Rimma Bondarenko/Shutterstock
Why plants’ oscillating genes matter for humans.
Ruby E Stephens
New research suggests insects have pollinated flowers since the pollen-bearing blooms first evolved more than 140 million years ago.
Purple saxifrage, snow pearlwort and drooping saxifrage (left to right).
Sarah Watts
Why we need to pay more attention to these minute flowers and how they survive in some of the harshest places in the world.
The practice of gardening is deeply tied to colonialism. Here a woman pushes a cart of flowers at her garden centre in Toronto, May 4, 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
As we approach the start of gardening season, it’s a good time to ask some questions about what to plant and who gets to plant.
Many people struggle to keep their houseplants alive.
Okrasiuk/Shutterstock
An expert’s tips on how to keep your indoor plants looking their best.
Elvira Tursynbayeva/Shutterstock
Before you reach for the weed killer, spare a thought for struggling pollinators.
Agrivoltaic farming — growing crops in the protected shadows of solar panels — can help meet Canada’s food and energy needs.
(Alexis Pascaris, AgriSolar)
Canada can meet its carbon emission reduction targets, make food cheap again and open up a gigantic trade surplus with the U.S. by shading farm crops with solar panels.
There are hidden worlds in nature.
PeopleImages.com/Yuri A/Shutterstock
Ants are skilled surgeons, bacteria have their own internet, and scientists think sperm whales have names.
Stock-Asso/Shutterstock
If you’re reading this over a mug of tea or coffee, you’re using plants to alter your body chemistry.
Soil was key to making the Earth habitable.
EyeEm / Alamy Stock Photo
What fossil records tell us about when the Earth was first covered by plants.
Poppies in a cereal field.
Jordi Recasens Guinjuan
Although they can cause severe crop losses, some species and their seeds also contribute to the provision of ecosystem services.
Shutterstock
The large, iconic leaves of monstera can now be found everywhere in popular culture – from fabric prints and earrings to tattoos and mugs. What makes monstera special and how do you keep one healthy?
Shutterstock
For the first time, researchers have shown plants making sounds that can be heard up to a few metres away – just not by human ears.
Planting native plant seeds on sand dunes at Westward Beach in Malibu, Calif., to stabilize the dunes.
Al Seib / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Native plants help damaged landscapes by stabilizing soil, fighting invasive species and sheltering pollinators. Two horticulture experts explain what they’re doing to help develop new seed sources.
The first online photograph of Wurmbea dilatata, a small perennial herb found along the west coast of Western Australia.
Thomas Mesaglio
Almost 4,000 Australian plant species have never been photographed in the field, particularly in remote corners of the country. Without a proper record, they could die out without us even knowing.
Bradford pear trees in bloom along a driveway in Sussex County, Del.
Lee Cannon/Flickr
They’re beautiful in bloom, but Callery pear trees crowd out native plants and turn productive open land into woody thickets.
A global study of urban clover reveals that it is adapting quickly to city life.
(Shutterstock)
Animals and plants living in cities are more likely to thrive when they are able to quickly adapt to urban conditions.
More of us now own indoor plants.
Dmitry Marchenko/Alamy Stock Photo
New research finds that some common houseplants take in nutrients from outside the soil.
Stephen Buckle/iNaturalist
Orchids give nothing in return to pollinators, so how come they get visited by bees anyway? The answer is trickery and deceit.
Niassa Special Reserve in Northern Mozambique’s is just one of the continent’s under-mapped biodiversity areas.
Harith Omar Morgadinho Farooq
Huge swathes of Africa remain unstudied and their species undocumented.