Making It Grow: Recent Episodes
Amanda McNulty
Gardening and horticulture news and tips, as well as agricultural information from Amanda McNulty, the host of SCETV's "Making It Grow" and Clemson University Extension Agent. Produced by South Carolina Public Radio.Making It Grow Minutes are produced by South Carolina Public Radio, in partnership with Clemson University's Extension Service.
Fall webworms are covered in harmless spines that serve as a warning to other organisms to think twice about these touching or eating these caterpillars.
The webworms we’re seeing in record numbers this year started as eggs laid by a female moth on the ends of branches.
Host Amanda McNulty explains why residents should not be alarmed at the massive number of fall webworms our state is seeing.
Host Amanda McNulty explains why there have been an unusual amount of fall webworms outside lately.
Watermelon is 92% percent water, packed with vitamins and amino acids, and naturally has carbohydrates that don’t come from sugar, unlike sports drinks.
Amanda McNulty shares special tips on how to be at the top of your watermelon seed-spitting game.
With new breeding techniques we have not only red flesh watermelons, but yellow, orange, and seedless.
Scientists like to find the origins of plants as they can use those genetics to alter modern varieties beset by disease and pest problems.
Every July, visitors arrive at Clemson’s Edisto Research and Education Center in Blackville for Watermelon Field Day.
Host Amanda McNulty shares backstories (and theories) on why certain birds represent the Palmetto State.
Host Amanda McNulty recalls the time an interloping possum admits defeat to Willie, her Brittany Spaniel.
Before Calhoun County had an animal shelter, Amanda McNulty and her children would help care for local stray cats.
Moths are sneaky little fellows, which is why Amanda McNulty tries not to have any furniture over a rug that would otherwise give them a dark space in which to thrive.
Older homes oftentimes did not have dedicated linen closets. Host Amanda McNulty explains what was used instead.
Our first idea for insect pollination is usually bees, but those insects didn’t come along until much later than magnolias, which rely on beetles for that function.
The selections of Magnolia grandiflora that are available now offer a variety of sizes and improved leaf color.
If you like to have greenery in the house, you can always cut Magnolia grandiflora, more commonly known as Southern magnolia.
Plant breeders developed grafted honey locust cultivars without thorns and without seeds pods for people to grow in their yards and along streets.
Honey locust seed pods have a sweet nutritious substance surrounding the seeds, but not many animals these days can eat through the tough pods.
Gleditsia triacanthos is the scientific name for honey locust, Gleditsia for a German botanist and triacanthos means "three-spined."
Some scientists theorize the reason that honey locust trees developed thorns is because of the mastodon.
Early human inhabitants of our continent did interact with mammoths, mastodons, saber tooth tigers, and even horses that are no longer here.
Host Amanda McNulty describes the joys of gathering the fragrant white blossoms of the black locust tree.
Locust wood is extremely durable and reports say locust fence posts easily last fifty years.
At first glance, the blossoms of a black locust tree can be mistaken for white wisteria.
If done at the wrong time of the year, cut-stumping wisteria can strangle the trees they’re wrapped around.
Native wistaria (Wisteria frutescens), also known as "swamp wisteria," isn’t as showy as its invasive cousins and blooms later.
Wisteria doesn't just strangle trees, it can completely obscure the ground below from sunlight, creating a dark dead zone.
Amanda McNulty says you can spell it "wisteria" or "wistaria," but please don't plant it.
One plant, two spellings. Host Amanda McNulty explains what information you'll discover online based on how you type the name of this blooming vine.
If you’re new to the South, you need to know that yellow jessamine is extremely poisonous.
If you’ve ever tried to pull yellow jessamine out by the roots, you’ll understand the nickname “poor man’s rope.”
Sometimes, yellow jessamine blooms in conjunction with Asian azaleas, but this year, it jumped the gun.
Dandelions have long tap roots, and unless you get almost all of them out, they merrily grow right back.
Early settlers to the New World brought dandelion seeds with them to have a source of vitamin-rich greens.
Though dandelions are sometimes considered a pest, their prolific growth does have some ecological benefits.
Though there are a wide variety of types of greens, Amanda McNulty explains why some are her favorites, while others fall short.
The South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston can save sea turtles suffering from various complaints.
All litter flows downstream, into storm drains, creeks, lakes, and massive amounts end up in the ocean.
Amanda McNulty explains what to do if you observe a sea turtle that looks injured or ill.
Sycamores not only tend to lose limbs, which makes nesting sites for bats, birds, and mammals, but they also tend to rot from the inside, leaving open spaces at their base.
Sycamores have a complicated wood structure, but they have interesting properties that can be put to good use.
Amanda McNulty shares how Christmas tree ornaments gathered over the years can stir warm memories of loved ones, both near and far.
Amanda McNulty reflects on the romance and beauty of Christmas trees once lit by candles.
Amanda McNulty embraces the spirit of the season by sharing the joys of visiting your local Christmas tree farm.
Amanda McNulty reminisces about putting up her Christmas tree in her 19th century home.
Cedar apple rust is a fungus, but its brown cases become jelly-like blobs with protrusions that look like something from outer space.
Before the ubiquitous Fraser firs that don’t grow well here, many people got an eastern red cedar.
Bird and bat guano have both been used as valuable sources of fertilizer. The most valuable guano is found in caves protected from water.
Agave growers get higher yields of tequila precursors when the plants aren’t allowed to flower, imperiling bats that depend on the night-blooming flowers.
Tree leaves aren't the only thing that contains chlorophyll; sometimes it's stored in the fruit.
If you want to see beautiful fall leaves in South Carolina, you should head up above Highway 11.
During World War II, the stabilimenta of writing spiders was observed getting smaller, possibly supporting a theory of the zigzag's purpose.
While joining a friend to watch writing spiders weave their webs, Amanda McNulty ponders the purpose of the stabilimentum.
One of the common spiders that weave webs with a distinctive zigzag pattern is the yellow garden spider.
Instead of having to keep up with cleaning spiderwebs from the front of her house, Amanda McNulty decides to recruit some members of the wildlife community.
Although some consider it invasive, the Trumpet Creeper has inspired naturalists and writers, such as hummingbird enthusiast William Hilton.
The native Campsis radicans, or Trumpet Creeper, is often called invasive, but it supports a variety of wildlife.
Amanda McNulty reflects on the variety of animals that have visited her home throughout her lifetime.
From fire ants to sugar ants, there are effective methods for controlling a variety of Formicidae.
Has South Carolina's humidity clumped up your salt dispenser? Add some rice. Amanda McNulty explains why this household hack works.
Have you ever used a salt cellar? Host Amanda McNulty explains how to place them on the dining table and gives some helpful information on storing salt.
Monarch butterflies love swamp milkweed for egg-laying and feeding caterpillars, but find competition for food with the native swamp milkweed beetle.
California grows more peaches than South Carolina and Georgia, but South Carolina's peaches are juicier and sweeter.
No matter which grower produced peaches near you, all of South Carolina's are delicious, and different varieties come available about every ten days.
Bacillus thuringiensis, variety israelensis, is a naturally occurring bacterium that only acts on mosquito larvae.
Since 1970, we’ve lost three billion North American birds and experienced declines in native bees, other beneficial insects, and our recycling decomposers in large part due to the use of pesticides.
Mosquitos can be a pain, but Amanda McNulty shares alternatives to fogging and pesticides to help keep mosquitos from pestering you.
Gracen Vaughn hands out watermelon slices at school field days, farmers markets, grocery stores, festivals, and other gatherings to tell people about the health benefits of watermelons.
Gilbert Miller of Clemson’s Edisto Research and Education Center is not only a Doctor of Plant and Environmental Sciences, but also president of the South Carolina Watermelon Association.
Watermelon breeders are developing new varieties each year, with over 1,200 different kinds currently grown around the world.
Amanda McNulty explains the trick to picking the perfect melon when giving it the "thump" test.
Oak trees serve as the larval food source for almost a thousand different caterpillars.
Amanda McNulty explains how making space for native plants in your yard can help restore North America's declining nesting bird population.
Caterpillars can only eat the leaves of certain native plants. Amanda McNulty offers ways to help build back North America's rapidly declining nesting bird population.
Boxwoods, azaleas, and crepe myrtles are lovely to look at, but are dead zones for caterpillars.
Host Amanda McNulty shares a shocking statistic regarding North America's bird population.
For those grieving the loss of a loved one, Amanda McNulty shares song lyrics that offer comfort and hope.
Host Amanda McNulty explores the significance of literary character Atticus Finch saying, 'It's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'
Amanda McNulty shares some U.S. history, as well as some family history, about the northern mockingbird.
Mocking birds get their name honestly – they can repeat all sorts of sounds, from creaking gates opening to dogs and sirens.
Mockingbirds are especially protective of their nests and remember the faces of those who agitate them.
Amanda McNulty shares tips on where to spot anoles, and how to coax one into performing an amusing parlor trick.
The male green anole is very territorial and puts on a showy display to attract his mates.
Host Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" explains how minding "tail autotomy" is key in catching an anole.
As spring arrives in South Carolina, our state's native lizard emerges in search of warm spots, which include the inside of Amanda McNulty's house.
Amanda McNulty's 19th-century home draws a variety of uninvited visitors, who are sometimes discovered in the most unusual places.
From the 'Pride of Augusta' to the swamp, there's a species of Yellow Jessamine for every occasion.
If you have a sunny area that needs a screen, look no further than our state flower, Carolina or yellow jessamine.
The flowers of yellow jessamine are powerfully sweet in fragrance, but deadly poisonous to many animals, including humans, and not a favorite of invertebrates.
Amanda McNulty shares a poem to prompt bird-lovers to set up their hummingbird feeders as these lovely little creatures return from their winter retreats.
The birds will be arriving any day now, expecting you to help them fatten up after their thousands of miles' flights home from Mexico and South America.
Bulbs from the amaryllidaceae family can be coaxed to bloom early, but host Amanda McNulty advises against using wax in the forcing process.
Myriad common names never stop for Zephyranthes, but according to Amanda McNulty, a couple make some sense.
Host Amanda McNulty explains the charming origins of the rain lily names 'Zephyranthes' and 'Atamasco.'
Host Amanda McNulty reflects on the beauty of one of the New World's native plants that is a member of the Amaryllis family
Discover how a wasp that doesn't sting and is the size of a sesame seed does grave damage to the invasive stinkbug.
The brown marmorated stink bug was first found on the East Coast in Pennsylvania in 2001.
An insect that's invasive to crops also invades structures, like Amanda McNulty's home.
Host Amanda McNulty discovers she's not the only one who finds her exterior paint color attractive
Learn how Spanish moss was an integral part of the automotive industry, and in particular, World War II.
Amanda McNulty continues her look at epiphytes and demonstrates her skill in pronouncing genus names.
Host Amanda McNulty shares how a plant with no roots helps its host plant conserve water and energy.
Learn about South Carolina's Lowcountry garland, Spanish moss, and how it survives without roots or soil.
Watering blooming holiday cacti is a bit tricky. Amanda McNulty offers helpful tips to keep your plant happy and healthy year-round.
Amanda McNulty shares helpful tips to ensure your Thanksgiving and Christmas cacti bloom beautifully
Amanda McNulty describes the leaf difference on these two epiphytes, and why caring for them is distinctly different than nurturing their desert-dwelling cousins.
Host Amanda McNulty gets creative with cacti as she prepares her table for holiday celebrations.
While visiting her dying mother, Amanda McNulty brought Chickie Wimberly to comfort, entertain, and provide fun stories for future visitors.
Amanda McNulty's family finds ways to make their holiday meals special by adding memorable main courses.
Host Amanda McNulty has a history of keeping unusual pets, including a chick hatched in her child's classroom.
Host Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" shares more childhood stories of her unusual pets, their favorite foods, and the foods she and her family enjoyed.
Host Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" shares a vivid childhood memory of one of the many unusual pets she and her brother used to keep.
Street litter attracts mosquitos, but mass spraying harms more than just this one pest.
While "Making It Grow" host Amanda McNulty is usually in favor of planting and growing, she draws the line at her bathroom tile.
Host Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" explains how the sweetbay magnolia helps sustain a variety of wildlife.
Host Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" explains her preference of the sweetbay magnolia over magnolia grandiflora, a.k.a. the southern magnolia.
Host Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" enjoys the scent of tea olives this time of year when she opens her windows for a cool evening breeze.
Although cattle egrets are in the same genus as herons, they have a much different diet than their fish-eating relatives.
Where do cattle egrets build their nests? Host Amanda McNulty points the way on this episode of Making it Grow.
What and where do cattle egrets like to eat? Host Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" explains that some of these birds have very exotic dinner guests at their table.
Are you familiar with cattle egrets? Host Amanda McNulty explains how to identify them on this episode of "Making It Grow."
Cattle egrets are fairly new to the U.S. Host Amanda McNulty explains how and when they arrived in our country.
Interested in canning your own foods but don't know where to begin? Amanda McNulty shares a helpful starting point.
With the renewed interest in home gardening comes a renewed interest in canning. Is your equipment properly calibrated?
If you have a family recipe for canning foods, Amanda McNulty shares some resources to ensure your process is safe.
Looking for new ways to preserve your garden's offerings? Host Amanda McNulty shares her favorite ways to can and a great resource for more delicious recipes.
Some family recipes have outdated canning procedures. Host Amanda McNulty offers a helpful resource to update your process to ensure health and safety at the dinner table.
Carpenter bees can't sip from the inside of a flower. Amanda McNulty explains their workaround and its effect on cross-pollination.
Can you tell the difference between a carpenter bee and a bumble bee? Amanda McNulty teaches you how.
While Amanda McNulty decorates the inside of her home, carpenter bees are also decorating just outside her front door.
Preparing corn off the cob is a labor of love, but well worth the effort, according to host Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow"
While in Los Angeles, host Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" experiences a conversion regarding grilled corn on the cob
From Silver Queen to even sweeter varieties, corn's optimal flavor is best when prepared this way...
How do you like your corn on the cob? Host Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" shares her favorite way to prepare this tasty summertime treat
Host Amanda McNulty visits Joshua Tree National Park, home of the Cottonwood Spring Oasis
Mountain Laurel has a fascinating pattern of twisting and turning branches, very decorative to look at but hard to maneuver through.
A relative of our beloved mountain laurel is Kalmia angustifolia, called white wicky or sheepkill.
Although the common name of Kalmia latifolia is mountain laurel, you can find this handsome evergreen native plant growing, often in thickets, from the mountains to the sea, including on South Carolina's Fort Jackson.
Kalmia Gardens in Hartsville was the creation of Mrs. D. R. Coker, affectionately called "Miss May."
At Kalmia Gardens, a northern type of mountain laurel, galax, and a specific witch hazel have persisted in that unusual ecosystem.
Cicadas are native to our area and have been coexisting with their ecosystems for eons and eons.
Residents of the Palmetto State won’t have to go too far to experience the emergence of maybe a billion periodic cicadas.
When Thomas Jefferson was president, there was an event that is finally repeating itself this year -- a concurrent emergence of two specific broods of periodic cicadas; and it won’t happen again until about another two hundred years.
Unlike some people these days, cicadas don’t have dating apps; they use sound to find a mate.
Naturalist Austin Jenkins talked to us recently about the periodic cicada emergence in South Carolina. Our state’s cicadas that will come out in huge numbers in the Piedmont are on a thirteen-year cycle.
The South Carolina Botanical Garden is a treasure located on the campus of Clemson University.
If you can eat those delicious pine nuts without trouble, you probably aren’t allergic to pine pollen.
Agriculture is the largest industry in South Carolina, with timber being by far the most valuable crop, and pines are the largest component of that.
Pine trees produce male pine cones on the lower part of the tree and female ones towards the top, a clever way to prevent self-fertilization.
There’s actually a scientific method to establish when pines will be releasing pollen: by keeping a record of the number of degree-days above 55° Fahrenheit after February 1st.
If you can safely leave dead branches or even a dead tree on your property, you could end up with at-risk birds happily cohabitating with you.
In part of our large yard, one area has three dozen mature pines. Occasionally one gets hit by lightning and dies, becoming a snag, and we leave them up.
The American kestrel, our smallest falcon, is a handsome bird easily seen as they perch on power lines looking for prey on the ground below or flying past them.
We know about the crisis of people without homes but there is also a crisis for cavity-nesting birds.
Host Amanda McNulty of Making It Grow sees the natural beauty of the Wateree floodplain during her daily commute.
Ladybug larvae, both native and imported, are described as looking like alligators. But, there's an important difference between the two...
Asian ladybug beetles prefer to come inside the part of the house that gets afternoon sun.
Asian ladybug beetles will eat damaged apples, grapes, or other fruits, sometimes creating ladybug wine taint.
Two vegetable scientists, Powell Smith and Mark Fortnum, traveled through South Carolina and Georgia on a search for old timey collard plants, especially ones in flower.
At the Coastal Research and Development Center 2023 brassica field day we saw a field with several hundred different collard green plants growing in it. There’re two major types of collards.
Nationally, South Carolina is the top state for producing turnips greens and second in collards, kale and mustard greens.
Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. There are 50 species of cotton in the genus Gossypium — basically they’re seeds with fibers attached. Only a few are commercially important.
I visually see changes in agriculture and society on my daily commute to Sumter. From the older compressed modular storage units of cotton, today’s extraordinarily complex cotton picking machines press the cotton into round units and wrap them in a protective covering before depositing them in the field, all the while continuing to pick cotton from the plants at the front of the machine.
Making It Grow celebrated thirty years of being on air with SCETV this year. The show was developed and hosted for much of that time by Rowland Alston, a Clemson Extension agent and son of an agent.
The early mechanical cotton pickers dumped their filled bins into carriers which were then emptied into wagons in the field. Workers drove these wagons to the gin daily and waited for hours as each was emptied and credited to the farmer.
This year's cotton crop seems phenomenal. It’s the closest thing to a snow-covered landscape I’m likely to see in these days of changing weather patterns.
Hickory tree leaves are the larval food source of two hundred moths or butterflies; and one is particular is spectacular in both the larval and adult stage.
For people, shelling them is a laborious process and the tools used include hammers, vises, and a peculiar item called the Texas York Nut Sheller.
Twenty some odd years ago, Edward and I dug up a hickory seedling on his family’s farm. The foot tall seedling had a six-foot long tap root that fortunately took a turn and didn’t go straight down. We brought it home and heeled it in near the house.
One of the most beautiful of fall trees is the hickory. With leaves the color of slightly browned butter it is quite a standout.
Magnolia grandiflora, our southern magnolia with large, glossy leaves is part of many nature-based decorations for holidays and special occasions.
The relatively modest Christmas decorations at Historic Columbia’s Robert Mills House reflect what would have been accurate during the 1820’s.
Our dear departed friend Extension agent Tony Melton grew up on the sandy soils of McBee. Although those soils grow great peaches, they did not produce plentiful crops. Tony said Christmas was special for his family but, with eight children, presents were minimal.
The holiday decorations at Colonial Williamsburg are knock your socks off beautiful, but not historically accurate. Christmas decorations weren’t a big deal during those early times and citrus and pineapples would have been prohibitively expensive.
Christmas morning was a magical time for the three McNulty kids who lived on Woodleigh Road in Columbia.
At the South Carolina Botanical Garden, the goal is not just to offer visitors a rich experience in seeing a wide panoply of native and introduced plants that grow in three hundred acres which duplicate ecosystems from across the state, but they also preserve and protect endangered plants.
Recently we filmed a segment about so called carnivorous plants with Trent Miller, manager of the Natural Heritage Gardens at the South Carolina Botanical Gardens at Clemson.
Recently, we went to the South Carolina Botanical Garden to film their newest project – the Birding Garden. The people who take up birding are dedicated and persistent, the garden staff noticed that every morning binocular-laden folks were gathering in a particular place below the Visitor’s Center, scanning the tree line for views of year-round or migratory avians.
Our small state has wildly divergent plant communities and the Botanical Garden’s topography and soil types allows many of these to be replicated. At the garden, experts in ecology, conservation, botany, woody and herbaceous plants teach core classes.
The South Carolina Botanical Garden is on the Clemson campus but since 1992 has been designated as the State Botanical Garden.
At a home in Saint Matthews, dating from 1880, the yard is now naturalized. But in the fall, you can see where the formal beds from probably a century ago were the planted. Almost overnight, usually after a good, drenching rain, twelve to fifteen inch tall brilliant red spider lilies, Lycoris radiata, pop up and continue blooming for almost a month.
I don’t think the person who gave the common name Hurricane Lily to what I’ve always called spider lilies, Lycoris radiata, meant to cast aspersions on them.
Another Lycoris species often found in older gardens has a wonderfully amusing common name – Naked Lady Lily, Lycoris squamigera
Bitter sneezeweed is a wide spread native plant — and staying with sneezing, there are lots of ideas about that.
Bitter sneezeweed was used as a type of dry snuff by some native populations to induce sneezing to drive out evil spirits or help clear head colds.
The side of the road flowers are making me pay more attention to soil types as I drive from St. Matthews to Sumter.
If you want a wildflower area in a place you can’t water, some of these sneezeweed cultivars would be perfect to use.
Amanda McNulty discusses crotalaria spectabilis, a yellow flower commonly known as rattlebox.
Black-eyed Susans, Rudbeckia hirta, are native biennial or perennial wildflowers with many cultivars grown by gardeners.
Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. In the winter time, cooking a frozen pizza is my easy go to supper. We have a gas stove, which adds heat to the kitchen, so I never turn it on in summer if I can help it. Hot weather suppers revolve around vegetable sandwiches, cucumber or tomato. White bread, peeled sliced cukes or maters, lots of mayonnaise. There’re lots of discussions about what kind of mayonnaise, all made more complicated by other concoctions similar looking to that white stuff in a jar, wildly different tastes. Most people I ask say they use what their momma’s used -- my mother didn’t even put mayonnaise in the refrigerator, maybe the acidity in the tomatoes saved us from potential food poisoning. Now I see recipes calling for – get ready for this --bacon mayonnaise. More on that to come.
The chewing gum industry in North American exploded when chicle, the latex like substance from sapodilla trees, was introduced to America in the 1870s.
Resin from trees in the spruce genus was the source of the first commercial gum in our country, State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum.
Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight? Some people do save their gum but prefer not to stick on the bed post. Fortunately, you can find adorable gum parkers.
Birthdays, anniversaries, various milestones – all reasons for getting together. When having fun time flies and that’s just what’s snuck up on Making It Grow, we’ve been on the air for thirty years.
When it comes to popcorn garlands, you would think you'd just string popcorn and that would be that. But with the internet, there's step-by-step directions
Popcorn isn't just one particular variety; apparently there are tons of different popcorns out there
The U. S. Department of Agriculture is not just a place for the latest and best research on crops, diseases, and insect pests. While looking for information on popcorn, I came across the site for popcorn on the USDA History Library.
In my part of the state, farmers plant large fields of sunflowers to attract mourning doves during the legal hunting season.
Among some of the sayings associated with sunflowers from the Teton Dakota tribes is, "When the sunflowers were tall and in full bloom, the buffaloes were fat and the meat good."
Annual sunflowers are important in the cut flower industry and grown commercially for cooking oil and for seeds eaten by humans and birds.
The annual sunflower is native to North America and was widely used by early indigenous people as food, a source for dyes, and lots of medicinal purposes.
My mother decided to be modern in cooking and discovered premade stuffing mixes. The bread based one had herbs in it and that’s what I grew up having at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Carolina aromatic rice should be kept in the freezer – along with South Carolina corn meal, grits, and other locally sourced items that make mealtime so pleasurable.
For some peculiar reason, I’d never heard of corn bread in buttermilk for lunch until we went to a laundromat in Atlanta next to an old-fashioned drug store and sat next to a gentleman who ordered that.
Most southerners make corn bread in cast iron skillets as the crust you get is superior.
Back in the day, when Silver Queen sweet corn became widely available, it was transformational for corn on the cob lovers. Sweet corn differs from field corn it the actual amount of sugar versus starch it contains when mature.
If you are fortunate enough to have a farming friend who plants lots of sweet corn and lets you come pick it, you’ll learn how to choose the best ears.
In those days, Silver Queen was the finest sweet corn available, and a relative grew several acres of that for friends to come and pick.
Most grits you get to cook are from regular modern field corn, and they can be delicious. But make some choices for the best results – don’t even think about cooking (is it even cooking?) instant grits.
One native milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa, called butterfly weed, was super attractive to all sorts of bees, while common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca was the red-headed stepchild and completely ignored.
Monarch butterflies are specialists which puts them at a certain risk. Their larva can only eat milkweed plants – with habitat destruction and the use of certain herbicides on large acreages of crops, milkweed plants, once common across the country, have vastly diminished.
When we were filming the pollinator garden at Irmo Middle School, kids were throwing balls and racing around after their lunch break. Another athletic skill some students develop is based on activity in the garden, trying to capture adult butterflies with insect nets. Monarchs get a sticker applied to a spot on their wing, tags supplied by the national Monarch Watch tagging program.
At the Irmo Middle School, maypops, Passiflora incarnata, found their way to the pollinator garden without being planted. Probably they started when a songbird, many of which love maypop seeds, flipped its tail and deposited that seed when it landed in a shrub growing there.
We visited Irmo Middle School recently to see their pollinator garden. Originally started by science teacher Will Green to help migrating monarch’s use their only larval food source, milkweed, on their trip back to Mexico for the winter, this garden evolved into a teaching facility.
Sometimes laurel thickets are called laurel hells and there are tall tales in the Appalachian Mountains about men and hunting dogs getting lost in them never to be seen again.
Although the common name of Kalmia latifolia is mountain laurel, you can find this handsome evergreen native plant growing, often in thickets, from the mountains to the sea.
Kalmia Gardens in Hartsville was the creation of Mrs. D. R. Coker, affectionately called Miss May. The property, originally owned by the Hart Family who built the 1820’s structure, had become a dump during the depression. Coker dedicated herself to turning a garbage heap into a free, public garden.
Recently, our team went to Hartsville and filmed at Kalmia Gardens. Director Dan Hill took us down the slope on that property which drops sixty feet to Black Creek. Several plants there are glacial relicts – they moved down ahead of the glaciers during the Pleistocene era.
In cockscomb celosia the fasciation trait is reliably carried in the seeds. Cactus plants also seem to spontaneously develop this peculiar growth habit.
Herrick Brown, now the curator of the A C Moore Herbarium at U S C, visited us recently with eye-popping examples of fasciation in plants.
A native weedy plant, Eupatorium cappilifolium has the common name of dog fennel as supposedly the peculiar smell of crushed stems and leaves is attractive to dogs.
Flowers, of course, are supposed to be perfect and just cut but an arrangement of just flowers can be rather dull – but add an interesting stick or branch to grab your attention and you’ll stop to smell the roses, so to speak.
Herrick Brown is the new curator of the A C Moore Herbarium at the University of South Carolina, taking over from our friend Dr. John – a k a Dr. John Nelson. Fasciation was the feature of some specimens Herrick brought to Making It Grow recently – a weird type of plant growth when the something goes awry in the apical meristem – the specialized group of cells at the tip of a plant –and instead of elongating they flatten out and divide.
The glorious deep purple Judge Solomon Southern Indica hybrid azalea graces many Southern gardens and the drive into our prized national treasure Brookgreen Gardens.
Brookgreen Gardens is a national treasure with stunning, sometimes whimsical sculptures set in acres of horticulture splendor. Not long ago, I was visiting, and although beautiful at any time of the year, the long drive in was breathtaking as the Formosa and Judge Solomon, both purple pink but with a subtle difference, were in full flower.
I went to Brookgreen Gardens recently where the drive in was at peak beauty with the Indica azaleas in full bloom. Some of the old Indica azaleas are named for people with curious histories.
When I was young, Momma would sometimes ride us around to look at the beauty of springtime in Columbia. People tended to have the same plants in their yards – backbones of spring beauty were the Southern Indica azaleas, with the scientific name Rhododendrum indicum.
Lonicera sempervirens is a native, non-aggressive honeysuckle wonderfully attractive to pollinators, including hummingbirds and butterflies.
For a home garden, you may want a medium-sized trellis as it tends to flower at the ends of vines.
Clematis armandii, named ‘Apple Blossom’ has buds that are a lovely soft pink, and even when the flowers open, the lower part of the petals retain that color against the pure white center.
Swamp jessamine doesn’t have the sweet fragrance of yellow jessamine, but it blooms in the spring and the fall.
Common seedling redbuds can grow to twenty feet pretty quickly and that makes it hard for me to reach the flowers which are at the ends of the branches.
Redbuds make our woodlands beautiful with their early purple/pink flowers. Breeders have gone to town with this native and all sorts of cultivars are available.
Cercis canadensis, our native eastern redbud, is an early bloomer. With protein rich pollen and sweet nectar, it’s an important food source for many native bees, including the blueberry bumble bee.
When people from the the Mediterranean areas of Europe came to North America and saw native redbuds, they called them by the familiar name of Judas tree.
Well, as soon as you think you’re giving the right information, you find something that makes you back track. Our native redbuds prefer partial shade but driving down Devine Street in Columbia recently, I marveled at the beauty of the redbuds growing in absolute full sun.
Cercis canadenis, redbuds are in bloom in South Carolina and what a distinctive and lovely understory tree they are.
Like many birds, they also enjoy fruits and berries, in season, which are a consistent part of their diet.
Male sapsuckers spend several weeks drilling out a nesting cavity, preferring trees with heart-rot fungus if possible as they are softer to drill into.
If you are worried about a tree used by sapsuckers, you can wrap small gauge chicken wire or such around the trunk.
Amazingly migratory, this bird nests in our part of the country as well as in Alaska and Canada and drills sap wells into trees, over years they are lined up perfectly above the depressions of earlier drilling.
This is the only woodpecker that doesn’t actively drill in tree trunks looking for insects to eat
Well, the poor yellow-bellied sapsucker gets a bad rap, as it sounds like these are cowardly birds when really their name comes from their attractive, light yellow breast.
It is a day of joy when my puppy Blue and I walk with my friend Ann Nolte. She and her husband Hank Stallworth live on a portion of what was his family farm.
In my home county of Calhoun, a heavily irrigated farming area, the aquifer is dropping, and many people are having to redrill their wells, so this is not just a west coast problem.
If trash is not removed from the LA river culvert, it goes straight into the Pacific Ocean.
We know from our storm water experts, that when water flows over soil, many of the pollutants can be removed and microbes in the ground can safely decompose them. In the case of the Los Angeles River, everything goes right into the Pacific Ocean.
There is now a movement to enhance any space on the LA river that could be considered an urban park where people could get a glimpse of nature in a profoundly densely-packed city.
During the twenties, thirties and through the forties tons of asparagus vegetables were shipped to northern markets.
When Hurricane Hugo came through South Carolina, Sumter County was really hit hard. The magnificent Swan Lake Gardens lost several hundred pine trees exposing camellias and azaleas to unwelcome sunlight. But only a few bald cypresses were lost. If you come across a young bald cypress, shake it and you’ll find that is flexible, even adult trees are not brittle like pines.
Dendrochronology is the study of information obtained from tree ring growth. It is used in several different fields – archaeologists can date wooden artifacts, dendrologist – tree scientists – can use tree rings to determine the local climate. But perhaps the most interesting is climate science.
You can easily see large majestic bald cypress trees if you walk the boardwalk at the Congaree National Park. But retired DNR wildlife biologist John Cely who has explored the Park extensively, you might enjoy his blogs (at Friends of the Congaree Swamp) had found large cypress inaccessible except by boat and took Professor Dave Stahle, the world’s expert on bald cypress, to that area.
I attended an outdoor lecture at the Congaree National Park last month, an appropriate site as Dave Stahle, Professor of Geography at the University of Arkansas, and the world’s authority on bald cypress gave the talk, and the Park is home to the state-record holding cypress tree. Stahle takes very small and minimally damaging core samples from trees and studies them to age trees and document climate change -- he has sampled trees that are two thousand years old.
If you feel cramped or overwhelmed, you should visit the Congaree National Park right outside of Columbia. Of its 26,000 acres, the core protected area is fifteen thousand acres.
"Amaryllis" have hollow stems and you need to take certain steps if using them as cut flowers.
There are a zillion different amaryllis cultivars out there – a plethora of colors and flower shapes – singles or doubles, extra large or some smaller options. They make the best show in a garden if grouped and need about a foot of space between each large-sized bulb.
In mid-spring when all danger of frost is over, you can move your potted amaryllis plants outside to a partly shaded area.
In most parts of South Carolina, holiday amaryllis bulbs can be added to your garden or the front of shrub beds when all chance of frost is over. For successful transplanting, keep the indoor plant healthy and growing after it flowers to replenish or build back that bulb.
If you have amaryllis bulbs (actually the genus is Hippeastrum but we’re never going to call them that) blooming in your house over the holidays, you can take some steps to keep them healthy.
The magnificent flowering plants we call amaryllis, so popular as indoor plants during the holidays, really aren’t in the genus Amaryllis but rather Hippeastrum.
Hickory tree leaves are the larval food source of two hundred moths or butterflies; and one is particular is spectacular in both the larval and adult stage.
For people, shelling them is a laborious process and the tools used include hammers, vises, and a peculiar item called the Texas York Nut Sheller.
Twenty some odd years ago, Edward and I dug up a hickory seedling on his family’s farm. The foot tall seedling had a six-foot long tap root that fortunately took a turn and didn’t go straight down. We brought it home and heeled it in near the house.
One of the most beautiful of fall trees is the hickory. With leaves the color of slightly browned butter it is quite a standout.
Black cottonwood, Populas balsamifera, is a species variation of cottonwood that grows from the western tip of Canada down to Montana and through part of Texas.
Cottonwoods, Populus deltoides, are dioecious, male flowers and female flowers are found on separate trees. The common name comes from the incredible mass of fluff that the female seed pods produce when they open. The seeds are tiny and the cottony material containing them is a great dispersal method.
I personally have never seen a cottonwood in any other setting but they can grow in a myriad of conditions, making them good trees for reclamation sites.
The Friends of the Congaree Swamp is a conservation organization that plans trail cleanups, makes recommendations to South Carolina DHEC when appropriate, and is dedicated to the conservation of this treasured part of South Carolina’s ecology; the newsletters they share keep us abreast of current affairs and upcoming opportunities.
Our state has lost a remarkable citizen, Charleston gardener and hostess Patti McGee. Her love of gardening originated under her mother’s tutelage in Marion, South Carolina. Her husband Peter was supportive of constant tweaking and additions to their Anson Street property. McGee’s inquisitive mind and love of new people as well as plants, made her beloved by both the artistic and gardening community.
The recently deceased Patti McGee was known as a gracious hostess and accomplished gardener not only in South Carolina.
The recently deceased Patti McGee was known as a gracious hostess and accomplished gardener not only in South Carolina.
The recently deceased Patti McGee was known as a gracious hostess and accomplished gardener not only in South Carolina.
If you go to Clemson’s Home and Garden Information Center and search for "Selecting a Christmas Tree, Fact sheet 1750," you will find a list of all types of trees and tell you the complexity or lack of fragrance, how strong the branches are, shades of green with certain hues, and how well the needles hold on.
If you search “South Carolina Christmas Tree Association,” you’ll find ways of locating a farm near you. Click on “Member Farms” for the address, hours, types of trees available, and other services like premade garlands.
If you get a locally grown tree, the carbon footprint is as small as a reindeer’s print in the snow. On the other hand, artificial trees are made of plastic, and the carbon footprint travels from the oil fields to the manufacturer, the retailer and to your home.
When my children were little, going to get a Christmas tree was a great family adventure. With eleven-foot ceilings, we wanted a great big tree and kept a bamboo pole as a guide and we’d strap it to the top of the car to take in the field with us.
This plant's unusual leaves, similar in texture and appearance to yucca, are thick and stringy and deer and rabbits tend to avoid it – remember nothing is absolutely deer proof, but you certainly couldn’t go wrong trying it in your pollinator garden.
Rattlesnake master's slender flower stalks, topped with inch-wide inflorescences, makes a great contrast to other flowers in an arrangement and can be left tall and still be graceful.
Another of its pollinators are the predatory wasps who capture insects to line soil cavities or stems as paralyzed, but living , food for their young. Most are solitary wasps who are not especially aggressive to us.
Many people get most excited about butterflies on their pollinator plants, but Eryngium yuccafolium, flowering late summer, perhaps attracts a larger diversity of visitors than almost any other insect magnet. According to the Xerces society website --bumble bees, yellow-faced bees, sweet bees, multiple beetles and dozens of fly species.
By collecting the plant leaves' tough long fibrous veins, indigenous people could weave them to make moccasins and baskets, a better use than relying on the sap or root concoctions to treat snake bites.
This common name comes from the belief that the roots could cure rattlesnake bites - don’t try it!
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration planted over two hundred million osage orange trees in hedges across the Midwest measuring over 18,000 miles.
The dried wood of osage orange is prized for firewood as it has the highest BTU on charts that rank that property among native trees.
The spread of Maclura pomifera, aka osage orange or bodark tree, from the relatively small Red River drainage system to 48 states was due not just it’s importance to native Americans.
An inspection by a certified arborist can help prevent losing your shade trees and perhaps having one fall on your house,
An inspection by a certified arborist can help prevent losing your shade trees and perhaps having one fall on your house,
An inspection by a certified arborist can help prevent losing your shade trees and perhaps having one fall on your house,
Trees react to tsevere internal pruning by adding lots of small leaf covered shoots at the ends of branches. New research reveals this actually makes the trees become susceptible to damage from strong winds
Trees react to tsevere internal pruning by adding lots of small leaf covered shoots at the ends of branches. New research reveals this actually makes the trees become susceptible to damage from strong winds
Trees react to tsevere internal pruning by adding lots of small leaf covered shoots at the ends of branches. New research reveals this actually makes the trees become susceptible to damage from strong winds
The University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry predicts that tropical storms and hurricanes will now be slower moving by 20 percent, and have 24 percent more rainfall. Your trees will be experiencing stronger winds and saturated soils, increasing the chances of their being blown over.
The University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry predicts that tropical storms and hurricanes will now be slower moving by 20 percent, and have 24 percent more rainfall. Your trees will be experiencing stronger winds and saturated soils, increasing the chances of their being blown over.
The University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry predicts that tropical storms and hurricanes will now be slower moving by 20 percent, and have 24 percent more rainfall. Your trees will be experiencing stronger winds and saturated soils, increasing the chances of their being blown over.
The range of black vultures is expanding rapidly across the south and creating problems for homes and also for parked automobiles.
You can easily distinguish between our two local vultures if you see them in flight. The slightly larger turkey vulture has a V-shaped wing pattern when soaring; the black vulture’s wings are held out straight and have white feathers at the tips.
Our native turkey vulture has almost no negative consequences associated with its behavior. Due to its amazing sense of smell, it can locate decaying animal remains from a mile away, even under trees.
These birds in flight have a V-shaped wing structure easy to spot as they are usually seen soaring in the sky, teetering slightly. The turkey vulture is truly nature’s vacuum cleaner.
Nature’s evolutionarily perfect scavengers, our vultures, are Johnny on the spot to deal with roadkill.
I have an uplifting ride to work as I pass the Fort Motte Garden Club Garden Spot, the Pollinator Friendly Garden maintained by Nina Mack, Julia Wolfe and friends, and then I go down a hill to cross the Congaree River and check out its water flow.
In the United States we have vultures – the black and turkey vultures in the southeast and the California condor out in the Golden State, each in a different genus but the same family.
The annual Sunbelt Ag expo in Moultrie, Georgia, allows growers to see the most up-to-date farming technology in the country. In addition to acres of exhibits, the organizers also select the Swisher Farmers of the Year for Southeastern states.
One of the features at U S C’s A C Moore Herbarium that I find fascinating is at their website.
Another of the native orchids Herrick Brown, curator of the A C Moore Herbarium at U S C talked about when he joined us for a program was the rattlesnake plantain.
Orchids in South Carolina? Yes, we do have orchids although they have their own special charm which is more subtle than some of the drop dead gorgeous tropical species.
Dr. Herrick Brown, the curator at the A. C. Moore Herbarium, will help identify plants for you...
It may be that fireflies first started glowing to warn off predators that they contain a toxin and taste horrible.
Once you discover the natural phenomena of our diverse state ecosystems, your world gets wider and wider without leaving home.
When I was young, we had lots of fireflies in our Columbia backyard in the summer. But when we went to camp or my grandparent’s summer retreat in Saluda, North Carolina, the numbers seemed exponentially greater.
Agent Carmen Ketron, recently on our SCETV program Making It Grow, told us she’d seen the synchronous firefly display at the Congaree National Park. This phenomenon occurs at the end of May or early June for about two weeks every year.
Our state and nation owe Harry Hampton a great debt for his love of wildlife and years of work promoting that the Beidler Tract not be logged but instead preserved as what is now the Congaree National Park.
It wasn’t until Russian Mennonites came to the northern parts of the US and Canada in the late nineteenth century that sunflowers became a crop of interest in the US.
The list of other birds that relish these seeds is lengthy, a short list includes ring-necked pheasants, quail bobolinks, goldfinches, meadowlarks, nuthatches and tufted titmice.
The N R S C Plant guide for sunflowers is fascinating. Among some of the sayings associated with sunflowers from the Teton Dakota tribes is “When the sunflowers were tall and in full bloom, the buffaloes were fat and the meat good.” Many tribes recognized the value of an infusion of sunflowers to treat chest pains.
Annual sunflowers, important in the cut flower industry, are grown commercially for seeds eaten by humans and birds, and for cooking oil. Sunflowers are one of the few important food crops that originated in north America.
The annual sunflower, Helianthus annuus, is native to North America and was widely used by early indigenous people as a food, a source for dyes, and numerous medicinal purposes.
Sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine. a major agricultural crop, until recently grown on one hundred sixty million acres, and most of it processed for oil. Some think the Ukraine flag represents a blue sky over a field of yellow sunflowers.
Clemson’s Ag and Art Tour, from mid-May through June, features farms, art venues and more in eleven counties is a wonderful way to expose your children to farm animals, vegetables growing in fields, and the results of artists’ creativity.
We are proud of our farmers and artist, but to be real, we aren’t Iowa or New York city for either group. But sometimes smaller means more exclusive and unique and that’s absolutely true for Clemson’s Ag and Art Tours coming up in May through June.
We paid a sneak visit to Fox Hideaway Farms, one of Richland Counties stops for the Clemson Ag and Art Tours taking place from mid-May to the end of June.
Clemson’s Ag and Art Tours when you can visit local farms and even some artists’ studios, is free on weekends from mid-May to the end of June.
Will Culler of Clemson’s Agri-business team heads South Carolina’s Ag and Art Tour, the largest in the nation. What a great way to visit local farms and let your kids see where their food comes from.
Gosh, it’s astonishing how many people have gotten into growing or wanting to grow some of their own food since we changed our lifestyles because of Covid. When I was young, my parents planted a couple of tomato plants in the landscape beds, and we had tomatoes galore. With new pests and changes in our climate, growing has become more difficult. Clemson Agent Zake Snipes, a vegetable specialist who grows produce all summer in the heat of the Charleston area is offering a free, on-line, self-paced program to help those who want to explore perhaps a market garden or hobby farm. Called Farming Foundations, participants will learn about soil testing, fertility, irrigation, record keeping, and even tools and safety issues. If you search Farming Foundations Clemson, you’ll get to the website. And get ready for some delicious BLTs.
Hello, I’m Amanda McNutly with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. As a young child, I began using U S C’s McKissick Museum - at that time it was a library. Today its mission statement includes these words “The University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum fosters awareness and appreciation for the diversity of the region’s culture, history, and natural environment.” When the state of Pearl Fryar’s topiary garden and Mr. Fryar’s health was brought to director Jane Przybysz attention, she began work on a way to preserve this regional and national treasure. Eventually, with cooperation with the Atlanta Botanical Garden, the museum got funding for a topiary artist in residence – I’m sure that’s a first, and Mike Gibson, a self-taught and self-described property artist, is working with Fryar in his Bishopville garden. McKissick is to me an overlooked treasure for our state, please visit it on the old horseshoe.
When Pearl Fryar was transferred from being a plant manager up north to being an assistant plant manager in Bishopville, he was unable to buy property or a house in many parts of town. Despite these slights, he eventually turned his landscape on the outskirts of Bishopville into a topiary garden celebrated internationally. The theme of his garden was and is to this day love and open to one and all. He also supported scholarships for average students who otherwise wouldn’t have gotten higher education. His ability to spot potential even had him retrieving plants that had been discarded from nurseries and giving them new life in his garden.
Team Making It Grow traveled to Charleston recently to the small garden behind St. John’s Reformed Episcopal Church. During a Spoleto outreach project many years ago, this garden showcasing two of national artists’ unique skills was installed. A master of iron work design and craftsmanship, Phillip Simmons, created unique and appropriate gates and wall openings. Topiary artist Pearl Fryar designed a small but exquisite example of his unique artistry. A committee of the Garden Club of Charleston has been tending this garden but recently took lessons in Fryar’s techniques from Mike Gibson to learn some of the specific techniques. The McKissick Museum at U S C got a grant to hire Mike Gibson, a self-described property artist, to work and learn from Fryar in his Bishopville garden, as that world-renowned topiary artist is aging and limited in his activities.
Clemson Agent Zake Snipes, a vegetable specialist who grows produce all summer in the heat of the Charleston area is offering a free, on-line, self-paced program to help those who want to explore perhaps a market garden or hobby farm.
Lonicera sempervirens is a native, non-aggressive honeysuckle wonderfully attractive to pollinators, including hummingbirds and butterflies.
For a home garden, you may want a medium-sized trellis as it tends to flower at the ends of vines.
Clematis armandii, named ‘Apple Blossom’ has buds that are a lovely soft pink, and even when the flowers open, the lower part of the petals retain that color against the pure white center.
Swamp jessamine doesn’t have the sweet fragrance of yellow jessamine, but it blooms in the spring and the fall.
When COVID shut down many activities centered in the urban garden area, the staff started making flower arrangements and putting them out for medical professionals to pick up on their way to their workspaces. Eventually, as part of the goal of horticultural therapy, the grounds crew began collecting flowers, greenery, and grasses and letting people gather safely outdoors to make arrangements.
The Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston has embraced the mission of making its campus an integral part of its health and wellness goals and is a certified arboretum.
The grounds crew at the Medical University of South Carolina designs and maintains a calming and relaxing campus setting, with passive and active outdoor activities. Besides their horticultural expertise, certain members of are trained in horticultural therapy to serve a diverse in-patient clientele.
At the Medical University of South Carolina the grounds crew strives to make the campus a stress relieving space not only for persons coming for appointments but also urban dwellers who are welcome to stroll the grounds. A good place to start is the Urban Farm.
Who in the world would want to go the hospital for a relaxing, refreshing experience? Well, people who know about the remarkable campus at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, that’s who.
The South Carolina Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program ( S A R E) gives small grants for educational events that train the trainer.
Beeturia is the name for the process by which fresh beets turn your urine and stools dark; it affects about fifteen percent of people.
I’ve found a recipe from Watsonia Farms, a large producer of organic vegetables, that really intrigues me.. It's called crispy baked asparagus.
When I was first offered huge, fat asparagus, I demurred but after tasting them quickly converted to a super colossal fan. Since they are picked every day, large asparagus are just as tender but come from a larger root shoot.
During the twenties, thirties and through the forties tons of asparagus vegetables were shipped to northern markets.
My husband’s mother, born in 1901, said that when she was young and sat down at the dinner table with her numerous brothers, sisters, maiden aunts, parents and guests, the children often gave out a collective groan when the cooks appeared with platters of asparagus. “Oh, Momma, asparagus again!”
When Hurricane Hugo came through South Carolina, Sumter County was really hit hard. The magnificent Swan Lake Gardens lost several hundred pine trees exposing camellias and azaleas to unwelcome sunlight. But only a few bald cypresses were lost. If you come across a young bald cypress, shake it and you’ll find that is flexible, even adult trees are not brittle like pines. The ones in water with their interlacing knees have a giant support system in play protecting them against strong winds, even hurricanes. In ice storms, they again have an advantage over pines as they are deciduous and have no needles for the ice to accumulate on and cause the trunks to break. You can grow bald cypress in a regular landscape – they don’t make knees in ordinary soils – just buy a bale of long-leaf pinestraw for mulch.
Dendrochronology is the study of information obtained from tree ring growth. It is used in several different fields – archaeologists can date wooden artifacts, dendrologist – tree scientists – can use tree rings to determine the local climate. But perhaps the most interesting is climate science. Professor Dave Stahle of the University of Arkansas told us at his talk at the Congaree National Park that the Lost Colony, called that because none of the original settlers survived, was ill-fated due to several factors but one fact that scientists have established is that those people who were trying to grow crops to feed themselves had no chance of a good harvest as they sadly were dealing with the drought of fifteen eighty-seven through sixteen hundred. Tree ring analysis shows that fifteen eighty-seven was the driest year in eight hundred years.
You can easily see large majestic bald cypress trees if you walk the boardwalk at the Congaree National Park. But retired DNR wildlife biologist John Cely who has explored the Park extensively, you might enjoy his blogs (at Friends of the Congaree Swamp) had found large cypress inaccessible except by boat and took Professor Dave Stahle, the world’s expert on bald cypress, to that area. Professor Stahle took tree cores from the largest of those trees to get information on their age and the climate they had grown in for probably over a thousand years. The oldest cypress trees Dr. Stahle has found are in the Black River preserve in North Carolina and are over 2,000 years old. The size of bald cypress doesn’t necessarily indicate their age; ones that grow in nutrient poor wet soils grow slowly.
I attended an outdoor lecture at the Congaree National Park last month, an appropriate site as Dave Stahle, Professor of Geography at the University of Arkansas, and the world’s authority on bald cypress gave the talk, and the Park is home to the state-record holding cypress tree. Stahle takes very small and minimally damaging core samples from trees and studies them to age trees and document climate change -- he has sampled trees that are two thousand years old. The science of dendrochronology is studying information derived from tree ring growth. These ring samples allow to date exactly what years had normal, above normal, or subnormal rainfall as the rings are larger or very small depending on how much the tree grew. In our part of the country, bald cypress are the oldest trees and provide the most information.
If you feel cramped or overwhelmed, you should visit the Congaree National Park right outside of Columbia. Of its 26,000 acres, the core protected area is fifteen thousand acres.
You can easily see large majestic bald cypress trees if you walk the boardwalk at the Congaree National Park. But retired DNR wildlife biologist John Cely who has explored the Park extensively, you might enjoy his blogs (at Friends of the Congaree Swamp) had found large cypress inaccessible except by boat and took Professor Dave Stahle, the world’s expert on bald cypress, to that area. Professor Stahle took tree cores from the largest of those trees to get information on their age and the climate they had grown in for probably over a thousand years. The oldest cypress trees Dr. Stahle has found are in the Black River preserve in North Carolina and are over 2,000 years old. The size of bald cypress doesn’t necessarily indicate their age; ones that grow in nutrient poor wet soils grow slowly.
If you go to mig.org and watch the Nov. 9 show, you’ll learn about Food Share and how getting fresh food to people became even more critical during the pandemic. When people get their box every other week, they get recipes, too. Forty percent of us have gained weight during the pandemic; lack of exercise, eating “comfort foods,” and finding it harder to get fresh foods. The meal we cooked on that show was delicious, and I looked at the Food Share website to see if I could find more recipes. Boy, oh, boy -- what a treasure trove. I’m going to start fixing some of these meals, get healthier suppers for my family, and expand my repertoire and recharge my interest in cooking at the same time. Who can resist “garlic smashed sweet potatoes with parmesan cheese?”
Christa Gonzalez of U S C Medical School, Columbia, joined Clemson’s Rural Health Agent Ellie Lane on a recent sMaking It Grow program talking about how access to fresh food and its preparation are critical for our citizens’ health. One in eight South Carolinians has been diagnosed with diabetes and each year a larger percentage joins that group. Gonzalez and Lane talked about the Food Share program available in most of our state – every two weeks participants get a box of fresh food – and recipes on how to prepare healthy meals with those items. Gonzalez leads the culinary medicine program at the medical school in Columbia –all students get some instruction in that topic. Extension’s Rural Health agents have on-going programs helping people control diabetes and hypertension; knowing about Food share can be part of that work.
Food Share began in Canada and has now spread across our country as the need for affordable fresh, healthy food has become more critical. Food deserts affect many rural or inner-city areas, and with the pandemic, all these problems have been exacerbated. Thanks the U S C school of Medicine, a grant from Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and a cadre of local volunteers, people in many areas can get a small or large box of fresh, healthy food every two weeks. Two persons involved came to Sumter recently to explain how citizens with chronic health problems can make improvements to their lives using this program -- and we fixed a delicious, healthy meal from a Food share box. If you’d like to see that episode, go to mig.org and watch the Nov. ninth show.
Spartanburg Extension horticulturist Drew Jeffers joined Making It Grow recently to discuss the South Carolina Certified Landscape Professional certification program. Extension experts present self-paced, on-line trainings on such topics as turf selection and maintenance, proper planting techniques, tree selection and installation, disease and insect identification and control, as well as irrigation and environmentally sustainable practices.
One older lady told me she was hesitant to try it but ended up going back for a second helping.
World-renown geneticist, Clemson’s Stephen Kresovich, and other research faculty will combine their crop-breeding talents to develop varieties that will allow South Carolina farmers to produce vegetables in the face of extreme changes in temperatures, rain and drought challenges, and other environmental pressures.
Clemson and the Swink family are joining forces to combat this problem. The family has made a gift of three million dollars to develop vegetables with resistance to higher temperatures and other factors that limit yield.
In recent years, changes in climate have resulted in high night-time temperatures and dramatically reduced the fruit set of many of our important vegetable crops. When it is seventy-five degrees or higher at night, many crops will not pollinate – there maybe vigorous, well-tended plants in the field that are covered with flowers, but the pollination process is impeded by those high thermometer readings.