Garden News and Notes: February 2020

Current Events: Orchid Show and Orchid Nights Black History Month Morpho Mardi Gras at the Butterfly House Solanum tuberosum: Apple of the Earth Photo by Marissa Billmeyer Black History Month Celebrate Black History Month at the Garden with these family-friendly events and more planned throughout February. Featured programming focuses on the legacy of George Washington…

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Propagating House Plants

If you’re new to the houseplant world, you might have heard more seasoned plant owners talking about creating new plants from existing ones and wondered about the method behind this magic. Vegetative propagation of houseplants, or turning one plant into multiple plants without using seeds or spores, can be accomplished using multiple methods. You can…

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How to Avoid a Food Waste SNAFU

The idea of composting food waste has a huge appeal. It’s not surprising since we humans have lived in nature’s expert systems for all time, observing (first-hand, until this industrial age) how anything that once lived is literally decomposed and returned to Earth in a cycle of truly zero waste. We are, happily, seeing efforts…

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Attracting Owls to Your Yard

No matter how cute they are, small plant-loving critters like rabbits can be a big problem in your garden. Just ask Mr. McGregor. There are many options to keep cottontails out of your garden, like fences and rabbit repellent. You can also look to the natural world to keep bunnies at bay. One option is…

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Garden News and Notes: January 2020

The Garden in Madagascar, 71 Homes to Install Solar Power through Garden Program, The Conservation of Fraser Firs, Why Our Scientists Are Studying Guano

Spotlight on Science: Adam Smith

Adam Smith, Assistant Scientist, Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development Studying climate change can be bleak, but there have been a couple times Garden Scientist Adam Smith has been truly shocked with the results of his studies. Smith, Assistant Scientist in the Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development (CCSD) at the Missouri Botanical Garden, uses…

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Stop and Smell the Anthuriums

Instead of stopping to smell the roses, maybe it’s time to appreciate the aroma of anthuriums. Anthurium is a genus of plants in the aroid family, Araceae. You’ve probably seen one before, and may even have one in your house. Commercially available Anthurium are often sold as houseplants—noted for their colorful spathe, long-lasting bloom, and…

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From the Library: Rebuilding the Bateman Book (Part 9)

Finishing Bateman Forwarding Like all professions, bookbinding has its own specialized vocabulary. What do you think bookbinders mean when they say they are “forwarding” a book? Are they pushing it in front of them? Are they sending to on to another recipient? Not likely. After a book is sewn together, it needs to be put…

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10 New Plant Species Discovered by Garden Scientists in 2019

Each year, the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Science and Conservation staff discover and name about 200 plant species new to science. That’s about 10 percent of all plant species discovered by scientists worldwide annually. Discovery is the first crucial step in plant conservation. Until a species is described, we cannot think about conservation status or ensure…

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