Making It Grow Minutes

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.

Want fence posts that will last for 100 years? Use black locust wood.

Host Amanda McNulty describes the joys of gathering the fragrant white blossoms of the black locust tree.

Locust wood is extremely durable and reports say locust fence posts easily last fifty years.

At first glance, the blossoms of a black locust tree can be mistaken for white wisteria.

If done at the wrong time of the year, cut-stumping wisteria can strangle the trees they’re wrapped around.

Native wistaria (Wisteria frutescens), also known as "swamp wisteria," isn’t as showy as its invasive cousins and blooms later.

Wisteria doesn't just strangle trees, it can completely obscure the ground below from sunlight, creating a dark dead zone.

Amanda McNulty says you can spell it "wisteria" or "wistaria," but please don't plant it.

One plant, two spellings. Host Amanda McNulty explains what information you'll discover online based on how you type the name of this blooming vine.

Amanda McNulty explains the difference between yellow jessamine and swamp jessamine.

If you’re new to the South, you need to know that yellow jessamine is extremely poisonous.

If you’ve ever tried to pull yellow jessamine out by the roots, you’ll understand the nickname “poor man’s rope.”

Sometimes, yellow jessamine blooms in conjunction with Asian azaleas, but this year, it jumped the gun.

Amanda McNulty explains why yellow jessamine was selected in 1924 as our state flower.

Dandelions have long tap roots, and unless you get almost all of them out, they merrily grow right back.

Early settlers to the New World brought dandelion seeds with them to have a source of vitamin-rich greens.

Though dandelions are sometimes considered a pest, their prolific growth does have some ecological benefits.

Dandelions grow everywhere, except in Antarctica.

Though there are a wide variety of types of greens, Amanda McNulty explains why some are her favorites, while others fall short.

We now revere and protect our sea turtles, but it was not always this way.

The SC Department of Natural Resources hotline is live 24/7

The South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston can save sea turtles suffering from various complaints.

All litter flows downstream, into storm drains, creeks, lakes, and massive amounts end up in the ocean.

Amanda McNulty explains what to do if you observe a sea turtle that looks injured or ill.

The structural weakness of sycamores is a boon to a variety of animals.

Sycamores not only tend to lose limbs, which makes nesting sites for bats, birds, and mammals, but they also tend to rot from the inside, leaving open spaces at their base.

Most people wouldn’t, and shouldn’t, plant sycamore trees in their yards.

Sycamores have a complicated wood structure, but they have interesting properties that can be put to good use.

Amanda McNulty marvels at the beauty and endurance of the mighty sycamore.

Amanda McNulty shares how Christmas tree ornaments gathered over the years can stir warm memories of loved ones, both near and far.

Amanda McNulty reflects on the romance and beauty of Christmas trees once lit by candles.

Amanda McNulty embraces the spirit of the season by sharing the joys of visiting your local Christmas tree farm.

Amanda McNulty explains the origin of her passion for colorful Christmas tree lights

Amanda McNulty reminisces about putting up her Christmas tree in her 19th century home.

Cedar apple rust is a fungus, but its brown cases become jelly-like blobs with protrusions that look like something from outer space.

Our eastern red cedar is one of the junipers whose berries are used to flavor gin.

Native Americans used eastern red cedar for canoes and ceremonial buildings.

Before the ubiquitous Fraser firs that don’t grow well here, many people got an eastern red cedar.

Eastern red cedar has long been used to line chests and closets to protect wool items.

Bird and bat guano have both been used as valuable sources of fertilizer. The most valuable guano is found in caves protected from water.

Agave growers get higher yields of tequila precursors when the plants aren’t allowed to flower, imperiling bats that depend on the night-blooming flowers.

Do you enjoy tequila? Thank the bat community.

Host Amanda McNulty explains how you can help protect our state's bat population.

Host Amanda McNulty explains why bats are important mammals worldwide.

Tree leaves aren't the only thing that contains chlorophyll; sometimes it's stored in the fruit.

Chlorophyll is the basis for life on Earth.

Tapping trees has a long history in the U.S.

In the fall, Vermont's deciduous trees put on an eye-popping display of color.

If you want to see beautiful fall leaves in South Carolina, you should head up above Highway 11.

During World War II, the stabilimenta of writing spiders was observed getting smaller, possibly supporting a theory of the zigzag's purpose.

While joining a friend to watch writing spiders weave their webs, Amanda McNulty ponders the purpose of the stabilimentum.

Host Amanda McNulty takes a closer look at the web weaving of writing spiders.

One of the common spiders that weave webs with a distinctive zigzag pattern is the yellow garden spider.

Instead of having to keep up with cleaning spiderwebs from the front of her house, Amanda McNulty decides to recruit some members of the wildlife community.

Although some consider it invasive, the Trumpet Creeper has inspired naturalists and writers, such as hummingbird enthusiast William Hilton.

The native Campsis radicans, or Trumpet Creeper, is often called invasive, but it supports a variety of wildlife.

Amanda McNulty can't find the rice in her pantry, but guess who can.

Amanda McNulty reflects on the variety of animals that have visited her home throughout her lifetime.

From fire ants to sugar ants, there are effective methods for controlling a variety of Formicidae.