Pollenatrix

Any low-rent allotment gardens around here?

A few days ago I mentioned the proliferation of allotment gardens here in Germany, and by coincidence I came across an article in the Telegraph by an expat who has actually rented one.

You have to understand, these allotment gardens are no ordinary garden plots. They're pretty much summer cottages in the middle of the city. I'd post a picture but the grounds are surrounded by double rows of thick shrubbery, and are securely locked up at entrance gates.

I've toyed with the idea of renting one myself, but after reading the article I changed my mind. Clubs? Rules? Thousands of euros? Uhh... don't think so. I'll stick with my pots and a little guerilla gardening for now.

Tell us what we already know

Science is going to the dogs...

Frozen waves

I don't know what's cooler: The waves or the Newfie accents.

Awful

I've always thought of the ocean as the last frontier of pristine territory on earth. Boy, was I wrong.

There is a strange place in it, North of Hawaii, a place that living things of the seas avoid. It's a "10-million-square-mile oval known as the North Pacific subtropical gyre.... The gyre was more like a desert—a slow, deep, clockwise-swirling vortex of air and water caused by a mountain of high-pressure air that lingered above it."

One man decided to explore this lost part of the ocean, and what he found there is truly horrifying. Please read the article: It's upsetting, but we all need to know.

Orchid found outside the romance department

A nice article on the discovery of a particularly great specimen of "Ghost Orchid" (Polyrrhiza lindenii) growing wild in Florida.  This is a most unique and unusual find: A journalist who can write sensibly about orchids without getting all hot and bothered.

"That any ghost orchid exists at all anywhere on the planet is improbable. It is the compulsive gambler of the plant kingdom, evolutionarily speaking. ''Every one has gone through a gantlet of improbabilities,'' Owen said.

A ghost orchid seed will likely die if it's not infected by a particular strain of beneficial fungus. It will likely die if there's not enough peat to nourish its giant cypress host. It will likely die if there's not enough water in the slough below to saturate the air and mediate temperature swings. It will likely die if the tree canopy isn't dense enough to shelter it from the wind and desiccating sun.

Even if the ghost orchid has covered all these very long bets, it can be pollinated only by a giant moth that flies only at night."

More about Polyrrhiza lindenii

Pictures

That bike's a bit small for you, Mr. Tree

Now this is quite a sight: A rusty old bicycle engulfed by a tree being carried upward in the trunk as the tree grows taller. It's apparently a familiar site to residents of Washington State in the US, where the tree is a bit of a tourist attraction on Vashon Island. But it's a new one on me.

And apparently, not unique. There's another bicycle tree in Scotland, in the village of  Brig o’ Turk.

"It occupies a spot close to the old smiddy (smithy), and local folklore has it that the village blacksmith was in the habit of propping up or hanging various articles, which were then forgotten about and gradually absorbed by the ‘ironivorous’ tree."

This reminds me of Old Man Willow in Lord of the Rings, who swallowed up the the hobbits when they leaned against his cranky old self for an afternoon nap.

I sure hope no one's riding those bikes.

Photo by   Jody Boyman - Red Ranger Came Calling

It's a matter of perspective

It's been a tough week, but today Laird and I spent the afternoon wandering around downtown, playing tourist in our own town. I took my camera, and made a discovery: You just can't stay anxious and bummed out when you're searching for interesting things to photograph. We had fun, and I was given a much needed reminder of how very beautiful Munich is, and how truly fortunate we are to live here.

It was a good thing to learn: That if you look for good things around you, you'll find it.

Entitled, "Return of the Borchid Ripper"

Orchids are amazing things, and at a certain point you have to wonder if they're evidence of some kind of cosmic sense of humour.

Thanks, National Geographic:

July 17, 2007—It may look enticing, but this "female wasp" (left) is all stalk. That's because this temptress is actually a recently discovered hammer orchid, a flower that has evolved to resemble the body of a female wasp. Hapless male wasps are lured to land on—and thus pollinate—the flower.

"All stalk". Bwaa ha ha ha.

That certain something in the air

The Uk is experiencing an early autumn, after an extraordinarily cold and wet summer. When I was in London at the beginning of July I was very glad I had packed a warm wool sweater.

Adrian Barlow, of English Apples and Pears, said early apple varieties were already being harvested.

“Autumn has definitely come earlier this year,” he said. “We expect varieties like Discovery to be in the shops as soon as next week.

“Later varieties, like Cameo, are already showing really good colour, which is extraordinarily early. Normally we wouldn’t expect to see that until the last week of September.”  (The Telegraph)

We've generally had a lovely summer here in Munich, never too uncomfortably hot, lots of sun and plenty of showers to keep things green. But in the last week I've noticed a crispness to the air, a faint hint of autumn. I wonder if summer is ending early for us too.

From magnificence to mange

This just breaks my heart.

Refugee Lipizzaners a sorry sight in Serbia

BRANKO FILIPOVIC

Reuters

August 3, 2007 at 12:18 PM EDT

NOVI SAD, Serbia — The emaciated horses standing forlornly in a dusty field in northern Serbia are all that is left of a magnificent herd of white Lipizzaners.

There were nearly 90 of the famous breed when they became war refugees in 1991, losing their stables in the town of Lipik to shelling as Croatia fought for independence from Yugoslavia and Croatian Serbs rebelled.

Recent pictures of eight remaining horses at a farm near the city of Novi Sad have alarmed officials and animal lovers.

More: Globe & Mail

While a bunch of bickering jackasses argue politics over their skeletal bodies, and a greedy farmer tries to extort a fortune for the care of animals he has clearly neglected, these magnificent creatures are dying.

More: The Independant

I recall that Stan in Richmond B.C., who has himself rescued a few horses, once told me that of all the neglected and abused animals that share our lives, none suffer more than horses. I believe it.