Two Things That Made Me Happy Today
Coral Reef Restoration
I heard a segment on NPR about this--according to one of the divers, the sponges are growing back, and in a year, you'll have to look hard to tell where it was damaged. Since coral reefs are on my mind of late (can't imagine why...) this made me very happy.
And in a completely random chain of conversations, I got to here: Carnivorous Plants For The Home and Garden
Either I convinced Kevin, or Kevin convinced me, or somehow we came up with the notion that since we're in North Carolina, home of many of the species, we'd try a little carnivorous plant action in the new garden. The plan is to do a railing box of Venus Fly-traps in the back and a whiskey-barrel planting of pitcher plants in the front. (Much as I'd love to put them in the ground, we're on clay and they require sand/peat/whatever. But I can at least do a little pot!) *
Since we do have a very boggy drainage area, I'm tempted to start looking for some native plants that do well in constant wet--I've already got spicebush, which is supposed to do well there (we'll see how it does before I start planting it en masse) but I wouldn't mind something else as well. It's basically soggy shaded leaf-mulch at the moment, and while that's a challenging environment, surely something would like it!
*Yes, I am quite aware of the plant poaching problem here in NC, and believe me, I would only buy from nurseries that do their own propagating.
I heard a segment on NPR about this--according to one of the divers, the sponges are growing back, and in a year, you'll have to look hard to tell where it was damaged. Since coral reefs are on my mind of late (can't imagine why...) this made me very happy.
And in a completely random chain of conversations, I got to here: Carnivorous Plants For The Home and Garden
Either I convinced Kevin, or Kevin convinced me, or somehow we came up with the notion that since we're in North Carolina, home of many of the species, we'd try a little carnivorous plant action in the new garden. The plan is to do a railing box of Venus Fly-traps in the back and a whiskey-barrel planting of pitcher plants in the front. (Much as I'd love to put them in the ground, we're on clay and they require sand/peat/whatever. But I can at least do a little pot!) *
Since we do have a very boggy drainage area, I'm tempted to start looking for some native plants that do well in constant wet--I've already got spicebush, which is supposed to do well there (we'll see how it does before I start planting it en masse) but I wouldn't mind something else as well. It's basically soggy shaded leaf-mulch at the moment, and while that's a challenging environment, surely something would like it!
*Yes, I am quite aware of the plant poaching problem here in NC, and believe me, I would only buy from nurseries that do their own propagating.