The Real Dirt

Freezing temperatures damage plants by causing ice crystals to form in their cells. Frost-damaged vegetation withers and turns a dark brown or black. Ice crystals can also form in citrus fruit, causing juice vesicles inside the fruit to rupture and the fruit to dry out.

How about bringing a new plant home to cheer up these dark winter days? For the avid gardener, houseplants can be an excellent source of greenery and even flowers when the outside garden has gone gray and dormant in the doldrums of mid-winter.

Why not start the new year by bringing a new houseplant into your home, or perhaps even by starting an indoor garden to enjoy during the cold winter months?

A group of local Master Gardeners have begun meeting each month to discuss a gardening-related non-fiction book.

When you look up into the bare branches of some oak trees at this time of year, you can see ball-shaped growths hanging there, looking almost like nature's Christmas ornaments. These are galls. A gall is an abnormal growth produced by a plant under the influence of another organism.