From the Top Down
January 9, 2017
I love children and I love plants in that order. After caring for many children for many years, I pursued a degree in horticulture touting, "plants don't talk back."
Surprise!
Plants communicate and 'talk back' under adverse conditions.
This morning I admired the highest branches of the tallest tree catching the first morning light. Being first often, but not always results in special advantage.
During the growing season, plants have the ability to produce their own food through the process of photosynthesis. A quick refresher is that plants use carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight to produce food (used by the plant) and oxygen (released into the air). Remember the terms from our elementary days: photosynthesis (plant food production process), chlorophyll (the substance in leaves that makes them green), and glucose (plant food)? Photosynthesis benefits individual leaves and at the same time, helps keep the entire plant alive. It's a two-way street moving water from the roots up into the plant and translocating food produced in the leaves to the roots.
The basics make sense.
It's so basic, we shouldn't utter, "Aha!" when we see what happens if the leaves at the top or the roots at the base stop the flow.
Now, let's imagine the leaves and roots are people. "Aha!"
[Carolyn Fjeran, LowTide explorer/reflective writer; horticulturist & gardener; former writer for Cooperative Extension Service, Master Gardeners, and The Newnan Times-Herald - see more posts at https://lowtideexplorer.
I love children and I love plants in that order. After caring for many children for many years, I pursued a degree in horticulture touting, "plants don't talk back."
Surprise!
Plants communicate and 'talk back' under adverse conditions.
This morning I admired the highest branches of the tallest tree catching the first morning light. Being first often, but not always results in special advantage.
During the growing season, plants have the ability to produce their own food through the process of photosynthesis. A quick refresher is that plants use carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight to produce food (used by the plant) and oxygen (released into the air). Remember the terms from our elementary days: photosynthesis (plant food production process), chlorophyll (the substance in leaves that makes them green), and glucose (plant food)? Photosynthesis benefits individual leaves and at the same time, helps keep the entire plant alive. It's a two-way street moving water from the roots up into the plant and translocating food produced in the leaves to the roots.
The basics make sense.
It's so basic, we shouldn't utter, "Aha!" when we see what happens if the leaves at the top or the roots at the base stop the flow.
Now, let's imagine the leaves and roots are people. "Aha!"
[Carolyn Fjeran, LowTide explorer/reflective writer; horticulturist & gardener; former writer for Cooperative Extension Service, Master Gardeners, and The Newnan Times-Herald - see more posts at https://lowtideexplorer.
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