Here in Wisconsin, mistletoe comes to mind only at Christmas time, and then only to those hoping to kiss or be kissed beneath it. Come January, nobody gives it another thought. It’s not that way in some parts of the U.S., but we’ll get to that later. The tradition of kissing under the mistletoe comes [Continue]
Herbal Gifts Herbs from your garden can form the basis for a healing salve, lip balm, soothing hand cream or solid perfume. All have the same three ingredients: an herb-infused oil, beeswax and vitamin E oil. Varying the amount of infused oil and beeswax is what changes the outcome. The first step is to [Continue]
No need to splurge at the florist for a centerpiece to decorate your Thanksgiving table. Look around outdoors and you’ll find all you need. Prairie plantings abound with stiff-stemmed flowers topped with interesting dried seedheads. The prickly tops of spent purple coneflowers are classic. The rattling pods of wild indigo hang on the stems all [Continue]
Have you heard the term “nativar”? It is the name given to a cultivar of a native plant. As a refresher, a native plant is one that existed in a particular area prior to European settlement. Natives are well-adapted to the climate and soils of the area where they have grown for hundreds or even [Continue]
Everything you thought you knew about how plants get nutrients from the soil through their roots may be wrong. Scientists have determined that 95% of plant families get the majority of their nutrition not through roots, but through microscopic fungi that either attach to or penetrate the roots. These fungi, called mycorrhizae (pronounced my-core-rise-uh), form [Continue]
I spend an hour a week walking in circles on baseball diamonds doing biosurveillance. I’m not wearing a hazmat suit or carrying high-tech spy equipment. I need only my eyes and a pencil and paper to record what I see. I am searching for nests of cerceris wasps, a non-stinging – to humans – native [Continue]
In winter, trees, shrubs and perennial plants go dormant. They stop growing and in some cases die back to ground level. The single signal the leads plants to begin the process of going dormant is day length. When daylight hours shorten in fall, growth regulator hormones begin to build up in plants, slowing [Continue]
How are you coming along with your fall yard and garden clean-up? Still have a ways to go? Wouldn’t it be much easier to leave the annuals standing, the perennials uncut, the leaves unraked and the brush piles unburned? You could just quit now and allow your yard to be a haven of shelter and [Continue]
You wouldn’t think that living in the “Tension Zone” would be a good thing, but those of us who live in Winnebago County do and are fortunate to do so. In the 1950s, John Curtis, a botany professor at UW-Madison set out to classify the plant communities of Wisconsin. With help from his students, a [Continue]
What happens when you see an insect chewing on your beans? Do you immediately reach for some kind of spray? You really don’t need to do that – as soon as the chewer landed on the plant and began snacking, the bean called for help. It did this by releasing a complex of chemicals called [Continue]