Posted on in Botany for Gardeners

Getting to the Root of the Matter

Phalenopsis orchid roots_DBG_LAH_6672We all know what roots are—they’re the part of the plant that’s usually underground. If we have a mental image, it’s probably a mass of wiggly, white strings poking their way through the soil. We should pay more attention to roots. After all, they’re an essential part of a plant (as well as the only part remaining after some hail storms!). Knowing a little about how roots work will make us more successful gardeners.

Before I get any further, I should point out that I’ll be talking about your average, every day root. Life is an amazing phenomena, so diverse that there are always exceptions. So let’s skip the orchids (left) and other epiphytes, and the mangroves and other plants with roots growing in water, and focus on our garden flowers, shrubs, and trees.

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Posted on in Gardening, Photography, Surviving Winter

Missing Spring?

Muted reds, soft blues, maize yellow—winter isn’t the monotone black, gray, and white that I expected when I moved to Colorado over twenty years ago. But even after twenty years, I still have trouble with January. Like many Colorado transplants, I grew up in California, and I miss the year-round green, the earthy smell of growing things, and the bright hues of flowers. Perhaps you do too.

Today’s post is designed to help dispel those mid-winter blahs. I offer a rainbow of colors to cheer you up and remind us all that spring is coming! (more…)

Posted on in Birds

Another Bird to See

Plain-backed_thrush,_Mishmi_Hills,_Arunachal_Pradesh,_IndiaWe interrupt this blog for an exciting, bird-related announcement. It seems incredible that an animal as large as a thrush could go unnoticed until now, but scientists have recently discovered a new species of thrush! It was separated from, and is similar to, the Plain-backed Thrush, shown here courtesy of Wikipedia.

The bird lives in the Himalayas of northeast India and the adjacent parts of China. As I haven’t been traveling to that part of the world lately (I haven’t even been out of the country in far too long!), I’m posting some links to a couple of the better articles I found on the discovery.

Conservation India has an very informative article. (To put this discovery into context, this article mentions that, “Since 2000, an average of five new species per year have been discovered globally, most of which are from South America.”  I had no idea!)

This article by Fox News includes the song, which is very pretty.

 

 

 

Posted on in Conservation, Green Gardening Tips

Pesticide-free? Forget It!

059 fruit @PikeMarSea LAHI was at the market picking out some grapes when a large woman ran up to me and grabbed my arm. “Don’t buy those!” She looked alarmed. “They’re not organic!”

Thankfully, I’m rarely accosted in the produce department , but I frequently hear the same lecture from many of my friends. Don’t take man-made drugs. Don’t use artificial sweeteners. Don’t eat food that isn’t organic. You’re poisoning yourself. Natural is safe. Everything else isn’t.

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Birds

Photographing Raptors

Red-tailed Hawk_SEColorado_LAH_4705fAfter weeks of subfreezing weather, Saturday morning dawned with a promise of warm sunshine and blue skies. As the sun rose, we were already on our way, heading out onto the short-grass prairies. Pikes Peak receded into the rear view mirror. Our focus was on the trees and telephone poles along the road. Seven of us had piled into two cars, bristling with binos and telephoto lenses. It was time to photograph raptors!

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Posted on in Gardening, Veggies

What to Grow?

Seed catalogs_LAH_2733January. The start of a new year. The start of a new garden. As I contemplate my empty veggie beds, I feel like a race car driver waiting at the starting line. “Gentlemen (gentlewomen?), start your engines!”

This year is truly new in another way. We moved last year, and I no longer have a my huge veggie garden. I used to have twelve, 4ˈ x 12ˈ beds, plus four 4ˈ x 4ˈ herb beds, plus a series of 2ˈ wide border beds around the entire area, ideal for pole beans, peas, and perennials (lovage, currants, berries, asparagus). Now I have two, 4ˈ x 10ˈ raised beds. Two. Well, we intended to downsize, right?

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Posted on in Gardening, Landscaping, Surviving Winter

Snowy Blankets

Snow-covered yard_NSFT_COS_LAH_9309We have a lot of snow in our front yard. It may not seem like much to those who live in Minnesota, upstate New York, or Maine, but for us here along the Front Range of the Rockies, it’s a lot of snow. Colorado is dry. Colorado is sunny. We don’t get all that much snow, and what we do get melts the next day. The “real” snow is supposed to stay up on the ski slopes, not in our front yards.

When we picked out a lot for our new house, we were thinking about a longer growing season from our south-facing backyard, the spectacular view of Pikes Peak out the living room picture windows, the warmth of sunshine filling our bedroom. We carefully oriented our house to take advantage of all these.

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