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.

One other reason to love nature: It fuels craft endeavors for creative types of all skill levels. Flowers for your arrangements, pinecones to display come winter, and also the raw material for basket-making. For pointers on that, check out Weaving Wild Baskets: Techniques and Projects Using Foraged Leaves, Grasses, Vines, and Bark by Katie Grove. It’s a photo-filled DIY that will have you braiding some sweetgrass in no time. Imagine doing that while sitting in your yard with birds and butterflies flitting about: the perfect lazy summer Sunday, if you ask us.

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 the 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) offer a measured calming effect. The takeaway: Go ahead and “scentscape” your property, and enjoy the sense of “aaah.” The two-bouquet strategy 

Let’s close with a calendar check: Ahem, we’re more than halfway to Halloween! Some influencers are already all over it! Like @amyyylit or The Haunt on Highland, do you have a theme for your front yard and porch decor yet? If not, major retailers of spooky stuff are here to help with previews of this year’s new dastardly decorations and jump-scare animatronics, like the Bridgertomb Woman and the 12-foot Pumpkin King. Can’t wait till October? Maybe just give your 12-foot skeleton, aka Skelly, a Summerween update with a grass skirt.