How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do

279 Pages·2015·50.56 MB·English

by  Linda Chalker-Scott

HOW PLANTS WORK
The science behind the amazing things plants do
LINDA CHALKER-SCOTT
TIMBER PRESS
PORTLAND • LONDON
My home landscape.
Copyright © 2015 by Linda Chalker-Scott. All rights reserved.
Published in 2015 by Timber Press, Inc.
Photo and illustration credits appear on page 222.
Thanks are offered to those who granted permission for use of photos. While every reasonable effort has
been made to contact copyright holders and secure permission for all materials reproduced in this work, we
offer apologies for any instances in which this was not possible and for any inadvertent omissions.
The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are
made without guarantee on the part of the author or Timber Press. Mention of trademark, proprietary
product, or vendor does not constitute a guarantee or warranty of the product by the publisher or author and
does not imply its approval to the exclusion of other products or vendors.
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Text design by Stacy Wakefield Forte
Cover design by Anna Eshelman Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chalker-Scott, Linda.
How plants work: the science behind the amazing things plants do/Linda Chalker-Scott.—First edition.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-60469-690-5
1. Plant physiology. 2. Gardening. I. Title.
QK711.2.C425 2015
571.2—dc23
2014032414
A catalog record for this book is also available from the British Library.
In December 2013, as I was finishing this book, I lost my dad to cancer. He was
a structural engineer, and while my intellectual interests led in other directions, I
got my passion for discovering how things work from him. This book is
dedicated, with much love, to Raymond Lloyd Chalker.

My garden pond.
CONTENTS
Introduction: From the Ground Up
1 Under the Microscope
2 The Underground Railroad
3 What’s Essential
4 Transforming Sunlight into Sugar
5 Why Leaves Can Turn Red Anytime, Anyplace
6 How Plants Tell Time
7 Night Shifts and Other Unexpected Movements
8 Garden Care, Not Control
9 Finding Love in a Sedentary World
Suggestions for Further Reading
Acknowledgments
Photo and Illustration Credits
Index