Lady Gaga is a pop star, cultural icon, provocateur and now, a genus of ferns—at least by name. Last week, botanists at Duke University named a newly identified genus of ferns after the singer.
A glacier, a rainforest, and a forest of upside-down trees—naturally fallen spruce and hemlock, repurposed as flower pots—are some of the wonders in Alaska's Mendenhall Valley.
Florigelia were popular in the seventeeth century. Often illustrated by eminent artists, the lavishly produced books catalogued the plants in a garden, or collected on an expedition. Who can afford to produce such a book today? A prince, of course. His Royal Highness, Prince Charles of Wales, who sponsored The Highgrove Florilegium, a collection of plants in the royal garden, and one of the most expensive books of modern times.
The first trees were just planted in Beacon Food Forest, a forager-friendly garden in Seattle. With a projected seven acres of fruits, nuts, and vegetables, it will be the nation's largest public edible landscape.
