Book Review: Botany for Gardeners by Brian Capon

I wasn’t a great student earlier in my life but now have an intense desire to “connect the dots.”  As a gardener, I want to understand how and why plants are the way they are.  There are no coincidences in the plant world – absolutely everything happens for a reason.  So when I finally “dig” deeper into learning, I appreciate those connections.  And the more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.  That’s why Botany for Gardeners is such a useful book.  The author doesn’t assume the reader knows a lot about the subject so he gives you pertinent information, and then he proceeds to connect the dots. 

As gardeners we know the basics about insects pollinating plants.  It is the plant and insect interaction, or partnership that is so fascinating.  Capon covers the topic from the cunning flower’s perspective.  Flowers entice insects by offering them nectar.  Some flowers lure insects with aroma.  Other flowers market their goods to insects by advertising bright colors.  Those brilliant red poinsettia bracts are a come-on to attract pollinators to those few tiny yellow flowers located in their centers.  Some plants have striped markings or lines of dots that serve as guides, like arrows,  to show a bee exactly where to score nectar.  Long, tubular flowers beat the competition by attracting special pollinators with really long tongues or proboscises.  Plants that bloom at night cleverly attract moths for pollination.  All the flowers’ diverse strategies lead to a single purpose -- reproduction.

Now the whole flower /insect/ pollen business really starts to heat up.  We all know pollen develops on a plant’s anthers but the process doesn’t stop there.  A single grain of pollen contains two cells.  Then things get a bit tricky.  One cell divides and becomes two sperm.  The other cell, from the same grain of pollen, takes on a different role.  It grows into a long tube to carry the sperm cells to the plant’s ovule, where reproduction takes place.  Bottom line: there is a lot more to those innocent looking flowers than meets the eye. 

Okay, maybe I have misled you.  The book isn’t all about reproduction.  Capon also provides readers with great information and illustrations of seed germination, cellular structure and growth, adaptation and much more.  He presents botany in way that is easier for a gardener like me to understand without reading the text book version.  And, Capon helps me connect the dots along the way. You will find this a useful book to add to your gardening library.

Winter Survival

 

                Transitioning from the abundance of summer’s bounty to the stark depths of winter’s chill, Mother Nature has equipped her creatures with various means of survival.   Migration, hibernation, adaptation – every creature, large or small, has a way to bide its time through the extremes of winter until spring returns with warmth, provisions and a new beginning.

Migration

            Shorter days and cooler nights trigger hormones that cue migratory birds to head south to winter breeding grounds where food is more abundant.  Many warblers,  grosbeaks, flycatchers, waterfowl, sparrows and shorebirds head south to destinations such as Texas, Mexico, South America, Central America and the Caribbean.   To prepare for the long flight, they must eat to bulk up, with some birds increasing fat stores by as much as 50 percent.  Many of these birds rest during the day and travel at night.  Hummingbirds winter in Central America, from Mexico to Panama.  These tiny birds fly by day but must cross the Gulf of Mexico without stopping.  This seems like an arduous trek until you consider the Arctic tern, which migrates from the Arctic to the Antarctic coast, a 40,000 to 50,000 mile trip.   

Hibernation

            In Virginia, woodchucks and black bears hibernate.  After bulking up in the fall, they sleep away the winter in a warm den, undergoing a decreased heart rate and body temperature.  Fat store keep them alive.  Bats hibernate in caves or trees.  Chipmunks are reported to hibernate but actually rely on food stored in their burrows so that can remain underground and inactive during winter. 

Adaptation

            Some animals adapt to cold weather by growing a thicker coat of fur and bulking up.  Others, such as squirrels, spend more time in the nest, coming out only to recover food supplies hoarded during warmer weather.  Opossums may sleep more and eat less, and may forage during the day instead of night to take advantage of warmer temperatures.  As omnivores, flexible eating habits enable raccoons to eat acorns, berries or any available food source during winter.  A thick winter coat and the ability to sleep for weeks in a warm den also help raccoons cope with winter weather. 

Reptiles

            Reptiles do not hibernate.  Brumation or torpor is the dormant state cold-blooded reptiles resort to in order to cope with cold weather.  Snakes may find a protected burrow or rocky area in which to sleep during winter, but they don’t rely on fat stores like animals that hibernate.  On an unseasonably warm day, a snake may wander out of hiding, warm up in the sun and catch a meal before returning to safety and  sleep. 

            Some frogs and toads find a winter home underground or beneath leaf litter or logs.  Here they sleep away the winter months in a dormant state with a very low metabolism.  Others lower their metabolism while remaining under water.  Water, rich in oxygen, provides them the oxygen they need to survive. 

Insects

            Honey bees cluster together to keep  warm in the hive.  Some adult insects, such as the praying mantis, die but their eggs survive and hatch in spring.  Bumble bee colonies die with the exception of a single fertile queen, who seeks shelter and overwinters in a dormant state until spring arrives and she can create a new colony.  Some butterflies, like many insects, find shelter in a woodpile or other crevice and enter diapauses, a suspended state of “sleep.”

Humans

            This species shows impressive adaptability at overwintering.  Some migrate to condos in Florida for the winter, traveling by day or night.  Others bulk up and become dormant with a steady diet of televised sports.  Some hibernate, consume quantities of hot chocolate and read gardening magazines and seed catalogs in preparation for spring’s arrival.   

Organic Grub Control

      Scolia dubia is also known as the "Blue-winged Wasp."  It is easily identified by the two yellow spots on its abdomen.  Shown above feeding on the nectar of an African basil plant, these wasps are common during summer months.  They hunt for beetle grubs in your soil to paralyze with a sting, lay an egg on, and re-bury in the ground, ensuring that the offspring will be well-fed.  Blue-winged wasps often prey on grubs of pests such as green June beetles and Japanese beetles.  The wasps are not aggressive although the female can sting in self defense. In addition to pollinating plants in our gardens, they also keep in check the grubs growing in our lawns. 

Tomato Hornworm -- Garden Pest or Lovely Moth?

Tomato Hornworm with Wasp Cocoons Attached

            If you love tomatoes, then you have to appreciate the work of a tiny wasp called a braconid wasp.  This half-inch long beneficial insect is a parasitoid - a parasite that relies on a host to feed its young.  In this case, the host is the large, green tomato hornworm.  The adult wasp lays its eggs inside the live hornworm.  When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the insides of their large green host, which is at the same time, feeding on your tomato plants.  Playing host to a nursery of young wasps slowly shortens the hornworm’s lifespan.  When the wasp larvae mature a week later, they exit their host through its skin and spin a silk cocoon on the outside the hornworm where they will pupate into adults.  The tiny cocoons look like white eggs.   Soon an adult wasp emerges from each cocoon, and flies away to mate and search for another hornworm host. 

            There are many different types of braconid wasps and all of them parasitize other insects, including aphids and other pests. 

            Although hornworms can wreak havoc on your tomatoes, they are actually the caterpillar for the Spinx moth, a large, beautiful moth.