All Hallow's Eve

Guess what I'm going to be for All Hallow's Eve!! I'm either going to be Juno (and Brendan will be Pauly Bleaker) or Mother Nature. It all depends if I can find an outfit to be Juno or not. Don't worry - I'll look pregnant by shoving a pillow under my shirt. Or if I'm Mother Nature/Autumn I will dress in earthy tones and stick leaves, pine needles, flowers in my hair on my clothes, etc. Should be fun! I'll be safe :)

The coolest thing is happening in my life right now. All of my plant science classes are overlapping. Over summer I took a field ecology class where I did a research project about a restoration project of Greene Prairie in the UW-Madison Arboretum. Now, I'm taking a Landscape Architecture Class and the this week's topic was prairie and how they are becoming more prominent in people's gardens (as inspiration or using NATIVE species). And as always, PLP 575 is sustainable agriculture. So, already having a broad background in prairies and sustainability, it's really cool to see another class talk about this. They all emphasize each other and build my knowledge about the same topic but it completely different ways.

Greene Prairie, Madison Wisconsin (early fall)

Prairie Gayfeather in a prairie

Coolest prairie plant: Rattlesnake Master *it gets to be taller than me if conditions are right!

For example, using native Wisconsin prairie plants in one's own garden is a very highly sustainable garden. These plants have had thousands of years to adapt to Wisconsin's climate (rain or shine, smothering heat to high humidity to the arctic winters). Therefore, these plants need LESS fertilizer, watering, and don't require mulch to hold the moisture in the ground. Also (this is the coolest part in my opinion) less fungicides and chemical barriers are used to 'mimic' a real prairie. This means that PLANT DISEASES ARE WELCOME!!! :)  Also, burning (a natural occurring phenomenon before the Euro-Yankee settlement) is used to 'mimic' conditions in a real prairie. 

A prairie in someone's home garden. See sustainability can be beautiful!

Powdery Mildew on Burr Oak *the white is mycelium (vegetative/asexual material) that gives rise to the small black chasmothecia (sexual structures) that release ascospores which will infect a new plant in the next growing season.

It's really fun to see how different areas of focus still have a common base and how they overlap. They all have the same goal but go about it very differently. Landscape architects are trying to make the most aesthetically pleasing landscape while being sustainable (Green/native landscaping). Plant pathologists are trying to keep the landscape beautiful by preventing disease (while leaving some susceptibility or terrible terrible terrible things happen - we don't want a super-race!) and studying the patterns of disease spread. Ecologists are trying to restore the land back to its original form, which in itself is sustainable because that's how Earth designed herself to be. Botanists are trying to figure out how one plants 4 to 6 inches tall can survive in almost complete shade whilst the plant next to it is over 4 feet tall needs complete sun and how these plants work together so well to create a sustainable environment. I could go into more details but I won't bore you with my plant-geeky-ness :)  

A little Earthy inspiration...enjoy! Bye!!

 

 

Adopt the pace of Nature: Her secret is patience. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Forget not that Earth delights to feel your bare feet and Wind longs to play with your hair. -Kahlil Gibran