Why plants need moisture in the winter

This past week has brought us temperatures much colder than we've experienced in the last few years. 

How will our outdoor plants react? 

It's too early to make any predictions, but our plants have one fantastic thing going for all concerned. We did have good soil moisture around the roots of all our plants this past fall and so far this winter.

The No. 1 reason that our plants suffer winter damage is having those plants in dry soil.

That makes our plants even more vulnerable to cold damage, especially to our evergreens.

They need good moisture in their winter foliage to stay healthy and keep from drying out. It's also important to realize that all cold hardy plants produce their own anti-freeze, the amount produced varies with different plant varieties.

That is why plants are categorized by their hardiness in different weather zones. Our plants that are growing in the TriState have to be able to sustain low temperatures in the 5 to 10 degrees below zero or weather zones 5 and 6 according to the weather zones we live within. 

That's the very reason you don't walk down any streets locally that are lined with palm trees. 

If you selected plant varieties that are not cold hardy to zone 5 and 6, you and those plants are already in serious trouble.

Thank goodness that the vast majority of plants offered for sale in our little corner of the world are all cold hardy.

The biggest threat to our outdoor plants is a warm spell in late winter (February to early March) for a week or two and then the real cold weather returning. The warmer temperatures in late winter will tell our trees and shrubs to wake up and the return of the much colder weather will cause a lot of damage to those plants that start greening up for the spring. 

We can't do anything about that but file away this thought.  In all my years working with plants, I've seen some damaged, but mom nature has always risen to any weather condition and has done a very good job.

Plants have a plan for all seasons

Many plants need to avoid flowering in the autumn – even if conditions are favourable – otherwise they would perish in winter.

To flower in the spring they need to sense and then remember winter, a process known as vernalisation. But how do plants sense vital information such as temperatures to align flowering with the seasons?

Until now, many researchers thought that fluctuations in monthly, daily, hourly temperatures were detected by a small number of dedicated sensors.

But new research by the John Innes Centre reveals that plants combine the temperature sensitivity of multiple processes to distinguish between the seasons.

"At first glance this might seem like a surprising finding, however in hindsight, it is very reasonable and it is also more likely as a mechanism to evolve," comments Dr. Rea Antoniou-Kourounioti, first author of the study which appears in the journal Cell Systems.

"Biochemical reactions are naturally temperature sensitive, so the alternative, a few specialised sensors, would suggest that the temperature sensitivity of everything else must be ignored or compensated for. On the other hand, taking inputs from multiple pathways that were already responding to temperature, and evolving to use this combined information is less complicated and can lead to a more robust system," she explains.

The team from the labs of Professors Martin Howard and Caroline Dean developed a predictive mathematical model of temperature sensing for the key flowering regulator FLC in Arabidopsis.

This vernalisation model can be used in combination with climate models to predict how plants will change their flowering in future climates. In this study, the team collaborated with groups from Sweden to test the model on patterns of data from plants grown in field sites in Sweden and Norwich – and the model matched these well.

Arabidopsis is a relative of many crop species, such as broccoli and oilseed rape, so the work could be extended to help breeders develop climate-resilient varieties.

Future work will involve adjusting the model in crop species and integrating it into current crop prediction models for farmers and breeders.

The team will work with climate modellers to more accurately predict the temperatures that plants will actually experience in future.

Grant will help determine how plants interact with microbiomes

While many people know that the microbes in our guts are an important part of our health, many are unaware that microbes are just as important to our crops.

Different microbes can help plants acquire nutrients, fend off pests and disease, and produce higher yields, but we know very little about how these partnerships work. University of Georgia researchers are working to understand these partnerships so that they can be used to breed better, more sustainable crops.

A team of researchers at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences has received a $1.35 million grant from the National Science Foundation to better understand how plants interact with their microbiomes.

"Just like people, plants host trillions of microbes that live on, around and inside them," said principal investigator Jason Wallace, a CAES professor of crop and soil sciences. "Some of these cause disease but many are beneficial, helping the plant thrive in harsh conditions, but we don't know how this interaction works.

"Learning how a plant's microbes make it more resilient could be an important key to developing more sustainable and stress-tolerant crops in the future."

Wallace's team is focusing on a grass called tall fescue, which has been grown for animal feed for over 70 years and covers 40 million acres across the U.S.

While breeding more water-efficient fescue has been a goal of plant breeders for decades, UGA geneticists are taking a new approach. They are investigating how the grass interacts with symbiotic fungi, which has been found to fortify it against heat and drought stress.

Some types of tall fescue have a fungus, Epichlo coenophiala, living inside them, which helps the plant survive drought, heat and disease. It also helps the grass fend off insects and predators.

Ironically, this partnership was discovered because the fungus usually produces toxic chemicals, ergot alkaloids, that make cattle sick. UGA was instrumental in breeding the first commercial varieties with toxin-free strains back in the 1990s.

Wallace's team will work with fescue that contains the fungus to understand how such a beneficial partnership works, including how the plant and fungus communicate with each other and how their interaction leads to higher stress tolerance in the plant.

The hope is that understanding this system will show how similarly strong, beneficial partnerships can be made in other crops to boost agricultural production and sustainability.

Wallace is partnering with Carolyn Young, an associate professor at the Noble Research Institute in Ardmore, Okla., to carry out this research.

To complete this work, Wallace, Young and their research teams will analyze thousands of fescue plants to find how the plant influences fungal growth and toxin production. They will also investigate how the plant forms relationships with new varieties of fungus, such as ones that do not produce toxins, and how the fungus helps the plant survive under heat stress that would normally kill it.

In addition to the work with fescue, Wallace and Young will assist middle and high school teachers in developing hands-on teaching projects related to these topics that they can implement in their own classrooms. This will give students a better understanding of plant-microbe partnerships and the ways that microbes impact the larger ecosystem.

The grant period will run from 2019 through 2022, but some parts of the project are already underway.

These plants bring all the birds to your yard

Like songbirds? Right, many people do. It's a different story when it comes to insects. Mention caterpillars, for instance, to most gardeners, and you'll have them squirming with horror. But backyard species like caterpillars and spiders actually play a crucial role in supporting our most beloved bird species. As a new study from University of Delaware postgraduate student Desirée Narango and coauthors demonstrates, native plant gardens are quite literally for the birds.

It's the largest comprehensive study to date of the effect of native plant species on a specific species of bird—the Carolina chickadee. It's also the biggest single piece of research to come out of years of fieldwork during Narango's PhD, she says, and it offers a tangible goal for conservation-minded individuals to work for in their own yard. That goal is a number: 70 percent.

By studying more than 160 yards, Narango found that suburban lawns with at least 70% native trees and shrubs were able to sustain breeding chickadees. Yards with less could sustain adults, but those adults weren't reproducing at replacement rate, meaning the population was falling.

Why are native plants important? When it comes to birds, it's because those plants have coevolved with local insect species—creepy crawlers that the birds themselves evolved to thrive on, says University of Maryland ecologist Karin Burghardt. Burghardt previously worked with Narango's coauthor, University of Delaware professor Doug Tallamy, but she was not involved with the current study.

"We think about birds [in human landscapes] as mostly needing birdseed," Burghardt says. But work over the past decade paints a different picture, one that points to the importance of insects for many. However, the vast majority of plant-eating insects are evolved to only eat a small number of native plants, which means that in gardens without the foliage of choice, they're not around.

For human gardeners, as well, introducing native plants and seeing the wildlife—from caterpillars and other insects to birds—they attract can be "a pretty rewarding process," Burghardt says. She recently bought a house, where she's in the process of redoing the garden with native species. Gardeners who do the same will quickly see results, she says, and know that they are providing homes for wildlife, from the crawly to the flappy.

Narango says that the 70 percent number that works for the chickadee is a baseline. "Almost all terrestrial songbirds require insects to raise their young," she says. The more insectivorous a bird, the higher percentage of native plants it seems to need for those insects to live on. The Washington, DC backyards she monitored were part of an existing citizen science project called Neighborhood Nestwatch.

Doing fieldwork is often no simple task, particularly in urban areas, says Tallamy. He's been working on the problem of backyards for more than a decade—Burghardt was his coauthor on some of the work that originally demonstrated the relationship between native plants and insects. Tracking hundreds of yards and birds "is not easy stuff," he says.

In this case, each participating yard got a nestbox, and homeowners monitored the box from the first week of April through June to see if chickadees moved in for their breeding season. Narango and her field technicians also visited the yards of neighboring houses to see if chickadees that were feeding in the backyards they studied were actually nesting close by but not in the yard itself.

Their results show something that hasn't been seen before: a comprehensive study of the effect of non-native species of plants, higher up the food chain, Tallamy says. It takes a story he's been working on for a long time and stretches it "to the next trophic level," he says, by looking at the birds who eat the insects.

"These simple choices on what people are planting can really have profound consequences on the birds that are living in these yards," Narango says. Those consequences stretch beyond nesting birds and to the migratory birds that pass through on their long journey from the tropics to Canada's boreal forests each year. They might only stop in a yard for a week, but they're looking for high-calorie, high-protein food to sustain their next great hop—just like the nesting birds that need extra to raise young. If they can't find food on their stop, that week "could be the most important week of their life."

The new study does a "meticulous" job of defining what insects can do for birds, says Burghardt, but it's important to remember they're more than just food. "I think that they have value in and of themselves," she says. They're part of a web of life evolved long before we started bringing non-native plants to our gardens. They also have the potential to enrich gardens, says Nancy Vehrs, president of the Virginia Native Plant Society. "There's more to a garden than just the plants," she says.

Successfully transplanting landscape plants takes forethought, preparation

McDONOUGH — If you want to rearrange your landscaping, the best time to do so is quickly approaching, though it's not easy lifting.

Nurseries use tree spades to dig large trees from a field-grown nursery. Unfortunately, this is not the kind of equipment a home landscaper can rent for a weekend project.

The roots of trees and shrubs normally grow beyond the amount of soil a home gardener can move. To keep most of the roots within a small area, plants should be root-pruned in the spring or fall before transplanting. Root pruning is the process of severing the roots of an established plant that is going to be transplanted to encourage growth of new feeder roots along the root ball.

Plants moved in the fall (October or November) should be root-pruned in March. Those moved in spring (March) should be root-pruned in October. Root-prune after the leaves have fallen from deciduous plants in the fall or before buds break in the spring.

To root-prune, mark a circle the size of the desired ball around the tree or shrub. Next, dig a trench just outside the circle. Cleanly cut larger roots and backfill the trench with the available soil. Water the area to settle disturbed soil and provide adequate moisture.

Roots within the pruned area grow many new fibrous roots, and form a strong root system within a confined area. If not root-pruned, larger plants may die from transplant shock because of root loss.

Shrubs less than 3 feet tall and deciduous trees less than an inch in trunk diameter (measured 6 inches above the ground) may be moved bare root. "Bare root" means most or all of the soil is removed from the roots.

Bare-root plants are easier to handle than those with a ball of soil around the roots. Bare-root plants should be planted while dormant. It is best to immediately replant. If not, keep the roots moist in peat moss or wrapped in plastic or wet papers until you are ready to plant.

To move trees with soil attached to the roots, trim the root ball to the proper size and shape with a spade. Keep the back side of the spade toward the plant, round off the trimmed ball at the top and taper it inward toward the base.

Avoid loosening the soil around the roots by cutting the large roots with hand or lopping shears and the small roots with a sharp spade. Next, undercut at an angle of about 45 degrees to loosen the root ball from the soil and sever remaining roots.

Prepare the new site before transplanting a tree or shrub. Have the soil tested and follow recommendations. Don't use fertilizer that contains nitrogen for the first year after transplanting.

Dig the new hole 50 percent wider than the soil ball to loosen the surrounding soil and ensure good root establishment. The root system should be at the same depth it was before it was moved.

Research has shown that adding soil amendments to the planting hole will not provide any benefits to newly planted trees or shrubs. Most studies show amendments can create drainage issues and cause poor root establishment.

When moving the plant to its new home, lift trees and shrubs by the root ball. Never carry a tree by the stem. This can damage underlying bark tissues. Place the plant in the hole and backfill with existing native soil.

Maintain constant moisture, not saturation, of the root ball. Add 2 to 3 inches of mulch to help conserve moisture, moderate temperature extremes and reduce weeds. Keep mulch away from the trunk of the plant.

Allan Armitage: Let's Tell Our Story About Pollinator-Friendly Plants

In the last 10 years, we have become more aware of the role pollinators and pollinator plants play in the world's ecosystem. We have come to understand that bees, butterflies, ants, and beetles contribute significantly to the global economy and food supply. We also know bees and butterflies are attracted to some plants more than other ones and that pollinator-friendly plants are important.

Of the great issues facing the ecosystems of our planet, there are not many that horticulturists and our industry can directly affect in a big way. The Amazon rainforest, the warming of planet Earth, and other issues all affect us, but there is little a gardener/horticulturist can do. However, let it not be said that we should not be involved in trying to maintain ecological balances at the local level. We brought out the marketing gloves, and we are now in the middle of the fight to reduce invasive plants, increase native flora, and promote pollinators. Profit motive aside, I sometimes feel we should all be wearing halos.

How Real is Real?

Of course, the profit motive doesn't hurt any. We have been told that the native plant and the pollinator movements are real. We have responded by breeding more native plants, whose very definition (rightly or not) is that they attract pollinators better than non-natives do.

However, I am not sure what real means. For me, the realness test is if my neighbors and daughters are behind it. As I wander through the gardens of America, I wonder if the gardeners are thinking about natives/pollinators when they walk through the box store or garden center? Do they ask if the plants in their carts are good for pollinators? If they are not, why not? Or, are they aware of anything other than that the plants are pretty?

Are consumers catching up to our marketing messages, or do we have a ton more to do to be sure they are listening? Gardening concepts are always evolving, this being one of them. The issue of pollinators and pollinator-friendly plants was not even on the radar 10 years ago, but it surely is now.

Eight Consumer Purchasing Insights About Pollinator Plants

I read an interesting paper in the June 2017 issue of HortTechnology by researchers from the University of Georgia and the University of Florida. They surveyed the buying habits of consumers in relation to their interest in pollinators and pollinator-friendly plants. The survey was conducted in Connecticut, and approximately 850 people responded. Many esoteric points were uncovered.

Here are a few that interested me.

1. People are paying attention. About 46% of them have purchased pollinator-friendly plants and about 23% have moved to organic production practices. That is not high enough, but a significant number nevertheless.

2. While attracting pollinators was a reason to plant pollinator-friendly plants, nearly every respondent cited ornamental value and diversity (i.e., a pretty garden) as the main reasons they bought the plants. Pollinator-friendly was secondary.

3. If I had to guess why people are not bringing home pollinator-friendly plants, I would have guessed a lack of grab-you labeling. In the paper, the reason most cited for not purchasing pollinator-friendly plants was labeling, or the lack thereof.

We have been talking about labels, point-of-purchase materials, and solution-based benches set aside for issues like deer resistance and pollinators for years. Here is yet another survey that tells us there is still a lot to do.

4. Other reasons for not buying pollinator-friendly plants included higher prices and lack of diversity. It strikes me that if being a nickel more expensive (because of better labeling, packaging, etc) is the reason not to buy a pollinator-friendly plant, then the consumer was not interested anyway. Diversity (i.e., choice) is always an issue in the retail environment, from clothing to automobiles. We do the best we can.

5. A whopping 7% of the respondents thought all this hype about pollinators was just a marketing gimmick. Oh well, some people still don't wear seat belts — not much we can do. However, that still means that 93% do believe in the importance of pollinators and pollinator-friendly plants.

6. There were some interesting differences between garden centers and mass merchandisers, mainly that fewer people bought pollinator-friendly plants in the box stores and that labeling (or lack thereof) was more of a perceived problem at box stores than at garden centers. Perhaps not surprising either.

7. Older consumers buy fewer pollinator-friendly plants than do younger consumers. This is to be expected, as eco-issues such as organic practices, pollinators, etc. resonate more in younger generations. And of course, what with better digital information and the use of good garden apps, it would be expected that younger people are more aware.

8. Consumers trust information that universities and industry associations provide about pollinator-friendly plants more than from other sources, and perhaps such information in stores may carry additional weight.

The authors share some potential remedies to enhance sales of pollinator-friendly plants. Ornamental value, diversity of product, and better labeling stand out as no-brainers. What we need to do is tell pollinator plant stories in a way that motivates consumers to purchase them. Garden spending is still below 2008 levels. People spend less, and they are still intimidated about what we sell.

Pollinators and pollinator-friendly plants are a feel-good theme that we all should be touting, nay shouting. Every retail outlet and catalog, and anywhere people purchase plants should be screaming: "We are good for the environment and the world."

Bring in the green: Add plants to your reading corner, small pots by the kitchen window

NEW DELHI: Decorating with plants is one of the easiest ways to make a home feel more relaxed. Everyone can create a lush indoor garden as it can change the whole atmosphere with elements of nature.

Nikita Sethi, founder of Kalpane.in, an online marketplace for homegrown creatively made products and Gurpreet, founder of Elite Earth, gives you a few tips for a greener environment at home.

* Statement planters for your house: Try placing the plants in stands of varying heights to ensure they make a statement. Like one can always try on having an L-shaped shelve to save the floor-space and at the same time place the plants in a way that the height of each gives a statement to the room.

* Give your kitchen a makeover: The kitchen area can be used and plants can be integrating into the decor and small pots can be placed below the windows. One can try creating small vertical gardens for herbs and succulents. Cooking with fresh ingredients straight from your mini garden in the kitchen is the most exquisite thing and the welcoming décor just makes the kitchen a place to be.

* Reading nook: Plants brings the natural texture and good energy to your reading nook. A vertical plant arrangement looks like a piece of artwork and one can hang it in a corner and it will help in changing the atmosphere in the room.

* Give your home a beginning: Decorating the Hallways not just brings life to your house but the blooming flowers and the planters make it look inviting for the guests. The entrance of your house should always feel pleasant and warming and having shade plants all over the entrance just makes the house look more vibrant.

* Plants are your party saviour: It is not necessary to always have your plants on the top of the table. If you are planning for a housewarming party or a baby shower then you need to have a good table space. Tuck a couple of cement planters underneath to fill in the space with color, or use the wall hanging planters to make the space look more cool and chic.

Plants that bite

There is only one plant I know of that would actually bite you and that is the Venus Fly Trap. A bite from that plant would not be painful or even leave a bite mark. The four plants you will read about here all grow in this area and can cause mild to severe skin rashes resulting in pain, suffering, medicated creams and prescriptions.

Poison Ivy is generally the first poisonous plant that people think of. The old saying, "leaves of three let me be," refers to the three leaflets that make up one leaf. Other plants such as raspberry and boxelder have leaves that can easily be confused with Poison Ivy.

Poison Ivy plants can grow in the form of a small plant, a small bush or tree and even a vine that climbs high into trees. Virginia Creeper is another vigorous vine that climbs trees; however, it has five leaflets and is not harmful. All parts of the Poison Ivy plant contain urushiol oil that, when touched, spreads quickly on the skin due to the oily nature. Urushiol oil is very potent. One nanogram (one billionth of a gram) can cause a rash on human skin!

Poison Hemlock is a magnificent plant that found its way to ditches and fence lines in just the last few decades. I call it magnificent because it has large, shiny, beautiful, fern-like leaves. This plant is symmetrical and can grow 6 to 8 feet tall. In June, clusters of tiny white flowers appear followed by light brown seeds. All parts of this plant are poisonous to people and livestock. If you mow this plant down, be careful that juice from the stems don’t touch your skin. Blisters can form that look similar to Poison Ivy rash.

Wild Parsnip has been a common weed in the area for as long as I can remember. In the last 10 years, it has become an invasive weed in many parts of North America. It has been crowding out other friendlier ditch plants like the Foxtail and Brome grass. This plant will grow up to 5 feet topped with tiny yellow flowers in a flat, open cluster. The sap from this plant contains chemicals called furanocoumarins which, when exposed to sunlight, can cause a severe burn within 24 to 48 hours.

The fourth plant on my list can actually be eaten! Stinging Nettle when picked young can be used in salads, cooked like spinach, or steeped as a healthful tea. The problem arises when this plant gets bigger and matures. Hair-like barbs on the stems and leaf veins contain an irritant that feels like a bee sting if they touch bare skin. It is a sharp stinging pain that will go away in 10 to 15 minutes. It generally does not cause a lasting painful rash like the other plants mentioned above.

So how do you protect yourself when hiking out in nature? First and most important is to educate yourself and be able to identify these plants. Look them up and share the information with your family and friends. Then go out and try to find these plants so you know what they look like in their own home turf. Second, dress appropriately for your outdoor activity. A long-sleeved shirt and long pants with hiking boots and socks will protect you from poison plants and also ticks, mosquitos and gnats. Third, if your skin is exposed to poison plants, do not spread it by scratching or wiping your face with your hand. The oil can be easily spread, especially if you wipe sweat off your brow.

If you are "bitten," wash the exposed area with clean soapy water as soon as possible. Rinse with clear cool water. Launder your clothes to remove any residual oil. Consult a pharmacist for creams to use or seek medical help if a serious rash forms. And remember, "leaves of three let me be."

Best plants to grow in pots

There are all sorts of great reasons to grow plants in pots. You might live in a condo or townhouse with limited outdoor space. Perhaps the soil quality in your yard is poor. Or you may love the lush look of potted plants clustered around your patio or outdoor living room. Whatever your situation, find out more about the best plants to grow in pots — and the best pots to grow plants in.

Best plants to grow in pots: General tips

— The best plants for potting are those without a deep root system. Look for dwarf species or compact specimens that tend to grow upward rather than spreading outward.

— Choose plants that will do well with the amount of sun available. A balcony or deck attached to your house may offer only limited sunshine. A roof garden, on the other hand, could provide extremely strong sun, so you'll have to create some shade. Wheeled pots allow you to position your plants to catch the rays they need.

— Combine an assortment of plants in one oversize pot (or several smaller ones of different heights) for the most attractive effect. Find out what your chosen species want to do — for instance droop, clump, or climb — and mix and match accordingly.

— Consider the level of care that the plants you fancy will need. Is it compatible with your schedule and gardening skills? If not, you may want to find a professional gardener to look after your mini-landscape.

Types of plants to grow in pots

Vegetables. Most fast-growing, upward-climbing vegetable species are excellent for container gardening. Easy types to try are beans (bush beans are best), zucchini or summer squash, tomatoes, and bell peppers. NOTE: You'll need a support system ... which could be as simple as a nearby porch railing. Greens like lettuce and spinach also do well in pots.

Flowers. Go for maximum beauty, minimum maintenance. Flowers that are perennials in tropical climes (or invasive) tend to be hardy — perfect for your purpose. If you're a newbie (or even if not), geraniums are the no. 1 flower for potting. Not only do these hardy blooms thrive in containers, they provide a gorgeous array of color, delicate white to deep scarlet. Bring your potted geranium inside before the first frost, place in a sunny window, and it can live for years.

Fruit trees. Yes, fruit trees. They add so much to even a small outdoor space — good looks and with the right TLC, good eating too. Dwarf varieties are best for the confines of a pot. Check whether the fruit tree is self-fertile (such as citrus, peaches, and apricots — best if you only have room for one) or needs a partner for pollination (like apples and pears).

Best pots to grow plants in

Size. Plant pots must be deep enough to accommodate a root system — anywhere from 6-8 inches for most herbs, to 18-24 inches for a miniature tree. Potting soil is expensive, so you can add filler to the bottom third; crumbled Styrofoam works well. Make sure the base is broad enough that the pot won't tip over.

Material. Ceramic planters are ideal but tend to be pricey. UV resistant plastic pots are another option. If you want to get creative, follow the suggestion of Rodale's Organic Life and use galvanized trash cans or wooden barrels for large plantings.

Drainage. Whatever your container, ensure you have adequate drainage. Drill holes in the bottom, if necessary. Safeguard your floor, windowsill, etc., against the resulting runoff and condensation so it won't stain — or rot, in the case of a wooden deck. A saucer under the pot is a good start (TIP: water into the saucer, not the pot itself, for better absorption), but terracotta “pot feet” add an extra layer of protection.

Watering. FACT: Plants need more water in pots than in the ground. Cut down watering needs by topping the soil with mulch; great gardeners I know create decorative mulch from acorns, wine corks, or seashells. If you're planning a large-scale container garden, a drip watering system is a convenient option. For just a few potted plants, self-watering containers will reduce your workload and are handy if you're often away from home.

Research Brief: Grassland plants react unexpectedly to high levels of carbon dioxide

Plants are responding in unexpected ways to increased carbon dioxide in the air, according to a twenty-year study conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota and published in the journal Science. For the first 12 years, researchers found what they expected regarding how different types of grasses reacted to carbon dioxide. However, researchers' findings took an unanticipated turn during the last eight years of the study.

Researchers planted 88 plots with two different types of grasses, warm-season C4 grasses and cool-season C3 grasses, and exposed them to different levels of carbon dioxide, current carbon dioxide levels and the elevated levels the Earth might experience later this century due to human activity.

"Because carbon dioxide is needed by plants to grow, we expected grasses that have the C3 photosynthetic pathway to grow more under elevated CO2, because these plants are known to be able to increase their CO2 capture as CO2 levels rise. We also expected that growth of grasses with the C4 photosynthetic pathway would not be affected by higher CO2 levels, because these plants are generally less able to capture extra CO2 as CO2 levels rise," said University of Minnesota Professor Peter Reich. "While that held true for the first dozen years, that pattern changed."

Researchers found that during the last eight years of the study, C4 plant species grew more in an elevated CO2 environment than C3 plants. While it's uncertain why this shift happened, these findings could have significant implications.

"If mature grasslands worldwide behave like our experiment did, this could have long lasting impacts on how we think about the conservation and restoration of grasslands around the world," Reich said. "Grasslands cover between 30 and 40 percent of land and play a key role in soaking up carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels."

Along with impacts on conservation and restoration planning, these data could be used to help computer models better predict how plants will respond to changing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere.

"Our results suggest that the predictions made by these models might not be quite right and that we should not be overly confident about our assumptions regarding where, and by how much, land ecosystems will keep absorbing extra CO2 out of the air," Reich said.

Reich, a professor with the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences' (CFANS) Department of Forest Resources and Institute on the Environment (IonE) fellow, was the lead researcher on the study. Other study investigators included Professor Sarah Hobbie and graduate student Melissa Pastore, with the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior in the College of Biological Sciences, and Professor Tali Lee from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire.

About University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences

The University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) brings science-driven innovators together to discover hands-on solutions to global challenges. With 10 research and outreach centers across Minnesota, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, and the Bell Museum of Natural History, CFANS offer unparalleled experiential learning opportunities for students and the community. CFANS students enter career fields with some of the best job outlooks in the country, including 13 undergraduate majors and more than 25 minors ranging from agricultural education and marketing communications to conservation biology and forest and natural resource management, health and nutrition, to the future of food and agriculture management with a focus on business and technology.

Plants really do feed their friends

"For more than a century, it's been known that plants influence the makeup of their soil microbiome, in part through the release of metabolites into the soil surrounding their roots," said Berkeley Lab postdoctoral researcher Kateryna Zhalnina, the study's lead author. "Until now, however, it was not understood whether the contents of this cocktail released by plants was matched by the feeding preferences of soil microbes in a way that would allow plants to guide the development of their external microbiome."

The study, "Dynamic root exudate chemistry and microbial substrate preferences drive patterns in rhizosphere microbial community assembly," has just been published in the journal Nature Microbiology. The corresponding authors were Berkeley Lab scientists Trent Northen and Eoin Brodie.

Microbes within soil improve the ability of plants to absorb nutrients and resist drought, disease, and pests. They mediate soil carbon conversion, affecting the amount of carbon stored in soil or released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. The relevance of these functions to agriculture and climate are being observed like never before.

Just one gram of soil contains tens of thousands of microbial species. Scientists have long known that plants impact the composition of the soil microbiome in the area surrounding their roots by sending out chemicals (metabolites). Prior work by Mary Firestone, Berkeley Lab faculty scientist and a professor of microbiology at UC Berkeley, had shown that plants were consistently selecting or suppressing the same types of microbes over time in the root zone, suggesting some form of synchronization between plant and microbiome development.

Yet, little research had gone into the relationship between specific metabolites that plants release and the microbes consuming them. The new study brought together experts in soil science, microbial and plant genomics, and metabolomics to explore these potential metabolic connections. Their study took a close look at the rhizosphere of an annual grass (Avena barbata) common in California and other Mediterranean ecosystems.

The Berkeley Lab team felt the time was ripe for doing so. As pressure mounts for farmers to grow enough healthy crops to meet a burgeoning population's needs, and for new land management strategies that improve soil carbon storage to reduce atmospheric CO2 and produce healthy soils, the soil microbiome is the subject of more in-depth scientific research than ever before.

The researchers set out to determine the relationship between microbes that consistently bloomed near the grass roots and the metabolites released by the plant. Their first step was to collect soil from the University of California's Hopland Research and Extension Center in northern California. Brodie, deputy director of Berkeley Lab's Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, and his group used what they knew about the lifestyles of these soil bacteria to develop specialized microbial growth media to cultivate hundreds of different bacterial species. They then selected a subset that either flourished or declined as roots grew through the soil.

This collection of microbes was then sent to the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), a DOE Office of Science User Facility, where their genomes were sequenced to provide clues as to why their responses to roots differed. This analysis suggested that the key to success for microbes that thrived in the rhizosphere was their diet.

Northen, senior scientist in Berkeley Lab's Environmental Genomics and System Biology Division, is fascinated by the chemistry of microbiomes, and his group has developed advanced mass spectrometry-based exometabolomic approaches to elucidate metabolic interactions between organisms. Zhalnina and Northen combined their expertise to identify what the more successful microbes surrounding the roots of the Avena grasses preferred to eat.

Using a hydroponic setup at the JGI, they immersed plants at different developmental stages in water to stimulate them to exude their metabolites, then measured the metabolites being released by the plants using mass spectrometry. Subsequently, the cultivated soil microbes were fed a cocktail of root metabolites, and the researchers used mass spectrometry to determine which microbes preferred which metabolites.

They found that the microbes that flourished in the area around plant roots preferred a diet more rich in organic acids than the less successful microbes in the community.

"Early in its growth cycle, the plant is putting out a lot of sugars, 'candy', which we find many of the microbes like," Northen said. "As the plant matures, it releases a more diverse mixture of metabolites, including phenolic acids. What we discovered is that the microbes that become more abundant in the rhizosphere are those that can use these aromatic metabolites."

Brodie describes these phenolic acids as very specific compounds released by plants throughout their development. Phenolic acids are often associated with plant defenses or plant-microbe communication. This indicates to Brodie that as they establish the microbial community within the rhizosphere, plants could be exuding metabolites like phenolic acids to help them control the types of microbes thriving around their roots.

"We've thought for a long time that plants are establishing the rhizosphere best suited to their growth and development," said Brodie. "Because there are so many different types of microbes in soil, if the plants release just any chemical it could be detrimental to their health.

"By controlling the types of microbes that thrive around their roots, plants could be trying to protect themselves from less friendly pathogens while promoting other microbes that stimulate nutrient supply."

Zhalnina, Firestone, Northen, and Brodie believe their findings have great potential to influence additional scientific and applied research. Zhalnina points out that a lot of research and development is currently underway by government and industry to harness the power of microbes that improve plant yield and quality of soil to help meet society's growing demands for a sustainable food supply.

She said, "It's exciting that we can potentially use the plant's own chemistry to help nourish beneficial microbes within soil. Population growth, especially, has created a demand for identifying more reliable ways to manipulate the soil microbiome for beneficial outcome."

How plants 'muscle up' against bacteria in the cold

Michigan State University scientists have furthered our understanding on how a plant protein, called CAMTA, helps plants strengthen themselves as they anticipate long periods of cold, such as three to four months of winter in the American midwest or northern Europe.

The long-term goal behind the research is to breed or create plants with higher tolerance to wild swings in temperature. The study is published in the journal The Plant Cell.

CAMTA proteins are universally found across plants, and they help turn on genes that communicate freezing tolerance to these plants. In the study, CAMTA proteins were observed to also control how plants defend against harmful bacteria under long-term cold conditions.

In the cold, plants generally build up high levels of salicylic acid, or SA, a compound that protects them against bacteria.

"At warm temperatures CAMTA proteins, specifically the N-terminus (the start of the proteins), block the system that produces SA," said Yong Sig Kim, a post-doctoral student in the lab of University Distinguished Professor and MSU Foundation Professor Michael Thomashow.

When it gets cold for a long enough period, an unknown signal is generated that modifies CAMTA to allow SA production to turn on. In that case, the C-terminus, or the bottom of an amino acid chain that is stopped by a free carboxyl group, detects the signal -- possibly a rise in cellular calcium levels -- that enables SA biosynthesis.

This observation reverses current accepted models, which proposed instead that the C-terminus blocked SA production.

Why does tolerance to the cold instigate bacterial defenses?

"SA doesn't protect the plant from the cold, per se. Instead, we think the plants enhance their immune systems in the cold as a general preemptive strategy," Kim said.

Although plants take measures to survive the cold, they still get injured, and their structures are destabilized, which makes them more vulnerable to bacterial infection.

So, weakened plants keep their guard up as a precaution. It is similar to how humans take preventative measures to stay healthy – eat well, sleep eight hours, hydrate, etc.

This knowledge has long-term potential impact on agricultural production. For example, according to the EPA, in 2010 and 2012, high nighttime temperatures affected corn yields across the U.S. Corn Belt, and premature budding due to a warm winter caused $220 million in losses of Michigan cherries in 2012.

 "The field of plant defense is gradually revealing how protection mechanisms against the elements and against other living beings are interrelated," Kim said.

Will winter's bitter cold damage plants?

The new year is arriving in a blast of bitter cold. People can snuggle indoors where it's warm, but what about plants? Will the harsh weather do them harm?

"For plants that are fully dormant, there shouldn't be any problem," said Sharon Yiesla, plant knowledge specialist at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. Dormancy is the resting state that plants enter to protect themselves against winter cold and drought.

The aboveground parts of trees and shrubs have bark to protect them. Buds at the tips of branches are shielded by bud scales. Perennials have allowed their stalks and leaves to die back already. Plants' roots are still alive, but they are safe in the ground. "As long as the roots are underground, they are protected," Yiesla said.

The main risk she sees is for evergreens, which may not have fully entered their dormant state because of warm weather in the fall. Evergreen needles retain some water all winter and could be dried out by bitter cold and wind.

"Depending on how long the cold goes on and how low the temperature falls, we may see a little more winter damage on evergreens than we sometimes do," she said. "But it won't be apparent until spring, and there's nothing a homeowner can do about it now."

The greatest danger isn't from cold, but from warm weather that can follow. Chicago often swings between cold and warm spells, and plants can be harmed by the quick shifts. When soil warms, dormant plants may start to wake up and then be hit hard by the next cold snap.

Plants with shallow roots, such as hydrangeas and hellebores, are especially vulnerable, along with species that are not quite hardy here, such as oakleaf hydrangea and butterfly bush.

"The best way to prevent damage from freeze-thaw cycles is to make sure there's a layer of mulch over the roots," Yiesla said. The mulch will insulate the soil, so it stays evenly cold.

You can use wood chips or fallen leaves, but another source of mulch is handy at this time of year: evergreen boughs. "Cut up your Christmas tree and lay the branches on the soil around vulnerable plants," she said. "They will help insulate the soil."

Be good to your house plants, they’ll be good to you

 Indoor plants are wonderful things. They are green and beautiful and even shiny, if you bother to dust the leaves or give them a bath now and then. House plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, helping to clear the air and make the inside of your home a healthier place for you and your family. Indoor plants are especially nice to have around in the autumn and through the winter when the garden outside is often less attractive and accessible.

But at the moment I feel a touch guilty talking about house plants. A few weeks ago, I finally had to toss a rubber plant that had died, slowly and painfully, fallen brown leaf by fallen brown leaf. It was beautiful when I bought it and plunked it down on the raised hearth, on the wall farthest from the living room's largest window. It was big and gorgeous for several weeks, sitting in a large green pot, but then the leaves began to brown, curl and fall. Watching this lovely plant die was heartbreaking, but did I do any research to find out what was wrong? Unfortunately, no, until it was too late. That was when I discovered the poor thing wasn't getting enough light and was possibly getting too much water. I moved it into the dining room next to a window, but by then the die was cast.

Tossing that rubber plant was a rather expensive lesson in doing research sooner rather than later. I've had great luck with other house plants — mother-in-law's tongue, pothos, and various palms — and thought I knew what I was doing. But no. Googling “rubber plant” after I bought it would have saved me much grief, and my rubber plant might still be with us.

If you do a bit of research first, raising house plants and keeping them healthy isn't difficult. I've had some house plants for many years. I moved nine months ago, and it took a while to find the optimal spot for all of them. But here's the thing. With these plants, I paid attention to their ups and downs and responded accordingly. For some crazy reason, I had too much faith in that poor rubber plant to pay proper attention.

House plants do need different care from outdoor plants. They are highly sensitive to light levels, and less water is usually preferable to too much. But it is easy to find many indoor plants that thrive in many different light conditions and that conform to your personal plant care philosophy, whether it be to do everything on a carefully set schedule or on a more catch-as-catch-can basis.

For the catch-as-catch-can indoor gardener, the mother-in-law's tongue and pothos in my living room are the perfect solution. Mother-in-law's tongue, also known as the snake plant, does well in low light and is almost impossible to kill. It can be watered as seldom as once a month. The pothos vine likes a bit more light (I combined the two plants just for the photo), but it will signal when it needs water by starting to look limp and wilted. A good soaking in the kitchen sink will refresh it.

Children will enjoy the pothos vine because it is simple to create more plants. When a vine gets too long, just cut it off and put the cut end in a jar filled with water on a window sill. It will grow roots and can then be planted in a new pot. Where you had one plant, you now have two.

There are dozens of other indoor possibilities. The air plant is extremely easy to grow, and no soil is involved. Just soak each plant for two or three hours every ten days or so, and they will thrive on a saucer or dish on a counter or bookcase in indirect light.

Aloe likes indirect light and a good soak about once a week. Aloe also has excellent healing properties. If someone gets a burn in the kitchen, break a leaf open and smear the aloe sap on the burn.

Diffenbachia likes filtered light, perhaps by a curtained window. Spider plants like lots of light and a weekly watering. Peace lilies prefer indirect light. They are another plant that lets you know when it needs water. African violets are lovely in a kitchen window.

Palm trees are often easy to grow indoors and may remind you of sunnier climes in the depths of winter. The parlor palm prefers low light and may suffer if exposed to direct sunlight. It grows very slowly and may take years to reach its full height of three to four feet. I have had great luck with the Kentia palm. In its native habitat, it can reach 60 feet. But indoors it tops out at 6 to 12 feet. This plant benefits from periodic soaking in a bucket or deep sink to thoroughly wet the entire root ball.

Orchids are another winter delight. I avoid them in the summer when I'm running ceiling fans because the plants dry out.

Of course nothing beats a Christmas cactus at this time of year. Give it indirect light and occasional water, and its festive color will brighten your holidays into the new year.

Meet the Overcompensators, Plants That Get Tougher and Meaner When Attacked

If plants could be stars in a cowboy film, the scarlet gilia would be one of the meanest wildflowers west of the Mississippi.

You can find it standing tall among the sagebrush on mountainsides, its red flowers blazing. Drought can't always stop it. Shade won't faze it. And when mule deer and elk start grazing on it early in the season, it comes back bigger and stronger, with more defenses and a posse of new plants.

Biologists call outlaw plants like this the overcompensators.

“It's a little counterintuitive,” said Miles Mesa, a graduate student at The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign who led a new study into these types of plants. “After some animal comes by and eats it, the plant actually does better.”

In the study published this month in the journal Ecology, scientists showed for the first time that in an experiment, damaging some plants set off a molecular chain of events that caused them to grow back bigger, and produce more seeds and chemical defenses simultaneously. At the genetic level, the two tactics for plant survival worked hand in hand — at least in Arabidopsis thaliana, a kind of mustard plant often used for research.

Ken Paige, an evolutionary ecologist also at he University of Illinois and principal investigator of the study, first observed overcompensation in the scarlet gilia in 1987. He described plants that would make more flowers, stems and seeds when their main stems were cut off or eaten.

At the time, being eaten was believed to be bad for plants — always. It took a decade's worth of seeing the contrary for other biologists to believe it.

Dr. Paige started looking for a molecular mechanism behind overcompensation in some versions of Arabidopsis. As he damaged their main stems, he started seeing indications that not only did they get bushier and produce more seeds, but they also ramped up their chemical defenses.

At one point in time, theory pitted regrowth, also known as tolerance, against defense: with limited energy, a plant had to pick one or the other.

But in the past decade, more researchers can't find a trade-off, said Anurag Agrawal, an ecologist at Cornell University who studies plant-herbivore interactions and was not involved in the study.

Dr. Paige thinks a special process at the molecular level helps plants that overcompensate employ both strategies.

Most plants respond to damage with a process called endoreduplication, in which a cell can copy its DNA over and over without splitting into two cells. This gives the plant bigger cells with multiple energy factories to accomplish a variety of tasks. Many damaged plants only show minimal levels of endoreduplication. But the overcompensators go into overdrive with the process.

In the case of the study's mustard plants, they were able to grow bigger and also produce glucosinolate, the sulfurish, bitter chemical compound in mustard, kale, cabbage and horseradish.

And the new research finds that when it comes to building up tolerance or defenses, for at least some plants, you can't have one without the other.

“What this paper shows is that, in practice, defense and regrowth actually go hand-in-hand because the genetics of defense and regrowth are similar,” Josh Banta a biologist at The University of Texas at Tyler, who was not involved in the study. “Like it or not, theory be darned.”

But even the baddest cowboys are not immortal, the researchers found. If they cut the main stem and 75 percent of its leaves, even overcompensators can't rebound.

This tough guy tactic may be a special case, said Dr. Agrawal, but Mr. Mesa and Dr. Paige think it could be generalized to many other plants. Depending on much that turns out to be true, future research could one day help farmers grow super crops that made more food without having to use as many pesticides. But as the story often goes for basic genetic research on crops, results that could be applied are a ways off.

Ecuadorians prefer non-native plants for medicinal use

 

The beautiful frailejón plant (Espeletia pycnophylla Cuatrec., Asteraceae) in the páramo region of northern Ecuador during a visit by author Georgia Hart. Frailejón is utilized in multiple ways for medicine including in the treatment of arthritis, earache, headache, deafness and prevention of hair loss. Photo credit: Neagha Leonard.

Plant medicine is practiced widely across the world, however, there is concern that introduced plants could be replacing the use of native plants for medicine in various regions. It is critical to understand the potential influence of introduced plant use on native plant treatments. With hundreds of thousands of native plant treatments used by indigenous peoples worldwide that have yet to be fully examined, there is a likelihood that cures for many common maladies such as hair loss, arthritis, dementia and even cancers might already exist. This research provides valuable information for possible approaches to preserving that rich cultural knowledge.

To better understand why people select non-native plants for medicine, Georgia Hart, a PhD student in the Department of Botany at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, led a group of international ethnobotany researchers on a bioinformatics project focused on medicinal plant use in Ecuador.

The team studied the use of introduced, or non-native, plants for medicine in Ecuador, using a bioinformatics approach to generate new understanding in ethnobotany by synthesizing information from two large databases. The first database, The Catalogue of Vascular Plants of Ecuador, includes more than 17,000 plant species. The Catalogue of Useful Plants of Ecuador is a compilation of more than 40,000 recorded medicinal plants uses, accrued over centuries.

Ecuador is one of few megadiverse countries in the world. It is also highly culturally diverse with more than 17 ethnic groups and languages spoken. Use of plant medicine is common in Ecuador, including among the mestizo, or racially mixed, population. This context and these databases provided an ideal repository of information for the international team.

hat the authors found was that introduced plants are selected much more often for medicine than would be predicted based on their abundance. Why was this the case? The availability of introduced plants was important in their selection, mostly as it relates to cultivation. Introduced plants also tended to treat illnesses that few native plants treat. Finally, introduced plants, on average, treated more conditions than native plants. It therefore appears that introduced plants are sometimes selected in ways that could supplant native plant use. The strong correlation between medicinal use of plants and cultivation suggests human-mediated environments such as home gardens and agroforests should be protected for the valuable human health resources they provide in Ecuador.

Endless Beauty And Romance by Missy Dress Fall 2017

Very honored to introduce you the 2017 Missy Dress Fall collection!

Dreamy details collide with exquisite couture finishing in my latest Missy Dress collection for Fall 2017. By using a unique combination of lace, crepe and tulle fabrics, this collection is full of endless romance. Fashion-forward elements like modern halter necklines and sexy side cutouts push this collection into trend-worthy status, while strong beadwork and beautiful silhouettes bring to mind classic bridal styles.

Linear lines, latticework, and bold bugle beading create Rococo-inspired patterns that lend themselves to modern and fresh wedding dress designs. Architectural beading creates contours and gives elements of subtle shimmer throughout the collection without feeling overdone or dated. By pairing beadwork with sheer cutouts and embroidered lace, my dresses are as luxe as they are versatile.

Inspired by runway and red carpet styles, cutouts are a fashion trend this season. Ranging from large lace cutouts to skinny slivers of skin, there is wide range of cutouts within my collection, providing something special for every bride.

From subtle sparkle to bold beadwork, sparkle makes an impact this season. Used to create dimension and texture, moonstone beading, Swarovski crystals, bugle beads and pearls are all used to give the gowns that hint of sophisticated sparkle.

Layers of lace, organza and French tulle come together to create soft texture that gives these wedding dresses a hint of drama. By creating a juxtaposition of fabrics, embellishments, and appliques, my collection feels very couture in nature.

The above is my unique design and some creative ideas.

What makes my collection stand out is its unique attention to detail, incredible finishes and amazing craftsmanship. As gorgeous as it is inspiring, brides will be able to find their dream dress in my new Fall 2017 collection, no matter what their personal style!

MASTER GARDENER: White plants add sparkle to garden

Cool white plants can have a pronounced effect on your garden, especially during the hot summer days. They can be used to soften brightly colored plantings or even be used exclusively, creating a moon garden. By planting solely white plants that reflect the moonlight you can have a garden to enjoy in the evening. There are white annuals, perennials and shrubs that can tolerate shade or sun so you can have a cool white look anywhere.

Listed below are some favorite cool white plants that can add sparkle to your garden:

Lily of the Valley: Perennial ground cover that works well in the shade. It has small white flowers and spreads quickly. It blooms in the spring and grows about 6 to 12 inches tall. Please note all parts of this plant are poisonous.

Shasta Daisy: Another perennial that prefers part sun to full sun, growing from 1 to 3 feet tall. This plant is drought tolerant and blooms in the summer and fall.

Annabelle Hydrangea: This hydrangea needs to be planted in part shade and prefers moist, well-drained soil. It can grow up to 5 feet tall and wide. Blooms start in the mid summer and are perfect for cuttings.

Iceberg Rose: This rose plant is very dependable and needs full sun with well-drained soil. It produces clusters of creamy-white blooms all summer and into the fall. The Iceberg Rose can grow to 5 feet tall and as wide as 3 feet.

Angel White Lilac: This lilac plant grows well in the South. The Angel White can grow up to 12 feet tall and 10 feet wide and needs full sun and well-drained soil. It can add fragrant flowers that are pure white with a recurred petal.

Clematis: Another perennial but in this case a vine that can grow from 3 to 20 feet. It needs part sun to sun exposure and can bloom depending on the variety from spring through the fall. Again this plant is poisonous.

There are many other plants that can be used to add the cool effect with white blooms such as Coneflowers "White Swan," Bleeding Hearts "Alba," "Alba" Four O'clock and Butterfly Bush "White Profusion."

If you decide to plant an all-white garden take into account the background. Also, research what the blooms look like after they fade; some look sickly brown. Take into account when the plant blooms so that you can include another plant that can hide a planting that is past its peak.

Give your tomato plants a fighting chance

 Tomatoes come from coastal regions in Chile and Peru – rocky places high in the mountains that are a far cry from our damp, mild climate. You can grow great tomatoes outside in the UK, but it's a gamble: they like long, hot, dry summers, not short, wet ones.

There are two types of tomatoes: cordon and bush. The other name for cordon tomatoes is "indeterminate", meaning they could grow on and on as long as the conditions allow, so these you have to prune. Do this by pinching out the side shoots that emerge between leaves and the main stem, and pinching out the main shoot when it has five to eight trusses – fruiting stems – of tomatoes. (Four or five trusses is best for cordon tomatoes grown in a pot.) Determinate, or bush, tomatoes can be left to do their own thing, no pruning necessary.

Our wet, humid conditions are manna for blight (Phytophthora infestans), a disease that starts with brown splodges on the edges of the leaves and then rapidly runs all the way down the stems and into the fruit, turning the whole plant to mush and leaving the tomatoes inedible. Blight is spread by spores that move on the wind, so outdoor-grown tomatoes are vulnerable, particularly bush tomatoes, whose dense leaf shape limits air circulation. If they get blight, they tend to go down very quickly.

One trick to beat blight is to plant early-fruiting varieties that have some resistance to the disease. Cordon tomatoes 'Mountain Magic' and 'Primabella' are both getting a lot of good press; I've always found the tiny fruit of 'Matt's Wild Cherry' reliable. Older varieties 'Lemon Drop' and stripy 'Tigerella' are said to have some blight resistance, too.

Whichever variety you choose, you need to cajole your plants into growing as quickly as possible. Right now, tomato plants should be flowering, so it's time to start feeding. I use homemade comfrey fertiliser and a small handful of seaweed pellets every four to six weeks. If you see roots appearing at the surface of the pot, top-dress with mulch or compost and keep watering.

Protected environments minimise the chance of blight spores reaching your plants. If you have a greenhouse, a sunny porch, a patio coldframe, polytunnel or a large enough cloche to protect your toms, use it. Spacing between plants is essential – at least 45cm apart outside if you can. Too close together and poor air circulation allows blight to run amok more quickly. If your tomatoes are in pots, put other plants (not potatoes, which also get blight) in between.

If one plant goes down, remove it immediately (never hold out in the hope that it will get better) and you may be able to save the others; or at least pick enough green fruit to make chutney. It's admittedly the booby prize for outdoor toms, but it's better than no prize at all.

Can Plants Hear?

Pseudoscientific claims that music helps plants grow have been made for decades, despite evidence that is shaky at best. Yet new research suggests some flora may be capable of sensing sounds, such as the gurgle of water through a pipe or the buzzing of insects.

In a recent study, Monica Gagliano, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Western Australia, and her colleagues placed pea seedlings in pots shaped like an upside-down Y. One arm of each pot was placed in either a tray of water or a coiled plastic tube through which water flowed; the other arm had only soil. The roots grew toward the arm of the pipe with the fluid, regardless of whether it was easily accessible or hidden inside the tubing. "They just knew the water was there, even if the only thing to detect was the sound of it flowing inside the pipe," Gagliano says. Yet when the seedlings were given a choice between the water tube and some moistened soil, their roots favored the latter. Gagliano hypothesizes that these plants use sound waves to detect water at a distance but follow moisture gradients to home in on their target when it is closer.

The research, reported earlier this year in Oecologia, is not the first to suggest flora can detect and interpret such information. A 2014 study showed the rock cress Arabidopsis, a relative of cabbage, can distinguish between caterpillar chewing sounds and wind vibrations—the plant produced more chemical toxins after "hearing" a recording of feeding insects. "We tend to underestimate plants because their responses are usually less visible to us. But leaves turn out to be extremely sensitive vibration detectors," says lead study author Heidi Appel, an environmental scientist now at the University of Toledo.

Another hint that plants can hear comes from the phenomenon of "buzz pollination," in which a bee buzzing at a particular frequency has been shown to stimulate pollen release. Other experiments have found that sounds can lead to hormonal changes in plants, influence their oxygen uptake and change their growth rates. A study published earlier this year revealed that sound waves can even influence gene expression in Arabidopsis.

Michael Schöner, a biologist at University of Greifswald in Germany, who was not involved in the new research, believes that plants may have organs that can perceive noises. "Sound vibrations could trigger a response of the plant via mechanoreceptors—these could be very fine, hairy structures, anything that could work like a membrane," he says.

This research raises questions about whether acoustic pollution affects plants as well as animals, Gagliano observes: "Noise could block information channels between plants, for example, when they need to warn each other of insects." So next time you turn on a noisy leaf blower or a hedge trimmer in your garden, consider the lilies.