No one really knows the consequences of their plant breeding but I don't think that should stop us! What impressed me most with Burbank is how he was willing to try early wide hybrids, like Blackberry and Apple(!) Or as you said, Petunia with Tobacco. Rather than view them as failures, we see these attempts as illustrations on how leaky the Linnean system is (for plant breeding).
With regards to the astonishing vigor of the Himalayan Blackberry, I will put forward to you that that is how all plants evolve. They compete and the most adaptable excel until another comes along.
One of the problems with this native-invasive argument is how static in time it is. Native to which time period? Invasive when? Surely the intermingling of species is how new ones are produced.
Let's not forget humans are the most invasive of all species.
Back to your Blackberry problem, I've heard that laying down a steel mesh with spacing slightly smaller than the diameter of a mature stem will cause the plant to continually girdle itself with new growth to exhaustion and death. Probably worth a try, and saves on buying other material.
All great points. landscapes are never static and impossible to freeze at any one point in their inherent cycles. I really do love that he was accepted as a part of the social fabric of the time. When Plant Wizards rubbed elbows with Presidents and inventors!
Also, great idea for the blackberry, we'll have to give that a try. We certainly have no shortage of material to test ideas on :)
As a.ways, a great article!
Thanks for reading :)
No one really knows the consequences of their plant breeding but I don't think that should stop us! What impressed me most with Burbank is how he was willing to try early wide hybrids, like Blackberry and Apple(!) Or as you said, Petunia with Tobacco. Rather than view them as failures, we see these attempts as illustrations on how leaky the Linnean system is (for plant breeding).
With regards to the astonishing vigor of the Himalayan Blackberry, I will put forward to you that that is how all plants evolve. They compete and the most adaptable excel until another comes along.
One of the problems with this native-invasive argument is how static in time it is. Native to which time period? Invasive when? Surely the intermingling of species is how new ones are produced.
Let's not forget humans are the most invasive of all species.
Back to your Blackberry problem, I've heard that laying down a steel mesh with spacing slightly smaller than the diameter of a mature stem will cause the plant to continually girdle itself with new growth to exhaustion and death. Probably worth a try, and saves on buying other material.
All great points. landscapes are never static and impossible to freeze at any one point in their inherent cycles. I really do love that he was accepted as a part of the social fabric of the time. When Plant Wizards rubbed elbows with Presidents and inventors!
Also, great idea for the blackberry, we'll have to give that a try. We certainly have no shortage of material to test ideas on :)