Plant

Are invasive plants invasive in their native country? I have to tackle the porcelain berry vines growing up my trees. Is fall a good time to do this? Most alien invasive plants are already aggressive plants before they get here, with many strategies for outcompeting other plants. For example, they may be first to green up in spring, last to go dormant, and have outrageously high seed production and germination rates. But what makes them invasive on U.S. soil is that they have left all their predators and diseases back in the old country.

While Baltimore's air is healthier to breathe than it used to be, at least one environmental group thinks it could be cleaner still.  The Sierra Club released a report this week contending that two power plants in the area - C.P. Crane in Baltimore County, and H.A. Wager in Anne Arundel County - are releasing four times as much potentially harmful sulfur dioxide as the Environmental Protection Agency now deems safe.  The group,...

With only six games to play and division opponents the Boston Red Sox in town this weekend, the Orioles sit one game behind the first-place New York Yankees and atop the American League Wild Card. So for the first time in many years, the O's are relevant in late September and, appropriately, the city has taken notice. Above is a photo of the main Power Plant Live sign, with the "O" lit-up orange in honor of the home team. The entertainment complex joins the Legg Mason building in getting into the pennant-chasing spirit.

Down at Power Plant Live, Mex is now the old man on the block. The block has changed. While the opening of new establishments like Tatu, Joe Squared, Leinenkugel's Beer Garden and Kettle Hill have raised the wattage on the Power Plant scene, Mex, to its credit, has decided that it wants a share of the limelight. To that end, the restaurant is introducing a new menu, which should be fully up and running by the end of September. Some of the new menu items are being introduced at Mex's lunch service.

More than 90 percent of the leaves have fallen off our 30-year-old English walnut trees. They started falling several weeks ago, and two neighbors also have this problem. What is wrong, and what can I do about it? We are getting many reports of mature trees of assorted species dropping leaves. We suspect that this is a result of stress from the repeated droughts and excessively high temperatures this summer. Other plants are displaying early autumn behaviors, too, such as apples, which are maturing much earlier than normal.

In his letter, William Smith writes that Rep. Paul Ryan lied in his convention speech regarding the GM plant in Janesville, Wisconsin ("No denying Ryan's lying," Sept. 5). The facts are that Mr. Ryan categorized the plant in these exact words, that it was a plant "we were about to lose. " By saying they were about to lose the plant, Mr. Ryan acknowledged that the plant was already scheduled to be shut down when candidate Barack Obama visited it in 2008. Therefore, it is ridiculous to claim that he was making the charge that the plant was closed because of something President Obama didn't do. No, the point of the statement was that candidate Obama visited the plant and said, "I believe that if our government is there to support you … this plant will be here for another hundred years.

As a boy, Abdi Hassen helped his father nurture and harvest maize, wheat and tropical fruits — until the early 1990s, when his father vanished. "He was disappeared because of his political opinion. I don't know if he is alive or not now," said Hassen, a refugee from Ethiopia, as he stood among lush garden beds in a Highlandtown alley. Hassen, 31, spends much of his days in the alley, taking copious notes on the plants' progress and the pests that appear on their leaves. The garden is part of the International Rescue Committee's New Roots program, which aims to help refugees carry on the agricultural traditions of their homelands.

Environmental laws do get enforced, however slowly at times.  The Maryland Department of the Environment announced Wednesday it had taken action against about 18 individuals, companies and local governments for alleged violations of the state's laws governing lead paint and air and water pollution. Some of the violators listed in the department's release have paid or agreed to pay more than $100,000 in all in penalties, while state regulators are seeking more than twice that much combined in fines against the others.

Race fans will be able to get owner/driver Ed Carpenter's autograph at 8 p.m. Friday evening at the Inner Harbor's Power Plant Live. Carpenter will be appearing as part of his sponsor's Fuzzy's Green Flag Tour at Howl at the Moon. The evening celebrates the world's fastest open-wheel racing cars coming to town for the second annual Grand Prix of Baltimore. A year ago, Carpenter finished 20th in the inaugural race driving for Sarah Fisher Racing.

Many in Baltimore County and elsewhere are no doubt bewildered by all the fuss that was raised in recent months over the redevelopment of the former Solo Cup plant in Owings Mills into an upscale development featuring a Wegmans supermarket. If you're going to build a shopping center (and built-up Reisterstown Road is no stranger to them) isn't this what you'd want? But alas, the proposal proved as contentious and fraught with political intrigue as any county land use decision in recent memory.