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Growing Awareness: How Ozone Gardens Help Us See the Air We Breathe

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What’s Up, Forsyth? In our last post, we dug into how ozone affects plants and why some are more susceptible than others. Today, we're putting that knowledge to use by introducing you to a way to monitor air quality right in your own backyard! We are also sharing tips and preliminary findings from our very own ozone garden in Kernersville— a recent collaboration between the Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden and Triad Air Awareness . Figure 1. Air Awareness Coordinator, Sarah Coffey, standing next to the newly installed Ozone Garden sign at the Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden in Kernersville, NC. What’s an Ozone Garden? An ozone garden is a specially designed garden filled with plants that are sensitive to ozone. In addition to beautifying any space and serving as a hub for native pollinators, these plants are bioindicators — living organisms that help scientists and citizen scientists monitor environmental health. When ground-level ozone interacts with the cells inside leav...
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Elm Pollen: The Encore Adventure

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  Elm Pollen: The Encore Adventure Written by Anne Ambs, Allergy and Asthma Center of NC, Cone Health Medical Group Elm pollen, often associated with spring, makes a surprising return later in the year. While our native elm species release their pollen during late winter and early spring, one introduced elm species, Chinese elm  ( Ulmus parvifolia ) , pollinates in late summer or fall in North Carolina.  Chinese elm, also known as lacebark elm, is a significant source of autumn pollen. Figure 1. Mature Chinese/lacebark elm tree. "Ulmus parvifolia" by Matt Lavin is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Belonging to the Ulmaceae family, elm trees thrive across temperate regions of North America, Europe, and Asia. They are commonly found in forests, along riverbanks, and in valleys, where they contribute to the ecosystem by offering shelter and food for wildlife. Mature Chinese elms can reach heights of up to 50 feet and spread to 35 feet wide. Thanks to their adaptability, elms ar...
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The Invisible Threat: The Impact of Ozone on Plant Health

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What’s Up, Forsyth? In our next two blog posts, we will discuss how ozone ( O₃)   affects plants and how studying certain “ozone sensitive” plants can inform us of local air quality issues. In this first blog, we will delve into the physiological effects of  O₃   exposure on plants and the subsequent ecosystem and economic effects. In our following blog, we will explain how “ozone gardens”—areas planted with species that physically show ozone damage on their leaves—can help raise air quality awareness in our communities. We will also highlight a recent partnership between Triad Air Awareness and the Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden to plant Kernersville’s first public ozone garden . Let’s begin by defining ground-level ozone. What is Ground-Level Ozone? Stratospheric ozone, commonly called the ozone layer, is naturally occurring in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and protects us from the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. However, this same gas is an air pollutant ...
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Why We Like Lichens: Nature's Air Quality Monitors

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What's Up, Forsyth? For this next post, we’re not just thinking about what's “up,” but what's all around us! Have you ever seen one of these before?  …or one of these? …or, perhaps, something like this? These specimens may look a little like a plant (think moss) or a fungus (think mushroom), but they're something different altogether—they’re lichens! A lichen is an organism that forms when a fungus, alga, and/or cyanobacterium enter into a special relationship called a symbiosis . The photosynthetic partner (photobiont) in the relationship—either a type of algae or cyanobacteria—produces food for the entire organism. The fungal partner (mycobiont) provides a structure/home for the photobiont (and sometimes microorganisms like  tardigrades ), which protects it from harsh conditions. Because the mycobiont relies on the photobiont for food, lichenologist Trevor Goward has described lichens as  "fungi that have discovered agriculture." Lichens can grow almost any...
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Plantain: Nature’s Band-Aid

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    Plantain: Nature's Band-Aid Written by Anne Ambs, Allergy and Asthma Center of NC, Cone Health Medical Group For this week’s adventure, I had to go no further than my own back yard, much to my chagrin, to find plantain weeds nestled in among the other herbaceous plants and bushes. This plant, which originated in Eurasia, has followed human migration patterns throughout history and is now found in nearly every state in the US. The genus Plantago , commonly referred to as plantain, includes over 200 species and is widely distributed around the world. Most are herbaceous perennials with similar growth patterns. Herbaceous plants have flexible green stems with few to no woody parts. Low to the ground, the leaves grow in a rosette pattern with a spikelike flowering structure towering above it. This plant’s leaves are low enough to the ground to evade lawn mower blades and are tough enough to bounce back to life, even if stepped on. Image 1: English Plantain.  Photo credi...
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