The Dirt: The surprising reason we all owe plants

Beyond looking gorgeous and smelling sweet, flowers have other super-powers. Read all about them in the new book, How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature’s Revolutionaries. Author David George Haskell asserts that without flowers, we humans would not be here; they are evolutionary catalysts. In the grasslands where humans first emerged, our diet consisted mainly of flowering grasses — wheat, rice, and maize — and/or the products of animals that eat grass. With their resiliency and beauty, flowers are our proven partners through history and into tomorrow.

Okay, now the dark side of nature: Sometimes, invasive plants threaten native species, and the authorities need to get involved. For instance, consider this situation in New Jersey: Previously, garden centers there would sell flats of Japanese barberry, multiflora rose, English ivy, burning bush, and Japanese stilt grass, all on the state’s list of invasive species. But after a 22-year fight, the Invasive Species Management Act was recently signed into law. Nurseries can no longer sell or propagate designated invasives without oversight. Environmentalists and nature-lovers are celebrating that natives like trillium, bluebells, and trout lilies should enjoy some much-needed breathing room.

…Which is something we all need. A recent study at the Oxford Botanic Garden asked how the scents of plants and flowers affected the stress levels of human subjects. After exposure to both vegetation-rich greenhouses and a plant-free room, participants’ heart rates and anxiety scores were measured. The finding: An environment redolent with bVOCs (biogenic volatile organic compounds, molecules released by plants, animals, and fungi) offered a measured calming effect. The takeaway: Go ahead and “scentscape” your property, and enjoy the sense of “aaah.”