Capparis spinosa – Capers

...ants that belong in a climate similar to your part of the world. We’re not native plant fascists and will gladly source plants from other similar climates, but we don’t believe in nursing sickly plants that can’t take our heat, or need lots of water. This season we’ve pledge not to be tempted by the allure of the seed catalogs. We’re going to grow edible and useful plants that thrive in Mediterranean places. Thankfully that includes a lot of inter...

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Pl@ntNet: “Shazam” for Plants

...ifying Malva parviflora. It was not able to identify any of the California natives I tried, but I don’t think the program has a database of these plants yet. Pl@ntNet is the work of four French research organizations who have a vision for a kind of expansive botanical citizen-science project. I can definitely see the potential for Pl@ntNet to create a huge database to track biodiversity, the effects of climate change and the distribution of plant...

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More boneheaded plant representations from Hollywood

...designer shoes and footballs do. This is why it is fine to be stupid about plants, because nobody cares about plants, and we have lost every last vestige of plant literacy. I don’t think this is a case of me being picky. I’m not being a plant geek here, pointing out some minutiae of botany. I’m talking about the misuse of really common plants that people do know, or should know. Ferns, for example, are a plant that even the most determinedly unint...

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Failed Experiment: Bermuda Buttercup or Sour Grass (Oxalis pes-caprae) as Dye

...d that I’d just start over and do it right from the start. I gathered more plants, chopped, and increased my ratio of plants to water to make the solution stronger. Then I heated the water to 180 F, simmered, drained, set aside the plant matter and returned the theoretical dye to the pot. (NB: when straining plant matter, put it through a super fine strainer, like cloth, to capture any and all solids. I had some tiny flecks of plant matter adherin...

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