The clematis have been on our front porch as long as I can remember. I don't recall planting them — either they were always there, or just showed up. Or, I suppose I could have planted them years ago and just forgot.
Whatever the case, Monday, when I put out the flag to honor Labor Day, as I said the pledge, I noticed they had begun to bloom, in earnest, throwing open their white four blade propeller pedals to the world, and had a thought I've never had before:
Why do they bloom in the fall? When most flowers bloom in the spring? Is there a reason?
This must be well known — they are, after all, Sweet Autumn Clematis, and, somewhat incredibly, I did a deep dive into them three years ago, name checking Victor Hugo and Shakespeare, ranging from ancient Greece to Scottish poetry without raising the question that puzzled me now.
Why do they bloom in the fall? When most flowers bloom in the spring? Is there a reason?
This must be well known — they are, after all, Sweet Autumn Clematis, and, somewhat incredibly, I did a deep dive into them three years ago, name checking Victor Hugo and Shakespeare, ranging from ancient Greece to Scottish poetry without raising the question that puzzled me now.
Not wanting to cheat and consult AI, I cracked open the Encyclopedia Britannica, and found them under the buttercup family, and read: "Clematis (clematis, or traveler's joy) with about 230 species in temperate regions especially in the Northern Hemisphere and in tropical mountains of Africa."
And read. And read.
Much discussion of leaves, tendrils, stems. "They are climbing plants..." No kidding. Then this surprise: "The flowers are principally bisexual." I guess they can't serve in the U.S. military then, or hold driver's licenses in Kansas. (Okay, that's trans citizens; work with me). The Britannica veered near the topic, "Perennial herbaceous species usually persist over the winter by means of a rhinzome or condensed rootstock, so that, with the death of the aerial shoots after flowering, a bud emerges from the rhizome or rootstock to give rise to the following years' shoots."
Right. But why in the fall? I pushed on.
Pedals. Ovules. Pollen sacs that generally open by valves. Some interesting stuff. But not to the point.
I gave up, sighed, and typed "Why do clematis bloom in the autumn?" into Google.
"Certain clematis varieties, such as the Sweet Autumn Clematis, bloom in the autumn because they grow and flower exclusively on new wood produced during the current growing season." Along with a photo of my clematis. As if the AI knew.
Following were three bullet points:
— New wood growth: Unlike spring-blooming varieties that form buds on old stems from the previous year, autumn-blooming types start fresh each year.— Time to mature: The plant needs the entire spring and summer to grow long vines and reach the size required to support heavy clusters of buds.— Seasonal triggers: Shorter days and cooler late-summer temperatures signal the plant to finally open its fragrant white flowers, which last until the first frost.
Okay, I know my default has been that AI is balky and flawed and ridiculous. But it wins this round over the august Encyclopedia Britannica. I expect there will be a lot of that in the years to come. As I've said before: technology wins.
I'm new to this whole gardening thing, so I found this really helpful Neil.
ReplyDeleteDidn't really need AI to accomplish the search. Many existing websites have that info. (That's where AI got its information.) Google has been caught cheating its search users for some time -- purposely rerouting search inquiries to delay hits to keep users "engaged" in order to generate more profit and craping more data about the user. Akso more profit. Even pennies add up when you have billions of users.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't read Corey Doctrow you should. He writes a lot about tech including Google search, AI and tech in general.
DeleteAI is getting much better about sticking to the truth - it's pretty much my go-to now when I want a question answered rather than researching a topic.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: How do you know it's the truth? If you already know the answer, you wouldn't have looked it up. And if you verified AI's answer, you could have just done the research in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe same way you know something in the Encyclopedia is true. It makes sense. It meshes with what you know. I cut the clematis back at the end of last season. So saw it grow. Flowers can blossom on a vine that isn't there yet.
DeleteMaybe that makes sense sometimes. But if I don't know something and someone tells me "information," I have no real way of knowing if that information is true or not. Sometimes we think, "Well, that can't be true," but it is.
DeleteAI much like everything else on the internet and in the rest of the world is a marketing tool.
DeleteWe don't use ai ai uses us. It's all about gathering information on the consumer. They're trying to figure out what you might buy they want to sell you things. The first thing they're selling it was information
I don't have a subscription AI service yet but many people that I know do
Whenever you use a search engine to find the information you're looking for the first several results are sponsored ads. The goal of the people who own the internet is to consolidate our purchases through other corporate entities that they also own. The Free AI program that keeps popping up on my phone no matter how I change the settings has a qualifier that says it makes mistakes
AI is not a botanist or even a gardener it's not a book about botany or a class it's not the same as finding information provided by trained specialists in the field or discipline of which you are searching out information.
Unless you know the name of the company you're looking for the search engine will not take you there unless you go several pages past the first page that comes up and get lucky enough to stumble upon the company you were thinking of that you might want to do your landscaping or home repair all the big companies come up first.
Private equity is buying up all the little moms and pops and keeping their name so that they can use the reputation of those people built.
The internet was supposed to be about "free" sharing of information.
DeleteTruly the best part of this GenAI thing ... asking oddball-type of questions (or questions from an oddball), in which there's no (or little) risk associated with a wrong answer.
ReplyDeleteThank you for doing this research. As we wander the neighborhood lately, I've been vaguely wondering about why some of these flowers are just showing up now, but I'd never have bothered to look it up via AI, an encyclopedia, or any other method. Good to know!
ReplyDeleteMay I inquire, NS, as to what prompted the switch back to "Comments are vetted and posted at the discretion of the proprietor" in-between the last time I visited EGD and now?
Sure. I was so happy to have comments back, after their being out on Friday, that I thought I'd leave them up unmoderated. But I have one reader who leaves thousands of unhinged comments — and emails, and postcards and letters, etc. — and he immediately started up. I can delete them unread, but thought it would be disturbing for people to actually read them if they were up, even briefly. When he's off his meds, they're pretty bad.
DeleteToo bad you can't block a reader like Facebook allows you to do.
DeleteYeah, in the early years it was annoying. But honestly, I'm used to him by now. To be honest, it probably makes it easier to take other headcases, because I assumed they're just him. I feel sorry for him more than anything else.
DeleteFigured it was something like that, Mister S.. Knew it wouldn't last.
DeleteEither too happy to have the comments back to vet them...or just too busy.
The watchbird got a day off, and then had to go back to watching.
Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.
Too many crazies. There are vultures...vultures everywhere.
How's your recovery going I have to say the hardest part for me was wiping do you have a bidet? with the wrong hand almost impossible
ReplyDeleteVery well, thank you. The surgery was seven weeks ago today. The pain, which is notorious, was only a problem for a day or two, which was a blessing. I slept in a recliner in the TV room for a month, and wore a sling for six weeks. I do physical therapy exercises three time a day — they take maybe 10 minutes — and see a physical therapist twice a week. Slowly, range of motion is coming back. As of now, I'm glad I had the surgery. As for your specific question, not a problem compared with, oh, opening jars.
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