The Best Trees and Shrubs for 2024

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When choosing flowers for graves, it’s important to consider their symbolism so that you can convey the right wishes to the lost soul.

Name: Cornus kousa var. chinensis

Name: Mahonia repens syn. Berberis repens

Name: Pycnanthemum albescens

I was first introduced to Mohr’s rosinweed on a botanizing trip to northern Alabama. It’s a true native stalwart and one of the many durable plants in the genus Silphium that are indigenous to prairies, meadows, and grasslands across the United States. These resilient members of the aster family are known to be both beautiful and extremely low maintenance in a garden setting.

As a researcher of urban agriculture, I was shocked to see a recent news article bearing the headline “Food from urban agriculture has a carbon footprint six times larger than conventional produce, study shows.” I had spent five years researching and publishing peer-reviewed articles and book chapters about urban agriculture during my Ph.D. with the Berkeley Food Institute, and this conclusion seemed to fly in the face of all that I’d read. How could this be? 

TODAY’S TOPIC is orchids, but not the ones you might be growing as a flowering houseplant. Our subject is native terrestrial types that are more often than not under great pressure in the wild, their numbers dwindling.

May is National Hypertension Awareness Month and American Stroke Month, two conditions that are intricately linked to cardiovascular health. While many fad diets tend to come and go, one dietary pattern has stood the test of time and remains one of our world’s healthiest.

From Left: Sara Lee. Neilson Barnard / Staff / Getty Images.

If you have limited space indoors, there is still a range of house plants you can buy to add greenery to your home. Succulents and cacti offer the biggest choice of small house plants, but there’s a wealth of other varieties to enjoy, from air plants that grow without compost to the carnivorous Venus flytrap. As well as small plants, look for slow-growing house plants that take time to reach their mature height, such as the nerve plant. Windowsills, desks, hanging planters and shelves can all be enhanced by space-saving house plants.

Last month, the job listings page for the American Climate Corps went live. The ACC is a new program developed by the Biden administration that plans to mobilize young people into careers fighting climate change and environmental injustice. These roles span the country and both private and public sectors. Like other corps-type jobs, these roles will be term limited.