Home » Posts filed under plant

Showing posts with label plant. Show all posts

Sweet Gum Tree Facts

This article highlights sweet gum tree facts that you will find interesting. Brilliant fall color foliage, spiked fruits and ridged trunk are the identification features of sweet gum tree. For more sweetgum tree facts, read on...

Sweet gum, also spelled as sweetgum, is a highly popular landscaping tree in North America. With respect to its characteristic features, it is known by different names, like redgum, American sweetgum, alligator wood, star-leaved gum or simply, gumtree. One of the desirable sweet gum tree facts worth mentioning is its interesting fall foliage color. It is intense fall color attribute that makes sweet gum a popular ornamental tree amongst landscapers.

Facts about the Sweetgum Tree

The sweet gum tree is indigenous to the temperate climatic regions of America. Today, it in introduced in other regions as an ornamental cultivar, and also for harvesting lumbar. While most of the sweet gum types are deciduous trees, a few are semi-evergreen and evergreen trees. As expected, these evergreen varieties do not show any color changes in fall. To understand more about this spectacular tree, presented below are some American sweet gum tree facts.

Sweet Gum Tree Taxonomy
Sweet gum tree is a flowering plant that belongs to the order Saxifragales and shares family Altingiaceae with witch hazel tree. The scientific name for American sweet gum tree is Liquidambar styraciflua. The peculiar name is coined with reference to the sweet, resinous substances secreted by this tree. Previously, the bark exudate is used for making chewing gum.

Sweet Gum Tree Description
The adorable, cone shape canopy shape is another notable feature about sweet gum. At maturity, the trunk measures about 2 m in diameter and 20-35 m in height. Male and female flower buds develop in spring, in different branches. The compound fruits of this tree are commonly known as monkey balls and gumballs. Borne in fall season, they are spiked, hard, dry, round in shape (2.5-4 cm) and contain several capsules.

Sweet Gum Tree Leaves
The foliage is palmately lobed with pointed apex, and arrange in alternate phyllotaxy (leaf arrangement pattern). Do not confuse star shaped leaves of sweet gum tree with that of maple. Unlike maple tree leaves, they are glossy, thick and leathery. In active growing seasons, the leaves are lustrous and dark green in color. As fall arrives, the leaf color turns vibrant orange, red and purplish.

Sweet Gum Tree Growth
Sweetgum tree facts about growth rate is highly impressive. This medium to large sized tree, grows at a rapid rate. Hence, if you are relocated to a new place, and want some fast growing ornamental trees, consider growing sweet gum. Moist, acidic soil is excellent for planting sweet gum tree. As it establishes to the growing conditions over the area, sweet gum tree can tolerate brief drought period.

Sweet Gum Growing Requirements
As per plant data, sweet gum tree is adaptable to USDA hardiness zones 5-9. This deciduous tree grows best in sunlit areas, or locations that receive filtered sunlight. It is naturally found growing on the sides of streams, ponds, swamps and areas that remain moist at all times. You can either purchase tree saplings from nursery centers or propagate by means of viable seeds.

Sweet Gum Tree Wood
The wood of sweet gum tree is of superior quality, in terms of hardiness and texture. Commercially, it is the second most commonly cultivated hardwood tree, next to oaks. The harvested lumbar is marketed for flooring, veneers, cabinets, furniture and interior woodwork. This superior quality wood is applicable in the paper industry and in making boxes, baskets and other household products.

Sweet Gum Tree Drawbacks
Some of the problems faced with growing sweet gum tree are branches susceptible to breakage, increased snow accumulation in the ridged branches, and spiked fruits that do not decay quickly after falling to the ground. Since the gumballs are spiny and hard, they need to be removed regularly. Hence, before you go with the planting part, be thorough with the sweet gum tree facts about maintenance.

If your area is extremely cold, the sweet gum tree leaves may be damaged with the first frost, when they are still green in color. So, before including it in your landscape design project, confirm whether sweet gum tree will exhibit fall colors or not. Also, be prepared with the maintenance part. Remember that failure to cleanup fallen fruits may cause difficulty in walking over fruits and unwanted spread of this tree.

Well! This was all about sweetgum tree facts. The yellow-bellied sapsucker (a small species of woodpecker) loves the sweet resinous substance produced by this trees. It tends to peck the inside of wood for feeding purpose, thus creating holes in the sweet gum tree. I hope you find the above sweet gum tree facts interesting to learn.

Bluestem Grass

Bluestem grass is mainly used as ornamental grass for landscaping. Read the article to know more about the different varieties of bluestem grass and their uses...

Bluestem grasses, mostly found in the US, grow in bunches and serves in different ways, one of which is that herds of cows and other livestock feed on bluestem grass hay and also graze on readily available fresh grass. These grasses are perennial grasses that come in different varieties. As mentioned before, all the varieties have certain uses which make these grasses not just great for ornamental purposes in landscaping but they also serve nature by helping in different ways.

Bluestem Grass Varieties

Bluestem grasses are mainly of three varieties, more on which is discussed below.

Little Bluestem Grass - Schizachyrium Scoparium

Being one of the most popular ornamental grasses for shade, the bluestem grass seeds for this variety is widely available in the market. As the name of this variety suggests, the length of it is shorter when compared to the other varieties. Little bluestem grasses can grow up to 3 - 4 feet and therefore are the shortest of the lot. Little bluestem grasses prefer a soil ph level of 7.0. This variety of bluestem grasses are prevalent in north America and Canada. Depending on the climate, these little bluestem grasses present themselves in different shades and colors. The appearance of it truly is refreshing and pleasing to the eyes and this is one of the reasons of it being used in landscaping. Fall is the best time when these grasses look their best as they appear in bright red with the fluffy seed stalks in silver-white. The other reason is that although it comes in bunches, it mixes quite well with the wild flowers. Another one of the interesting characteristics of little bluestem grasses is that it has a better drought tolerance as compared to big bluestem grasses.

Besides its ornamental use, the little bluestem grasses available in the wild and open and are grazed by the animals and they are also used to produce hay. Although these grasses are best grown at a soil ph of 7.0, they are capable of adapting to different soil conditions. Little bluestem grass is not quite long but their height is substantial to provide cover to small wildlife creatures.

Big Bluestem Grass - Andropogon Gerardii

Unlike little bluestem grasses, these grasses highly tolerant to all kind of soil conditions. They may survive in a less fertile and sandy soil but moist and clay-like soil suits best for big bluestem grasses for good growth. Big bluestem grasses can grow up to the height of 10 feet. Little bluestem grasses are the preferred choice when it comes to ornamental gardening and landscaping. But as big bluestem grasses are taller, they are great to form borders. Adding these to an ordinary flower garden in the form of borders could give it a distinct look, adding more to the attraction of the existing blooms. These tall bluestem grasses also help in stabilizing soil beside the regular use of providing forage to the livestock and also to the wild animals and birds. Birds also use these tall grasses as shelter for nesting and also get their food by way of their seeds.

Sand Bluestem Grass - Andropogon Hallii

Quite understandable with the name that sand bluestem grass grow in sandy soil and therefore are found in places with such soil conditions. They are mostly found in the great plains region that consist of grasslands and also in the mid-west and they grow up to a height of 7 feet. This variety of bluestem grass helps in stabilizing the sandy soil. And like the other bluestem grass, these also provide food and shelter to the wildlife animals. As these grasses are drought resistant, they are a great option for xeriscape gardens, so it could be used as border plants.

Now unlike the other varieties, the big bluestem grasses tends to grow out of proportion and spreads at a faster pace like weeds. To curb this fast growth, some bluestem grass control measures could be taken. One of the easiest way of controlling this is using herbicide such as bensulide, glyphosate, trifluralin etc.

What was the first vegetable grown in space?

In October 1995, the potato became the first vegetable to be grown in space. NASA and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, created the technology with the goal of feeding astronauts on long space voyages, and eventually, feeding future space colonies.

Do sunspots control our wheat?

There is a correspondence between the fluctuation of agricultural production and sunspot variations. Production of wheat, for example, reached high figures during sunspots maximums and low figures during sunspot minimums.

Now is the best time to travel to Asia

Spectacular scenery, fabulous beaches, exotic cuisine and great service from welcoming local people. It was a marriage made in heaven and local economies in the East began to build their resources. New hotels were erected, new resort facilities carved out of the landscape. Western tourism was a key element in lifting many countries out of poverty. Coming into this century, everything was looking on track for continuing growth and then a double whammy. The global recession hit. People in the West suddenly found their credit drying up as banks ran into trouble. Unemployment began to rise, and foreclosures marked the end of the housing bubble. People no longer had the same amount of disposable income to spend on holidays. Add to this the political troubles. Demonstrations shut the main airport into Thailand for a week. Terrorists attacked Mumbai. The war in Sri Lanka flared into new violence. Put all these together and you have a recipe for a disaster.

There are between 300,000 and 400,000 jobs tied up in tourism in Asia. Travel to India and Sri Lanka is down 25%. Other troubled destinations are falling fast. Even the favorite destinations like Hong Kong are suffering. The governments in these states have too much invested in tourism to allow it to fail completely so they have released funds from their reserves to not only allow the trade to continue, but also to make discount offers. Wherever you look in this region, you will find what was previously sold at a premium price is now a middle-of-the-road price. What was previously an average price is now a give-away. .

So, if you have the time, take a look at the special offers. You will find cheap flight to virtually every destination in the Asia Pacific area. Then add in the promotional prices on rooms and you have a bargain bonanza making this a "once-in-a-lifetime" chance. Although it's hard. Although you're short of money. There never has been a better time to cheap flights to Asia. So check out the specialist online travel agencies. You're going to find both standard cheap tickets and packages. If you can, take advantage of these cheap flights.

Are orchids parasitic?

Of the 20,000 species of orchids that grow around the world, not one is parasitic. In nature, many orchids cling to trees and bushes as a growth habit, but they take nothing from the host plant and do not inflict injury upon it.