By: Tom Wickersham

Plants are found everywhere. From cracks in the hot cement at your feet, to the frozen ice shelves of the Arctic, leaves extend out, roots take hold, and plant life springs up. How often do you stop to consider that without plants, life as we know it would not be possible?

Plants provide the oxygen we breathe and much of the food we eat. Some of our modern medicines were originally derived from plants. What a diverse entity: the plant!

Just as plants enrich our lives, we tend to plants' needs while nurturing them in our gardens. People grow many different types of gardens to represent their own unique interests.

Have you heard of a luffa garden? A luffa is a squash-like vegetable that grows on vines until picked. The vegetable's internal fibrous "skeleton" makes an excellent skin exfoliater and bath sponge. At Marine World in Vallejo, a special garden was designed to attract, feed and harbor a multitude of beautiful butterflies. Herb gardens can be designed to produce plants known for their medicinal properties or for their usefulness in preparing certain foods.

Of course, some people prefer gardens consisting of bright flowering plants. In the city of Portland, Oregon where rose gardens abound, the rose is considered such a beautiful attribute to the city that to pick one is a misdemeanor offense.

Whatever individual interests you may have, there is probably a garden to suit you. Come investigate more about gardens at Explorit's current exhibition, "How Does My Garden Grow?" on display throughout the summer. Learn which types of soils are best for certain gardens and examine different gardening techniques. If another cool spell passes through Davis, stroll through Explorit's native plant garden and become more acquainted with local plants.

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It seems preferable these days to venture out of our comfortable air-conditioned shelters only after the blazing sun has gone down for the evening. This resembles some space-aged scenario wherein colonists struggle to survive on a scorching, semi-uninhabitable moon.

What would living on the surface of our moon be like? What did the Apollo astronauts see when they walked on the moon thirty years ago this month? Were the moon and the Earth created at the same time?

You'll have the opportunity to ask these questions and more at a special Astronomy Club presentation. Join host Dennis Smith for a slide show and demonstrations involving our natural satellite. "The Moon: Models, Memories, and Mysteries" will take place at Explorit at 8pm on July 17. For more details, contact Explorit at (530) 756-0191.

If you can dismiss your early bedtime on Wednesday, July 28, don't miss the partial lunar eclipse visible beginning at 2:50am. It will take several hours for the southern hemisphere of the full moon to enter, pass through and emerge from the Earth's shadow, or "umbra," so grab a comfy chair if you plan to sit up through the entire process.

Explorit Science Center is located at 3141 5th Street in East Davis. The current exhibition is How Does My Garden Grow? Public hours are Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sunday from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m., and Tuesday through Friday from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. Regular admission is $3; members, teachers (with school ID) and children under 4 are free.