Clancy Tucker's Blog: PLANTS

Showing posts with label PLANTS. Show all posts

28 September 2022 - STUNNING GOLDEN ARCH IN WALES

STUNNING GOLDEN

ARCH IN WALES

G'day folks,

Every spring, this mesmerizing flower arch blooms within a Welsh botanic garden. Golden flowers burst from the branches of the laburnum tree, draping downward to creating a tunnel capped by a lush ceiling of blossoms.

The breathtaking 180-foot-long archway is said to be the longest in the United Kingdom. It was planned by Henry Davis Pochin, the man who created the Bodnant Garden in 1875, and has been enchanting those who pass beneath the ceiling of dangling flowers ever since.

The delicate blossoms are a welcome pop of color to counteract Wales’ often wet, dreary weather. When the tree blooms, its flowers cascade down from the branches like delicate pearls, earning them the nickname “Golden Rain.” Its fallen petals pepper the floor to create a walkway dotted with bright, sunshine-colored spots.

The Laburnum Arch is a fleeting phenomenon. It only lasts for a few weeks, usually in late May or early June. Predicting when exactly the archway will bloom is tricky, as the tree can be a bit finicky depending on the mildness of the winter. But even when not in bloom, the tree’s verdant leaves still create an enticing botanic tunnel. Walking beneath the thick mass of greenery feels like wandering within a fairytale forest.

4 August 2022 - THE MUSEUM OF MUSHROOMS - CROATIA

THE MUSEUM OF

MUSHROOMS

- CROATIA -

G'day folks,

This is the only museum in the world dedicated solely to mushrooms.

Situated on the second floor of an office building overlooking Bana Jelacica square, the Museum of Mushrooms displays over 1,500 freeze-dried, preserved mushrooms in three large rooms.

Most of the collection was obtained by professor Romano Bozac, a mycologist who studied and wrote on mushrooms for over 50 years. Organized by similar types of mushrooms, each well-preserved example is labeled with a tag that indicates edibility.

The informative and friendly caretaker is always happy to talk mushrooms and point out unique specimens.

31 March 2022 - CARNIVOROUS PLANT GARDEN - NORTH CAROLINA

CARNIVOROUS PLANT GARDEN

- NORTH CAROLINA -

G'day folks,

Horticulturalist and Wilmington native Stanley Rehder made his life’s work the cultivation of flesh-eating plants. When he passed away in 2012 at the age of 90, the city carved out a small green space dedicated to its beloved “Flytrap Man.”

The Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden occupies three-quarters of an acre behind Alderman Elementary School. Found in one of the world’s few microclimates permitting year-round outdoor growth of such plants, its beds are home to pitcher plants, sundews, Venus flytraps, and other insectivorous species. Visitors are invited to survey the lands anytime during daylight hours, and plant hikes are offered for free each Saturday morning. Interested parties are advised to wear closed toed shoes. After all, these plants have teeth.

In May 2013, the garden found its way into local news when more than 1,000 venus flytraps valued at $20,000 were stolen out of the garden. Officials saw the act as just one in a massive series of flytrap thefts throughout the area, all feeding a massive carnivorous plant black market in the United States. Though the perpetrators of the crime at Rehder Park remain on the loose, the event played a key role in passing a new state law that makes the unlawful taking of a Venus flytrap a felony.

Clancy's comment: I found many of these in the Australian bush when I was a kid. Amazing plants.

I'm ...

14 July 2021 - NATURE NEVER GIVES UP

NATURE NEVER

GIVES UP

G'day folks,

Nature is resilient. If left alone, it can almost always find a way to flourish.

Even the desolated exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine, which was destroyed in a nuclear explosion in 1986, is now thriving with small animals and birds. In these photos, you'll get to see the unique ways nature finds to adapt to its surroundings: from a tree that has modified itself according to the urban environment, to abandoned places being reclaimed by the wild. These fascinating examples show that nature just never gives up. Perhaps there's a lesson there for us.

Clancy's comment: We've seen examples of this all over the world, especially in abandoned places.

I'm ...

21 November 2020 - ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT CANNOT BE DECIPHERED

ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT

CANNOT BE DECIPHERED

G'day folks,

The Voynich manuscript is one of the biggest riddles in the entire world, and has remained unsolved for centuries. But what is truly amazing about this manuscript is its content.

It is written in a script indecipherable by any living soul, despite basically using the Latin alphabet. It also features illustrations of what seem like fantastical plants (or are they?) on many of its pages. Experts have tried to unravel the mystery of this script for centuries without success. Thousands of cryptographers, including Allied code breakers during both world wars, tried and failed. It is believed that the number of characters used may be anywhere from 15 to 40.

Faced with repeated failure, some have hypothesized that the manual just cannot be deciphered, and is actually a very complex hoax. However, many point out that the text obeys numerous laws of real language, including Zipf's Law, a statistical rule on the frequency of words used in a natural language, where the most common word appears twice as often as the next most common word, etc.

Now, let's look at this problematic manuscript.

Clancy's comment: Extraordinary, eh?

I'm ...

19 December 2020 - BRILLIANT MINI ECOSYSTEMS IN GLASS CONTAINERS

BRILLIANT MINI ECOSYSTEMS

IN GLASS CONTAINERS

G'day folks,

Two ladies, Lina Cirilo and Laura Gonçales, created their own company in 2013. They create and sell tiny, self-sustaining ecosystems in glass jars, bottles, and other containers.

The tiny worlds have all kinds of scenery in them, from simple camping trips to cars, to characters from Harry Potter and other popular movies. Every single one is handmade, so every one of them is different and unique. It would probably make a great gift for a plant lover!

These little ecosystems survive almost entirely on their own, so you don't have to worry about maintenance. On their website, it says that they need watering every 10-15 days, depending on how hot it is. So you can enjoy the beauty of nature and plants, without worrying about killing them. So it's perfect for people who don't have a green thumb.

On their website, Lina Cirilo and Laura Gonçales explain how they got started: "We started with the proposal that each person was entitled to a small piece of green. After all, we live in micro-apartments, work, walk the dogs, go to the supermarket, and suffer in traffic just to find friends. A mini ecosystem that practically lives alone was more than necessary."

Here are some samples …