This section will be used to answer any interesting questions about plants that you may want to ask LULU. From time time to time, this page will be updated with new information and tid-bits about plants that you may not know.

Q: We often dine at Keatons Restaurant in the Foothills Mall. We are curious about the use of some unusual plants. Can you tell us what they are?

A: First they ask about "Mother-in-law-Tongues" but they have no idea that this plant, also called a Snake plant or Sanseveria has another remarkable and hard to get variety called 'Cylindrical'. Lulu finds them to be a great look when used to support southwestern themes, a theme she instituted for Metro Restaurants across the board. In addition to the Sanseveria 'cylindrica' we use Sanseveria trifasciata and 'Silver hahnii marginata' (Golden Birdsnest) Lulu, most recently, has added right at the front door, a new plant called a ZZ which, like the cylindrica requires as little maintenance as is known for living plants. This article, written by a long time grower in Florida, Dr. Joe Cialone, in his Zone 10 articles, tells us how he thinks it is one of the better 'new' discoveries in the industry.

The same care he talks about for the Zamia applies to the Cylindrical Sanseveria. When looking for the unusual, try Bob McMahon's newest restaurant, The Tack Room. Two varieties of Cereus and Euphorbia can be seen here in unusual 'crested' formations. These were collector pieces that she was made to promise would be used in very special spaces. This is Lulu's newest special space!

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Q: Is there anything interesting about lima beans? What makes them different from any other type of bean?

A: It's hard to find something nice to say about lima beans, other than that they are easy to spear with a fork. But researchers in Japan have uncovered a reason the vegetable may be worthy of new respect. Limas, it turns out, are good communicators.

Like some other types of plants, a lima can let its neighbors know when it has been attacked by a pest such as a spider mite. The action of the mite munching on the plant releases volatile compounds that are carried through the air to neighboring lima plants, which then prepare chemical defenses against infestation.

While it had been known that limas could do this, the exact mechanism had remained unclear. The Japanese researchers, reporting in Nature, discovered that the volatile compounds activate five defense genes in an uninfested plant. What's more, the plants can differentiate between a mite infestation and physical damage that might be caused, say, by being stepped on. The compounds released by a damaged plant are ignored by its neighbors.