We had some freezing drizzle last night and this morning I
drove to town down a road lined with glittery trees and diamond sprinkled tall
grasses. The sun was shining and the
roads were fine so it was beautiful. By
the time I returned later today the clouds had returned and it was snowing
lightly, not so beautiful.
There’s a Geminid meteor shower that should be spectacular
this week. The moon will be new, which
means barely visible, and as we are expected to have clear skies viewing should
be great, but cold. You will be able to
see up to 100 shooting stars an hour, a sight worth watching, after 1 am on Friday, December 14, although some
falling stars will be visible soon after dusk on Thursday, December 13. This is the best meteor shower this year and
probably for a while to come. Why not
set the alarm and go outside and sit in your car to watch? Or better yet bundle up and sit in a lawn
chair. Shut off all the outside lights
and listen for owls calling.
New garden trends
What’s hot in gardening this year? Terrariums are back in fashion along with
dish gardens designed similar to bonsai as miniature landscapes. Catalogs are featuring both retro and modern
terrariums and lots of figurines and miniatures for designing your own
fairyland, medieval farm, or desert landscape.
Small plants suitable for dish landscapes are also being offered.
Moss is also popular this year both as specimens to be
planted in pots indoors and as a wrap for the roots of small houseplants. There are many unusual plants in the moss
family that make unique houseplants. Sheets of green moss are tied around the
root balls of small plants and then suspended in twine hangers or sat in
decorative trays. Sheets of moss are
also being sold for those miniature landscapes mentioned above.
Oddly shaped decorative pots or planting containers are also
hot, often in bold colors with metallic trim or designs. The pot is meant to be an art statement as
well as a holder for a plant. Pots for
indoor plants are being featured which hopefully means a return to popularity
for houseplants.
Old trees dying in
record numbers
Scientists around the world are alarmed at the number of
huge old trees that are dying. Trees
that have stood for centuries are dying at an alarming rate, probably 5 times
more than the average losses twenty years ago.
A combination of warming climate, drought, severe wildfires due to
drought, insect attacks, and increased logging and land clearing all seem to
play a part in the loss.
Each large, ancient tree represents thousands of square feet
for habitat for wildlife and even other forms of plants, lichens and
mosses. It’s estimated that 30% of the
world’s bird species require large older trees as part of their habitat either
for nesting or roosting. All continents
are losing the large old trees, including North America
and all types of trees are being affected.
Trees sequester carbon, provide cooling, return nutrients to the soil and
actually influence the environment in their location.
The Australian Research Council
Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED) is calling for an
urgent global response to the loss of ancient trees, including locating and
cataloging ancient trees as well as working out plans to preserve them. Each tree can represent hundreds of years of
history in their location. It’s vital
that we understand what is happening to them and work to stabilize the losses.
Why the frogs are
dying
When I was young I remember the yard and sidewalks being
filled with hopping toads after a summer rain.
I could sit in my warm, stuffy school room on a bright spring day and
hear a chorus of frogs from the swamps several blocks away. Now the sight and sound of frogs and toads is
becoming increasingly rare. I still see
frogs and the occasional toad in my yard and here in the country we still get
serenaded in the spring but even in the twenty years we have lived here I have
noticed fewer and fewer frogs and toads, even though we provide plenty of good
habitat.
It seems that across the world frogs and toads have declined
to alarmingly low population rates and many rare species have disappeared. Researchers have proposed several causes,
including chemicals in the water, stronger UV rays from diminishing ozone
layers, loss of habitat and climate change.
There is no doubt that all of those things contribute to the loss of
amphibians but now researchers have determined that a fungal disease may be the
primary cause of frog death worldwide.
The severe decline of frogs was first noticed in Australia
and South America in the 1980’s. It wasn’t until 1998 that a fungal disease Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) was identified as a possible cause of frog
decline. We know now that frogs in
every corner of the world have the disease.
Recent research suggests that Bd is causing much of the decline in the
world’s frogs and toads.
Studies by the University
of California Berkley
and San Francisco State
University Sierra Nevada
area. They found that infected frogs had skins up to 40 times thicker than
normal and the thickened skins prevented them from absorbing water and
electrolytes through the skin. The frogs
basically died from dehydration and electrolyte imbalance.
Frogs in captivity are easy to treat with common
veterinarian fungicides and generally recover.
However it is impossible to treat frogs in the wild this way. Frogs that are treated and released soon get
the disease again. Researchers are
hopeful that a treatment they are developing from normal skin bacteria that
live on frogs will eventually be helpful.
It seems amazing that a disease which seems to have emerged
in South America could spread across the globe so
easily. Frogs don’t migrate or travel
great distances. I guess they must
hitchhike on plants and on boats. Frogs
are the food of other species of animals both as adults and tadpoles and their
loss also affects other species of animals.
Frogs also help control insects. Gardeners should do everything they can
to protect the frogs and toads in their gardens because they may soon be gone.
137 new species
discovered this year
Enough of dying. This year’s scientific journals have announced that 137 new species of animals and plants
were discovered and named this year. The
new species include 83 insects/arachnids, 41 fish, 7 plants, 4 sea slugs, 1
reptile and 1 amphibian. In 2011 there were 144 new species
discovered. One of the species or
actually a new Family of arachnids discovered this year is a clawed spider
found in caves in our Pacific Northwest which has been
named Trogloraptor, or “cave
robber”.
The down side to this is the new species announced may have
been identified from specimens locked up in cabinets for up to 20 years waiting
to be studied. One of the new species identified this year actually came from a
frog specimen collected in the 1930’s.
That’s tragic considering that frog populations are quickly being
decimated by the fungal disease discussed previously. In some cases the whole species may have gone
extinct while waiting to be identified since the specimens are often from
isolated pockets of territory that were opened up for exploration by being
logged or developed for farming and other uses.
The scientific community really needs to step up their
efforts to identify specimens thought to be distinct and new to science. This is being discussed in many scientific
circles and soon we may see a greater focus on quickly identifying collected
specimens so populations at risk of extinction can be protected. By the way specimens discovered by amateur
naturalists are often identified much sooner than those collected by
professional zoologists and botanists.
That’s because the amateur collector is more eager to identify the
specimen, however lowly, and possibly get credit for discovering it.
A good reason to keep
cats out of the garden
I spent several hours this week researching and reading
about some fascinating new discoveries that link a common cat parasite
Toxoplasma gondii with mental illness and suicide in humans. The protozoan parasite can only complete its
life cycle in cats and is shed in cat feces.
People acquire the parasite by eating vegetables and fruits contaminated
with it or pick it up when cats contact surfaces where food is prepared or
eaten or when humans change litter boxes and handle cats.
In people the parasite often travels to the brain and makes
a cyst in brain cells and there is now proof that those cysts secrete a
substance that affects mood and emotion.
Research at Michigan State
Gardeners should try to keep cats out of gardens, especially
if they use them as a giant kitty litter box.
And always keep children’s sandboxes covered to prevent them from being
contaminated. I like cats, I own at
least 7- more keep being dropped off- and I don’t intend to let this scare me
about keeping them. But I will be a
little more cautious about washing my hands after handling them.
The fascinating history of poinsettias
December 12
is National Poinsettia Day. The
day was set in 2002 to honor Joel Poinsett, the first US Mexico Mexico Mexico
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