The Biosphere Blog

Introduction Michigan State University put out this press release on 7th April 2025, on the discovery by Professor James Tiedje, in both its Department of Microbiology, Genetics and Immunology, and Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, of an… more »

Introduction Plants are so incredibly diverse in their morphology, that it wouldn’t surprise me if there were more descriptors in botany than in zoology, biochemistry and microbiology combined! (And that is truly saying something.) Every minute… more »

This is a follow-up post to Bee Hotel! which came about because of this post on leafcutter bees. But firstly sincere apologies to Sandra the maker of the magnificent hotel, for taking this long to get it established. Truth is, I found the perfect… more »

Back on my other site I wrote about making your own cactus/succulent mix, which isn’t relevant here. But in it, I very briefly mentioned the lithotrophs, which are. By way of background, I wrote there on the use of sand over poultry grit: Coarse… more »

Just a quick update on the two cuttings here. First the stronger, flourishing Silverhill: Four weeks ago I wrote that “I will swear blind I saw the teensiest unmistakable shape of a Silverhill jujube fruit", that disappeared sometime after a… more »

The latest xkcd comic is this one on stromatolites: (This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. I had plans to write about lithotrophs (the microbial ‘rock-eaters’), but couldn’t believe the… more »

This little fellow never got the message to elongate! Complete with active ant pollinators. I didn’t even notice them until processing this photo! They are collecting the nectar from the nectary disc of the last remaining newly-opened flower - the… more »

Last December hubby and I had a wonderful time exploring the NSW Riverina area. If we hadn’t parked where we did in Narrandera (to visit the Tiger Moth Memorial) we would never have discovered this amazing tree, which we simply call The Narrandera… more »

Chinese jujube is notorious for not striking from cuttings - as are Japanese maples! Of course I had to try, and did, and have, becoming less and less interested and more and more uncaring about it as the years rolled by. But still kept giving it a shot… more »

This is the final post for the year, and what better subject to end the year with than this awesomely bright and cheerful masterpiece Bee Hotel, made by my friend Sandra! This belongs in a gallery, so I shall caption it as though it were: This will… more »

Back on 17th October I began what was intended to be a photo diary of awakening buds and their shoots. Naturally that one tree I specifically picked out refused to cooperate any further and has since died (no green sap any more). On 12th November I… more »

Updated: This Post Back on 1st October I wrote about this little Si-Hong: I mentioned how it had just one branch, a single fruiting mother branch, circled below: Yes, that knobbly protrusion is a branch! It grows just a few millimetres a year and… more »

The Bud Diary: Part 1: Introduction I wrote some posts recently as introductions to the unusual branch structure of jujube trees — here and here — but these were pretty much informal segues not at all clear from the titles. So instead of continuing, I… more »

What Would You Make of This Tree? Below is one little Si-Hong, grafted in 2023, in a pot of 190 mm diameter and height. Is your first impression somewhat unfavourable?! I find this little fellow so charming and full of heart, that I can’t help but… more »

Which Tree Would You Choose? The three trees below are all 2022 grafted Li. The trunk of the tallest is about 500 mm high. These and a few others had lovely thick roots, but these were not especially long or dense. There was absolutely nothing wrong… more »