May the blessings of St. Patrick be upon you, as they say across the sea in the Emerald Isle, for the 17th March ‘tis the day upon which we celebrate everything Hibernian. This brings to mind the Irish-Canadian botanist who crossed a shamrock with poison ivy – and got a rash of good luck.
Ample
Oxalis will be offered for sale by supermarkets and florists. Whether this is ‘true’ shamrock is highly debatable, however. Perhaps wisely, Irish embassies refuse to be drawn into the argument. Supposedly it is a corruption of the Irish
seamroq or little clover.’
As for the green seen everywhere, on the Irish flag it symbolizes Catholicism – and the orange Protestantism while the white division symbolizes harmony. Green, incidentally, was also the favourite colour of the Prophet Mohammed, hence the colour of Islam – and also that of Napoleon. In the latter’s day green dye was produced from copper and arsenic and so may have poisoned him in exile on St. Helena.
The there is the case of the Irish mosquito: it bit Kate Perry on the elbow. But a caution here, lest an old Hibernian anesthetic be administered to ye: a
shelagh, a blackthorn or oak cudgel from a forest that once stood in County Wicklow.
Diversion No. 1
The prickly pear cactus may not sound like a trendy cash crop, but it could become a phenomenon among farmers on the arid west side of California’s San Joaquin Valley, reports
McClatchy Newspapers. The cactus can grow in the west side’s salty soil, drink briny water and live just fine in very dry times. But the real attraction: as it grows, the cactus slowly absorbs and cleans up a chemical villain in the soil – selenium.
Other auspicious dates this month include Sunday, 11th March when Daylight Saving Time begins and, according to a study published in the
New England Journal of Medicine, the risk of myocardial infarction in the week that follows the change increases by some five per cent. “The disruption in the chronobiological rhythms, the loss of one hour’s sleep, and the resulting sleep disturbance are the probable causes,” says the study. Fortunately this is followed by the first day of spring on Tuesday, 20th March. At least that is the official word from the weather wonks who three days later celebrate World Meteorological Day. South o’ the border, according to
USA Today, 48% of Americans say the first time they see a robin they know the much-awaited season has arrived. Perhaps thanks to climate change, at least some hardy Canadian robins have taken up year-round residency. Possibly a better ornithological indicator is the arrival of male redwing blackbirds duking it out for territories in the bottomlands.
Diversion No. 2
How much does a bit of grass add to your house value? In Australia, quite a lot, discovered
The Telegraph of Sydney. The grass actually is greener – adding up to $83,600 to the sale price of your home, writes Vikki Campion. Concrete slabs, pavers and synthetic lawns are out and buffalo [grass] is back after a new survey of 114 real estate agents revealed home buyers will pay up to 10 per cent more for a house with a lawn.
Perhaps with some justification we are all too ready to blame China as the source of pests that have devastating effects on native North American trees. But beetles that rarely inflict serious damage here can cause devastation when they hitch a ride to the orient. Such a one is the red turpentine beetle,
Dendroctonus valens, a wood-boring species native to North America. In its home range,
D. valens is an unremarkable forest dweller that mainly colonizes dead and dying trees, writes Elsa Youngsteadt in American Scientist. But in China, it has wiped out more than seven million vigorous pines in the past dozen years, and it looks poised to spread through much of Eurasia. Why? A nifty piece of research by entomologists has shown
D. valens is host to various fungi, mites and bacteria. Upon arriving in China, one of these fungi modified itself and became a pine-killing pest. But experts warn this is a two-way street: if the red turpentine beetle returns from China with its newly virulent fungal strain, then the prospects here could be grim indeed.
Diversion No. 3
Reader of
New Scientist’s Feedback feature Bill Ross bought a bag of potatoes labelled: “Mixed Little Gems – yellow, red and blue mini-potatoes.” On the back of the bag was a list of ingredients worded as follows: “Yellow potatoes, red potatoes, blue potatoes (order may vary).” One of many questions that sprang to his mind: “Do the potatoes have a leader who plans and manages the reorganization? If so, are they elected or do they just seize power?”
City Gardening wonders why neither Ross not Feedback have never heard of the notorious Dick Tater?
Viburnums have long been valued for their flowers, berries and fall foliage. Then in the 1970s the European viburnum beetle,
Pyrrhalta viburni, made landfall in Canada. Things have never been the same for some of the most valuable deciduous shrubs in the landscape. In Britain, the Royal Horticultural Society places them in the lead on their top ten pests list, suggesting powerful chemical controls as the likely answer. Since many Canadian provinces ban such a cavalier response, gardeners must perforce resort to less risky answers. A simple and highly effective cultural control indeed exists: cut it out. The sites in the shoot tips where the female beetle laid her eggs show up against the green tip as the foliage emerges as small dark pin prick-sized bumps. Prune off, drop in a bucket and pour boiling hot water over them before composting. A natural control of
pyrethrum or
diatomaceous powder applied as the larvae emerge has been recommended in some quarters. Our experience with either of these has been negative in the extreme.
Diversion No. 4
A zoo in central Kazakhstan is giving monkeys a wine concoction as a remedy against flu. It consisted of wine, lemon, apple, sugar and “a little” hot water, according to
The Wall Street Journal.
Finally, closing with yet more from the Emerald Isle: A small village in County Limerick has been banned from Facebook because its name is considered ‘offensive,’ reported
The Sun tabloid, that said it was “too effin rude.” Residents of the Irish parish have found they cannot register it as their place of birth on the social networking site. Facebook automatically censors the name, just like more traditional four-letter expletives.
