Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice

That's what fall girls are made of. So what exactly is pumpkin spice? And why is it delicious? And why is it in EVERYTHING in the fall? And why are people so mad about it? First things first. Pumpkin spice is a complex blend of fruit, bark, nuts, and flower buds. Yeah that's right. Let's …

Houseplant History – Queen Charlotte and her Bird of Paradise.

The bird of paradise is a uniquely beautiful and remarkably hardy ornamental. It is, as you will see, the queen of houseplants. Strelitzia, the sciency (genus) name for the bird of paradise plant group hails from none other than Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz herself. Queen Charlotte was after all an avid amateur botanist. But first a little background. …

The Incredible Edible Elephant Ear

Well, it's October out there and you may have noticed that it's just now starting to get a bit colder after what was an excruciatingly hot summer. And while there are few advantages to our summers being so hot these days, there is one that I find increasingly interesting- the ability to grow tropical plants …