Making It Grow Minutes

Host Amanda McNulty laments how sometimes the former scientific names for plants she had memorized long ago are updated or changed entirely.

Liquidambar styraciflua is our sweetgum tree, which has a stunning fall color but does drop those prickly seed pods.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides, or Dawn Redwood, was considered long extinct from one hundred million years ago, until the 1940s.

Biogeographic disjunction is one reason we share so many plants, at least at the generic (or genus) level, with other places.

While on a trip to China, host Amanda McNulty realized the value of knowing the scientific names of plant life.

Not all projections on caterpillars are setae.

Fall webworms are covered in harmless spines that serve as a warning to other organisms to think twice about these touching or eating these caterpillars.

The webworms we’re seeing in record numbers this year started as eggs laid by a female moth on the ends of branches.

Host Amanda McNulty explains why residents should not be alarmed at the massive number of fall webworms our state is seeing.

Host Amanda McNulty explains why there have been an unusual amount of fall webworms outside lately.

Watermelon is 92% percent water, packed with vitamins and amino acids, and naturally has carbohydrates that don’t come from sugar, unlike sports drinks.

Amanda McNulty shares special tips on how to be at the top of your watermelon seed-spitting game.

With new breeding techniques we have not only red flesh watermelons, but yellow, orange, and seedless.

Scientists like to find the origins of plants as they can use those genetics to alter modern varieties beset by disease and pest problems.

Every July, visitors arrive at Clemson’s Edisto Research and Education Center in Blackville for Watermelon Field Day.

Host Amanda McNulty shares backstories (and theories) on why certain birds represent the Palmetto State.

Nature doesn’t play by what Amanda McNulty wishes were the rules.

Host Amanda McNulty discovers a delightful surprise on her back porch.

Host Amanda McNulty recalls the time an interloping possum admits defeat to Willie, her Brittany Spaniel.

Before Calhoun County had an animal shelter, Amanda McNulty and her children would help care for local stray cats.