Making It Grow Minutes

While staying near North Carolina's Bat Cave, host Amanda McNulty experiences a food theft.

Dried spice berries from the native plant Lindera benzoin can serve as a lovely hat garnish, or as a tasty snack for black bears.

Host Amanda McNulty explains why white oak acorns are preferred by foragers over red oak acorns.

Yaupon holly is a native plant that grows in the warmer parts of the eastern United States and is our only plant that contains caffeine.

Host Amanda McNulty explains how iced tea became a fast-growing sensation during the 20th century.

Camellia sinensis is easily grown in South Carolina if you want to harvest tender young leaves and have your own home-grown tea.

Host Amanda McNulty does some research on the Boston Tea Party and discovers some interesting facts.

After colonists dumped tea into the Boston Harbor, they found caffeine-free alternatives to fill their cups.

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.

Host Amanda McNulty shares some gardening wisdom from conservationist Doug Tallamy.

Moths are sneaky little fellows, which is why Amanda McNulty tries not to have any furniture over a rug that would otherwise give them a dark space in which to thrive.

Clothes moths are easy to overlook, and can even be found in relatively new houses.

In the South, a fixture of old houses was a cedar chest in every bedroom.

Older homes oftentimes did not have dedicated linen closets. Host Amanda McNulty explains what was used instead.

If you don't limb up your magnolias, the lower limbs make them perfect for climbing.

Our first idea for insect pollination is usually bees, but those insects didn't come along until much later than magnolias, which rely on beetles for that function.

The selections of Magnolia grandiflora that are available now offer a variety of sizes and improved leaf color.

Not all evergreen magnolias (Magnolia grandifloras) are the same, so choose wisely.

If you like to have greenery in the house, you can always cut Magnolia grandiflora, more commonly known as Southern magnolia.

Plant breeders developed grafted honey locust cultivars without thorns and without seeds pods for people to grow in their yards and along streets.

Honey locust seed pods have a sweet nutritious substance surrounding the seeds, but not many animals these days can eat through the tough pods.

Gleditsia triacanthos is the scientific name for honey locust, Gleditsia for a German botanist and triacanthos means "three-spined."

Some scientists theorize the reason that honey locust trees developed thorns is because of the mastodon.

Early human inhabitants of our continent did interact with mammoths, mastodons, saber tooth tigers, and even horses that are no longer here.

Host Amanda McNulty describes the many uses of black locust trees.