Green in the greenhouse

 All cross country ski trails at the Crossroads are in excellent conduction.

The Greenhouse at Crossroads is green again! It even smells green  Usually, we wait until spring to plant in the Greenhouse, but this winter, we are collaborating with the United States Potato Genebank which operates at the Peninsular Agriculture Research Station just outside Sturgeon Bay.  Researchers recently contacted us to see if we could house some of their potato plants this winter so the plants could blossom and develop true seeds.

We had almost everything they needed: heat (and though we haven’t used it lately, air conditioning) natural light supplemented by full spectrum grow lights on timers, water. We were  little short  of active bees. Consequently, their staff will be coming by to pollinate the small  purple (or in some cases white or white/purple) flowers.

When I explain this to Crossroads visitors, they are puzzled. Why would anybody want potato seeds? Don’t potatoes grow from cut up pieces of other potatoes? Sure do. Every  spring, when we put in  the Crossroads Heritage Garden,  we just cut up some certified potato tubers and put them in the soil.

But this short term project  is a part of a long term systematic effort to preserve the biodiversity of potatoes.  The researchers in Door County acquire, classify, preserve and evaluate seeds of wild and domestically grown potatoes in order to distribute various varieties to researchers and plant breeders throughout the world.  Perhaps some day, breeders will be able to develop  potatoes that can be grown without chemicals, or to resist plant diseases, or to thrive in a changing  climate. The facility in  Door County  stores almost 5000 seed populations and 1000 clonal varieties, and some of the genes preserved in those seeds may turn out to be very valuable in feeding the world.

And it’s nice to have green in our Greenhouse. There is green in the forest too, if you know where to kick away the snow. While most plants turn brown, curl up and die in the winter, several species of ferns stay green even in the harshest of winter. Just knowing that green plants are still there under the snow gives us hope.   Ferns  don’t need wild bees because they don’t have flowers or even seeds. Ferns are green plants, but they are ancient.

The community is invited to learn about ferns at the Master Gardener Lecture On Tuesday, February 18 at 7:00. Gary Fewless, botanist from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, will present “Ferns of Door County”.  Gary, who teaches plant taxonomy, wetland ecology, and field botany, will focus his presentation on the ferns that grow naturally in Door County and if time permits include information on related plants such as horsetails and club mosses.  An accomplished photographer and curator at the Herbarium, Cofrin Center for Biodiversity in Green Bay, Gary will bring wonderful images of the green world that we look forward to seeing when the snow melts. Gardeners and anyone who enjoys hiking Door County’s woodlands will find this a fascinating look at ferns.  All are welcome to this free program.