Home / Resources and Writings / Weblog / May 2005
Future Farmers on Mars?
Category(-ies): Novel Uses of Plants
Future exploration of Mars would be greatly aided if some of our human needs could be produced on the planet. Conditions on Mars are too harsh to support any life forms presently known on Earth. NASA is funding research to look at the possibility of developing plants that might survive in greenhouses on the alien planet.
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Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 2:39 PM
Botanists to Reintroduce Club Sedge
Category(-ies): Plant Conservation
Carex buxbaumii, a club sedge, has not been seen in the wild in Ireland for a hundred years. It has thrived at the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin however, since it was first collected in 1835 by David Moore, then director of the garden. Now botanists want to reintroduce it to the wild.
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Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 3:07 PM
Trends at Chelsea Flower Show 2005
Category(-ies): Plants in the Landscape
The 83rd Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea flower show is underway. Arguably the most important horticultural event of the year, the flower show introduces gardeners to design trends and plant varieties on the cutting edge of new. Although the RHS does not set a theme for the show, common trends often surface among the garden designs.
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Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 5:12 PM
Genome of Fungal Threat to Rice Crop Sequenced
Category(-ies): Plant Discoveries , Plant Diseases and Pests , Plants, Food and Medicine
Researchers at the International Rice Blast Genome Consortium at North Carolina State University have unravelled the genome of Magnaporthe grisea, one of the worst threats to the world�s rice crop. Scientists hope the work will uncover new methods of control for the pest. It is the first pathogenic plant fungus to have its genetic code sequenced.
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Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 4:48 PM
Drought Tolerant Plants for Shade Gardens
Category(-ies): Plants in the Landscape
Gardens designed for low water use are becoming more popular. Population expansion in dry areas and water management issues have spurred the development of xeriscape gardens. Adding to the popularity of drought tolerant plants is the fact that they are easy to maintain. They survive with little fertilizer; nutrient needs can often be provided from an annual mulch of compost. Tough or hairy foliage that holds moisture also discourages pests.
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Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 4:27 PM
The Vascular Plant Red Data List for Britain Published
Category(-ies): Plant Conservation , Plant Legal News and Issues
Botanists have recently published the most comprehensive assessment of the UK's flora to date. One in five native plants in Britain is threatened by extinction. Species that inhabit the margins of farmer's fields and grasslands are particularly at risk. New species on the Red List, corn buttercup and shepherd's needle have suffered very rapid decline in recent years. Western juniper had simply been overlooked in previous assessments although only eleven plants survive.
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Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 4:46 PM
British Charities Encourage Gardeners to Support Wildlife
Category(-ies): Plant Conservation , Plant Relationships , Plants in the Landscape
The Royal Horticultural Society has launched a major appeal to fund efforts promoting biodiversity. It has teemed up with the Wildlife Trusts to create a project called Wild About Gardens, a program to help educate gardeners on practices that will foster wildlife. The RHS will study the distribution and ecology of wildlife found in its gardens to better understand how urban gardeners can encourage wildlife.
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Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 4:40 PM
Watching for the Spread of Sudden Oak Death in the US Southeast
Category(-ies): Plant Diseases and Pests
Officials are asking residents in the southeastern US to be on the look out for signs of sudden oak death in camellias, rhododendrons and other ornamentals. The disease arrived in the region last year in shipments of ornamentals from nurseries in California and Oregon. Officials destroyed some of the shipments after finding the disease, but most had already been sold. Since sudden oak death was first discovered in California in 1995, it has killed thousands of native oak trees in the state.
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Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 4:04 PM
Is the Produce of Our Food System Healthful?
Category(-ies): Plants, Food and Medicine
In a recent survey, done by the CropLife Canada Food Protection Council, 77% of Canadian women felt that the level of pesticide residue on fruit and vegetables was harmful to their health. The council, a trade organization concerned with plant science innovations, wants consumers to know that fruits and vegetables sold in Canada are safe and healthful; most contain little or no pesticide residues.
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Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 4:14 PM
Time Honoured Garden Favourites
Category(-ies): Plant Conservation , Plants in the Landscape
In recent decades gardeners have been inundated with choices made available to them by plant breeders. The old varieties of plants, grown by our grandparents, have become difficult to find, but heirlooms are making a come back. Adding a few heirloom plants (varieties that have been in cultivation for at least fifty years) can restore childhood memories.
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Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 3:44 PM
India Protects Traditional Use of Neem
Category(-ies): Plant Legal News and Issues , Plants, Food and Medicine
The European Patent Office in Munich dismissed an appeal to the revocation of a patent it had previously granted for the use of neem as an antifungal agent. The plant has been used to control fungal infection by Indian farmers since ancient times. Advocates trying to protect the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples from exploitation welcomed the decision.
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Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 2:00 PM
Daylilies - Beautiful and Delicious
Category(-ies): Novel Uses of Plants , Plants in the Landscape , Plants, Food and Medicine
Easy to grow with few pest problems, daylilies have become quite popular; so popular that some gardeners eschew them. If too common for the flowerbed, gardeners may want to plant some in the vegetable garden. All parts of Hemerocallis are edible. The Chinese have used the plant for food and medicine for centuries.
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Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 4:56 PM
Oregon Flora Project Atlas
Category(-ies): Botanical Resources
Kudos to the people behind the Oregon Flora Project Atlas! They've developed a web site with a tool that maps specimen location data from the Oregon State University Herbarium onto maps of Oregon.
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Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 3:31 PM
Declining Snow Cover Fosters Large Ocean Plant Blooms
Category(-ies): Climate Change
A NASA funded study has found that declining winter snow in Southeast Asia and the Himalayan Mountains is creating weather changes in the Indian subcontinent and the Western Arabian Sea that promote large blooms of phytoplankton. A difference in air temperature and pressure systems generates monsoon winds that stir up the ocean water, creating prime conditions for the plants. Researcher, Joaquim Goes has observed a 350 percent increase in phytoplankton concentrations over the last seven years.
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Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 8:15 PM
