Snowberry glistens

There are more berries than usual on snowberry plants this year. The flowers are tiny, pink in colour and hardly noticeable tucked away amid the leaves in summer. Nor are the berries very visible either until the last of the leaves fall, which happened in the last couple of weeks. The last few yellow leaves can look very attractive along with the pearl-like berries.

While the shrub is well known and grows all over the country, it would appear to be native but it is not. It is native to the western coastal states of North America. Planted originally as cover for pheasants it has found its way into hedges and woodlands. This shrub suckers readily at the roots and spreads outwards to make a broad thicket several metres across. It could keep on spreading but it tends to run into an obstacle, such as a large tree or heavy shade. It has been known to get under garden walls, its root suckers passing under the foundations. It looks well under tall trees as a kind of groundcover but this ordinary kind is generally too vigorous for gardens and it is likely that many stands of it originated as garden discards.

The ordinary snowberry is the one seen growing semi-wild. There are other kinds that are better behaved.

'Mother of Pearl' has a drooping habit and white berries with a pink flush. 'White Hedge' has a compact growth habit and is upright with white fruits. 'Hancock' is low and spreading, often rooting where it touches the soil, and it has pink berries. 'Magic Berry' is low and bushy with rose-pink berries.

Although it tolerates light shade very well, the shrub produces more berries if grown in sunshine, at least for part of the day. It can look very pretty dotted with white berries caught in the winter light against a shaded background.

In a shady place, the foliage takes on a lovely softness, almost flimsy in appearance. The plant grows in any kind of soil that is not waterlogged but thrives best in well-drained leafy soil such as that found in woodland, similar to its natural habitat.

Is my cyclamen rotting in wet compost?

"I planted winter pansies, violas, mini-cyclamen and cyclamen in my window boxes in late September. The compost is very wet and the cyclamen may be rotting. I have deadheaded but little further flowering has occurred. Do I need to dry out window boxes and if so how? Also, should I fertilise to encourage growth and if so, with what type of product?" Yvonne, Co Louth

While mini-cyclamen can be grown outdoors, the large-flowered cyclamen is not an outdoor plant as it needs a cool room indoors. Growth is running down now. Ensure that drainage from the boxes is working and that there is no undue drip from the roof or gutters. No feeding is necessary now, but you could liquid feed in early spring as growth picks up.

Thank you, Land of the Long white cloud

Ireland's record against the giants of world rugby is not good (played 28, lost 27 drawn 1) so I got to thinking, what have the New Zealanders ever done for us? Well in terms of our gardens quite a lot actually, and very glad about it I am too.

80% of New Zealand's native flora is endemic, that is to say found naturally nowhere else. From this amazing fact it sound like these plants are shy species, rarely seen. Think again because I can guarantee that you see some these plants everyday. Through squinted eyes Ireland and New Zealand are really quite similar in looks and weather conditions despite being half a world apart. No surprise then that many of their exports do so well here.

Griselinia littoralis must make up 50% of all the hedges planted in Ireland. Massively sucessful, effective, easily grown and evergeen. Few plants make a better hedge but I prefer this plant grown as a large shrub. Left unpruned it will grow to four metres or more and makes a magnificent high screen. Large specimens can be found in the west of Ireland in some of the older gardens where they were planted as individuals before their hedging epidemic caught on. Griselinia 'Variegata' has white/cream through the green leaves and is a very effective contrast and winter plant.

Cordyline australis [Cabbage palm] despite its name comes from New Zealand. This is the spikey palm tree conspicuous in so many front gardens around the country. Its constant foliage rustle tells you it's in the vicinity before you've even see it. As does the fragrance from the huge clusters of sweetly scented summer flowers .

Phormium, helpfully named New Zealand flax, is another plant that resides in many Irish gardens. Like a lot of New Zealand plants it is very effective in coastal areas. Many cultivars or named varieties have been raised from the two species P. tenax and P. cookianum and as hybrids between the two. All have sword like foliage in colours of pink, red, purple, cream and yellow.

Pittosporum tenuifolium and its many variegated cultivars are also common to our gardens. Their dainty evergreen foliage is great for flower arranging and lovely as a soft contrasting plant in borders. Pittosporums are useful as large evergreen screening plants as is Hoheria sexstylosa with a narrow foliage and a profusion of white flowers in August. Olearia macrodonata [New Zealand holly] also falls into this category having glaucous holly like leaves and daisy flowers.

Leptospermum scoparium apart from being a beautiful flowering garden shrub is also the source of the well known manuka honey that's is supposed to have so many health benefits. Garden cultivars include 'Pink Cascade' , Red Damask' and 'Snow White'

The vast majority of Hebes started of life in New Zealand although today they have been so cultivated their ancestors have been forgotten. Dodonaea viscosa 'Purpurea' is a much under used soft purple foliaged evergreen giving lovely movement in a planting scheme. Astelia chathamica, Sophora microphylus, Clianthus puniceus, Libertia x grandiflora, Myosotidium hortensia. The list, as they say, literally goes on.

Caterpillar deceives corn plant into lowering defenses against it

In a deception that likely has evolved over thousands of years, a caterpillar that feeds on corn leaves induces the plant to turn off its defenses against insect predators, allowing the caterpillar to eat more and grow faster, according to chemical ecologists in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

The finding is one more revelation about the myriad of chemical signals that pass between plants and insects that scientists at Penn State and around the world have been discovering in recent years. In this case, the agent of deceit is the caterpillar's feces, or "frass."

Plants are under constant threat of attack from herbivorous insects. Nearly 400,000 plant-eating insect species are known to live on 300,000 plant species. When these herbivores feed on plants, they not only cause mechanical damage but often deposit substances that can manipulate the plant's response to herbivory. These substances are analogous to the microbial-associated compounds that affect plant responses to pathogenic fungi or bacteria.

Fall armyworm larvae are voracious feeders on leaves in the confined whorls of corn plants, and by necessity the insects defecate nearby in the crevasses where the leaves meet the stalks. Copious amounts of frass accumulate in these structures and can remain there for a long period of time.

"It would be disadvantageous for the insect to deposit cues that could enhance plant defenses against it, so we investigated what chemical compounds in the frass were signaling the plant," said Dawn Luthe, professor of plant stress biology.

"It turns out that the caterpillar frass tricks the plant into sensing that it is being attacked by fungal pathogens and mounting a defense against them, thereby suppressing the plant's defenses against herbivores. Plants cannot defend against both pathogens and insect attackers simultaneously -- they must switch on either their pathway to defend against herbivores or their pathway to defend against pathogens."

The research, recently published in the Journal of Chemical Ecology, may lead to the isolation of specific components of the frass that can be incorporated into a compound to be sprayed on crops. Such an organic, ecologically sustainable pesticide could enhance plant defenses against pathogens, Luthe said. Or perhaps plants may be genetically modified to incorporate the proteins from the frass to boost a crop's native resistance to pathogens.

Caterpillar frass is composed of molecules derived from the host plant, the insect itself and associated microbes, and hence it provides abundant cues that may alter plant defense responses, explained lead researcher Swayamjit Ray, who is a doctoral student in the intercollege Plant Biology program at Penn State. He pointed out that proteins from fall armyworm caterpillar frass initially induced wound-responsive defense genes in corn; however, a pathogenesis-related defense gene was induced shortly after.

The elicitation of pathogen defenses by frass proteins was correlated with increased herbivore growth and reduced fungal pathogen prevalence over time, the researchers report. These responses differ from the typical plant response to oral secretions of the fall armyworm caterpillar, and the results pave the way for identification of a protein molecule from the excretion of an herbivore that elicits pathogen-defense responses while suppressing herbivore defenses in plants.

To test their hypothesis, researchers applied frass extract to the leaves of corn plants and compared the growth of fall armyworm caterpillars that fed on the leaves to the growth of caterpillars that fed on untreated leaves. They also measured the performance of a fungal pathogen in response to frass treatment of corn leaves. They inoculated the leaves with spores of a fungus that causes leaf blight in corn (Cochliobolus heterostrophus).

"The plant perceives that it is being attacked by a pathogen and not an insect, so it turns on its defenses against pathogens, leaving the caterpillar free to continue feeding on the plant. It is an ecological strategy that has been perfected over thousands of years of evolution," Ray said.

Essentials to Consider in Landscape Design

There are at least four essentials to consider in creating a landscape design: aesthetics, function, balance, and sustainability. All four essentials are harmonized to achieve a landscape design that is cohesive and beautiful.

Aesthetics
Let’s face it. When people have their property landscaped, they assume it will project a sense of beauty in its own unique way. The flowers should be lovely and stunning, the trees majestic or sheltering, the pergolas romantic, and the pond or fountain or statue should be breathtaking. The overall effect is expected to elicit an exclamation of delight.

This is why it is important to thoughtfully and carefully select each flowering plant, each tree, each set of garden furniture or garden décor for your landscape design. They should not be chosen simply on a whim but by careful preparation and consideration. A beautiful landscape design is not created overnight. It takes careful planning.

When people look at a landscape, they should see harmony between all choice elements. For example, does the gazebo lend an aura of romance to the landscape design or does it ruin it by looking contrived or out of place? Most landscapers advise to think of the landscape like a house having many rooms. Each room should smoothly blend or flow into the next.

Function
As much as possible each landscape design element shouldn’t simply “stand there just looking pretty.” The group of plants, set of flowers, rows of shrubs or trees must serve a function. As should the pond, statues, urns and other garden décor. Are the trees for shade or for fencing? Is the fountain somehow connected to an irrigation system? Of course, the bamboo bench under the pergola provides a place to relax.

Balance
Behind all the beauty and functionality is balance. A good landscape design must have balance. This involves not only the obvious ones such as the complementary colors of blooms and greenery or the symmetry of the garden furniture or stone paths. Each one should be positioned in the landscape so as to contribute to the healthy existence of the others.

Sustainability
With all the plants, trees, garden décor, outdoor furniture, pond or fountain that you plan to include in your landscape design, you must consider sustainability. Simply put, will you be able to maintain the whole thing? Will you be able to keep it together as the seasons change?

Rare Plants Take Root, Bloom in Chicago This Summer

It's an exciting time for nature lovers. The world's largest flower, titan arum – known as the corpse flower thanks to its notoriously horrible odor – is about to bloom for the first time ever in the Chicago area.

Over at Montrose Beach, a rare carnivorous plant has taken root. Not to worry: It's still safe to go to the beach. The great bladderwort (Utricularia macrorhiza) isn't a man-eating plant, it feeds on insects and larvae, much like the swarms of dragonflies we've been seeing on the lakefront this summer.

Here to help us dig deeper into Mother Nature's mysteries are Tim Pollak, outdoor floriculturist at the Chicago Botanic Garden; Greg Spyreas, a botanist with the Illinois Natural History Survey, an ecological research institute based in Champaign; and biologist Doug Taron, Vice President of Research and Conservation at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

Titan arum

Commonly known as the corpse flower for its signature scent – reminiscent of rotting meat – a titan arum named Spike has been on public display at the Chicago Botanic Garden since Aug. 6.

Spike is expected to bloom at any moment, and the garden plans to celebrate its arrival by staying open until 2:00 am so as many visitors as possible can see – and smell – the impressive plant.

Expect to see a spike that will be 6-8 feet tall, skirted by a huge, maroon flower at its base. The frilly bloom will close about 24 hours later, so plan accordingly if this is on your bucket list. It could be years before a titan arum blooms again at the botanic garden. In fact, Spike's big day has been 12 years in the making.

Greater bladderwort

On Monday, Chicago Tonight reported that a carnivorous plant had been discovered at Montrose Beach Dunes. The tiny plant (Utricularia macrorhiza) topped with bright yellow flowers preys on water fleas, zoo plankton, and other small aquatic insects. (So, no need to cover your toes the next time you're out for a stroll.) The finding is scientifically important because, although the plant has been seen in the Chicago area, it hadn't been identified at the Montrose Beach Dunes until Aug. 1.

Interestingly, the plant doesn't operate in the classic Venus flytrap style of Little Shop of Horrors. Instead, the action takes place under water, where tiny hairs covering bladder-like pouches serve as mechanisms for catching prey. An aquatic insect swims by, triggering the hairs, which in turn release water from the pouches. When the water rushes back into the pouches, a vacuum is created, catching the insect.

Create A Beautiful Landscape In Your Backyard For Summer This Year

The landscape of your house speaks volumes about you and your lifestyle. Planning one’s landscape is not a child’s play; one has to take several things into consideration. With increasing craze for landscaping, Landscape Architecture Toronto is going through a wave of change and innovative designs have become an order of the day.

In the initial stage, I consider your choice and requirements after which, they study the area available and think of all possible ways and styles that would suit you in the most appropriate manner. The designers and gardeners who are proficient in this field help you in making your landscape more scenic and remarkable within the budget that you have set for this purpose. Budget is an important element in this respect as it determines the level of designing.

The selection of plants, shrubs or trees, to a very great extent, depends upon your individual choice but mostly the combination is decided considering their shape, size, balance and texture. Other items like canopies, stony set-ups and fences should be carefully planned. Your design should contain all your important requirements like service area, seasonal appeal, lower maintenance and a blissful assortment of colorful flowering and non flowering plants along with other garden accessories.

After a thorough analysis of the location, an ultra illustrative sketch or model is created with full colors specifications so that you can visualize your landscape as it will appear after completion. Though you should have a great variety of designs to offer yet you must make an initiative to suggest the design of your choice for maximum contentment.

Once you are satisfied with the layout, it will give you a price quotation for the project and thereby decide upon the schedule for the construction with reference to the time line finalized by you. Hence with the help of their expert designers and workforce, they will make your landscape a delight to watch for everybody including your family, neighbors and guests, who will never be able to resist complimenting you.

So whether it is your home’s front yard or backyard, you can spread the magic of your creativity on the land in a unique way.

Factor To Think About While Landscape Designs A Flower Garden

Flowers are wonderful landscape designs factors that can rapidly help make your landscape designs garden wealthy with colors and excitement. Another benefit of the flowering garden is they attract wild birds and seeing stars to function extra existence to your garden.

While considering landscape designs a flower garden there are many options at the hands. I've attempted to classify the flowering garden into various groups. Let us take a look their way 1 by 1.

1) The kind of flower garden

The best idea type of planting you want to see inside your garden. Here are the options.

Flowerbed - This is actually the most typical and popular type of using flowers inside a garden. Due to the fact a flowerbed can be used an border aspect in an outdoor. for those who have a flowerbed it will save you the price of creating fencing

Container flowering - Because the title indicates this process uses small dimensions flowering plants that are simple to maintain ad may be used indoor too. Another utilization of container is they could be hanged inside a window or perhaps a balcony.

Ground covers - A flowering plant that covers and propagates flat is among the most breathtaking kinds of flower gardening. This can be on the hillside landscape designs site with achievement.

2) The kind species based on the colour of flowers

The main reason you'll need a flower garden may be the colorful display they present after completion. Here are a few options.

Single color - Apply for just one kind of species on your garden with single colored flowers

Multicolor - With multicolor flower you've two options. Planting different species with various colors or versions of merely one plant with various colored flowers

Shaded - Some flowers possess a mixtures of shades within their flower petals. This really is a different way to start variety inside your garden.

Perfumed - A great advantage inside a flowering garden. Some flowers have excellent scent that may energize the nearby atmosphere simply by their presence.

These are merely a couple of groups to search for while selecting plants for landscape designs a flower garden. Home theater system . will develop more great suggestions for your flower garden.

How You Can Plant A Flower Garden For Beauty And Performance

Many lower gardens and grown exclusively for his or her beauty while some could have a more functional purpose. So, when you choose you'll need a flower garden, you need to put lots of thought into where a garden is going to be. Point about this will rely on the area you have available. If you reside in a small apartment, you might want to come with an "indoor" garden or perhaps a hanging basket or two in your balcony. Container gardens will also be good for those who have only a little space. A small plant garden may suit your eco-friendly thumb. If you're lucky enough to get come with an outdoors area that's big enough, you'll have more options.

Just like you will find various kinds of gardens, you will find various kinds of flower gardens. This will be taken into consideration when you plan yours. And, it ought to begin with an agenda. Should you just grab some plants and begin planting willy nilly, you may just finish track of chaos.

Free plant exchange downtown

The 11th annual plant exchange takes place Saturday at the Toledo-Lucas County Library. The 11th annual plant exchange takes place Saturday at the Toledo-Lucas County Library.

Saturday’s free Toledo Plant Exchange is all about math and here’s the equation: Gardeners who subtract from their beds by dividing perennials will multiply their bounty by taking home additional and different plants. The cost: Zero.

Gardens: what to do this week

Quit this
If you’re still tying daffodil foliage into knots after flowering, stop – it’s unnecessary and looks ugly. But that said, as Christopher Lloyd wrote, the “slow and hideous decay” of daff leaves is a problem, so remove them after six weeks. If you can’t bear to wait, however, naturalise narcissi en masse in grass to hide the mess. If you still have daffs in flower, though, keep deadheading vigorously.
Visit this
The Chelsea Physic Garden in London has a full programme of family activities this Easter, including Chocolate Tuesday on 7 April and Celebrating Spectacular Seeds on 9 April.
Plant this
The butterfly-like white blooms of Gaura ‘Sparkle White’ start in early summer and keep going until autumn, making it ideal for wildlife gardens. It has a seal of approval from the RHS Perfect for Pollinators scheme and is drought-resistant once established. Height and spread 45cm x 45cm. Buy six plug tray plants for £6.99, or 12 for £11.98 (prices include free UK mainland p&p). To order, call 0330 333 6856, quoting ref GU306, or go to our Readers’ Offers page. Dispatch in May.

Gardens: a celebration of sweet violets

fter nature’s winter palette of grey and brown, I crave the first signs of life, colour, anything that gives me a hint spring is on its way. The tiny flowers of the sweet violet (Viola odorata), one of the earliest of our native plants to bloom, do just that. They’re not showy blooms; you’ll have to be sharp-eyed to spot them, hunkered down among the leaf litter of a deciduous woodland or tucked away at the base of a stout ancient hedge. Getting a whiff of their sweet perfume is trickier, requiring crouching down on all fours. Their diminutive size and delicacy belies the fact that these brave blooms appear when our weather is at its most fickle, from late winter through to May (we’re more likely to experience snow at Easter than at Christmas, according to the Met Office).
Sweet violets are steeped in history and folklore, prized for their fragrance and medicinal uses. Lauded by the ancient Greeks and adored by Napoleon and the Empress Joséphine, their popularity, particularly as a cut flower, reached a height in Victorian and Edwardian times. Dorset, Devon and Cornwall were centres of sweet violet growing and production peaked in the 1930s. You can still see the remains of walled flower fields, known as quillets, on the western tip of Cornwall, where violets were cultivated to send to Covent Garden market. In France, the quest for new varieties with strong perfume, long stems and large flowers led to a craze in plant breeding.
Catching a glimpse of them in the wild is rarer today due to habitat loss. Grow them alongside snowdrops, wood anemones, primroses and lily of the valley to create a piece of spring woodland of your own. And, if you fancy something that packs more punch, or like to grow cut flowers for your home (the best and easiest way to appreciate their perfume), there are a host of stunning cultivars, with larger flowers held on longer stems in a variety of colours.

How to grow violets

Recreate the conditions they love in the wild. They need winter and spring sunshine but summer shade, so the ideal spots are under deciduous trees and shrubs. They used to be grown commercially in orchards, providing fruit growers with a spring crop of blooms to sell before the autumn harvest of apples and pears. As long as the ground doesn’t dry out, grow among herbaceous perennials, since any summer planting will provide sufficient shade.
Sweet violets thrive in moist but well-drained soils. Incorporate plenty of leaf mould into your soil, and where drainage is a problem add a little grit to the planting hole. A sprinkling of mycorrhizal fungi on the roots can help them settle in. As they become established, they’ll form clumps, providing useful ground cover with their pretty heart-shaped leaves.
They spread, using runners, in the same way as strawberries. They can be propagated easily from these, as they’ll form roots where they come into contact with the soil. Remove these runners in spring, as they divert energy from blooming. Deadheading prolongs the flowering season as long as possible.
Violets will self-sow, but growing your own from seed can be tricky as the seed needs to be fresh. Specialist growers gather seed in the summer and send it out immediately. Sow these seeds into trays filled with a free-draining seed compost as soon as you receive them. A spell of cold weather is needed to break the dormancy, so leave the trays in a cool greenhouse or cold frame over winter. Seedlings should start to emerge in February or March.

What to grow: heritage violets

Where to buy

For the true species of V. odorata and its white version, try nurseries that specialise in wild flowers, such as Herefordshire-based PlantWild. Groves Nurseries, who hold National Collection status for sweet violets, keep many heritage varieties alive and breed new violets. Also try Devon Violet Nursery and Plants For Shade.