botanic superlatives

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Botanic Superlatives: The Oldest Royal Garden

Ancient pollen grains preserved on the site of a royal palace in Jerusalem have given researchers a vision of 7th century B.C garden opiulence: a lush paradise with surprising exotics and traitional species.

Botanic Superlatives: The Oldest Forest

By Anna Laurent

A 385 million-year old forest, the world's oldest, was recently excavated in an upstate New York quarry.

Botanic Notables: The Oldest Tree House

By Anna Laurent

The famous Tree House at Pitchford is said to be the oldest one in the world.

Botanic Superlatives: World's Largest Rutabaga

By Anna Laurent

After growing enormous celery and beetroots, Welsh farmer Ian Neale has grown the world's largest rutabaga, which has attracted the attention of an unexpected fan: Snoop Dogg.

Botanic Superlatives: Super Sunflowers

By Anna Laurent

Sunflowers can grow remarkably fast, and incredibly tall. Young gardeners, unwitting cultivators, and casual competitors have all planted extraordinary sunflowers—here's a look at some of the tallest (and the craziest, including one with 104 flower heads!).

Botanic Superlatives: The World's Largest Pumpkin Festival

By Anna Laurent

With its fanciful landscapes, ribbon-awarding contests, and more than 400,000 pumpkins, the Pumpkin Festival in Ludwigsburg, Germany, has the largest pumpkin exhibition in the world.

Botanic Superlatives: The Smallest Flowering Plant

By Anna Laurent

You probably won't find these flowers at any summer weddings, but the water-dwelling plant would be a perfect accent at the world's tiniest garden party. Sparking like tiny green jewels, each less than a millimeter in diameter, the Wolffia globosa is the smallest flowering plant in the world.

Botanic Superlatives: The Largest Water Lily

By Anna Laurent

The leaves reach nine feet (almost three meters); its nocturnal blossoms are white with the first moon, and pink with the second, with a sweet aroma that will fill the night. Victoria water lilies (Victoria amazonica) are the largest in the world, and have been marveled at since first discovered in 1801.

Botanic Superlatives: The First Terrarium

By Anna Laurent

A physician by trade, botanic enthusiast, and accidental inventor, Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward devised the first terrarium in 1829, and thereby launched a new age of horticultural possibilities—where ferns and mosses would grow indoors, and tropical exotics would travel the world.

Botanic Notables: The Bashful Plant

By Anna Laurent

Mimosa pudica, or the bashful plant, is the introvert of the garden, yet, with a coy choreography that is curiously beautiful, it is impossible not to touch, and has fascinated botanists for centuries. At a light caress, its fern-like leaves will fold inward; a gentle thrust will collapse the petiole.

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