Must Have Perennials’ Post

A great alternative to the common Betula utilis Jacquemontii, Betula albosinensis Fascination is a beautiful, upright tree. It has a uniform habit and dense foliage making it a great option for screening. The peeling bark changes from dark red to creamy cinnamon as it matures, giving it year round interest. The foliage is a fresh green, changing to golden yellow in autumn and catkins are also yellow. Great for sunny spots, the Chinese red birch prefers moist, well drained soil. It will also tolerate wind well. #trees #deepdaletrees #treeplanting

Echinocereus dasyacanthus ssp dasyacanthus, the New Mexico Rainbow Cactus, is a subspecies of the Texas Rainbow Cactus with a narrower distribution mostly in the Chihuahua desert of New Mexico and Chihuahua, Mexico, while the species as a whole has only a slightly wider distribution in Texas, New Mexico, USA and Chihuahua and Coahila, Mexico. Rainbow cacti are identified by being low-growing (10 - 25 cm) single-stem or clumping cacti with 15 - 18 ribs with dense overlapping spines that hide the cacti's stem. There are usually 4 - 12 central spines and 14 - 25 radial spines that may be tan, yellow, pink, or reddish brown. The name comes from the subtle bands of contrasting rings of different colored spines up its stem. Not all plants exhibit the rainbow pattern, however. This subspecies typically has pale yellow to yellow flowers with a greenish throat, green stigmas, and lots of yellow stamens. Other subspecies have brighter yellow petals and occasionally even pink! #nativeplants #nativeplantsofnorthamerica, #wildflowers #biodiversity #cactus

SYMMETRICAL SWIRLS Twirl a sunflower around in your fingers and the pattern at the center of the flower head looks the same from every side. This is because the sunflower head is radially symmetrical—the florets form two sets of spirals starting at the same point somewhere in the center of the flower, before turning in opposite directions, one clockwise and the other counterclockwise. Radial symmetry appears throughout the plant world, from daisies to pine cones. The spirals follow a pattern known as the Fibonacci sequence, named after the Italian mathematician who discovered it. In this sequence, each number is the sum of the previous two. The pattern starts 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and so on. The reason why Fibonacci numbers are common in nature is because this is the best way to pack the most flowers, leaves, or seeds into a tight space. A sunflower head is made up of many tiny florets—the dark rods in the picture are opened florets, while those in the center are unopened ones. Each new floret grows at an angle to the previous one, leaving no gaps and maximizing its exposure to pollinators. #sunflower #honeybees #Meain_Pollinaters #fiatprofessional

The DBM larvae have four instars where final instar larva is the most damaging stage. The larval phase is 15 to 18 days (Murasing, Vignesh, & Ibohal, 2019). Freshly emerging larvae are pale white with a pale brown head (Abraham & Padmanabhan, 1968). Young instars have little dispersal activity and feed mostly on tissues near the oviposition site (Wee, Oh & Park, 2016). They feed on spongy mesophyll and form shallow mines. A fully-grown larva is 10 mm long, body is green, sometimes tinged with pale yellow (CABI, 2022). The body which tapers at both the ends consists of few short hairs with small white patches. A pair of prolegs protrudes from the back end, which form a "V" shape. The larva, when disturbed, curls and wriggles backward violently and may drop off the plant, where it can hang suspended on a silken thread (Sarfraz, Dosdall, Keddie, & Myers, 2011). The final instar feeds by burying its head and thorax in the leaf. The larva consumes all leaf tissues leaving the veins and upper epidermis, resulting in a "windowing" characteristic unique to the species. The final larval instar eats not only the leaves but also the florets of cauliflower and broccoli, as well as bore into the crowns and sprouts of cabbage and brussels sprouts (Harcourt, 1957). 

Joseph's Coat, Parrot Leaf. Scientific Name: Alternanthera ficoidea Colorful Foliage: Leaves come in various shades of green, red, pink, yellow, and orange. Ornamental Plant: Grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscapes. Low Maintenance: Thrives in well-draining soil, prefers full sun to partial shade. Native to South America: Particularly found in Brazil and the West Indies. Propagation: Easily propagated through stem cuttings. Culinary Use: Leaves can be used as a vegetable in some cultures. Versatile: Used in borders, edging, and as ground cover.

The DBM larvae have four instars where final instar larva is the most damaging stage. The larval phase is 15 to 18 days (Murasing, Vignesh, & Ibohal, 2019). Freshly emerging larvae are pale white with a pale brown head (Abraham & Padmanabhan, 1968). Young instars have little dispersal activity and feed mostly on tissues near the oviposition site (Wee, Oh & Park, 2016). They feed on spongy mesophyll and form shallow mines. A fully-grown larva is 10 mm long, body is green, sometimes tinged with pale yellow (CABI, 2022). The body which tapers at both the ends consists of few short hairs with small white patches. A pair of prolegs protrudes from the back end, which form a "V" shape. The larva, when disturbed, curls and wriggles backward violently and may drop off the plant, where it can hang suspended on a silken thread (Sarfraz, Dosdall, Keddie, & Myers, 2011). The final instar feeds by burying its head and thorax in the leaf. The larva consumes all leaf tissues leaving the veins and upper epidermis, resulting in a "windowing" characteristic unique to the species. The final larval instar eats not only the leaves but also the florets of cauliflower and broccoli, as well as bore into the crowns and sprouts of cabbage and brussels sprouts (Harcourt, 1957).