Well, here we are, beginning a new year, and a new decade. The sun has begun the climb to higher skies, which will eventually bring us closer to spring and warm sunny days. In spite of our rising solstice, it is still too early to get excited about spring planting, so instead of going there, I thought it would be fun to share some interesting plant facts with you. These are just tidbits of information I have collected from my many plant books, magazines, and classes over the years. Hope you find them amusing as well…

The popular tomato has often been up for debate; whether it is a vegetable or a fruit; when actually it is a berry! Ironically, in spite of their name, strawberries & blueberries are not berries at all. In fact, most of these so-called “berries” such as raspberries, blackberries & serviceberries are actually false berries, and the proper terms for many of these are “drupes” or “aggregate fruits”, rather than berries. Even odder still, avocadoes, eggplants, persimmons, lychees and grapes, botanically speaking, are true berries. Perhaps botanist could have been come up with different names to be a little less confusing!

Still on the subject of berries, in case you were wondering what serviceberries were, that is what Saskatoons usually are called in Southern Ontario. What I find odd, is that they are grown mostly as an ornamental there. Blueberry snobs they must be, to ignore the fabulous taste of Saskatoons!

I know I have mentioned  Dandelions before, but did you know they are exotic? What I mean by that is that they are not native to our country, and were actually brought here from Europe by early settlers, and cultivated as an important culinary & medicinal plant. One of its many medicinal properties is that of a diuretic, and the French word for dandelion, which is “Pissenlit” translated, means, “pee the bed.” (Hope I am not the only one that found that one humorous)

With room for only one more tidbit, (or should I say niblet) - did you know that the silk on a cob of corn is the female flower, & that each thread, when pollinated, becomes a kernel of corn? In case you were wondering, the male flower of corn that pollinates these threads is the tassel at the top of the corn stock.