So how do trees cope with squirrels and birds running around and perching in their branches?
I suspect plants are a lot tougher than these folk think ... I also suspect that the plants see themselves as part of a greater ‘whole’ and not as discrete individuals, or else why would a neglected piece of soil suddenly sprout loads of seedlings and not just one on its own in the middle?
And then there’s grass ... grows perfectly happily with cows, sheep and rabbits walking around, eating it and lying on it ... and what about football pitches? Grass seems happy with boots and studs and diving tackles etc.
No ... I don’t buy it ... keep touching plants ... they’ve coped with it so far and it’s been going on for millennia 🌱 🖐 😊
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I was reading a different study done on the Sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica) where they dropped it, gently I assume, several times a day. Within a week it knew it wasn’t under attack and stopped closing its leaves. But would still close it's leaves when the stem was tapped with a rod. So the plants learned one type of movement wasn’t danger, but would still react to a different stimulus. And the plants would remember the drop two weeks later, and wouldn’t react.. showing some sort of memory. Plants are fascinating.
Thanks for the reassurance everyone. I will continue to caress my carrots, fondle my fuchsias, and tickle my tomatoes.
If you think about it, plants in gardens get handled a lot from pricking out after germination to potting on, pinching out, pruning to shape if they're trees or shrubs, dead-heading, lifting and dividing and so on and so forth and observations shows they thrive on it as long as we observe the best ways and when to do all of the above.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
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And then there’s grass ... grows perfectly happily with cows, sheep and rabbits walking around, eating it and lying on it ... and what about football pitches? Grass seems happy with boots and studs and diving tackles etc.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.