Seattle Times Danny Westneat Column: Botanical Correctness Grows Wild
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By Danny Westneat, Seattle Times  Feb. 4--It all started with an innocent enough question: What would the Olmsted Brothers do?   Remember them? They're the legendary landscape architects who designed much of Seattle's parks system, starting more than a century ago.
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Evolutionary biologists have long theorized that the pace of evolution quickens when a species faces great environmental stress. This idea, of course, is a tough one to âprove,â but we can see examples of it all around us. Just look at the IT security industry, where something akin to drastic environmental change is happening right now: Organized cybercrime groups are punching truck-size holes in enterprise security defenses as regulators, shareholders, and attorneys general are putting pressure on companies to lock down sensitive data. The pressure for change will make this weekâs RSA Security Conference in San Francisco less an industry shindig than a live experiment in evolutionary biology. So walk quietly and keep your field glasses handy to spot some exotic new species in these areas:
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Your own patch of greenery may be your haven, but what you put in it could be harmful to the environment
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By Mike Keller, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.  Jun. 5--There's something alluring about the supertrees soon to find their way to the Coast's urban forest.
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Many Arctic plant species have readily adjusted to big climate changes, which implies that at least in that region, plants may be able to shift long distances.
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A new report adds to the mounting evidence that relationships between plant and animal species can be far more complex than had been thought.
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A cultural turf war is being waged across America.  On one side are the traditionalists who shear and spray and fertilize and  take great pride in their picture-perfect lawns, as well they should.
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By Ian Johnston Environment Correspondent  WILD flowers grown on some of the world's least fertile land could provide huge amounts of environmentally friendly biofuel, according to US scientists.
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By Betsy Taylor  ST. LOUIS - Hunched over her desk at the Missouri Botanical Garden, Cynthia Hong-Wa scrutinizes tropical plants found only in her homeland almost 9,600 miles away in Madagascar.
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Chemists at Emory University, USA, have made an important advance in harnessing the ability of bacteria to make new molecules, and their discovery could eventually lead to the creation of naturally decaffeinated coffee plants.
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Carolus Linnaeus' system for assigning names to Earth's living creatures holds up over time, but in the age of DNA, some scientists hunger for a more modern approach.
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The list is ever expanding as scientific tests on a range of traditional remedies are revealing that they have &quot;real benefits.
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Higher temperatures, rapid precipitation shifts, and accelerated blooming and breeding patterns are changing the Southwest.
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Vegetation thrives on moisture and when you add an increase of nitrogen and complements of lightning, the greenery gets even greener. The May issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports poison ivy is expected to get a lot itchier because of global warming.
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Researchers worldwide are collecting seeds from wild plants to guard against the ravages of climate change.
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David Thibault grows orchids as a hobby, but the elegant flower on his bedside tray did little to lift his spirits. He stared out the window of his room at George Washington University Hospital, waiting for lab results that could tell him if he had months, weeks or maybe only days to live. A mon...
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By Matt Christensen, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho  Mar. 7--JEROME -- It takes a village to raise a child, they say.   In Magic Valley, it'll take a community -- and a native plant -- to save a dwindling species.