Photosynthesis for Gardeners

THE OTHER DAY, I was having an interesting conversation with a gardener who was marveling at the beauty of photosynthesis. She had inadvertently assumed that the process is highly efficient because it’s a natural one. When I replied that photosynthesis is only as efficient as it needs to be — and noted that energetically speaking, it’s actually highly inefficient — she seemed surprised, even a little doubtful.

In a simplified nutshell, photosynthesis is a natural process whereby light energy is harvested and converted to chemical energy. The process occurs mainly in green plants — which is