Don't worry, I'm okay. My car is very much not okay, unfortunately.

If you’re thinking of planting a Privet, you should pivot and plant something else. Well, if you live in North or Central America, anyway, but that doesn’t rhyme.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• https://www.lewisginter.org/chinese-privet/
• https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/terrestrial/plants/chinese-privet
• https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ligustrum-japonicum/
• https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ligustrum-sinense/
• https://triangleland.org/company-news/species-spotlight-chinese-privet
• https://www.se-eppc.org/manual/privet.html
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligustrum_sinense

I have a complicated relationship with this stinky dead fish tree.

For your entertainment, a Reddit thread about Bradford Pears: https://www.reddit.com/r/arborists/comments/1bn1wpv/why_bradford_pear_is_so_hated/

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• https://indiananativeplants.org/2013/callery-pear-a-bad-bad-plant-in-bloom-right-now/
• https://www.bhg.com/gardening/trees-shrubs-vines/trees/bradford-pear-tree/
• https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/callery-pear-bradford-pear
• https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/terrestrial/plants/callery-pear
• https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/pyrus-calleryana/
• https://extension.umd.edu/resource/bradford-pear/
• https://www.invasivespeciesva.org/species/callery-pear
• https://dyckarboretum.org/callery-pear-cut-them-down/

Meet the world’s biggest (and possibly stinkiest) flowers.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/03/world/worlds-largest-flower-indonesia-scn-trnd/index.html
• https://www.britannica.com/plant/Rafflesia
• Plants That Kill: A Natural History of the World’s Most Poisonous Plants by Elizabeth A. Dauncey and Sonny Larson (2018)
• https://www.kew.org/plants/rafflesia-arnoldi
• https://parasiticplants.siu.edu/Rafflesiaceae/Raff.arn.page.html
• https://richardniesenbaum.com/plants-people-2/rafflesia/
• https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2017/02/colossal-blossom
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafflesia

If you’re in the U.S., I hope you try and have a happy 4th of July. And as a public safety professional in my day job, I must remind you to please not start any fires or injure anyone with fireworks. ‘Kay thanks.

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• https://www.popsci.com/environment/fairy-lantern-japan-extinct-fungi/
• https://www.discoverwildlife.com/plant-facts/thismia-malayana-facts
• https://www.livescience.com/61925-fairy-lantern-plant-rainforest.html
• https://phys.org/news/2024-02-species-story.html
• Rediscovery of Thismia neptunis (Thismiaceae) after 151 years by Michal Sochor, et al. (2018). Phytotaxa, 340(1), 71-78. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.340.1.5
• Fairy lanterns in focus by Chris J. Thorogood and Siti-Munirah Mat Yunoh (2021). Plants People Planet, 3(6), 680-684. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10217
• Fairy lanterns may lure pollinators by mimicking fungi by Kenji Suetsugu and Masahiro Sueyoshi (2021). Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 19(4), 233. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2342
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thismia
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thismia_rodwayi

Be a lavender menace.

Music provided by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• Flowers and Their Meanings: The Secret Language and History of Over 600 Blooms by Karen Azoulay (2023)
• https://bouqs.com/blog/capricorn-birth-flower/
• https://www.britannica.com/plant/lavender
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lavender-Scare
• Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (2nd ed.) by Scott Cunningham (2014)
• Herb Magic for Beginners: Down-to-earth Enchantments by Ellen Dugan (2016)
• https://www.hrc.org/resources/lavender-graduation
• The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World’s Greatest Drinks by Amy Stewart (2013)
• https://www.osgf.org/blog/2020/6/29/vi0rxptrmtd4v8n2epbm3otxj56z5o
• Lavender and the nervous system by Peir Hossein Koulivand, Maryam Khaleghi Ghadiri, and Ali Gorji (2013). Evidence-Based Complementary Alternative Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/681304
• Herbs at a Glance: A Quick Guide to Herbal Supplements by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2009)
• https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/lavender
• https://daily.jstor.org/four-flowering-plants-decidedly-queered/
• A Floral Grimoire: Plant charms, spells, recipes, and rituals by Patricia Telesco (2024)
• Nature’s Remedies: An Illustrated Guide to Healing Herbs by Jean Willoughby (2016)
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavandula
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender_Scare

Support the Pansy Project and get a cute shirt: https://birdscanflystore.com/collection/the-pansy-project/

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• Flowers and Their Meanings: The Secret Language and History of Over 600 Blooms by Karen Azoulay (2023)
• https://bouqs.com/blog/capricorn-birth-flower/
• Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (2nd ed.) by Scott Cunningham (2014)
• Garden Witch’s Herbal by Ellen Dugan (2011)
• https://www.osgf.org/blog/2020/6/29/vi0rxptrmtd4v8n2epbm3otxj56z5o
• Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America (3rd ed.) by Steven Foster and James A. Duke (2014)
• https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/plants-LGBTQ-symbols
• https://daily.jstor.org/four-flowering-plants-decidedly-queered/
• A Floral Grimoire: Plant charms, spells, recipes, and rituals by Patricia Telesco (2024)
• https://thepansyproject.com/about/
• https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/ornamentals/pansies/

Roses are (sometimes) red,

Violets are (sometimes) blue,

And if you ask Sappho,

Violets are gay, too!

Happy Pride Month 🌈

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• Flowers and Their Meanings: The Secret Language and History of Over 600 Blooms by Karen Azoulay (2023)
• https://bouqs.com/blog/violet-flower-meaning-symbolism/
• Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (2nd ed.) by Scott Cunningham (2014)
• Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America (3rd ed.) by Steven Foster and James A. Duke (2014)
• https://www.osgf.org/blog/2020/6/29/vi0rxptrmtd4v8n2epbm3otxj56z5o
• Wild Flowers of North Carolina and Surrounding Areas by William S. Justice and C. Ritchie Bell (1979)
• https://botanicgardens.uw.edu/about/blog/2021/12/21/queer-botany-the-sapphic-violet/
• Peterson Field Guides: Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America by Lee Allen Peterson (1977)
• PinkNews. (27 November 2024). Violet necklaces have become a sought-after lesbian accessory, but what is the history behind the trend? [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DC49dz8thuV/?igsh=X2xVeEQ2Y0Jl
• https://daily.jstor.org/four-flowering-plants-decidedly-queered/
• National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Eastern Region (2nd ed.) by John W. Thieret, William A. Niering, & Nancy C. Olmstead (2001)
• Collins Gem: Wild Flowers by Martin Walter (2002)
• https://wildfoods4wildlife.com/monographs/violets/
• https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/sweet-violet/

These extra-special trees are similar to both conifers and fruit trees, but they are actually something much, much older. Ginkgoes are the only tree species around today that was alive at the same time as dinosaurs! 🦕 How cool is that?

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/ginkgo-biloba-benefits
• Medicinal Plants at Home by Maria Transito Lopez Luengo and Carlota Manez Ariso (2015)
• https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-ginkgo/art-20362032
• Herbs at a Glance: A Quick Guide to Herbal Supplements by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2009)
• https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/guest-blog/botanical-sexism-cultivates-home-grown-allergies/
• https://www.obga.ox.ac.uk/article/seeds-from-hiroshima-atomic-bomb-survivor-trees-planted-at-oxford-botanic-garden
• https://tylerarboretum.org/ginkgo-biloba-an-ancient-species-in-a-modern-world/
• https://arboretum.ua.edu/whats-growing-on/ginkgo-ginkgo-biloba/
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo_biloba
• Nature’s Remedies: An Illustrated Guide to Healing Herbs by Jean Willoughby (2016)

Is it really possible that these trees walk around the rainforest like the Ents in Lord of the Rings?

I forgot to mention that there won’t be an episode next week. Here’s your one-week notice that I’ll be on vacation next Friday. ✈️

Music by James Milor from Pixabay

Information provided by:

• Stilt-Root Walking by an Iriateoid Palm in the Peruvian Amazon by John H. Bodley and Foley C. Benson (1980). Biotropica, 12(1), pg. 67-71. https://doi.org/10.2307/2387775
• https://www.sciencealert.com/a-persistent-rumor-suggests-this-tree-can-walk-around-but-is-it-true
• The function of stilt roots in the growth strategy of Socratea exorrhiza (Arecaceae) at two neotropical sites by Gregory R. Goldsmith and Rakan A. Zahawi (2007). International Journal of Tropical Biology and Conservation, 55(3). https://doi.org/10.15517/rbt.v55i3-4.5955 [Abstract]
• https://www.treeres.com/the-walking-tree-phenomenon-unraveling-the-secrets-of-socratea-exorrhiza/
• https://www.natureandculture.org/directory/walking-palm-trees/
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratea_exorrhiza
• The epiphyte vegetation of the palm Socratea exorrhiza: Correlations with tree size, tree age and bryophyte cover by Gerhard Zotz and Birgit Vollrath (2003). Journal of Tropical Ecology, 19, pg. 81-90. DOI: 10.1017/S0266467403003092
• Tropical Plants of Costa Rica by Willow Zuchowski (2007)