Latest Plants News

Flowers aren't the only way to add color to a garden. How to paint with foliage

May. 01, 2024 09:03 AM EDT

When we want to add color to the garden, most of us set our sights on flowers. But many leaf-forward plants can outlast and even outcompete those with colorful blossoms. For starters, foliage plants don’t wax and wane or have a limited bloom time. In addition, many can brighten up...

Deforestation in Indonesia spiked last year, but resources analyst sees better overall trend

Apr. 28, 2024 22:09 PM EDT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — From trees felled in protected national parks to massive swaths of jungle razed for palm oil and paper plantations, Indonesia had a 27% uptick in primary forest loss in 2023 from the previous year, according to a World Resources Institute analysis of deforestation data....

African farmers look to the past and the future to address climate change

Apr. 28, 2024 08:09 AM EDT

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — From ancient fertilizer methods in Zimbabwe to new greenhouse technology in Somalia, farmers across the heavily agriculture-reliant African continent are looking to the past and future to respond to climate change. Africa, with the world's youngest...

Australians Grace Kim and Hannah Green tied for lead in LPGA Tour’s JM Eagle LA Championship

Apr. 27, 2024 21:52 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Grace Kim stumbled to a 5-over 76 on Saturday in the LPGA Tour’s JM Eagle LA Championship — and still held onto a share of the lead. It was that kind of a day at Wilshire Country Club, the tree-lined layout made difficult by bumpy poa annua greens and tricky...

Angry farmers in a once-lush Mexican state target avocado orchards that suck up too much water

Apr. 24, 2024 05:27 AM EDT

VILLA MADERO, Mexico (AP) — As a drought in Mexico drags on, angry subsistence farmers have begun taking direct action on thirsty avocado orchards and berry fields of commercial farms that are drying up streams in the mountains west of Mexico City. Rivers and even whole lakes are...

AP PHOTOS: In northeastern Argentina, yerba mate is more than the national drink, it's a way of life

Apr. 23, 2024 10:34 AM EDT

ANDRESITO, Argentina (AP) — For millions across the heartland of South America, bitter-tasting yerba mate tea is a beloved staple of social gatherings and morning routines. But here, in the steamy grasslands of Argentina’s northeast Misiones Province, mate is also a way of life — literally. ...

US advances review of Nevada lithium mine amid concerns over endangered wildflower

Apr. 23, 2024 00:07 AM EDT

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The Biden administration has taken a significant step in its expedited environmental review of what could become the third lithium mine in the U.S., amid anticipated legal challenges from conservationists over the threat they say it poses to an endangered Nevada wildflower. ...

Your morning coffee may be more than a half million years old

Apr. 15, 2024 12:35 PM EDT

That coffee you slurped this morning? It’s 600,000 years old. Using genes from coffee plants around the world, researchers built a family tree for the world's most popular type of coffee, known to scientists as Coffea arabica and to coffee lovers simply as “arabica.” ...

Editorial Roundup: Texas

Apr. 08, 2024 07:13 AM EDT

Austin American Statesman. April 4, 2024. Editorial: The harsh consequences of the Texas GOP’s fervor to crush DEI at UT The work of public universities – communal investments in the thinking skills and innovation needed to build a healthy society – needs to...

Extreme drought in southern Africa leaves millions hungry

Mar. 31, 2024 03:32 AM EDT

MANGWE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Delicately and with intense concentration, Zanyiwe Ncube poured her small share of precious golden cooking oil into a plastic bottle at a food aid distribution site deep in rural Zimbabwe. “I don't want to lose a single drop,” she said. ...