Wicked Bugs!

Join Amy Stewart, author of Wicked Bugs, in a lively video as she highlights insects, like the mosquito, that have changed the world (and killed a lot of people).

And the 2012 Academy Award Winner is...by Elaine Lockey

http://www.parasiticplants.siu.edu/Rafflesiaceae/Raff.arn.page.html

Don’t you wish there was a category at the Academy Awards for best botanic movie? Most stunning landscape background?  Best use of a plant in a scene? Me too.  So since there isn’t, I went in search of a plant with star power that I think could shine in a future movie.

And so my selection for the winner of this year's award for most movie-worthy plant would be the Rafflesia arnoldii.  Its common name is Corpse Flower.  It also happens to have the world's largest flower.

Flower Grown From Siberian Permafrost Seed

Approximately 30,000 years ago, a squirrel burrowed into the ground in Siberia and stored its hoard of fruit and seeds. Russian scientists found the treasure chamber in the Siberian permafrost and managed to reproduce an entire plant.

 Meet Silene stenophylla, the oldest plant ever to be regenerated.

Silene stenophylla

 It is fertile, producing white flowers and seeds. What does a gardener ask except "How soon we can order from a seed catalog? "

Read more here.

Pothole Gardening!

Guerrilla Gardening at it's finest!

2012 USDA Hardiness Zone Map by Carol King

Exciting news for all you plant nerds! On Jan. 25, 2012 the U.S. Department of Agriculture  released the new version of its Plant Hardiness Zone Map,  updating a useful tool for gardeners and researchers for the first time since 1990. The new map (developed by USDA's Agricultural Research Service and Oregon State University's PRISM Climate Group)—is available online at www.planthardiness.ars.usda.gov.  Long-awaited changes in the climate zone guide show northward warming trends, while also targeting a few colder areas in the mountains.

Hardiness zones are based on the average annual extreme minimum temperature during a 30 year period in the past. It is not based on the lowest temperature that has ever occurred in the past or might occur in the future. Each zone is based on 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Two new zones were added in hotter climates this year for a total of 13 zones.

Roses for Your Valentine by Carol King

How about giving your Valentine a rose for Colorado.  Rosa "Ruby voodoo" is a new, 2012 selection for Plant Select. It’s one of six new plants that the consortium of Colorado State University and Denver Botanic Garden experts have tested for growing conditions in  Colorado.

Read more about it here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Black Oil Sunflower Seed – preferred by birds everywhere by Elaine Lockey

With almost 3 feet of snow descending from the skies at my house in the foothills, I worry about the wild critters who are scrounging for food outside.  I am very glad that I filled my birdfeeders the day before the snowstorm so there would be plenty of abundant food for the birds.  Juncos, House Finches, Chickadees and Stellar Jays all compete for room on my feeders and what falls below them.  

The favorite birdseed of most birds?  Black oil sunflower.  This bird seed provides high calories for birds and supplements their usual diet of insects or other seeds.  The shells are thin making it easy for birds to crack them open. And this type of sunflower seed has the highest fat and protein content providing a valuable food source for birds struggling to stay warm in winter.  The Cornell Lab of Ornithology estimates that a chickadee may eat 35 percent of its weight in food each day while a Blue Jay may eat only 10 percent of its weight and a Common Raven only 4 percent—but they all need more calories on colder days than warmer ones.