News

What is the deal with mistletoe? Why is it hung in a ball shape and why do people kiss underneath it?

I have to admit, I loved the idea of getting caught under this mysterious plant as a young person with someone I wanted very much to kiss. However, I never questioned the logic or lore of this practice.

It turns out mistletoe has not only an interesting place among world legends but also some exciting properties and an important ecological function!

Are you a fan of the Winter Olympics? It’s one of my favorite indoor pastimes in winter, even though it does only come around every four years.

One benefit of watching the Olympics is that it tends to remind you that people do have the ability to enjoy themselves outdoors in winter.

Let’s face it. Gardeners don’t always make the best winter lovers. However, here is a challenge. How can we get outside and enjoy the season despite the cold? Skiers do it. Hunters do it.

Gardeners can do it too! One pastime enjoyed by many gardeners in warm months is still available to you through the winter! Birding.

If you listened to a recent piece on NPR’s This American Life, or read National Geographic – or if you are paying attention at all to scientists’ newest predictions about sea level rise, you know that some of, or most of the biggest and most populated cities in the world are set to disappear in a permanent flood due to climate change.

The new film, Blade Runner 2049, depicts an earth in barely-restrained crisis. Its population has ruined all ecosystems and filled the world with trash – among other things.

Actually, these crises are just the backdrop for the main plot of the story. It has very little to do with trash production or with the synthetic food humans are driven to consuming.

Pink water lilies (lotuses) blooming in a pond in Mai Po marshland – wetlands

Our wetlands are being threatened.