helix around a support. Some people claim that bines spiral in a specific direction because of residing in the northern or southern hemispheres, but the direction of growth is species specific, rather than based on location.
Common bine plants
There are several bines commonly found in gardens and landscapes. The most common garden bines include:
Which bines are growing in your garden? Adventitious roots are different from other roots. Roots are generally classified as primary or lateral. The primary, or main, root supports a number of side, or lateral roots. Root systems feature either a taproot or fibrous roots. Carrots are an example of a taproot. Fibrous root systems are more “all over the place”. In both cases, the roots are attached to the aboveground portion of the plant at the crown, or to other roots. This is not the case, when it comes to adventitious roots.  Banyan tree (Wknight94) CC BY-SA 3.0 What are adventitious roots? Adventitious roots emerge from a variety of non-root locations, and for different reasons. Unlike the classic, “stem goes up, roots go down” type of growth, adventitious roots appear at leaf and stem nodes, and at wound sites. What starts out as a normal bud or shoot can change its purpose and become an adventitious root. This often occurs as a result of low oxygen levels (flooding, burial) or high ethylene levels (pollution). Several different plant hormones can trigger this response, including auxins, cytokinens, gibberellins, abscisic acid, and ethylene. These roots are the ones that appear after you break a Jade plant leaf off of a parent plant. The wound dries and new cells form just underneath the callus. Some of those cells turn into adventitious root cells that allow the leaf to become an individual plant.  Adventitious stem and brace roots on corn (Jamain) CC BY-SA 3.0 Where are adventitious roots found? Adventitious roots resulting from normal growth are classified according to where they occur on the plant:
 Adventitious stem roots (Nzfauna) CC BY-SA 3.0 Why do plants create adventitious roots?
As with everything else plants do, it’s all about genetic survival. Under normal conditions, many plants have evolved to use adventitious roots to access more food and water, provide greater stability, or to procreate. Bulbs use adventitious roots to send new bulblets out over a greater area. When plants are faced with conditions such as flooding, stem burial, grazing, and nutrient deficiencies/excesses, adventitious roots are used to help the plant recover. These roots may form at any of the above mentioned locations, depending on the stressor and the plant species. How do we use adventitious roots? Adventitious roots are why we can propagate many plants from cuttings. Grape, apple, succulent, and stone fruit species are commonly cloned in this way. Tomato plants are often planted with the first set of stems buried below the soil level. This stimulates adventitious root growth, providing the plant with more water and nutrients, ergo better tomatoes. Tomato and pepper plants are often propagated with cuttings, to extend the growing season. Plants grown from cuttings tend to mature more quickly than those started from seeds. Many herbs, such as basil, rosemary, thyme, and sage can be grown from cuttings, thanks to their ability to generate adventitious roots. Oxalic acid - you may have heard the warnings, telling how rhubarb leaves and other plant parts that contain oxalic acid should not be eaten. But that’s not entirely accurate. Let’s learn the truth about oxalic acid in the garden
Oxalic acid in nature
Oxalic acid is found in a surprising number of food plants that we eat every day. The trick is in the concentration. In fact, oxalates can be toxic to plants, too, but plants bind those oxalates up in crystals that they then use as tiny spears to defend themselves against herbivores. These specialized cells are called idioblasts. Oxalic acid is formed when plants burn sugars and carbohydrates as fuel. Oxalates are also used to balance calcium levels within the plant by binding to calcium molecules. This is why some people say eating high levels of oxalic acid can interfere with healthy bones and teeth, but, again, you would have to eat an awful lot, over a long period of time, to cause any real problems. By the way, our bodies produce oxalic acid out of Vitamin C., on purpose. Also, cooking plants that contain oxalic acid has not been shown to reduce oxalate levels. Finally, armed with this information, I went out to my rhubarb plant and broke off a young leaf and ate it. The flavor was actually pretty nice, something akin to spinach, but lighter. And I lived to tell about it. As long as this blog has been running, almost three years now, you’d think I would have written a post about flowers already. Apparently not. Beautiful, fragrant, and occasionally edible, flowers are designed to attract pollinators. It’s really a case of “sex sells” - the flamboyant structures, bright colors, and heady aromas of flowers are all designed to propagate the species by attracting pollinators. Pollinators move pollen (male) to a place where it can reach the egg or ovule (female) and allow fertilization to occur.  Bee balm flowers Flowering plants Flowers are the reproductive organs of an entire group of plants called angiosperms. Angiosperms are the largest group of plants on Earth and they make up a huge portion of our food supply. Angiosperms use flowers to create seeds that are covered by a protective, often edible, outer covering. The fruit that we eat is nearly always the ovary of a flower. This includes cucumbers, melons, apples, peaches, avocados, squash, tomatoes, eggplants, and, well, really, the list is too long to include here, but you get the idea. So, what makes a flower a flower? Flower structure Some flowers are male, some flowers are female, and some flowers are both, though not always at the same time. Flower parts are either vegetative or reproductive. These parts are generally arranged in a whorl around a central stem. If a flower has parts (petals, stamens, or other parts) that are divisible by three, it is probably a monocot. If it has flower parts that are divisible by four or five, it has been, most likely, classified as a dicot. That classification system has recently gone through some changes, due to genetic research. Many dicots are now classified as eudicots. Looking at the base of a flower, you will see the vegetative perianth. The perianth is the outer part of a flower, made up of the green sepals (calyx) and colorful petals (corolla). The reproductive parts of a flower are divided by gender. The Greeks called them gynoecium (woman’s house) and androecium (man’s house). Woman’s house The female aspect of a flower is called the pistil. The pistil has three parts: the stigma, style, and ovary. The stigma has a sticky tip, which is where pollen is received. The style is a long, tubelike structure that leads to the ovary. The ovary contains egg cells called ovules. Some scientists call the pistil a carpel. I don’t know why. Man’s house The male aspect of a flower is called the stamen. Stamens are pollen producing anthers held on top of filaments.  (Anjubaba) CC BY-SA 4.0 Floral attachments and arrangements Most flowers grow at the end of a long stem, called a peduncle. When a single flower is made up of many tiny flowers, it is called an inflorescence, and the individual flower stems are called pedicels. Sunflowers and daisies are examples of inflorescence. Some flowers may be directly attached to the parent plant, with a very small or absent stalk. These flowers are called sessile. Crocus flowers are sessile. The place where stem meets flower is called the torus or receptacle. Flower symmetry Flowers are classified according to their symmetry. If you cut a flower in half, down the middle, you will either have a ‘regular’ (actinomorphic) flower, or an ‘irregular’ (zygomorphic) flower. Regular flowers will have identical halves, no matter how they are bisected. Roses are regular flowers. Irregular flowers will only look symmetrical along one cut. Orchids and snapdragons have irregular flowers. Regardless of their symmetry, flowers are all about reproduction and sharing genetic information through seed production. Sometimes, they even help with dispersal. Seed dispersal Some flowers have structures that aid in seed or spore dispersal. These structures are called diaspores, and you have already seen them. They are the helicopters (samara) of maple trees, the flying seeds (achenes) of dandelions, and the spikelets of foxtail grasses. Tumbleweeds are giant diaspores. Edible flowers As much as we love to eat the fruit of a flower’s labor, sometimes the flower itself is edible. Borage, nasturtiums, chive, basil, squash, dill, and cilantro flowers are all edible and they make nice colorful additions to salads. Of course, if you eat a squash flower, you won’t get the squash fruit. Also, not all flowers are edible. Some flowers can make you very sick, or worse. Always check before eating something new, and give it a rinse. There may be chemicals, pollutants, bug poop, or live insects hidden in a flower’s nooks and crannies. Also, some edibles flowers, such as dandelion, taste fine when young, but can get bitter as they mature.
Flower pests and diseases Flowers are susceptible to certain pests and diseases. Common flower pests include citrus bud mites, budworms, voles, thrips, Eriophyid mites, and, of course, aphids. Diseases that specifically attack flowers and buds are petal blight, aster yellows, gray mold (Botrytis), phytoplasmas, olive knot (Pseudomonas spp.), and blossom blight (brown rot). Bolting When a plant suddenly sends up a central stalk and flowers, it is called bolting. Bolting usually occurs in response to extreme heat or drought. You could say that it is a panic response to harsh conditions, but it is also a normal part of many plants' natural life cycle.. Rhubarb, lettuce, spinach, bok choy, and other cool season crops will often bolt if grown in the summer. Once a plant starts to bolt, much of the flavor is lost.
Deadheading
Removing spent flowers is called deadheading. By removing flowers just before they start to whither, you can trick plants into thinking they have failed to reproduce, so they will make more flowers. More deadheading, more flowers, more deadheading… you see where this is going. Growing flowers is an excellent way to attract pollinators to your garden or foodscape. They look lovely on the dinner table, too! Stems - they hold flowers up, leaves on, and don’t seem particularly interesting, but they are! The word stem can refer to the trunk of a tree (arborescent), a bramble cane, a stalk, or a bine. [Bines are the stems of climbing plants, such as hops, that wrap themselves around external supports without the use of tendrils.] Stem basics Stems are the main aboveground stalk of a plant or shrub. [The roots are the below ground portion.] Stems can also be a limb that holds fruit, flowers, or leaves onto a larger limb. Stems perform four functions:
 Stem showing internode and nodes plus leaf petioles (Knulclunk) Public Domain Stem structure On the outside, stems are usually divided into nodes and internodes. Nodes are areas that hold leaves. Nodes are also where buds, petioles, and even roots can emerge. Internodes refer to the distance between nodes. These two pieces of information can often help in plant identification. On the inside, stems have three basic tissues: the outer skin, or dermal layer, ground tissue, and vascular tissue. You may already know that vascular tissue consists of the xylem and the phloem. Ground tissue, or parenchyma, is the “everything else” of plant soft tissue. There is no ground tissue in woody stems. Stems of annuals are usually herbaceous, which means green and flexible. Since they lack a cambium layer, they do not tend to get very big around. Woody perennials have a tough outer layer that gets wider each year.  Flax stem: Ep = epidermis; C = cortex; BF = bast fibers; P = phloem; X = xylem; Pi = pith (Curtis Clark) Dicots, eudicots, monocots, and gymnosperms
Most plants used to be classified as monocots (grasses), dicots (beans), or gymnosperms (pine trees). Recent genetic research has taught us that dicots are better described as a new new group, called eudicots. These different plant classifications have unique stem structures, when seen in cross section. Eudicot stems contain pith. Pith is the spongy material you see inside a sunflower stem. They also contain bast fibers. Bast fibers are what we harvest to make linen from the flax plant, and they protect the phloem. Vascular bundles form a ring near the outer edge of the stem. Monocot stems have vascular bundles scattered throughout the stem. Gymnosperms are similar to eudicots, except they use tracheids as part of their vascular system. Stem variety Most stems are pretty obvious, and some, like the sunflower, can be substantial. That is, of course, until you consider that a redwood tree trunk is also a stem; A monumental stem, weighing in at 50,000 pounds! The stems that hold up flowers are called peduncles. In flower clusters, or inflorescences, the stems are pedicels. Sometimes, plants have stems so short that it looks like the leaves grow right out of the ground - these are called acaulescent stems. Buds on twigs are also stems. Bulbs and corms are underground stems and leaves, but bulbs are more leaf than stem. Rhizomes are underground stems of many grasses, iris, and most ferns. [Most ferns don’t actually have an upright stem; instead, they have semi-rigid rhizomes.] Strawberry ‘runners’ are stolons, which are also stems. Potato plants also have stolons. Some stems grow in a tangled mess, or in low growing mats. This is called caespitose. Hostas, garlic, lilies, and iris have stems called scapes. Cacti and succulents have specialized leaves for holding a lot of water. Many of the “leaves” you see on these plants are actually flattened stems, called cladodes, that can perform photosynthesis. Stems in the garden Those melon and squash plants, the ones that send stems out along the ground, are called decumbent. You can remember that would because “dey come, bent up at de end.” [Hey, if it helps, why not?] Your shrubs have stems that are called fruticose. Flower stems As you have probably noticed, some flowers and fruit, such as sunflowers and raspberries, respectively, are actually made up of dozens, or hundreds of tiny florets. The single stem that holds up a sunflower head is called a peduncle, while each of the tiny stems that hold clusters of minuscule blooms are called pedicels. The thorns on your rose bush and the prickles on your blackberries are actually modified stems. So are tendrils. [Technically, rose thorns are not thorns at all. They are prickles, but I don't think we're going to change anyone's mind about that today.] Food from stems We get a large portion of our food from stems. Some may be familiar, but others may surprise you:
We also get things like camphor, quinine, and lumber (and all it’s related products) from the stems of plants. Many people assume that celery is a stem, but it isn’t. Celery is the stem that supports a leaf, making it a petiole, or leaf stalk. The stem of a celery plant is actually the round stubby base. Stem pests and diseases Stems are usually pretty well protected, but that isn’t always enough. Young stems infected with damping off disease are usually doomed from the start. Crown gall can cause lesions on stems. Other diseases that can appear on stems include peach leaf curl, blackleg, mummy berry, stem blight, anthracnose, Phytophthora tentaculata, black spot, and bacterial speck. Bagrada bugs, cutworms, eriophyid mites, katydids, crickets and grasshoppers, weevils, and harlequin bugs will feed on stems. Also, many pests use stems as hideouts and egg laying territory, so keep your eyes open! If you grow corn, sorghum, millet, or sunflowers, you will end up with a bunch of dead, leafy stalks standing in your garden. That collection is called stover. The word stover evolved out of the legal term ‘estovers’ from English history. An estover was the ration of wood and other resources that peasants were allotted from the King’s forests each year. It was a woodsy version of gleaning the fields. Gleaning refers to the practice of allowing peasants and strangers to collect whatever was leftover from a field after the harvest was completed.  Stover in the foreground), unharvested corn in the background (Royalbroil) CC BY-SA 3.0 Just as straw is left behind after a crop of oats, alfalfa, or wheat is harvested, stover was traditionally left in the field for cattle or other grazers. Some modern mushroom farmers use stover as compost for mushrooms. Dairy farmers often use stover to create silage. Silage is plant material that is cut and crushed and then stored in a relatively airtight silo without being dried ahead of time. This fodder ferments, making more easily digestible. But, I’ll bet that you do not have a silo in your backyard, or cattle to feed. So, what can you do with your stover at the end of the growing season?
Compost The first and easiest use of stover is to add it to the compost pile. Stover often consists of half of your crop. That’s a lot of plant material. Held within that material are nutrients that other plants can use, but only if the stover has broken down. You can compost stover by cutting the heavy stalks into one-inch pieces and keeping it near the bottom of your compost pile. For shorter crops, such as millet and sorghum, I simply cut the plants off at ground level and toss it all to my hens, who make short work of the greens. [The sorghum comes back each year for a continuous supply of greens and seeds for my hens and I always manage to miss some of the millet seeds, so they pop back up each spring, as well.] Stubble cultivation In commercial agriculture, stubble cultivation refers to the act of plowing all that stover back into the earth. This returned the nutrients back into the soil and improves soil structure (assuming the heavy farming equipment doesn’t compact the soil too much). In my mind, stubble cultivation is a twist on the Three Sisters Method of planting. Rather than cutting down tall stalks of corn or sunflower, these sturdy poles can be put to work. Simply plant cool weather climbing plants, such as peas, at the base of each stalk. The petioles (tiny stems that attach leaves to bigger stems) make perfect handholds for tiny tendrils. The peas grow up and up and up and you don’t need to install or maintain a trellis! After your pea crop is harvested, you can cut the stalks off at ground level, chop them into bits, and add them to the compost pile. Or, you can use them again, as bean poles! Bean poles Whether you leave the stover in place or cut it off at ground level, these sturdy poles can be used to grow pole beans in the following spring. If you leave the stalks in the ground, simply repeat the pea planting process, but with pole bean seeds. If you prefer cutting the stalks of stover, you can create a pole bean teepee by lashing the tops of several stalks together and spreading them out at the base over several bean plants. Other uses for stover There are other creative ways to repurpose those tall, study stalks before they need to be composted. Here are some of my favorites:
How do you put your corn and sunflower stover to use? Idioblasts are specialized plants cells that are very different from the cells around them. Most plant cells are grouped together with other, similar cells: leaf cells with leaf cells, root cells with root cells, and so on. Hidden within these normal groupings are cells called idioblasts. Scientists believe that idioblasts are the precursors to many specialized cells, such as stomata, glands, and guard cells. When idioblast cells divide, they often create daughter cells different from themselves. These mutations have given rise to much of the diversity within the plant world. At the same time, many idioblasts have remained the same over time, providing important functions within a plant. According to Albert Paul Kausch, in his 1985 doctoral thesis, The development, physiology, and function of selected plant calcium oxalate crystal idioblasts, no one really knows how or why idioblasts form. Most commonly, idioblasts are storage cells. But some idioblasts hold a defensive arsenal of poisons and pointy crystals!  Calcium oxalate needles shooting out from an idioblast - 600x magnification (Agong1) Public Domain When botanists and scientists talk about idioblasts, they divide them into several groups, depending on function.
Storage idioblasts Some idioblasts are simply storage cells. They may store pigment, food, waste products, water, resin, latex, oil, or tiny stones of silica (phytolith). Until recently, it was not understood why plants contained silica. Then, some scientists tried growing plants in soil without any silica. Many of these plants flopped over. Mystery solved. Sort of. Then, another group of scientists, led by Fergus P. Massey, proposed that plants evolved to contain silica for more than just structural support. They claim that plants absorb these minerals as a defense mechanism. Massey and his team point out that silica in plants tends to wear down the teeth of those who eat them. There is debate about the truth behind this assumption. You decide. Idioblasts as manufacturing centers Other idioblasts do more than just store materials. Some idioblasts actually manufacture important compounds. For example, avocado skins have idioblasts with antifungal properties. Other idioblasts produce mucilage carbohydrates (mucus cells) that store water. Other idioblasts, called phenolic cells produce and store carbolic acid to be used as defensive weapons. Idioblasts as weapons While we consider herbivores to be mostly harmless, plants do not share that view. Rooted to one location, and without claws or fangs, plants have to get creative when it comes to defending themselves against grazers and other plant eaters. This is where idioblasts get really interesting. Some idioblasts contain biforine cells. Biforine means having two doors. [Isn’t that a great word?] These cells are oval-shaped with openings at each end. When something (or someone) bites the plant, breaking the cell, crystals of calcium oxalate shoot out, poisoning or irritating the attacker! These oxalates are produced in the vacuoles of the idioblasts. Oxalates are toxic to the plant, too, but the plant protects itself by binding the material up in crystals. These crystals come in many shapes. They may look like a grain of sand, a pencil (styloid), a needle (raphide), or prismatic (isodiametric). Bundles of raphides or prismatics are called a druse. Plants that use these weapons Many plant families rely on druses stored in idioblasts for protection. These families include:
Botanists believe that plants also use these calcium oxalate-filled idioblasts to provide structure to the plant, and as a way to store calcium. This information may not help your grow brighter flowers or more delicious tomatoes, but your mind needs to grow, too! And who can resist a word like idioblast? The calyx is the part of a flower that holds the petals, but it also provides hiding places for many fruit rotting fungi. .jpg) A. flower with calyx B. Underside of calyx C. Topside of calyx (Pearson Scott Foresman) Public Domain Calyx as flower part Calyx is another word for sepal. Sepals are the green petals at the base of a flower that are modified leaves. The calyx is also the green leafy area at the top of a strawberry fruit. Sometimes, the calyx is the same color as its flower. In most cases, once a plant is done with the flower, the calyx is discarded. Tomatillo plants retain the calyx as a thorny protection. In other cases, the calyx begins to grow in earnest after the flower is fertilized, creating a protective bladder-like enclosure. The sepals of Hibiscus sabdariffa turn into an edible accessory fruit.  Edible accessory fruit from the calyx of Hibiscus sabdariffa (Mbopar) Public Domain Calyx as hiding place
Many fungi, such as botrytis cinema, love to hide under the calyx, waiting for a splash of rain or irrigation water to start breeding gray mold and feeding on your berries and other garden produce. Sometimes the calyx falls victim to the very pathogens it protects, along with the fruit, as in the case of stem-end rot. In some cases, such as calyx blight, only the calyx becomes infected and the fruit remains fine. How many different types of calyx are in your garden? Anthers are where pollen is made. Male flowers have a reproductive part called the stamen. The stamen is made up of a stem, called the filament, and the anther.  Anatomy of a grass flower (David Condrey) CC BY-SA 4.0 Anthers are usually found in pairs called anther lobes. Each anther lobe contains two spongey pockets, called microsporangia. Within the microsporangia, microscopic pollen spores (microgametophytes) develop. Anthers come in many shapes and sizes.  Electron microscope image of anthers with pollen grains on surface (Louisa Howard, et al) Public Domain  Lily stamens with prominent red anthers and white filaments (Liam Higginson) CC BY 2.0 You can hand-pollinate many garden plants by removing the anther and touching it to several flowers. You can also accomplish this by taking a small natural bristle paintbrush first to the anther, and then to female reproductive organs within flowers, called pistils.
The idea behind these treatments was that an open wound was vulnerable and that we could ‘help’ our trees by painting the cut surface with tar, asphalt, wound paint, or some other sealant. Instead of providing protection, these treatments actually seal in harmful bacteria and fungi, increasing the chance of disease or decay. Also, there are certain disease-carrying organisms that love to feed on or are otherwise attracted to the sealant!
Natural remedies It ends up, trees already know how to protect themselves. Just as our skin forms a callus in response to hard work and friction, trees create tissue over wounds to protect themselves from pests and diseases. The word ‘callus’ is from the late Middle English Latin word ‘callosus’ which means ‘hard-skinned’. Trees are able to generate their own ‘hard skin’ to cover a wound. If that process is interrupted with oil-based sealants, the internal processes of decay prevention may also be interrupted. An exception to the rule One case where wound dressing is a good idea is in regions where oak wilt is a problem. If an oak in these areas is damaged or requires pruning, a sealant that contains insecticide and fungicide can prevent loss of the tree. Bark is far more than just a protective coating. Let’s learn some of the basics about bark.  Tree bark (jeonsango) Pixabay First, we will take a cross-sectional look at a tree trunk, from the inside out:
 Tree cross section (OneCommunityGlobal) onecommunityglobal.org How bark is born Young stems of woody plants do not have bark. Instead, from the outside in, they have an epidermis (skin), cork (periderm), cortex, primary and secondary phloem, vascular cambium, primary and secondary xylem, early wood and late wood (each double ring represents one year of growth), combined with the primary and secondary xylem, and the pith. As the stem grows, the cork gets thicker, pushing the skin away from the wood. Isolated from water- and nutrient-carrying vascular tissues, these cells die and become what we recognize as bark. This tough, outer surface helps keep water in, and pests and diseases out. It also provides protection against temperature extremes and sunburn damage. [The skin of a potato, being a modified stem, is actually the cork.] What is bark? Bark is mostly lignin. Lignin is the material that makes trees stand up. Bark also contains tannins. Tannins are believed to inhibit decomposition. Bark is made up of two distinct parts, the living phloem and the dead periderm. Phloem is the vascular tissue responsible for helping sap flow downward throughout the plant. The periderm is made up of cork (phellem), cork cambium (phellogen), phelloderm, and the cortex. Within the periderm are large spaces that allow gases to move from the tree to the atmosphere and vice versa. These spaces are called lenticels. As a tree grows, and inner layers are pushed outward, the lenticels create unique markings that are used in tree identification. For example, silver birch trees (below) have distinct horizontal lines which are the lenticels.  The dark horizontal lines on silver birch are lenticels (Sue Sweeney) CC BY-SA 3.0 When bark is severely damaged by mechanical injury, insect or bird feeding, or girdling, tree death can occur.
Types of bark Bark comes in many shapes, colors and thicknesses. Bark is generally described by its texture. It can be smooth (American beech), scaly (black cherry), plated (black birch), warty, shaggy, papery (paper birch), furrowed, or fibrous. They ridges can also be useful when identifying a tree. Bark may form vertical strips (red maple), ridges (white ash), ridges that are broken horizontally (white oak), or it may be uninterrupted ridges (red oak). Did you know that cinnamon is actually the bark of trees? And those little plugs that protect your wine are bark from the Quercus suber (cork oak) tree. Love me tendril Be my feet Never let me go.... [Sorry, I couldn't resist.]  Young cucumber tendril (Robert Reisman) CC BY 3.0 If you are growing squash, cucumber, peas, pole beans, or grapes, you have seen tendrils. Tendrils are modified stems, leaves, or petioles, depending on the plant. In case you don’t know, petioles are those tiny stems that connect leaves to twigs. Rhubarb is a petiole, but I digress. Tendrils are used to help a plant climb or hang onto supports. Tendrils can even photosynthesize, but the really amazing thing about tendrils is that they can use chemicals in the air to help them decide which way to turn!  White pumpkin vine tendril The evil side of tendrils Not all garden plants mean well by their neighbors. In fact, it’s pretty much a battle zone out there. The delicate, innocuous-looking tendril often has evil motives, using its tight curling abilities to choke the life out of the competition, or even to invade and parasitize other plants. Tendril perversion No, this is not what you think. Tendril perversion is a geometric phenomenon that occurs when a tendril switches the direction of the curl (chirality) halfway to its destination. It ends up being very common, but no one is really sure why it happens.  Cucumber exhibiting tendril perversion (Frank Vincentz) CC BY-SA 3.0 If you are very, very patient, you can get a tendril to wrap around whatever you like. The biggest mistake people make when attempting this is to confuse the plant by providing multiple points of contact via fingers and the intended support. If you handle tendrils delicately, you can wrap them around a wire or other support multiple times, making sure that the end is tucked under, holding it in place. You can also use other supports, such as narrow bamboo poles, to hold the lower stem in a position that keeps the tendril where you want it, until it grabs on for itself. Tendrils are lovely to look at, but they are only so strong. If you are growing pumpkins or melons up a trellis, you may need to provide hammocks for the fruit as it grows.  White pumpkin vine on homemade ladder system (Kate Russell) Fruit. We all know what fruit is, right? Well, maybe not.  Ripe nectarines There are vegetables that we call fruits, nuts that are fruits, and fruits that are not fruits at all! Before we get started, let’s look at why plants go to all the trouble to produce fruit in the first place. How fruit benefits a plant In the world of plants, reproduction is the name of the game. Characteristics that evolve to promote the likelihood of a plant surviving are passed on to the next generation. Fruit is one of those characteristics. Creating fruit takes a lot of energy from a plant. But the fruit we eat has evolved to protect, disperse, and feed the seeds within. As the fruit ripens and falls, the fruit provides protection and nutrients. Fruit also encourages birds, animals, and people to spread seeds farther than the plant could do alone.
Defining fruit Depending on who you ask, fruits can be several different things. The simple tomato provides a classic example:
 Diagram of a typical drupe (peach) showing both fruit and seed (LadyofHats) Public Domain Fruit specs For something to be a botanical fruit, it must be the fertilized ovary of a flowering plant (angiosperm). After pollination and fertilization occur, two new structures are produced: seeds (fertilized ovules) and pericarp (thickened ovary walls). There are three different types of pericarp tissue: exocarp (outer skin), mesocarp (flesh), and endocarp (inner layer). The dominant pericarp tissue can become hard, as with nuts, or fleshy, as we see in peaches and avocados. In some cases, we eat the pericarp. In others, we eat the seed. When we eat the pericarp, we call it a fruit. Sometimes. Fruit classification Like most things in life, the more we learn, the less simple anything is. Fruit is no exception. Fruits can be simple, multiple, or aggregate. Rather than going too far down that rabbit hole, let me summarize by saying simple fruits, such as apples and tomatoes, develop from a single ovary. Pineapples and figs are multiple fruits, which form when separate flowers cluster together. Aggregate fruits, such as raspberries and blackberries, are clusters of multiple ovaries from the same flower. Make sense? But wait! There's more! To start, simple fruits are also classified as either dry or fleshy. Dry simple fruits Dry simple fruits are not the shriveled backpacking fare variety. Dry fruits are made up of dead cells that either split open (dehiscent) or stay closed (indehiscent). Dehiscent fruits include hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, sunflowers, corn, and wheat. Indehiscent fruits include beans and peas and other legumes, dill, poppies, and even cotton!
Fleshy fruits You might think you are finally in familiar territory, but that might be a mistake. The world of plant classification has been home to some bitter battles, and recent DNA analysis has turned many assumptions upside down. The fundamental categories of fleshy fruit are drupes, berries, aggregates, and multiples. Before you jump to any conclusions, check out these definitions for each category:
 Unripe almond drupes  Aggregate blackberries
Nuts as fruits Nuts are a strange case, when it comes to defining fruit. Some nuts are fruit, and some nuts are seeds. And some nuts, such as peanuts, aren’t nuts at all. Peanuts are legumes, which makes them indehiscent fruits. A ‘true nut’ is a hard-shelled pod that holds both the fruit and the seed, and the fruit does not open. True nuts include hazelnuts, acorns, and chestnuts. The other nuts are actually drupes. Drupes *dupe* us into thinking they are nuts, but they actually have a fleshy outer covering over top of the hard shell. Almonds, walnuts, and pecans are drupes, not nuts. But most of your friends will never believe you.  Apples are accessory fruits Accessory fruits and non-fruit fruits
There are also accessory fruits, which are made not just from the ovary, but also from nearby tissues. Common accessory fruits include strawberries, rose hips, apples, and pears. We may as well run the gamut with this one. Rhubarb is considered a fruit, but we only eat the stems, which are technically vegetables. Getting the best fruits from your garden Healthy plants produce bigger fruit. Keep your plants healthy with regular inspections for pests and diseases, appropriate watering and feeding, regular pruning, and disposing of mummies as soon as they are seen. As your fruit starts to ripen, you can make it sweeter by reducing irrigation. Fronds are the primitive leaves of ferns. Types of fronds Fronds are described as simple (undivided), pinnatifid (with deep incisions but not compound), pinnate (compound to the point of looking like a feather), or compound. Some botanists have expanded this grouping to include palms and cycads. Frond can also refer to the leaflike body (thallus) of some seaweeds, but we don’t have these in our gardens!
Knowing the names of different parts can help you identify unknown plants in your garden and landscape.
Parts of a frond Like other leaves, each part of a frond has its own name. Below, you can see these names (and their counterparts) with a short description:
What ferns, palms, and cycads do you have in your garden? Buds burst forth every spring, but how much do you really know about these tiny nubs?
Bud development Most buds begin forming at the end of a growing season. Generally, trees and shrubs have buds that are covered with protective scales, while most annuals and herbaceous perennials have unprotected “naked” buds. This makes sense because perennial plants need to protect their buds from cold winter temperatures during their dormant phase, while annuals do not. Many buds do require a period of cooler temperatures to stimulate their final growth phase. Unfortunately, unseasonably warm temperatures in winter or early spring can trick plants into producing hormones, called auxins, that stimulate budbreak. Opening too soon increases the chance of frost damage. A bud by any other name… The embryonic tissue found inside a bud is made up of meristem cells that can grow into either leafy shoots or flowers. If you look closely at new buds, you will notice that some are more narrow and pointed (leaf buds), while others are more rounded (flower buds), and a few, called mixed buds, are both. Where a bud develops on a stem determines what we call it:
Buds are also classified by the way they grow, or their morphology. Buds can be scaly, covered, hairy, or naked.  Bud infographic (LadyofHats) Public Domain Bud pests and diseases
Being tender new growth, buds are susceptible to a large number of pests and diseases. These pests include budworms, cutworms, Eriophyid mites, citrus bud mites, weevils, thrips, and dryberry mites. Shot hole disease can also attack buds. Dormant sprays, Bordeaux mixtures, and fixed copper treatments can protect buds from many of these pests and diseases, when applied correctly. Sticky barriers can also be used to block crawling pests from ever reaching your buds. Take a closer look at your plants today - can you tell if the buds will become leaves or flowers? We've all heard the word, but how many of us really know what is going on inside our plants? What is chlorophyll and how does it convert light into energy? Chlorophyll is a collection of green pigments that makes plant (and algae) life possible. Pigments are materials that change the appearance of reflected light by absorbing specific wavelengths. As light strikes a leaf, first the blue wavelength and then the red wavelength are absorbed, and the green is reflected. That’s why, to us, most plants look green.  Chlorophyll is concentrated in chloroplasts, grouped inside plant cells. (Kristian Peters) CC BY-SA 3.0 Discovery of chlorophyll
The word chlorophyll (you can spell it with one “l” if you prefer), comes from two Greek words that mean green (chloros) and leaf (phyllon). Chlorophyll is the reason photosynthesis works. This was first figured out in 1817 by two men, Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou, ages 29 and 22, respectively. (Certainly not what I was doing in my 20’s…) Plant cell review Before we get into the amazing way that chlorophyll helps plants collect energy from the sun, let’s have a quick review of plant cells: Plant cells are very similar to animal cells in that they both have a nucleus that contains DNA, a storage vacuole, a mitochondria to keep everything functioning, a cell membrane that filters what goes in and out, and a jelly-like cytoplasm that holds all the parts. Plant cells are different from animal cells because they have rigid, rectangular cell walls and organelles called chloroplasts. Chloroplasts contain a lot of chlorophyll. This is where the really amazing stuff happens. Chloroplasts Chloroplasts have their own DNA and they are something like living solar panels within plant cells. According to Wikipedia, “Chloroplasts cannot be made by the plant cell and must be inherited by each daughter cell during cell division.” How crazy is that? I wonder if that makes them the oldest living thing? Photosynthesis and chlorophyll molecules You can learn a lot more about photosynthesis and chlorophyll molecules elsewhere, but the basic idea is that light energy is absorbed by chlorophyll molecules that are held along and in structures called photostems, in a process called resonance energy transfer. (Stay with me! We’re almost through the tough part!) The absorbed energy is handed over to an electron in something called charge separation. The energy is then oxidized (or rusted) off the electron and handed over to other molecules in an electron transport chain. The original electron is then grounded with the aid of a water molecule. It’s really mind-boggling, isn’t it? So what does this have to do with gardening? Chlorophyll in the garden If you understand how plants get their energy, you can help them stay healthy. For example, if your plants are dusty, the process of photosynthesis doesn’t work as well as it might because the chlorophyll can’t absorb light energy. (And spider mites will be more of a problem.) Or, if you are growing endive, celery, or fennel, you may want to block light from reaching the chlorophyll, for white, tender leaves, stalks, or bulbs. If chlorosis (or yellowing) is seen, you will know that something is causing a lack of chlorophyll. Chlorosis can indicate bacterial or fungal disease, physical injury, improper soil pH, iron or manganese deficiency (the former is very common in the Bay Area, the latter is not). Excessive levels of other nutrients, such as potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus can also cause chlorosis. The more we learn about the amazing processes that are going on in the garden, the better we can care for the plants in our gardens and landscapes. (And you'll be even better at Scrabble!) Rhizomes are stems that grow underground, putting out lateral shoots and adventitious roots as a way to regenerate a plant’s genetic information and to expand its territory.  Bamboo rhizome (Kuebi/Armin Kübelbeck) CC BY-SA 3.0 Plants use rhizomes to store foods, such as protein and starch, to carry them through bad weather conditions and to generate new plants using suckers and new other new shoots. Many grasses, such as bamboo, can invade an area using rhizomes. Other plants that use rhizomes to propagate include poplar trees, asparagus, bindweed, blackberries, iris, rhubarb and most lawns. Ginger and turmeric are also rhizomes.
Rhizomes vs. stolons Rhizomes are modified stems that grow underground, whereas stolons grow at or just below the soil surface. Botanically, there is also a difference in the spacing between nodes of stolons and rhizomes. Rhizomes have shorter internodes than stolons. Potatoes and other tubers are starch storing stolons. Pros and cons of rhizomes The good thing about rhizomes is that they make it easy to propagate new plants from pieces of an old root system. A piece of ginger root can be broken off, placed in good soil and a new plant will start to grow. This ability also makes getting rid of certain weeds far more difficult. Simply pulling it up rarely works because there is almost always a tiny piece of rhizome left behind. From this tiny sample of genetic information, new weeds can emerge. When trying to remove rhizomes, it is a good idea to use a shovel and dig around the entire root system. Plants inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen through tiny closable holes normally found on the underside of leaves. These holes are called stomata (singular stoma).  Colorized electron microscope image of tomato leaf stoma (Photohound) Public Domain Stoma structure On either side of each stoma are two guard cells. These guard cells use osmosis to fill themselves with water (or release it) to close (or open) the stomata. Each evening, when photosynthesis has halted, the stoma close up shop for the night and reopen in the morning. As temperatures rise and water becomes more critical, the stoma will close. Each stoma is connected to a series of air spaces within the plant. Air diffuses through these spaces, delivering carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. In effect, plants hold their breath when it is too hot for them and they do not have enough absorbed water - no wonder they wilt!  A stoma in cross section showing guard cells (Yvan Lindekens) CC BY-SA 3.0 Stomata control water flow
One really amazing aspect of stoma behavior is how they control water flow within a plant. Chemically, water will always move from areas of high humidity to areas to low humidity. When a stoma opens, it creates a bubble of high humidity. This exhaled moisture evaporates or is pulled away. Due to surface tension, more water is pulled out of the plant. This action works its way down to the roots, which then pulls water from the soil! This is how plants absorb water from the ground! Water sprouts are similar to suckers, but they emerge from tree trunks and older branches, rather than from underground.
Water sprouts grow vigorously and often seem to appear overnight. They use large amounts of water and nutrients and provide no benefit. Like suckers, water sprouts are structurally unsound and highly prone to pests and disease.
Water sprouts may still produce fruit, but that fruit is generally of poor quality and reduced quantity. Water sprouts often emerge after pruning or other damage and they should be removed as soon as they are seen. Vascular bundles are similar to the human circulatory system. They are the visible veins seen on the back of leaves, but vascular bundles also make up the majority of a plant’s structure.  Deciduous leaves have veins that are easy to see Parts of the vascular bundle Vascular bundles are made up of the xylem and the phloem. The xylem carries water and dissolved minerals up from the soil, through the roots, to stems and leaves. The phloem carries dissolved food, especially sugars, down, from the leaves, to storage tissues in the stems and roots.  Vascular bundle - xylem carrying water and minerals up and the phloem carrying products of photosynthesis down into the plant. (Nefronus) CC BY-SA 4.0 There are various arrangements of vascular bundles, depending upon the type of plant.  Dicot vascular bundles are arranged in a circle, while monocot veins are scattered (CNX OpenStax) CC BY 4.0 Diseases of the vascular system
The flow of water and nutrients is critical to a plant’s health. Many pests and diseases take advantage of this fact. Damage to the vascular bundle can cause wilting, chlorosis, or even death. Common pests and diseases of vascular bundles include:
Fun with the vascular system You're never too old to enjoy this one and your kids are sure to enjoy it - put some celery stalks in a cup of water with food coloring and watch the dye move through the stalk's vascular system. This activity is called chromatography. |
Welcome!You can grow a surprising amount of food in your own yard. Ask me how! To help The Daily Garden grow, you may see affiliate ads sprouting up in various places.
You can also get my books, Stop Wasting Your Yard! and What's Growing Wrong?  Index
All
Archives
November 2025
|
#/media/File:Fockea_edulis_07_ies.jpg)
#/media/File:Brunnichia_ovata.jpg)
RSS Feed
