La Trobe University: Sex lives of orchids reads like science fiction. That’s a heck of a headline to be indexing before 6am. “An international team of scientists including researchers at La Trobe University and the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria have created a global database of pollination data for almost 3000 orchid species.”
Brussels Times: Belgium’s botanical gardens and arboretums unveil massive online database. “The new website – a global first on this scale – makes 83,000 plants belonging to 25,000 different species and varieties from 25 botanical gardens and arboretums available at the click of a button. Visitors can view technical data sheets on each plant which detail their main characteristics, their origin and their location in the botanical garden in question.”
Globe Newswire: Gardens BC Kicks-Off Garden Tourism Season with the Launch of its New Website, Showcasing BC’s Premier Garden Destinations (PRESS RELEASE). “From helping visitors identify popular amenities and activities found at each garden, such as gardening education, on-site cafés and gift shops, to picnic spots and wheelchair accessible grounds, the new Gardens BC website is a go-to resource for garden tourism, a family-friendly, leisure activity that continues to rise in popularity.”
Google Blog: Take a wellbeing break, and dive into the Rhythm Of Nature. “In Rhythm Of Nature is a digital wellbeing experience inspired by the Carl Linnaeus Flower Clock. Linneaus was a renowned 18th century botanist and taxonomist who developed a modern system to identify, name, and classify living things. His unique garden designs captured the natural circadian rhythms of different plants that would open and close their blooms in relation to the time of the day. In Rhythm With Nature aims to establish an intimate connection between humans and nature through a series of beautifully crafted breathing exercises timed by the flowers opening and closing. Essentially you are breathing with flowers that open according to your time of the day.”
Al Jazeera: How we remember them: A garden of memories in Mumbai . “For years, Dr Prabha Kangle had the same morning routine. After breakfast, she would fill a small vessel with water and slowly cross the length and breadth of her apartment in central Mumbai, making her way from one balcony to the other, watering plants in the two gardens she had lovingly cultivated. She went back and forth several times, refilling the vessel. Any help offered by family members was firmly rejected. The activity also doubled as a morning walk for the 92-year-old. Since she died a year ago, her niece Vaibhavi Bhagwat has taken over the responsibility of caring for her gardens.”
San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco gardeners use TikTok to share unconventional planting methods. “Call them guerrilla gardeners, ‘petal-punks’ or TikTok horticulturists. Phoenix and Shalaco McGee of SF in Bloom are sowing native wildflower seeds in neglected plots of land and sharing their blooming adventures on social media. The San Francisco pair’s informational gardening videos and unconventional planting techniques have garnered more than 200,000 followers and 5 million likes on TikTok. The McGees take to San Francisco streets, spreading native, non-invasive wildflower seeds with pink, plastic guns and Parmesan cheese shakers.”
BBC: The Broadway dancer whose lockdown business bloomed. “When the pandemic closed New York’s theatres, thousands of performers found themselves out of work – some were even unable to pay for their health insurance. One top dancer quickly opened a business, inspired by a gift from a fan, which gave people a way to express affection during lockdown.”
Google Blog: Take a trip around UK Gardens with Google Arts & Culture. “Gardens United is a new, interactive digital hub sharing the stories of a range of gardens around the country, thanks to collaboration between Google Arts & Culture and over 30 cultural partners in the UK. From archives to allotments, from botanic gardens to heritage bodies, there is something for everyone to enjoy and discover.”
Fox 4: Kansas City’s famous rose garden goes high tech to celebrate 90th anniversary. “Visitors to the rose garden in Loose Park may notice something new as they stop to smell the flowers. The Kansas City Rose Society launched a new website that categorizes every variety in the garden by name, color and classification.”
Cornell Chronicle: Botanic Gardens’ Wildflower Explorations goes online. “The Cornell Botanic Gardens’ hands-on wildflower discovery program now is available online, making the ephemeral flowers of spring available from home or by virtual class instruction. During a typical spring, most Ithaca area third-graders participate in Wildflower Explorations, which includes in-classroom preparation and an instructional visit to the Mundy Wildflower Garden. It is one of the Kids Discover the Trail experience-based programs, where children visit eight cultural and historic sites in Tompkins County during their school years. With schools closed for COVID-19 containment, Cornell Botanic Gardens adapted the program for virtual learning and fun.”
Smithsonian Magazine: Shuttered Museums Use Social Media to Share Bouquets of Floral Artwork. “Last week, museums started showing love to one another by posting photos of floral artwork labeled with the hashtag #MuseumBouquet, reports Noor Brara for artnet News. The New-York Historical Society and the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden kicked off the trend by sending digital bouquets to other art institutions. The former shared its first petaled missive—a cluster of apple blossoms painted by American artist Martin Johnson Heade—with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, while the latter sent Tate Britain ‘a little cheer’ in the form of an Andy Warhol bouquet.”
WRAL: Beauty in grief: Durham woman creates 100 days of art from her mother’s funeral flowers. “When Janet Willis’ mom passed away from small cell lung cancer in her 70s, Willis said she felt like she lost more than a mother; she lost a piece of herself. The loss launched her on a 100 day journey, creating art with the dried flower petals saved from her mother’s funeral and sharing her grief experience with her followers.” If the grief wasn’t so overt, you could call her illustrations whimsical. Instead they’re almost unbearably tender. Reminds me a little of Leo Lionni. She’s created an Instagram to share her work.
Xinhua: China launches online database on camellia varieties. “The database has more than 45,000 names and 33,000 pictures of camellia varieties including ornamental, tea and oil species. Users can search the name of camellia varieties in different languages including English, Chinese and Japanese.” Unfortunately the story does not have a link to the database, which is here: http://camellia.iflora.cn/ .
House Beautiful: Chelsea Flower Show 2019: RHS and Google launch new online exhibition. “You may not have managed to get your hands on a ticket to the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year, but Google’s digital exhibition gives everyone the chance to learn about its history. Showcasing a unique collection of paintings, illustrations, images and original posters, the exhibit delves deep into the changing face of the world’s greatest flower show, starting at the very beginning.”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: New Carnegie Museum app shows threat to wildflower diversity in the woods. “Hikers and hunters have already seen changes in the woodlands of Appalachia in recent years, as deer overpopulation literally nibbles away at the many plant species that live under the trees. A collaboration of science and new media experts has introduced a new tool for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to educate people about the state of nature and inspire them as well. The tool is an app for smartphones and tablets, called AR Perpetual Garden, that gives even armchair nature lovers a way to compare two scenarios: the woodlands blooming with native wildflowers and the same scene stripped of botanical diversity because of too many deer.”
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