Miraculously, a precious few pine cone seeds actually don't get eaten
Sat, 26 May 2012 10:56:45 -0700

By Kathleen Kudlinski, Columnist Up above, trees are gloriously busy right now, their leaves a radiant green in the sunshine. They're gleefully photosynthesizing with all their might, but that's not all that those trees are doing.

CAPLAN: Scales leave sticky mess
Sat, 26 May 2012 22:06:34 -0700

Scale are insects, related to aphids and mealy bugs, that spend most of their life underneath a waxy covering. They look more like bumps on a twig than they do insects. Tuliptree scale, a soft scale, is a serious pest of tulip poplars and magnolia.

Beware the boxwood blight
Mon, 28 May 2012 10:23:09 -0700

The compactly grown waxy leaves of boxwood make it susceptible to blight because it takes the plant a long time to dry. Do not water your boxwoods from an overhead sprinkler, and do not crowd them. Do remove any branches or an entire plant that ...

Get busy: Late May means all change in the garden
Fri, 25 May 2012 16:10:27 -0700

The rather waxy leaf and the range of colours are perhaps the closest substitute for disease-prone busy lizzies. In the greenhouse, my problem has been trying to find enough space to grow seeds. The potted-on cuttings have been taking up most of the ...

Doug caldwell: Our plants are under attack
Thu, 17 May 2012 14:13:26 -0700

By doug caldwell doug Caldwell/special to the Daily News This coconut frond is coated with white waxy residue caused by the rugose spiraling whiteflies. Doug Caldwell/special to the Daily News Royal palm bugs are almost as flat as a piece of paper and ...

5 garden pests: How to thwart them
Fri, 25 May 2012 00:11:46 -0700

By this time the colony has swollen Crucifer flea beetles chew "shotholes" on a cabbage leaf . (Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org) to huge proportions, easily housing 200 or more tightly wound, half-starved, heavily armed denizens ...

Nigel Slater's spring recipes
Sat, 26 May 2012 16:08:00 -0700

Broad beans, garlic and tiny, waxy -fleshed potatoes are simmered in olive oil and water with a last-minute addition of asparagus and peas until the vegetables are tender and the liquid has almost disappeared. A handful of mint, fresh, uplifting and ...

Intricate flora sometimes defy description
Wed, 09 May 2012 07:06:48 -0700

Delve under the arbutus leaves and surrounding leaf litter so as to expose the clusters of from six to ten flowers. Each will be tubular shaped and up to a half-inch long before expanding into five waxy lobes. They are white to pale pink after first ...

Gardening: The return of the royal palm bug
Thu, 24 May 2012 12:53:23 -0700

Look for white spirals on the undersides of the leaves . There will be a buildup of a white, waxy substance as well. This waxy buildup can build up to amounts so great it begins to drip off the affected plants and onto cars, patios and pools causing a ...

Meat-eating plant digests insects using ants
Wed, 09 May 2012 14:01:52 -0700

Its rim lacks the usual waxy layer and is less slippery than those of its cousins. And it's the only species that recruits ants. The base of each pitcher contains a swollen tendril that houses ants of the species Camponotus shcmitzi.

Ginger and spice also make your yard look nice
Fri, 25 May 2012 21:25:33 -0700

Curcuma thorelii on Chiang Mai Show is a beautiful dwarf with a white and blue inflorescence and thick waxy , blue-green leaves . Curcuma alismatefolia or Thai Tulip is a recent newcomer that has been very popular. It has a late summer inflorescence ...

A new kind of green garden
Fri, 18 May 2012 15:49:25 -0700

The San Antonio Botanical Garden teamed up with the San Antonio Water System to create a variety of water-saving landscapes and educational materials to simplify water conservation while enhancing aesthetic residential plantings.

Select trees well-adapted to drought conditions
Thu, 17 May 2012 14:01:41 -0700

Trees with small leaves are more easily cooled and have better water-use efficiency than trees with larger, thin leaves. Drought-tolerant plants usually have thick waxy leaf covering, hairs and thick bark, efficient stomatal control and extensive root ...

Researchers uncover how plant skin is assembled
Tue, 22 May 2012 03:16:21 -0700

Plant skins are essential to prevent leaves , stems, flowers and fruits from drying out, provide a barrier against pathogens, protect against ultraviolet radiation and prevent organs from fusing together during development. The waxy coating is also ...

Old-fashioned trick may deter deer
Fri, 11 May 2012 01:46:03 -0700

Since wild onion has a waxy leaf , it helps to mow the area immediately before applying a weed-killer. Mowing exposes the raw leaf surface and the herbicide absorbs better. Hope this helps! Q: I have wintered over my dahlias, and my notes are gone on ...

Missouri species: poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans)
Thu, 10 May 2012 01:11:15 -0700

Seeds/fruits: From August through November, poison ivy produces small (one-fourth inch in diameter), waxy , white berries in grape-like clusters. Distinguishing characteristics: Poison ivy has compound leaves the grouping most people refer to as three ...

Jake's in Brookfield does burgers right
Fri, 25 May 2012 04:03:10 -0700

Take the beet and arugula salad ($6.95), a mound of roasted beet chunks and peppery arugula leaves , sweetened with orange segments and given crunchy interest with pumpkin seeds - tasty and virtuous. Caesar salad ($5.95), though, was having a bad night; ...

Fundraiser will boast Leaf great Ron Ellis
Sat, 12 May 2012 05:59:36 -0700

Fundraiser will boast Leaf great Ron Ellis. Ron Ellis poses with a photograph of the Stanley Cup-winning Toronto Maple Leafs of 1967. The former hockey star will be the guest May 26 at a Penetanguishene Sports Hall of Fame fundraiser.

The inside scoop on soup
Fri, 25 May 2012 05:10:07 -0700

This dense Colombian super-fuel food combines three types of potato -- yellow papas criollas for thickening, plus waxy red sabaneras and squishier white pastusa, infused with handfuls of gausca, an aromatic herb. And that's just how the native Chibcha ...

Carnivorous plant fed by ants, which also benefit
Sun, 27 May 2012 00:06:33 -0700

But although ant-fed, the pitcher plant lacked many of the features of other carnivorous plants, including a visco-elastic and highly acidic pitcher fluid, a waxy zone in the interior, and possibly even functional digestive enzymes.