Party Plates

My friend Carol, sent me the history of the paper plate.  The surprising fact she found was that they were invented in 1904 by Martin Keyes.  He saw workers eating their lunches at a veneer plant in New York on thin waste pieces of maple veneer.   Wikipedia gives the date even earlier - German bookbinder Hermann Henschel, in Luckenwalde in 1867. The paper cup was invented as a health cup in 1908 - it was a crusade to ban publicly shared utensils in public places.  The motivation was seeing a tuberculosis patient drinking from a common dipper in a train car.  Hugh Moore's invention later became the dixie cup.  Popularization of disposable food packaging/serving items came about in the 1930s when they were used to feed remote workers and defense factory workers.  It seems that an explosion of variations developed after the war. McDonald's who made a revolutionary decision in 1948 to only serve meals in 'take-away' containers.  They caused a tectonic shift (or is it a Titanic shift?) in the restaurant business.  Fast forward to our current time and we find ourselves in the global Ocean Plastic Crisis.  Today our view of single service packaging has changed from healthy to harmful, and is presented as a world epidemic for human and other creatures' health. Consider my generation's experience of the transformation of this product: we can recall an innocent time when a paper plate meant a picnic in the park by the lake. Our pictures show the Paulownia (Empress Splendour Tree) blooming at Longwood Gardens.  This is an invasive species in North America - it is considered the fastest-growing tree int he world. Here in Niagara, it is a difficult tree to get to bloom - I know of three trees in the area.  There's a large one at Vineland Research, next to the Foreign Affair Winery and it is blooming now. There are two tiny trees in my garden.  I didn't mean to have two, I moved the tree, and this spring a second one has popped up in the original location.  They are known to survive wildfire because the roots can regenerate new, very fast-growing stems. My version is said to have white blossoms rather than the soft purple-lilac. A Paulownia's leaves and flowers are edible and used to feed livestock.  Its wood is desirable and used for jewellery boxes in Japan.  There are many positive attributes where it is native, but alas a persistent, exotic invasive in North America.

Start the Mower

There is a new lawn mower - the Husqvarna automower.  It has no handle. There isn't one in the picture as it is a little robot.  It works safely around pets and children, it remains discreet and silent, it mows both day and night and even in nasty weather.  It 'clips' rather than cuts, and mows based on grass growth rate.  Given you can monitor it from you smart phone, wouldn't it qualify as part of the Internet of Things?  Other selling features include being able to find its charging station by following a boundary wire.  Here is Reader's digest's advise on how to 'treat your lawn to a healthy tonic':   Many homeowners have had great success with homemade lawn “tonics” made from simple products that might already be on your pantry shelves. The recipes vary, but most share these common ingredients: 1 can non-light beer 1 can non-diet soda pop 1 cup ammonia 1 cup liquid dish soap 1 cup molasses or corn syrup 1/2 cup mouthwash There's an explanation for this recipe of ingredients and their benefits.  (really!) We're looking at the newly renovated Longwood Fountain Garden.  Over $90 million was spent to re-landscape the area and to introduce the latest technology in fountain displays.

Repeat Again

This is Groundhog Week!  The Groundhog Day movie is a movie on the theme of repetition.  What about unnecessary repetition?  Wouldn't that be what redundancy is?  Do you think Bill Murray's character felt the repetitions were redundant? Here are expressions that could be termed 'groundhog moments' in celebration of the movie.  Redundant is what they are: a moment in time – A moment is essentially a period of time. ATM machine – ATM already stands for “Automated Teller Machine” true fact – By definition, facts are true. join together – How else would something join? free gift – Because when’s the last time you had to pay for a gift? added bonus – The word bonus indicates something outside of what’s expected, so of course it’s added. end result – Results always come at the end. final outcome – Related to the above, an outcome signifies the end, or finality. plan ahead – Planning always refers to the future, or what’s ahead. repeat again – Ah, the irony here! close proximity – To be close to something is to be in proximity. past experience – Experience refers to what has happened in the past. most unique – Unique implies there’s nothing like it, so one cannot compare it to something else. rise up – When rising, there’s no other way to go but up. the reason why – A reason explains the why. new innovations – An innovation is something that did not exist before, i.e., it is new in and of itself. unexpected surprise – If you were expecting it, it wouldn’t be a surprise. advance notice – When giving someone notice, you’re always doing so in advance. What redundant phrase do you find yourself using most often? Are you having Groundhog moments? This wonderful list is courtesy of proofreadnow.com  The orchid arch at Longwood is twelve feet high and contains more than 600 orchids. The reconstruction of the Longwood Main Found Garden is shown in this youtube video time-lapse :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjuioDG74Jk

Cats at Work

There were a few cats out and about at Longwood.  All the cats at Longwood have names, and the docents assured me that they are well cared for. This one was mousing amongst the ferns.  Look at the tail - its position tells the story.  She was very friendly, even though she thought she shouldn't be disturbed from her work.  This would be important work - orchids are edible. I've had a few flowers disappear in my own greenhouse.  I was sure a while ago that there was a lady slipper in bud, and the next time I looked there was a stump of a stem.  Maybe Baxter should work harder in the greenhouse. I found a blog that covers the Longwood cats completely.    My pictures today show Persimmon. Take a browse through chatsworthlady's Longwood story of cats HERE

Longwood Heating

Longwood's nine production greenhouses are 378' x 80'. I met the supervisor of heating and mechanical while visiting earlier in the week.  He was walking through the greenhouses and checking in corners, so I thought he must be in charge of something.  He briefly outlined the two heating systems - one for the show greenhouses and the second for the production greenhouses.  He said that it takes a lot of manual monitoring in addition to the automation. Longwood's main boiler plant has three boilers fuelled by oil or gas to produce steam for heating.  That's how we heat our greenhouse here, too.  In addition, they have a 10-acre solar field across the road from the garden entrance.  It produces 2 million kilowatt hours per year and accounts for 30% of energy consumption.  Within the greenhouses, their computerized system controls temperature, bench and perimeter heat, snow melters, and cooling and shading devices.   Do you check out the news around the world?  Whenever I do, I am surprised by the North American names for newspapers in other cultures.  For example, you can't be sure where the "Star" headline might come from.  Here's a great example today: ‘Titis Sakti’: Grand marriage of comedic Shakespeare and dramatic Mak Yong At first glance, the Malay theatre production Mak Yong Titis Sakti seems to be made up of two completely disparate elements. Talk about chalk and cheese. Mak Yong Titis Sakti is one part A Midsummer’s Night Dream – one of the most famous romantic comedies ever written by the English playwright William Shakespeare. The other part is Mak Yong, a traditional form of dance-drama from the northern states of Malaysia. You wouldn’t think they could blend so well. Yet for director/actress Norzizi Zulkifli, who first presented Titis Sakti (Magic Drops) in 2009, these two art forms have a lot more in common than most people think. “Every time I read Shakespeare’s plays, they give me visuals which I realised, ‘Oh, this is very similar to my culture!’ Like Mak Yong, or Bangsawan theatre,” says Norzizi, 41, in a recent interview at KLPAC. Mak Yong Titis Sakti is on at Pentas 1, KLPac, Sentul Park,in Kuala Lumpur from Jan 27 to Feb 4.  Look at the google map,  and you'll see place names that are definitely not in North American. It would be interesting to see this show - maybe it will travel some day. Read more about the show. Our "flowers" today are illuminated by a little afternoon light in the Longwood Conservatory.  They are Anthurium - known as Flamingo Lilies.

Bubbling Up

A search with Guinness Records in the terms will retrieve all sorts of things.  weareteachers.com has 11 Creative Ways to Use Guinness World Records' titles to teach math.  A search on creative teaching ideas for math includes many interesting approaches - like making a recipe for slime, using matchbox cars, using cheerios to practice multiplication, playing math bingo.  Guinness is appealing to the sense of wonder that children have.   Whatever search terms I've been using lately has been retrieving bubble records. I took a look at this topic. I found a site dedicated to word bubble records - most people in a bubble, largest free-floating soap bubble, people simultaneously blowing bubbles, largest bubble wall, biggest bubble, and so on. The master of bubbles is Fan Yang - Canadian bubble artist. He holds 16 world records in the field of bubbles.  He has done television and corporate performances all over the world, and produces a show, the Gazillion Bubble Showin New York City.   If you google 'fan yang bubble pictures' you will be astonished with what's been created.  There's a good article on him by the huffington post. I don't have any bubble pictures yet - today's picture shows the wisteria blooming at the Pierce Dupont house in Longwood Gardens.

Piecemeal Design

Can you imagine that the over 1,000 acres of Longwood Gardens had no grand plan?  Longwood's web site says that Pierre S. du Pont built them piecemeal, beginning with the 'old-fashioned' Flower Garden Walk.  He must have had some skill, as the flower walk was 600 feet long.  And his 'pieces' were massive conservatory greenhouses and water fountain gardens on the scale of the Villa Gamberaia in Italy. So today's images are from Longwood Gardens and you can see how wonderfully intense colour appears when there is an overcast sky.  The moisture in the air makes everything 'dreamy' in appearance.  The Love temple image has been processed by nature's own filters.

Top Ten Things to Do

Longwood Gardens are known for their beautiful gardens, aren't they?  Well they are also known for their amazing public restrooms.  They won first prize in the Cintas' America's Best Restroom contest last year.  Any restroom in the United States that is open to the public is eligible.  So Longwood is on the list again this year, along with 9 other public restrooms.  Here's the description. "The public restrooms at Longwood Gardens, the most visited public garden in America, deserve a double-take as you walk by. That’s because the 17 restrooms themselves are part of the largest indoor “Green Wall” in North America! The staff at Longwood worked with artist Kim Wilkie on an unprecedented feat of bathroom architecture. Take a look at the photos, and you’ll understand. Aside from the restrooms’ lush greenery, they also feature domed, naturally lit lavatory cabinets hidden within the “Green Wall.” In addition, each restroom contains etched translucent glass at the top of the dome to provide natural light, reduce electricity and minimize the need for light fixtures. Longwood Gardens traces its roots to the famed du Pont family and has become preeminent for its grand collection of plant life. Now, its restrooms also share in the spotlight. “The restrooms at Longwood have become a ‘must-see’ for our one million annual visitors, and we even have docents nearby to share the story of their creation,” says Patricia Evans, communications manager at Longwood Gardens. “To be named America’s Best Restroom would be a testament to our creativity and environmental stewardship.” If you want to see the winners over the past years, go to this 'hall of fame' link: http://www.bestrestroom.com/us/Hall_of_Fame/ Here's the link to see this year's nominees: http://www.bestrestroom.com/us/vote.asp

Easter is Chocolate and Eggs

Marilyn's Photo of the Week

Easter Day - Chocolate and Eggs Today is a celebration of chocolate.  I turn to the Guinness World records: The largest chocolate Easter egg 34 ft in height made by Tosca in Italy in 2011.  It weighed 7,200 kg. and had a circumference of 64 ft. The largest chocolate rabbit weighed 3,850 kg (8,488 lb) and was made by Brazilian company Senac-RS, for the city of Gramado's annual "Chocofest" in April 2014. The most expensive chocolate egg (non-jewelled) sold at auction for £7,000 ($11,107) and was created by William Curley, Amy Rose Curley, Alistair Birt, Sarah Frankland, Melissa Paul, Rhiann Mead (all UK) and Suzue Curley (Japan).  The largest Easter egg hunt consisted of 501,000 eggs that were searched for by 9,753 children accompanied by their parents at the Cypress Gardens Adventure Park in Winter Haven, Florida, USA, in 2007. Similarly, the most entrants in an egg hunt competition is a whopping 12,773 and was achieved by The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt, as part of World Record London, in London, last year.  This in from Deb Osborne: Q What happens when you pour hot water in a rabbit hole? A  Hot cross bunnies Have a good Easter Day.

Water Lily with Friend

Digital photography can be a challenge and a privilege.  I was able to bring two images together for this Water Lily with Friend image.  The water lily is at Longwood Gardens Water Gardens and the Koi lives at the Royal Botanical Gardens.  So these two botanical gardens could be brought together through the techniques of photo manipulation.

Grand Christmases

Longwood Gardens puts on the biggest Christmas show on the east coast, that I know of.  Here are some of the images from a few years ago, inside the conservatory.

Christmas Means Gingerbread

I can remember making Gingerbread Houses as part of Christmas.  Definitely, there were Gingerbread men galore Christmas cookies.  We would put them in tins with a piece of cut apple and they would soften up along with gaining some of the apple flavour.

Here are two of Longwood's trees created with rows of gingerbread men to form a tree shape.   The trees in the lower pool seem to be dusted with icing sugar to go with the gingerbread cookie decorations on them.  

The little sign at the bottom of the left tree reads: "These gingerbread men are fragile.  Please enjoy this display with your eyes only".

Countdown to Christmas - Entering Longwood's Christmas Conservatory

At Christmas, Longwood Garden announces the celebration to come at the entrance to the Conservatory with its Winterberry branches.  Winterberry bushes are everywhere outside and in.  They are intensely red with their berries on bare branches.  Once inside, the showstopper display stops people right there.  It's a brilliant design - there's so much to take in - the foreground has the splashing pool with gardens around it.  Then in the middle ground, the leading line of the watercourse takes one's eye far out to the background display.   A promise of lots more to come.   The Conservatory always has a Romantic sensibility.  For Christmas, with its exuberant colour scheme, it is maintained through a limited colour palate.  Here we see underneath, white carnations as decorations in the trees, red amaryllis beneath the trees, and then red winterberries along the watercourse.  It resounds with elegance.

Countdown to Christmas - Dec 1 - Weird and Wonderful Christmas Trees

As a gardener, I am interested in the natural Christmas tree.  My own Christmas tree is decorated with Poinsettias, birds, leaves, holly berries and similar plant-like material.  I realize it is artificial and not real, and yet it seems like a vertical garden when I look at it.  I have two sides to the tree - the sun-filled side with red as the major colour theme, and then the moon-lit side, with silver and white as the colour theme.

Well, today's 2 trees come from Longwood Gardens a few years ago.  These Christmas trees are alive and living plants.  They are wonderfully creative and imaginative.

Can you see what this first one is made of?  It is parsley!  Beautifully done.

And how about this second tree with its distinctive shape and beautiful branches - all made out of tropical succulent hens and chicks, set in Spanish moss.

Longwood's Christmas has started, so there's time to plan, schedule and get there for a visit of a Christmas lifetime.

Where the Mind Turns to in Winter

Last week was a week of winter winds and snow with chilling temperatures.  My mind turns to the beautiful flowers of spring and I found myself in Wisteria Heaven.  

This is the longest wisteria in Niagara - it's in Jordan Village and is more than 100 feet long.  This panorama was stitched together with more than 10 pictures.

One of the most famous Wisteria gardens is at Longwood, near Philadelphia PA.  The wisterias are trained into graceful trees.

Bench Works

Benches are an enjoyable focal point for the photographer.  There is usually a path in a garden leading to a bench, also providing the photographer with a leading line in the image.  Here are two benches from the lovely Longwood Gardens, near Philadelphia PA.  The first is a spring image and the latter an autumn one.

Conservatory Water Gardens

I'm preparing an article for water gardens in conservatories. s Both Longwood and the Missouri Botanical Garden have extensive water gardens in their conservatories.  Here is a sampling…the first is in St. Louis, and Longwood images are the next three.