Arctic Foxes ‘Grow’ Their Own Gardens

The underground homes, often a
century old, are topped with gardens exploding with lush dune
grass, diamondleaf willows, and yellow wildflowers—a flash of color in
an otherwise gray landscape.

“They’re bright green and everything around them is just brown,” says Brian Person, a wildlife biologist for the North Slope Borough in Barrow, Alaska. “It pops”…

Floral Constellations
THIS. IS. FINALLY. DONE. Small experiment with flowers and sun signs.
A few hours each, sharpie on paper. Available here on my RedBubble.

Aries – Sweet Pea, Taurus – Hawthorn, Gemini – Honeysuckle, Cancer – Water Lily,
Leo – Poppy, Virgo – Morning Glory, Libra – Calendula, Scorpio – Peony,
Sagittarius – Holly, Capricorn – Carnation, Aquarius – Primrose,
Pisces – Daffodils.

These little pygmy sundews, Drosera sargentii, look like a group of beach goers flying kites!

Corybas species in New Guinea by afriorchids.

A
natural burial is the act of returning a body as naturally as possible
to the earth. To achieve this, it is recommend that the body not be
embalmed or cremated, but instead buried in a simple casket or shroud,
in a protected green space.

Night-flowering silene harboring the bubbles produced by a spittlebug nymph.

Moon Garden

A
moon garden is a garden specifically designed to be enjoyed by the
light of the moon at night. It is typically planted with flowers and
plants that are at their best after the sun has set. Some have blooms
that only open at night, some release their fragrance into the cool
night air and others simply have lovely silver foliage and white flowers
that glow softly in the moonlight. Plants that resonate with the energy
of the moon are also welcome in a moon garden, although they usually
meet the other criteria as well.

A moon garden is a wonderful idea for night owls, for people who work
long hours during the day and only get to enjoy their gardens at night,
and, of course, for moon-worshipers!

Design Elements
To fully enjoy your moon garden, you will want a comfortable bench or
perhaps a wooden swing to rest on in the cool of the evening.

The sound of a waterfall trickling through your plantings will provide a soothing backdrop to your evening meditation.

Consider adding a few (but not too many) glow-in-the dark garden
decor pieces to help you navigate your way through the garden in the
darkness and also to add a bit of magical flare. Consider creating
stepping stones with glow in the dark pebbles or solar mason jars along
your path to light your way.

Suggested Plants
Please note that many of these plants are poisonous and some are
invasive. It is up to you to decide whether and where to plant them and
to manage them responsibly. Please read the individual plant’s page
carefully and do further research from other sources before purchasing
and planting any of these.

Flowers that Open at Night:
Evening Primrose, Night-blooming Cereus, Night Phlox “Midnight
Candy”, moonflower, Night-blooming Day lily “Moon Frolic” or “Toltec
Sundail”, Night-blooming Water Lily, Night Gladiolus, Casablanca Lily,
Nottingham Catchfly, Four O’Clock, Dragon Fruit, Dutchman’s Pipe cactus, Night-blooming jasmine, Angel’s trumpet, Evening
Stock, Nicotiana/ Flowering tobacco.

Flowers that Smell Their Best at Night:
Night Phlox, Night Blooming Jasmine, Evening Stock, Four O’Clock,
August Lily, Moonflower, Tuberose, Garden Heliotrope, Mock Orange,
Honeysuckle.

Plants that Look Great in the Moonlight:
Yucca, Lily of the valley, Magnolia, Dogwood, Lamb’s ear, Sage.

Plants that resonate with lunar energy:
Alder, Evening Primrose, Lemon, Maple, Marsh mallow, Monarda, Mugwort, Poppy, Rosemary, Water Lily.

Rafflesia arnoldii and Rafflesia arnoldii: close up by Tamara van Molken
“Everyone sees plants as passive and benign. But, actually, plants are hugely manipulative. Plants have to do everything animals do. They have to cope with predators; they have to find food; they have to find a mate. They have to do all of that sitting still.

One of the largest flowers in the world, Rafflesia, tricks its pollinator by pretending to be a slab of rotting meat.
So this flower is large, sort of red, with sort of lumps and bumps on
it that look like rotting pustules. It also releases the most awful
stench, like a rotting corpse, and heats itself up to the same
temperature as a corpse. Flies are tricked, very successfully, by this flower’s impersonation, so they lay their eggs on the flower and get covered in pollen as they do.

— from “The Secret Language of Flowers,” a talk by molecular biologist Dr. Heather Whitney at TEDxSalford.