Month: May 2014

What is…….

/ Huon Perennials / Leave a comment

Hi there!

What is a waste product produced by plants?

Any guess’s???

Not sure, don’t know, couldn’t care less, whatever, LOL,.

I’ll narrow it down for you with 3 multiple choice answers.

Is it,

a. mycorrhizal association with fungus

b. autumn leaves

c. oxygen

 

If you picked a or b you would be wrong.  The answer is c.  Yes I know, hard to believe, oxygen a waste product produced by plants.  Thank goodness they produce waste!

How is this possible?  Without getting too technical, during the process of photosynthesis(plants making food for themselves using sunlight, carbon dioxide and water) the chloroplasts(specialised structures) inside leaves contain chlorophyll(green pigment that makes leaves green) which absorb energy from sunlight.  This absorbed energy is used to join the carbon dioxide and water together to form glucose.  The plant then uses this glucose as its energy source.  The oxygen which is a waste product from this chemical reaction is then released into the atmosphere.  Who would have thought!!

Plant a few and look after them….

Cheers!

A collection of Autumn leaves

/ Huon Perennials / 2 Comments

Hi There!

As Autumn comes to a close and winter starts to move in(although we’ve had the mildest Autumn on record) I thought I would finish these collection of posts which has been running during Autumn( if you were paying attention, you would have noticed) with some colourful deciduous leaves.

Cheers!

A collection of snares and droplets

/ Huon Perennials / Leave a comment

Hi There!

I love this time of year when the days are nice and mild, the nights are cool, the mornings are foggy and there’s a heavy dew.  It reveals the snares created by spiders(their webs) and the dew droplets that hang precariously from them and plants.  Sometimes they just look fake because their so odd-looking.  For this little show of nature you need to be up early or else you will miss it.  Next time its foggy, get out there early and have a look because you won’t see this show during the day.

Cheers!

A collection of Salvia flowers

/ Huon Perennials / Leave a comment

Hi There!

Autumn is a fantastic time for lots of different Salvia’s, and if your lucky and the weather is mild which it has been here,  these plants will reward you with an amazing show of colour.  Salvia’s are a great group of plants because they range from groundcover plants up to massive shrubs and even gigantic climbers if you happen to live in South America.  Their colour palette is amazing too, ranging from white to nearly black and every colour in between.  I could go on all day about them but that would bore some of you to tears.  But I will show you  some photo’s instead.  Remember! this is only a sample of the hundreds and hundreds of Salvia’s that are available.  Hope you enjoy!

Cheers!