Soil Blocking: Good for Your Plants and the Environment
Have you ever unearthed the congested tangle confined within each cell of a seedling tray at transplant time, when tiny roots had already hit their compartment’s wall and started circling…
You’ve Seen One Snake Plant, You Haven’t Seen Them All
The genus Sansevieria had never really spoken to the botanist Chad Husby, until it did — loudly. But not in the way it usually ingratiates itself to potential adopters, who…
How Birds Survive Winter Cold: Adaptations and Behavioral Strategies
Winter mornings begin at David Sibley’s Deerfield, Mass., household as they do at my similarly rural place 90-something miles to the west and south, across the New York line: with…
What’s That Stench? A Corpse Flower Blooming at Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
There is no shortage of unpleasant odors in New York City: overflowing garbage on the sidewalk, unmentionable substances in the subway, traffic fumes and more. This week, yet another foul…
Calder Gardens Names a Curatorial Leader and Sets September Opening
Calder Gardens, the coming Philadelphia cultural project in a city that has seen few new major arts institutions recently, gets closer to being a reality this week with the announcement…
Choosing Seeds From 14,000 Varieties? It Just Got Easier.
I’m several hundred heirloom bean varieties deep in the latest seed list I’m browsing, description by description, with no plan to come up for air anytime soon. There are nearly…