Tidying the desert plant display room

There are many recognized types of biomes on earth, scientists disagree on the number, but some estimate up to eleven different types. Displayed at the U of Minnesota Conservatory greenhouse are four different biomes selected for their diversity of plant life: antarctic forest, diverse desert, mediterranean scrubland, and ancient rainforest. Today, Coordinator A.. asked me to help clean the beds in the Diverse Deserts display. This room is open to the general public, and it gets quite a bit of traffic compared the to collection side of the greenhouse which is not open to the general public without appointment or supervision.

The Diverse Desert Room, D4, has four large beds filled with desert plants. The ground cover between the plants is made of granite pebbles. As time passes, leaves and other detritus from the plants fall to the ground cover, gradually coating the surfaces with debris. Today was the day to get down on hands and knees and clean out the debris from the granite pebbles. I used a small hand-broom to gently lift and sweep the debris onto the concrete path winding through the beds. Also, some of the smaller tree shrubs have grown to the point they need support to lift them up off the ground of the beds. We used twine ties and stretchy garden tape to tie branches to the fence railing which separates the display area from the collection side of the desert room.

For example, two of the larger shrubs are Plectranthus igniarius and Adenia venenata. Plectranthus igniarius is from tropical Africa, it is popular for its colorful flower spike (similar to that of coleus flowers). Adenia venenata has deeply lobed leaves on long green vines. White flowers in the spring are fragrant, with a sweet vanilla-like scent.

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Thrip control: peppermint and clove

Here's a question: how many natural plant scents do you find repellent? The one that comes to the top of my mind is the scent of the newly blossomed corpse flower, Amorphophallus titanum . It smells very much like the name implies. If I could produce a scratch-and-sniff blog post, I would be tempted. The odor is horrible to humans, but sweet to some flying insects which are also attracted to rotting flesh. But perhaps you cannot tolerate the scent of clove, or eucalyptus? Insect pests are like us in this respect. Pests in the garden and greenhouse Insects, arachnids, fungi, and viruses. Their numbers are legion. The battle is constant. The most effective weapon is vigilance. In addition to vigilance, there are biological controls made from natural compounds which are generally non-toxic to humans. Included in this category are essential oils. For example cinnamon, rosemary, sage, neem, clove, peppermint and many others. These oils are repellent, and even toxic, to many of the pests...

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Dorset Coast, UK, 2024

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