Thinking Positively About Flowers
One of the things that intrigued me the most was how accurate we are (or not) at sensing emotions on other’s faces. And this ties into the new television series “Lies” where a team of scientists run around solving crimes based on identifying micro-facial characteristics. So what’s that got to do with gardening?
Your emotions are similarly readable. When you’re in a good mood, we all know it because of the subtle signs you give off. When you’re optimistic, you’re going to be giving off a different “vibe” than when you’re pessimistic. When you think something can happen, there’s a better chance that it will happen than when you’re negative about the possibilities. There’s an entire section of business and personal development based on positive thinking. So what’s that got to do with gardening you ask again?
If you think positively about your garden, do your plants grow better than if you ignore it? Do your plants sense feelings? The first thing to understand is that this might not be as far fetched as you might think. The first question is whether plants have nervous systems where they might indeed be able to sense their environment. This question is easily answered by research in the 1920’s that showed that plants do indeed have electrical systems as well as chemical ones. Dr Wildon in 1922 showed that if you burned a flower, the electrical response to that burn travelled to other parts of the flower much faster than the chemical response. So the flower started to react to the burn as en entire unit electrically before the physical effect of the burn could be transferred chemically. Research has now shown there are two distinct kinds of electrical signals in plants – an all or nothing charge that happens as a result of a major wound or problems that goes to all parts of the plant and a localized surge that travels shorter distances. More work in the 1990’s confirmed and extended some of these findings.
We now throw in a bit of a problem. A pseudo-science report done in the 1970’s by Thompson and Bird was published as “The Secret Life of Plants” and showed that plants not only responded to electrical signals but that they responded to the individuals who created those signals. According to the book, if you burn a plant, the plant not only responds the first time you do it but every time you come into the lab from then on. The plant recognizes you. The publication of this book was greeted with great enthusiasm by the plant-lovers and gardeners in the 1970’s (wasn’t everything?) but it essentially killed any serious research on this subject in the scientific community where it was treated with a great deal of disdain. To the best of my knowledge, this work has not been duplicated in a serious research laboratory.
One thing modern research has shown is that if a localized region of a plant is harmed, the entire plant is warned electrically but then that localized region goes back to a normal state if it is not damaged beyond operation. So the damage is transient in the localized damage region. We know the plant is sending signals but the main question is why is the plant sending signals? What’s the purpose of the electrical system?
It could be sexual. There’s research showing plants respond to insects messing about with the stigma and styles,the sexual organs of the flower, and the movement of pollen. The flower “senses” pollen moving in some way. It could also be a survival mechanism. We know that damaged plants tend to produce more seeds than other plants. More than one gardener has told me their plant produced a heavy crop of flowers or fruit and then simply died the next year. It could be a temporary survival mode. We know that stressed plants alter their biochemistry; some plants actually produce chemicals that make them less edible in response to insect damage. So a faster acting plant that uses an electrical response may be less likely to be damaged than a plant that uses a slower chemical response to produce a defense against insect predation. And research has indicated some plants sense when their neighbors produce these chemicals and start producing them even before they’ve been attacked.
The questions and research seem to stall out at the point of taking it to the practical level of gardening. Does the activity level of a gardener have anything to do with the survival or failure of a plant based on it’s electrical and chemical responses? Does the way you handle the plant, your mood and the way you work the plant, have anything to do with the success for failure of that plant? What do you do that changes the electrical nature of the plant? I’m sure the scientists aren’t going very far down that road but that has never stopped gardeners before. How do explain folks who have green thumbs and can grow darn near anything? Do we handle plants differently than others and reduce stress on the plant? Or, is the plant able to identify that person who is positive towards them and grow better when compared to a person who handles them roughly or who simply behaves in a way that doesn’t encourage great growth?
Is a plant able to take a “slice” of you and respond appropriately? Does it do to you what you do to other people?
Wow! Fascinating article. Growing up I remember stories my mother told about trees that died soon after their “owners” died. True to her word, an older couple who lived across the street from us were killed in an auto accident and the 30+ foot evergreen tree they had planted in their front yard many years before died for no apparent reason.
Very interesting topic.
BTW, besides “Lie to Me”, there’s another show called “The Mentalist” with a similar story line of watching facial and body movements to get a fix on whether a person is lying or not. We watch both.
@JoAnn -
Thanks – it’ a fun thought for sure and there’s a lot of anecdotal evidence to support it but who knows what real testing will show. Fun to speculate though
There are a lot of unknowns in this world, who can say what is true and what is not, maybe my aubergine seedlings overheard me saying they failed the year before and picked up the negative vibes (failed again)…what say you!
pamwests last blog post..Seeds and more seeds
@pamwest -
I’d say you’re either burying them too deeply, keeping them too wet or keeping them too cold.
IMHO, here are the accurate answers to the questions you posed, based on my experiences (I hate gardening!) and those of my sister, who loves it.
• Does the gardener’s activity level have anything to do with the survival or failure of a plant? No. I’ve had to totally ignore the garden for weeks at a time, and it thrived-vs.-my sister’s daily pampering of her garden, which also thrived.
• Does the way you handle the plant, your mood affect the success or failure of that plant? No. I hate the process of gardening, can’t get on my knees, despise having dirt under my nails, don’t like the uncertainty of what will grow and what will die. My sister coddles her plants, talks lovingly to them, apologizes if she’s rough. All the plants thrive.
• How do you explain folks with green thumbs? They are an aberration of nature.
• Do we handle plants differently than others? Yes, (see answer above), but it doesn’t matter. You just personally enjoy the entire aspect of gardening, including the plants themselves.
• Is the plant able to identify a person who handles them roughly or behaves in a way that doesn’t encourage great growth? No. They are just plants. They either grow or they don’t. No one can predict or guarantee anything at all about gardening.
With all that said, you may wonder why I’m gardening at all. I ask myself that every day. The answer is because my mom lives with us, and she thoroughly enjoys seeing the flowers outside her window, and I want her to be happy, so I submit myself to the mud and bugs, weeding and deadheading, enjoying nothing but the final, unpredictable results, which I then love to photograph.
Chris
Is a plant able to take a “slice” of you and respond appropriately? Does it do to you what you do to other people?
@Chris -
Speaking as an “aberration of nature” – I want to thank you for the great comment. To toss one back at you – “love to photograph” – perhaps the plants are picking up on your ultimate objective which his to make them look good in perpetuity – photograph them and preserve their memory. So they grow for you in spite of your lack of a green thumb. Or not…
What about the study by researchers @ McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario (published in BIOLOGY LETTERS, a UK publication) that discovered some plants can recognize their siblings. The root growth of searocket was less if plants from the same mother were present, but if other searockets (different mothers but from the same population) were in the vicinity the root growth was greater to compete more aggressively for nutrients. The other plants mentioned in the magazine article I read (I think from THE AMERICAN GARDENER) were native wild impatiens, common lambsquarters and Arabidopsis. It is not known yet how plants recognize siblings.
Jan
@prairiepetunia -
Fun – quite fun!
I have always thought there was something to all of this but have usually equated “green thumb” with a person’s ability to understand and appreciate the basic needs of plants and provide for them accordingly. I have both kinds of people in my family and I am always amazed at how differently they react to different situations. And, of course, they have success or failure right in line with their reactions.
Fascinating topic! As a gardener who has tended the same garden for over 30 years, I’m a believer that ~ “I know mine and mine know me,” an awesome thought as I work in harmony with nature … macro/micro life surrounding me. I believe that all I tend, thank me, and that my flowers pose for portraits
@joey -
Interesting indeed – do flowers know individuals is the question that we’d all like to have answered but won’t until somebody with the skills and reputation gets bitten by the gardening bug.
@Karensgardentips -
There’s an entire school of thought around “successes and failures in line with their reactions” – if you think it – therefore it is kind of thing. So what you’re saying is that we can create our own green thumbs or not depending on what we believe.
I have been a lurker for months, just wanted to say that I enjoy all the tips and advice you share. thanks for a great blog and for sharing your gift!
tiitsues last blog post..First Fertilizer Friday of 2009!
@tiitsue -
Thanks for the kind words
ah Doug, you have taken the nature or nurture debate to a whole new level!
Ilonas last blog post..Marjoram
@Ilona -
Just doing my best – just doing my best……