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Curated News

Double Coconut: The Largest Seed in the World | Kew

Here's an excerpt:

“On the beautiful islands of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean grows a legendary palm. Lodoicea maldivica (“LOW-DOE-ah-SEE-ah MAHL-div-eh-cah”) , also known as the double coconut, or coco-de-mer, is renowned for producing the largest and heaviest seeds in the world.

With their rather suggestive shape and weighing up to an impressive 25kg, (about 55 pounds!) while measuring up to half a metre long, these spectacular seeds are attractive to scientists, tourists and poachers alike.

Legend has it that the double coconut possesses medicinal properties [and] single nuts currently sell for £500-£2,000.

Sadly, due to overharvesting, there are now only around 8,000 wild mature Lodoicea palms on just two islands.

To protect them from going extinct, seeds in the wild and in botanical gardens worldwide that have manged to grow them, are carefully guarded, sometimes even placed in cages, to prevent poaching.”

Weather Update

August really begins to set the stage for fall and fall-like weather.

However, remember the most significant change affecting your plants right now is the reduction in daylight. We are not as sensitive to it, but believe me, our plants notice even the most subtle changes in the amount of daylight.

Throughout August, the length of daylight starts to decline rapidly as the calendar approaches the autumnal equinox, with 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night, approaching in September. In the northern half of the United States, we lose 2 to 3 minutes of daylight every single day in August.

For example, today, in NYC, the sun will set at 8:11 pm. However, by the end of the month, the sun will already set around 7:30 pm.

And, in Seattle tonight, the sun sets at around 8:45 pm. By the end of the month, it will be set almost an hour earlier.

The last whole month of summer brings many changes in the weather.

Hurricanes begin to get active later in August. In a typical year, August brings triple the number of named storms compared to July. If you examine the number of storms during the summer, August's total would be greater than the combined totals of June and July.

The Rockies and Alaska usually get their first snow in August.

August brings average cooler temperatures, and the length of daylight decreases. Although you may not notice the decrease in light, your houseplants are certainly making adjustments - especially African Violets (Saintpaulia species), Christmas Cacti, and Cyclamens.

Are you growing, Gladiola?

The plants are also sometimes referred to as the Sword Lily.

Gladiola is Latin for a small sword.

In Victorian times, the Gladiola meant, "You pierce my heart."

And the next time you see a Gladiola, take a closer look: Members of this family produce parts in multiples of three. There are three sepals, colored to look like petals, and three true petals, and three stamens.

Botanical History On This Day

1743 Richard Savage, the English poet who bristled at pay-to-view pleasure grounds and preserved his pointed lines until after the Queen’s death.

1900 Charles Henry Bass Breck, Boston seedsman of Joseph Breck & Sons, vice president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and publisher whose catalogs taught a coast.

1923 Edwin Way Teale marries; grief-turned-road-trips with Nellie became seasonal classics—North with the Spring to Wandering Through Winter (Pulitzer ’66).

1927 Franklyn Hugh Perring, co-author of The Atlas of the British Flora, pioneer of dot-maps, and champion of citizen scientists in the field.

Unearthed Words

Lammas Day welcomes August with poems of ripe days and mellow light. August verses by Miller, Winslow & Thaxter

Grow That Garden Library™

Read The Daily Gardener review of In Bloom by Ngoc Minh Ngo

Buy the book on Amazon: In Bloom by Ngoc Minh Ngo

Today's Botanic Spark

1950 Plants Named for People—a charming roll call from poinsettia to bougainvillea, linking beloved blooms to their namesakes.

Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener

And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.