Every year around this time we start to get super excited because we know we’re soon about to spend a lot of our time outside, digging around in the dirt, and hopefully growing some plants, flowers, and maybe even some vegetables. So with gardening season upon us we thought it might be kind of fun, okay really fun, to learn some cool science-y/history-ish things about gardens.
Decorative gardens didn’t come to be until about 1500 B.C. in Egypt; before then, gardens were strictly about serving a purpose and were only used to grow food and medicinal herbs.
(image via: homes and gardens)
Most of us are probably familiar with the old wives’ tale that talking to your plants helps them grow, but studies have shown us that plants actually do respond well to vibrations such as music or even the sound of our voices, so go ahead, keep talking to them.
Who doesn’t love a big slice of red, juicy watermelon on a hot summer’s day? Well, as a matter of fact, watermelons are vegetables, related to the squash, cucumber, and pumpkin family.
Apples, pears, peaches, cherries, raspberries, strawberries… do you know what all of these fruits have in common? Yes, they’re all fruits, but they’re all rosaceae, meaning they’re in the rose family.
We don’t know how gutsy you are, but in England, there exists a garden known as The Poison Garden. And yeah, it’s kind of exactly what it sounds like, it’s home to 100 murderous plants and if you pay this garden a visit you are told not to smell, touch, or taste any of the plants, because, well, you know.
Buttercups are pretty to look at and with a name like buttercup you can’t imagine anything harmful from these little fellows; however, they are one of the more deadly plants. If eaten these flowers can cause a painful death resulting from organ and nervous system intoxication.
(image via: science trends)
If you’re like us, you get really excited when daffodils start making their appearance but did you know that the name daffodil comes from the Old English “affo dyle” meaning “that which cometh early” because of their early blooms? Well, now you do.
While we do not recommend trying this and really must insist that you just take our word on this, grapes explode in the microwave.
Moonflowers exist and they unfurl in the evening and stay open until the sun rises. And if that wasn’t dreamy enough, several varieties of moonflowers give off a lemon scent.