sweat it out

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A glistening Mangave ‘Kaleidoscope’ in too much shade to show much of its potential red coloration

It’s great to see the garden “sweat” again. Whether glistening from morning dew or transpiration, it’s a sight for sore (dry) eyes.

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“Through a process called transpiration, water and nutrients are taken up by plant roots from soil and delivered to the stem and leaves as part of photosynthesis. Some of the water drawn up through the roots exits the plant through pores – or stomata—in its leaves, hence the sweating. As this ”sweat” evaporates, heat is removed from the air, providing a cooling effect.”
Sweating Can Be Cool

The leaves of the tree aloe ‘Goliath’ were a grimy, sooty mess just a few days ago. Hosespray and rising humidity have restored them to good as new. The smooth-leaved succulents have had the easiest time recovering from the recent bone-dry, dirty air.

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“Plants also impact Earth’s global water and carbon cycles, with plant transpiration accounting for around 10 percent of the moisture in our atmosphere.”
Sweating Can Be Cool
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Walk me out in the mornin’ dew, my honey…

NASA is a fan of the marvels and importance of plant transpiration too. The Space Station has a new mission called ECOSTRESS (ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station) which will “study how plants sweat, providing the most detailed measurements of plant temperatures available from space and helping researchers monitor the health of Earth’s vegetation.” The little movie will tell you all about it.

This entry was posted in climate, Occasional Daily Weather Report, science, succulents. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to sweat it out

  1. Kris P says:

    Today was the first time in 2 weeks that it felt almost normal outside. I’ll be glad to see a full-blown marine layer again. There’s still no rain in the forecast, though.

  2. hb says:

    ECOSTRESS? What, God-Emperor Don hasn’t cancelled that yet?

    Sorry. Beautiful vignettes in your photos.

  3. Sweating; what an interesting concept when applied to plants. Glad your garden is enjoying some relief from the dry air. Ours here in PDX is strangely cold, and remarkably dry except for the heavy (sweaty?) last few mornings of fog. And so we all wait for rain.

  4. Denise says:

    @Kris, just saw your post on progress in your own garden and happy to see you getting the cutting garden reading for winter/spring flowers. We had a morning of fog earlier in the week, and Marty remarked how much more rare fogs and heavy mists have become…
    @Hoov, that was my reaction too….so glad there’s persistence on importance issues.
    @Jane, it’s been interesting noting how my “kids” are faring on the coast near Tillamook their first fall/winter. Yesterday I was told the fog was like “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” and that it hung around all day, unlike here in Long Beach where it always burns off.

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