Recent Comments
Category Archives: Miracles of Nature
Paulownia: Grow Your Own Home-It Zooms
One of my first acquaintances in the tree crop arena was a research technician in the pharmaceutical industry. He was very passionate about growing his own firewood. This was in an era when the hybrid-popular market was in full swing … Continue reading
Wood is Good: American Chestnut
In my senior year in college, I was employed as a gardener for a home that was near a nature reserve in the city. From time to time, I would cross the street with a wheelbarrow full of spoiled apples harvested … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged American chestnut, Castanea dentata, chestnut tables, ecology, Janka, timber crops, Wood quality
Comments Off on Wood is Good: American Chestnut
Nana Beach Plum: It Lives in a Farmerless Field
Any species of fruit as it is found in ‘nature’ can be cultivated. Two years ago, I grew a wild tomato from the Everglades that produced a tomato the size of a pea. It tasted like a tomato but was … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged beach plums, ecology, farmerless fields, forest, fruit, fruit-trees, fruits, healthy fruits, jam, nature, wild plums
Comments Off on Nana Beach Plum: It Lives in a Farmerless Field
Random: Distribution of Plants Within an Orderly Structure
Random is Not That Random. We tend to think of forests as random sets of plants in a structured organized way. Things are not in rows. It is a mixed forest. We might think, “oh this is much more desirable … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged apples, beneficial plants, forest, fruit farm, global, multiflora rose, plants, random, seed production, trees, woody plants
Comments Off on Random: Distribution of Plants Within an Orderly Structure
Flexibility and Stability: Integrating Opposite Values With the Wild Apple
When you grow an apple from seed (which I highly recommend) you will see the extremities of what is possible in terms of what the apple will look and taste like. If a crabapple tree is nearby, then there is … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged agriculture, crabapple, ecology, Malus, seed source, seeds, wild apple
Comments Off on Flexibility and Stability: Integrating Opposite Values With the Wild Apple
You and Your Sandcherry Empire
Have you ever gone for a hike and discovered some interesting fruit along a trail somewhere? It’s a common experience. Such is the case for Prunus pumila or sandcherry found on the dunes of the Great Lakes. The trails that … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged cherry, food, fruit, garden, gardening, native, plants, sandcherry, wild
Comments Off on You and Your Sandcherry Empire
Small Potato in a Big Universe
I’ve always been fascinated by the potato plant. Every year on vacation while driving to the upper peninsula in Michigan with my family we took a route that happened to be surrounded by potatoes in full flower on both sides … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged crop-diversity, gardening, population, potato, true-seed, vegetables
Comments Off on Small Potato in a Big Universe
Asparagii of Unknown Origins
For many years I was on the hunt for wild asparagus seeds for my nursery. I needed asparagii but only from seed. Not far from my nursery was a real life asparagus nursery which was 100 percent clonal. The asparagus … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged Asparagus officinalis, dense nutrition, Euell Gibbons, perennial vegetables, very wild asparagus, wild asparagus
Comments Off on Asparagii of Unknown Origins
The Jerusalem Artichoke Goes the Distance
It’s a root. It’s a tuber. It’s Super Sunflower. One of the great joys of growing plants is when you find a unique plant with characteristics in what would be considered impossible odds from a sea of uniformity. Because it’s … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged agriculture, ecology, Helianthus tuberosus, Jerusalem artichoke, perennial agriculture, Root crops, sunchoke
Comments Off on The Jerusalem Artichoke Goes the Distance
The Inbetweeners
Hybrid American Chestnuts: Castanea dentata x mollissima When I first started my nursery, I was always trying to find new seed sources to grow trees. A lot of my early sources were people known to me by reading Organic Gardening … Continue reading
Posted in Diversity Found, Ecology-Biodiversity-Integration, Miracles of Nature
Tagged agriculture, Castanea dentata, Castatanea x hybrid, ecology, Plant disease, Plant populations, seeds, sustainability
Comments Off on The Inbetweeners
biologicalenrichment 
You must be logged in to post a comment.