Wild Ones Presidents Wild Ones will have a new National President when Carol Andrews is inducted at the Annual Meeting in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday, August 16. I read Joe’s final “Notes” with a deep sense of appreciation for his style of leadership. True to form, Joe said “What have we accomplished during my term?” […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (July 2007)"
Do all serious gardening practices still come from Europe? In France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, where gardens occupy four times more area than natural reserves, ecologists are enlisting gardeners to leave several square meters of wild grass, brambles, and nettles in their gardens to feed butterfly larvae. “Spotless gardens with a well-mown lawn are true […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (May 2007)"
This Spaceship Earth On February 2, 2007, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), removed all doubt as to whether climate change is in fact occurring. In their report they concluded that not only is the average temperature of the planet rising at an unprecedented rate, but the chemistry of our air, our water, and […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (March 2007)"
Advocacy at work The Meijer grocery-retail chain, with 170 stores in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky has entered into a partnership with The Nature Conservancy to combat invasive plants. Not only is the Meijer’s chain donating $450,000 to the Nature Conservancy to support its efforts against invasives in the Great Lakes dunes, but next […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Jan 2007)"
GMO Escape An experimental, genetically modified grass, designed for golf courses, has been found in the wild, several miles from its test site. In the May/June 2004 “Grapevine” I included a brief mention of genetically modified (GM), Roundup-Ready Creeping Bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.). Scott’s and Monsanto are testing this plant, hoping to provide it for […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Nov 2006)"
Invasive and destructive gypsy moths fall prey to a “fungus among us.” Homeowners begin to realize that their lawns really do suck (too much water). And does NASA still go where no one has gone before? When populations of gypsy moths reach outbreak proportions, the caterpillars can completely defoliate host trees over a wide geographic […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Sept 2006)"
Does Early Interaction With Nature Help Kids Think and Cope Better? And if You Don’t Like Poison Ivy Now, Wait Until You Hear What Happens When It Grows in a “Greenhouse.” Nature Nurtures Karen Wells, an assistant professor in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology, has published a number of papers over the past few years […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (July 2006)"
Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), is an obligate biennial herb of the mustard family (Brassicaceae). Seedlings emerge in spring and form basal rosettes by midsummer. Immature plants overwinter as basal rosettes that stay green and continue to grow during snow-free periods when temperatures are above freezing. Continue reading "Garlic Mustard: Odiferous Invader"
When frogs are afraid to go into the water, should we be worried, too? After Sally Pick, a Wild Ones Partner-at-Large (MA), called me in response to a note about malformed frogs in the January “Grapevine,” I felt compelled to hit the stacks. It seems that the modern-day maladies of frogs take many forms: extra […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Mar 2006)"
The notion of invasiveness in native plants is one that is distasteful to contemplate. Usually we prefer to say that a native plant is a “strong spreader” or an “aggressive spreader.” At some point it may be necessary to stop splitting hairs. I’m thinking particularly of cup-plant (Silphium perfoliatum). It first caught my attention when […] Continue reading "The Grapevine (Jan 2006)"