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The Resource A garden of marvels : how we discovered that flowers have sex, leaves eat air, and other secrets of plants, Ruth Kassinger

A garden of marvels : how we discovered that flowers have sex, leaves eat air, and other secrets of plants, Ruth Kassinger

Creator
Author
Summary
  • "A witty and engaging history of the first botanists, interwoven with stories of today's extraordinary plants found in the garden and the labIn Paradise Under Glass, Ruth Kassinger recounts with grace and humor her journey from brown thumb to green, sharing the lessons that she learned from building a home conservatory in the wake of a devastating personal crisis. In A Garden of Marvels, she extends the story. "This book was born of a murder, a murder I committed," she begins. The victim was a kumquat tree. Though she diligently did her best--watering, fertilizing, repotting, and pruning--the plant turned brown and brittle. Why did the kumquat die when other plants in the garden that received the same attention thrived? she wondered. It was an experience that offered invaluable insight. While she knew the basic rules of caring for indoor plants, Kassinger realized that she understood very little about plant physiology--how roots, stems, leaves, and flowers actually function. Determined not to repeat her failure, she set out to learn the fundamentals of botany in order to become a better gardener. A Garden of Marvels is the story of her wise and enchanting odyssey to discover the secret life of plants. Kassinger retraces the progress of the first botanists--including a melancholy Italian anatomist, a renegade French surgeon, a stuttering English minister, an obsessive German schoolteacher, and Charles Darwin--who banished myths and misunderstandings and discovered that flowers have sex, leaves eat air, roots choose their food, and hormones make morning glories climb fence posts. She goes out into the world as well, visiting modern gardens, farms, and labs to discover the science behind extraordinary plants like one-ton pumpkins, truly black petunias, ferns that eat the arsenic in contaminated soil, biofuel grass that grows twelve feet tall, and the world's only photosynthesizing animal. Kassinger also introduces us to modern scientific research that offers hope for combatting climate change and alleviating world hunger. She then transfers her insights to her own garden, where she nurtures a "cocktail" tree that bears five kinds of fruit, cures an ailing Buddha's Hand plant with beneficial fungi, and gets a tree to text her when it's thirsty. Intertwining personal anecdotes, accessible science, and little-known history, A Garden of Marvels takes us on an eye-opening journey into Kassinger's garden--and yours--offering us a new appreciation of this exquisite gift of nature: "Our garden is more than a marvel. It's as close to a miracle as there is on Earth.""--
  • "In the tradition of The Botany of Desire and Wicked Plants, the author of Paradise Under Glass gives us a witty and engaging history of the first botanists interwoven with stories of today's extraordinary plants found in the garden and the lab"--
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xviii pages, 395 pages
Contents
  • pt. I. Inside a plant : Cocktail, anyone? ; The birth and long life of the vegetable lamb ; Through a glass, however darkly ; The persecuted professor ; Inside a plant
  • pt. II. Roots : Restless roots ; The enormous gourd ; The way of all water ; How to kill a hickory ; Our fine fungal friends ; Arsenic and young fronds ; The once and future wheat ; Off to the races
  • pt. III. Leaves : New beginnings ; A momentous mint ; Leaves eat air ; The vegetable slug ; Once in a blue-green moon ; The tenacity of trees ; Amazing grass
  • pt. IV. Flowers : Sex in the garden ; Who needs Romeo? ; Black petunias ; The abominable mystery ; Cheap sex ; Scent and sex
  • pt. V. Onward, upward, and afterward : Trouble in paradise ; Onward and upward ; Afterward
Isbn
9780062049018
Link
Instance
Label
A garden of marvels : how we discovered that flowers have sex, leaves eat air, and other secrets of plants
Title
A garden of marvels
Title remainder
how we discovered that flowers have sex, leaves eat air, and other secrets of plants
Statement of responsibility
Ruth Kassinger
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
  • "A witty and engaging history of the first botanists, interwoven with stories of today's extraordinary plants found in the garden and the labIn Paradise Under Glass, Ruth Kassinger recounts with grace and humor her journey from brown thumb to green, sharing the lessons that she learned from building a home conservatory in the wake of a devastating personal crisis. In A Garden of Marvels, she extends the story. "This book was born of a murder, a murder I committed," she begins. The victim was a kumquat tree. Though she diligently did her best--watering, fertilizing, repotting, and pruning--the plant turned brown and brittle. Why did the kumquat die when other plants in the garden that received the same attention thrived? she wondered. It was an experience that offered invaluable insight. While she knew the basic rules of caring for indoor plants, Kassinger realized that she understood very little about plant physiology--how roots, stems, leaves, and flowers actually function. Determined not to repeat her failure, she set out to learn the fundamentals of botany in order to become a better gardener. A Garden of Marvels is the story of her wise and enchanting odyssey to discover the secret life of plants. Kassinger retraces the progress of the first botanists--including a melancholy Italian anatomist, a renegade French surgeon, a stuttering English minister, an obsessive German schoolteacher, and Charles Darwin--who banished myths and misunderstandings and discovered that flowers have sex, leaves eat air, roots choose their food, and hormones make morning glories climb fence posts. She goes out into the world as well, visiting modern gardens, farms, and labs to discover the science behind extraordinary plants like one-ton pumpkins, truly black petunias, ferns that eat the arsenic in contaminated soil, biofuel grass that grows twelve feet tall, and the world's only photosynthesizing animal. Kassinger also introduces us to modern scientific research that offers hope for combatting climate change and alleviating world hunger. She then transfers her insights to her own garden, where she nurtures a "cocktail" tree that bears five kinds of fruit, cures an ailing Buddha's Hand plant with beneficial fungi, and gets a tree to text her when it's thirsty. Intertwining personal anecdotes, accessible science, and little-known history, A Garden of Marvels takes us on an eye-opening journey into Kassinger's garden--and yours--offering us a new appreciation of this exquisite gift of nature: "Our garden is more than a marvel. It's as close to a miracle as there is on Earth.""--
  • "In the tradition of The Botany of Desire and Wicked Plants, the author of Paradise Under Glass gives us a witty and engaging history of the first botanists interwoven with stories of today's extraordinary plants found in the garden and the lab"--
Assigning source
  • Provided by publisher
  • Provided by publisher
Biography type
autobiography
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1954-
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Kassinger, Ruth
Dewey number
  • 580.92
  • B
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
LC call number
QK31.K37
LC item number
A3 2014
Literary form
non fiction
NAL call number
QK31.K37
NAL item number
A3 2014
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Kassinger, Ruth
  • Women gardeners
  • NATURE
  • Botany
  • Kassinger, Ruth
  • Botanists
  • BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY
  • BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY
  • Botanists
  • Botany
  • Women gardeners
  • United States
  • NATURE / Plants / General
  • BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs
  • BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary
  • Jeane Thomson gardening collection
Label
A garden of marvels : how we discovered that flowers have sex, leaves eat air, and other secrets of plants, Ruth Kassinger
Link
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 368-379) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
pt. I. Inside a plant : Cocktail, anyone? ; The birth and long life of the vegetable lamb ; Through a glass, however darkly ; The persecuted professor ; Inside a plant -- pt. II. Roots : Restless roots ; The enormous gourd ; The way of all water ; How to kill a hickory ; Our fine fungal friends ; Arsenic and young fronds ; The once and future wheat ; Off to the races -- pt. III. Leaves : New beginnings ; A momentous mint ; Leaves eat air ; The vegetable slug ; Once in a blue-green moon ; The tenacity of trees ; Amazing grass -- pt. IV. Flowers : Sex in the garden ; Who needs Romeo? ; Black petunias ; The abominable mystery ; Cheap sex ; Scent and sex -- pt. V. Onward, upward, and afterward : Trouble in paradise ; Onward and upward ; Afterward
Control code
ocn870211334
Dimensions
22 cm
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xviii pages, 395 pages
Isbn
9780062049018
Lccn
2014002824
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
  • (Sirsi) i9780062048998
  • (OCoLC)870211334
Label
A garden of marvels : how we discovered that flowers have sex, leaves eat air, and other secrets of plants, Ruth Kassinger
Link
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 368-379) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
pt. I. Inside a plant : Cocktail, anyone? ; The birth and long life of the vegetable lamb ; Through a glass, however darkly ; The persecuted professor ; Inside a plant -- pt. II. Roots : Restless roots ; The enormous gourd ; The way of all water ; How to kill a hickory ; Our fine fungal friends ; Arsenic and young fronds ; The once and future wheat ; Off to the races -- pt. III. Leaves : New beginnings ; A momentous mint ; Leaves eat air ; The vegetable slug ; Once in a blue-green moon ; The tenacity of trees ; Amazing grass -- pt. IV. Flowers : Sex in the garden ; Who needs Romeo? ; Black petunias ; The abominable mystery ; Cheap sex ; Scent and sex -- pt. V. Onward, upward, and afterward : Trouble in paradise ; Onward and upward ; Afterward
Control code
ocn870211334
Dimensions
22 cm
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xviii pages, 395 pages
Isbn
9780062049018
Lccn
2014002824
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
  • (Sirsi) i9780062048998
  • (OCoLC)870211334

Subject

Genre

Library Locations

    • Waubonsee: Sugar Grove Campus - Todd LibraryBorrow it
      Collins Hall 2nd Floor Waubonsee Community College Route 47 at Waubonsee Drive, Sugar Grove, IL, 60554-9454, US
      41.7974000 -88.45785

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