The Miraculous Lavender

...re getting no irrigation. There’s no plumbing beneath the staircase, either. Yet the lavender keeps getting bigger. I’m going to have to pull it soon, before it ruins our stairs. But I don’t want to, because it’s so determined to live. And this goes to show that when a plant wants to grow somewhere, when it establishes itself according to its own rules, it is unstoppable. Soil type, recommended water, sun exposure– all these things mean little in...

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A Plea for Plastic Vegetables

...if you carry any of the following: 1. Purple Bulb Shaped Eggplants and Eggplant plants 2. Green and yellow squash (zucchini) 3. Cucumbers 4. Red Hot chilly Pepper Plants 5. Red Cherry Bomb Plants 6. Yellow Banana Pepper Plants 7. Green bean (string bean and lima bean) plant that is vine-like that I can weave onto a trellis or a vine that looks like the leaves of a string bean plant 8. Tomatoes and Tomato plants (All Varieties) 9. Green and Purple...

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Will the Lawn Rebate Turn LA into a Gravel Moonscape?

...n background material. Our ancestors could distinguish between hundreds of plants, but that ancestral memory has been hijacked by commercial interests. Now, instead of plant identification skills, we name and distinguish things like cars and mobile devices. If there was a kind of car rebate program that inadvertently replaced BMWs with Pontiac Azteks I would guarantee you that there would be blood in the streets. We need a new cultural narrative a...

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Saturday Tweets: Bulbs, Bees and Basil

...o/vl8yudowa9 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) October 8, 2015 Michael Pollan on Plant Neurobiology – Commentary – The New Yorker https://t.co/ngNkCP6U9T via @YouTube — Root Simple (@rootsimple) October 7, 2015 4 new varieties of #basil vs 4 favorites! http://t.co/G8jOO9rvze #gardenchat #mygarden pic.twitter.com/pVu4YUKKMn — Gardenerd (@gardenerd1) October 6, 2015 Sauerkraut crocks are for holding umbrellas: http://t.co/S6KjECPPp4 — Root Simple (@rootsi...

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San Pedro Cactus Blooms

...oud of bees was working the nectar and pollen. Around 9 a.m. some figeater beetles (Cotinis mutabilis) showed up. Figeater beetles like cactus fruit so I’m guessing they were attracted to the smell. The green parts of the plant contain mescaline which is used in Andean traditional medicine. It also makes an edible and (non-psychedelic) fruit. The plant is easily confused with the more common Peruvian torch cactus (Echinopsis peruviana)....

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