Posted on 01/10/2014 5:23:06 AM PST by Natufian
The oldest evidence of sexual reproduction in a flowering plant - dating back 100 million years - has been found in Burma.
The team discovered a cluster of 18 tiny flowers in a piece of amber; one of them was in the process of making new seeds for the next generation.
Flowering plants caused an enormous change in biodiversity on Earth.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
THis thread is useless without....oh wait. Never mind.
If you have sex in flowering plants, make sure it isn’t poison ivy.
Stay out da briars.
Poison ivy can produce flowers but it is often spread by runners. In order to really get rid of the nasty stuff (we have a small farm and have been working on this for years), you need to dig deeply into the ground and dump poison on the root system. It will continue to come back but if you mow it regularly it will eventually give up. It loves to hang out with bind weed, wild rose and wild grape vines. Those plants can, if not controlled, kill 30-50 foot high trees. I have scars from serious poison ivy exposure.
You’ll love this! I know a couple that bought their first house. The wife and husband agreed the bamboo privacy hedge was a bit much. So, off the new husband homeowner goes to Home Depot. He buys a bunch of plant poison and sprays it on the bamboo. He was sure this task was over and off to paint his new garage. Nope.. nothing. In fact the bamboo actually looked stronger. Plan 2: He cut all the bamboo down to the ground and then used a series of chemicals to kill it. This little task took him over 2 weeks. Result: the bamboo not only started growing but seemed to thrive. Plan 3: To be fair, at this point of the process, he was beginning to get a little loopy. So, he dug out a trench containing the bamboo roots. He placed some sort of gas down and lit it. Boom... burn! The trench was black as coal and he surely figured he was the winner. A week later.. new bamboo sprouts. Plan 4: After the defeat and near nervous breakdown, the couple sold the house 18 months after moving in. New house? NO BAMBOO anywhere. (My house gift? you guessed it! A bamboo plant)
Great story. At this same farm we have tons of lilac bushes. Funny how you love something and then after cutting them back and living with them for years it’s like, ugg, time to trim the lilacs again. Curse them. But once we were burning yard trash which we can still do out there and it got away from us and burned two of the lilac bushes. We were sort of sad. Now they are the biggest and happiest lilacs out there. Same with the wild roses. I can cut them out and down to the ground but unless we poison and mow them for a year, they come but very happy that we have pruned them back. And I don’t mean that they just sort of come back, they come roaring back and grow up to to a foot er month in the spring and summer.
I have a lilac that is tall but doesn’t blossom. In fact, it hasn’t blossomed in about five years. Hmmmm.... time to pull out the flame thrower! LOL!
Did they take pictures and put them on the internet?
Solution - two goats.
Have you tried this?
Luke 13
6 And he told this parable: A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground? 8 And he answered him, Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.
I’ve heard lilacs love/need a lot of calcium.
You might try buying a bag of lime and spreading a couple pounds around the base.
I’m going to try this. I want my flowering Lilac again. I just adore the smell of the flowers. It is like heaven scent to me.
Will try DJF. I will do the manure first.. wait a few weeks and then the calcium. Even if I don’t see an improvement this year... perhaps next. I’ve seen homes that have giant Lilac bushes (darn near look like small trees) and full of blooms. Lucky people!
I love lilacs as well... just don’t have much luck with them.
I had a very well meaning man brushhog our pasture, and he extended his scope to an area that included a just planted lilac. I was sad about it, but hopefully these stories of “cut it back and it thrives” will apply to this little guy.
This will kill poison ivy.
Absolutely. Burn it down or at least cut it way back.
Yes. We want to get fainting goats and guinae hens.
I’ll tell Mr. Mercat. That’s his job. This thread is proof that if you want to have a long lasting and healthy thread, put the word “sex” in the headline.
Get a couple of young bucks - they’re cheap.
Band ‘em and they won’t get stinky, and they are great at clearing brush, vines, poison ivy, etc.
As for the guineas... well, be prepared, they are NOISY birds, but rather entertaining. Stupid ugly things, but I love ‘em.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.