Published: May 10, 2008 10:55 pm            

OSU Botanical Garden News 05-11-08

Last week’s article was about the Noble Foundation and dealt primarily with the early history of the foundation. This week’s article is primarily about what we saw during our field trip.

The foundation started with an Agriculture Division in 1945. In 1987, a Plant Biology Division was established to perform fundamental and applied research to modify plants to improve resistance to disease and production potential and in 1997 the Forage Improvement Division was established to develop better grass and legume forage varieties.

Very large numbers of plants on such which research is being conducted are contained in a 44,000 square foot greenhouse, the largest non-commercial greenhouse in the country. It’s very large, very impressive and highly automated to control several physical parameters such as temperature and humidity.

A great deal of research is also being conducted on a variety of plants, shrubs and trees throughout their 800-acre site. We visited a site where research is being done on many varieties of table grapes and wine grapes as well as a site where research is being done on strawberry plants looking at such things as spacing and moisture requirements.

We also visited a large field with many varieties of newly planted pecan trees. Surprising to me was the fact that most of the research is being done on varieties of native pecans.

These are the type pecans companies which make candy, cookies and ice cream are interested in because the oil in the nuts is “good oil” related to cholesterol levels.

Thanks OSUBG staff for a great field trip. In closing, the ambassadors and OSU Botanical Garden staff wish every mother in our community a happy Mothers’ Day.

Larry Jones is an ambassador at the OSU Botanical Garden.

        

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