🌱🇳🇿 The smell of rain on dry soil comes partly from geosmin, a compound made by soil bacteria. Humans can detect it at just a few parts per trillion, one of the most sensitive smells we have.

#PlantFacts #GardenersOfBluesky

🌱🇳🇿 Young sunflowers follow the sun across the sky each day. Once mature, they stop and face east, which warms them earlier in the morning and attracts more pollinators.

#PlantFacts #GardenersOfBluesky

🌱🇳🇿 In 2005, researchers sprouted a date palm from a seed roughly 2,000 years old, found at the ancient fortress of Masada. They named the tree Methuselah.

#PlantFacts #GardenersOfBluesky

🌱🇳🇿 Many flowers have ultraviolet patterns that we can't see but bees can, like landing strips pointing the way to the nectar. A flower can look plain to us and be a neon sign to a pollinator.

#PlantFacts #GardenersOfBluesky

🌱🇳🇿 Honeybees visit roughly 50 to 100 flowers on a single foraging trip, which is why a patch of herbs in bloom can keep a whole hive busy.

#PlantFacts #GardenersOfBluesky

🌱🇳🇿 Season overlap trick: start warm-season seedlings in pots while the winter crops finish, then tuck them in between the kale and broccoli as space opens up. No gap, no wasted weeks. How do you handle the changeover?

#GardeningTips #GardenersOfBluesky

🌱🇳🇿 Evening primrose flowers open at dusk, and the petals can unfold within minutes, fast enough to watch it happen. Step outside around sunset and see for yourself.

#PlantFacts #GardenersOfBluesky

🌱🇳🇿 Honest question: do you tend to water your plants too much or too little? Overwatering is the more common mistake with houseplants, but plenty of us manage both 😅

#GardenersOfBluesky #GardeningTips

🌱🇳🇿 Leave your echinacea seed heads standing after the flowers fade. Goldfinches and other small birds feed on the seeds through autumn and winter, and the stems add structure to a bare garden.

#PlantFacts #GardenersOfBluesky

My Word of the Day today is RORULENT. Read the definition at 👉 buff.ly/ujJE0vA

Share YOUR words to describe this picture in the comments!

#WordOfTheDay #PocketIreland #Photography #vocabulary #MacroPhotography #FlowerPhotography #GardenersOfBluesky #BotanicalPhotography #FloralMacro #Dahlia

🌱🇳🇿 Which herb would you plant first for a simple tea garden? Chamomile, lemon balm, mint, or something else entirely?

#HerbalTea #GardenersOfBluesky

🌱🇳🇿 Lavender is in the mint family, alongside rosemary, sage and basil. Many plants in that family have aromatic oil glands, which is why crushing a leaf releases that sharp, familiar scent.

#PlantFacts #GardenersOfBluesky

🌱🇳🇿 Do you save seeds from your own garden? Calendula is one of the easiest to start with, the dried seed heads practically hand them to you. Which plant's seeds have you saved, or which would you like to try?

#SeedSaving #GardenersOfBluesky

🌱🇳🇿 A single teaspoon of healthy soil can hold billions of microorganisms, as many as the people on Earth by some estimates. Most of what makes a garden thrive happens where we can't see it.

#PlantFacts #GardenersOfBluesky

🌱🇳🇿 Question for the patient gardeners: what do you do while you wait for the soil to warm up? Start seeds indoors, plan the beds, or just stare out the window at the empty garden?

#GardenersOfBluesky

🌱🇳🇿 Cool weather doesn't have to mean waiting. Calendula and chamomile are both cool-tolerant and can be sown early in the season, so they're a good first choice when the soil hasn't fully warmed up yet.

#GardeningTips #GardenersOfBluesky

Getting ready for Thanksgiving
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