The Tree like Dracaenas is Perfect When You Need a Strong Accent

Among the tallest of houseplants, the treelike dracaenas are perfect when you need a strong accent. They’ve swordlike leaves, often with attractive variegations. Although they are single stemmed, several plants of different heights can be grown together in the same pot for a bushier look. They are easy to grow plants, very tolerant of indoor environments. 

Dracaena fragrans “Massangeana” sometimes called “corn plant” has leaves that resemble those of corn, with a yellow stripe down the middle. D. marginata (dragon tree) has a cluster of red-edged leaves atop a tall stem that twists in picturesque ways. In the variety “Tricolor” the leaves are green, red and yellow. D. deremensis “Warneckii” has rather stiff leaves, striped with white. All these can grow to the ceiling eventually. If you want a more compact dracaena, grow D. surculosa (D. god-seffiana), called “gold-dust plant” which only grows a few feet tall. The flat oval leaves are dark green with cream-colored spots; in the variety “Florida Beauty” the leaves are so spotted they’re almost all white. 

How to Grow Dracaenas

Dracaenas will tolerate quite low, though brighter light will bring out foliage variegation better. They’ll also tolerate low humidity to some degree, but they do prefer warm rooms. Plant them in an average potting mix, repotting any time they look crowded. Well, water freely from spring to fall keeping the soil evenly moist but never letting them become waterlogged. In winter let the soil dry out between watering. Feed every two weeks or so during the growing season. Plants can be cut back to 4 to 6inches, and new growth will sprout. New plants can be propagated by removing and replanting suckers that form at the base or by cutting sections of the canes that have at least one node and laying them on moist sand. Source: Charismatic Planet

1200fps documenting video movement of Cheetah

A video shot at 1200 fps documenting the movement of a cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) over a set run. These felines run faster than any other land animal — as fast as 112 to 120 km/h (70 to 75 mph) in short bursts covering distances up to 500 m (1,600 ft) — and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3 seconds. Video: Gregory Wilson. Source: Wikipedia

Yamdrok-Tso lake, China

Dazzling Yamdrok-tso is normally first seen from the summit of the Kamba-la (4700m). The lake lies several hundred metres below the road, and in clear weather is a fabulous shade of deep turquoise. For in the distance is the huge massif of Mt. Nojin Kangtsang (7191m). Yamdork-tso is shaped like a coiling scorpion. It doubles back on itself on the western side, effectively creating a large island within its reaches. For Tibetans, it is one of the three holy lakes (the others are Namtso and Manasarovar) and home to wrathful deities. Devout Tibetan pilgrims circumambulate the lake in around seven days.

The lake is one of three holy lakes in Tibet. It is the largest freshwater lake at the south foot of the Himalayas with an area of about 638 square kilometers. The lake is in a length of 130 kilometers and a width of 70 kilometers. The surface of the lake is about 4,441 meters above the sea level. It is quite a deep lake as the average depth is about 20-40 meters and the deepest point is almost 60 meters below the surface.

Satpara Lake, Pakistan

Satpara Lake, Pakistan is also called “Sadpara Lake” actually is one of the largest fresh water lakes in the country offering trout fishing, and row boating. Satpara Lake is a natural lake situated about 9 kilometers (5.59 miles) north of Skardu (the capital of Baltistan), in Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. Situated at an altitude of 2,635 meters (8645 feet) the lake is reached after 20 minutes of jeep drive from Skardu. The lake is fed by Satpara Stream. It works as a key water supply source for the Skardu Town. It is spread over an area of 2.5 kilometers (1.55 miles). There is fairy-tale picturesque island in the center of lake. One can use a country boat to reach the island. A story about this lake is famous among local people that there is a gold mine in bottom of this lake. They believe that this is the reason why its water seems to be shining in the day time.

Sutherland Falls and Lake Quill,New Zealand

Sutherland Falls and Lake Quill,New Zealand, is a real paradise with breathtaking views, endless majestic mountains interspersed with lakes and rivers.Sutherland Falls, is an awe-inspiring vision of nature and known worldwide.It is fed by Lake Quill, whose waters can be attributed to several glaciers. These falls were discovered in 1880 by a prospector and explorer, Donald Sutherland. With a total drop of 580 metres in three leaps, they soon attained fame as the ‘highest fall in New Zealand’, although this claim has since been challenged. The falls became a popular stop on the Milford Track, which tourists began to use in 1888. Two years later a young surveyor, William Quill, climbed up beside the fall. The tarn which feeds the falls was named Lake Quill in his honour.

Metlako Falls Oregon USA

Metlako Falls is a waterfall on Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area in Hood River County, Oregon, United States. It is the furthest downstream of the main waterfalls on Eagle Creek. The lovely waterfalls drop out of narrow, calm pool, and thunder into an inspiring gorge. The waterfalls were named in 1915, by a committee of Mazamas, for Metlako, the Indian goddess of Salmon, likely because of the fact that this waterfall marks the upstream limit to fish that spawn in Eagle Creek.

Black and White Wagtails

Pied wagtails are far commoner than the two other species of wagtails in Britain and Ireland. On almost any area of turf, shingle or rock, in towns or in the countryside, they can be seen hunting insects, with quick dashes, swerves and dramatic leaps into the air. The pied wagtail is a familiar, lively and popular neighbor of man. Its bold black and white plumage, conspicuous habits and loud, distinctive “chis-ick” call are easy to recognize and assist to make it so well-known. It is surprisingly widespread, too. As widely distributed as any British bird, it breeds throughout our islands (but only occasionally on the Shetlands) and is thoroughly at home in city centers and on riversides, meadows, farms and seashore in fact, almost anywhere except the open mountains and in woodland. 

One of its commonest vernacular names, water wagtail, is not as applicable as it might be, for it is not as closely associated with water as its relative, the grey wagtail. It is predominantly a bird of moist places, but not necessarily of the very margins of open water. The pied wagtail is atruly British and Irish species, for its breeding range is virtually confined to these islands. It is replaced on the continent, and as far north as Iceland, by the grey wagtail race referred to somewhat confusingly as the white wagtail. Birds belonging to this continental race migrate through Britain in spring and autumn to add from their northern breeding areas, which are in northern Scandinavia and Iceland. Some occasionally stay to breed in Scotland and on the northern and western islands. These birds are noticeably whiter than our pied wagtails, and in spring it is easy to distinguish them from the British race. In autumn the task is much more difficult as the young of both races are very similar. 

A female pied wagtail at the entrance to her nest in a rock crevice. Unaided by the male, she builds the nest of mosses, grasses and dead leaves and lines it with fathers or wool. Her clutch normally consists of five or six eggs, which are with black or brown she also undertakes most of the incubation, which lasts for two weeks; but she hands over responsibility for feeding the young to her mate when the time comes for her to lay again. 

Chasing after a mate, when the April arrives every year, the wagtails prepare for another breeding season. Males being to established territories and several of them may pursue a single female in erratic and excited chases, each displaying to her when on the ground by throwing back his head and displaying his bold black gorget (throat patch). The competition of courtship eventually results in a successful pairing; then the newly paired birds spend some days together strengthening the bond between them, and establishing their breeding territory and nesting site. 

Pied wagtails nest in a wide variety of sites, wherever an adequate crevice will conceal the nest. As well as choosing holes in banks ivy covered trees or cliffs, they often favor manmade objects. Farm machinery outbuildings or wood stacks are common sites.  Partial migrant wagtails are insect eating birds, but only the yellow wagtail migrates completely to warmer latitudes when the British winter reduces the abundance of its food. The pied wagtail demonstrates an interesting half way stage between migration and year round residence. 

The appearance of increasing numbers of pied wagtails on school playing fields, in town parks and sewage farms in August and September is evidence of the fact that at least part of the population is migratory. In the south of Britain young birds predominate among those that migrate but from further north there are a greater percentage of adults. All these birds flying south from Britain are bound for south-west France and Lberia, as is shown by the recovery of ringed birds. Birds from the South of England tend to travel further than those of more northerly origin; some of the southern birds fly as far as Morocco. 

The other part of the population remains in Britain, one of the few species of insectivorous birds to gamble on finding an adequate supply of insects through the winter months as an alternative to facing the hazards of a long two way migration. Through the British winter, the pied wagtail’s secret lies in the ever-replenishing supply of insects to be found at the edge of water. Individual birds establish themselves in a winter territory along a river bank (sometimes a lake or other stretch of water) and defend it resolutely against others of their kind. 

They feed along a fixed route near the water edge, returning each time to the starting point by the time the waters of the river or lake have delivered another supply of tiny insects and other invertebrates. To share the territory with another bird would be self-defeating for both and would tip the balance between survival and failure. Defense of the territory is therefore crucially important. At most times of the year outside the breeding season (except when winter is at its severest), pied wagtails roost communally, normally choosing reed beds, scrubs or bushes. An interesting development of this has been an increasingly common adaptation to the urban environment roosting on buildings and trees in city centres. Here the winter temperature can be a little higher than in the open countryside. 

In a further adaptation to man’s presence, they have been recorded as roosting in commercial glasshouses, sometimes in large numbers. Heated glasshouses obviously have enhanced survival value for them in cold winter months, and may also be thought of as giving security from predators. On the other hand, however, little owls and cats have sometimes discovered these roosts and as there is small chance of escape the results can be disastrous.  Source: Charismatic Planet

Cultivating Herbs

Since no self-respecting modern cookbook leaves herbs out of its recipes since courses in herbal medicine are springing up all over the place, and since cosmetics which rely on plants are taking the place of the synthetic beauty treatments what one might ask is a herb?

What is a Herb

Until recently the word has always conjured up pictures of food, which imposed an artificial limit on the range of plants. Now that herbal usage has been revived so much in other disciplines, the definition has expanded to include plants usually grown nowadays for garden ornament, such as the Christmas rose (Helleborus niger), marigold (Calendula) and the Florentine iris; plants which were regarded as weeds, such as tansy, comfrey, yarrow and herb Robert but are being treated with respect as their usefulness for all sorts of reasons is realized again; and plants which supply dyes, cosmetics, insect repellents and fragrances.

Strictly speaking a herb is any perennial plant who’s soft or succulent stems die down to ground level every year, but many herbs are shrubs and trees, such as hyssop, the sweet bay and rosemary. A modern definition of a herb could be any plant, generally aromatic or fragrant, whose parts whether leaf, flower, seed or root are of use in food flavoring medicine, household and cosmetics. 

Herbs were, first and foremost grown primarily for healing and flavoring and as such, were grown in a place reserved for them, whether it was part of a monastery garden, or part of the vegetable patch of peasant or yeoman farmer. As times passed, inevitably, people began to arrange their herbs in patterns when they planted them, until eventually the herb patch became ornamental, and was a garden in its own right. The physic gardens of the monasteries were mostly formal, with rectangular or square beds, but the gardens attached to private homes were developed from these simple plans into intricate designs of curved beds edged with dwarf hedges of box, southernwood or lavender.

Propagation of Herbs

Since herb is an umbrella word covering all types of plant, it follows they can be propagated by most of the methods used for plant increase, but there are two commonly used; seed and division. A third sometimes used is cuttings, mainly for the shrubs or trees. Most of the herbs wich can be grown from seed are hardy and can be sown outdoors in temperate climates; some examples are dill, coriander, savory purslane and lovage. Spring is generally the season in which to sow, but some germinate better if sown in late summer or early autumn, that is, as soon as the parent plants have flowered and set seed, and the seed has ripened. The seed of such plants loses its viability ability to germinate more quickly, so that a spring sowing is likely to result in fewer seedlings. Some seed should not be covered with soil because it needs light to germinate, some needs an acid reacting soil, and some needs a period of cold between harvest and sowing. But most herb seeds germinate like weeds not surprisingly.

Division is a 2^nd method which is perhaps more certain, provided the separated sections each have some root and some buds or potential shoots. It can be done in spring or autumn when the soil is moist, but not waterlogged or dry, and if it is still warm from summer, or beginning to warm up as the spring sun appears. Divided plants will take hold of the soil and grow new roots more quickly if they’re replanted so quickly that the plant hardly knows it has been out of the ground. By doing this its vitality is not completely stopped, it somehow goes on flowing, and the plant, as it were simply gulps a little, and gets on with expanding. 

Nurseries and Garden Centers

Division is all very well, but you must first catch your plant, and in order to do this, it means applying to nurseries or garden centers. Local outlets of this kind will have a choice of all sorts of garden plants and nowadays, a separate area is often reserved specially for herbs. Some garden centers make a point of having a particularly good collection of herbs and if they do it will have well-grown plants considerable variety and correct naming. If there is such an outlet in the neighborhood, it will be a more satisfactory source than a mail order nursery because you can see what you are buying, you can check that it is the plant was named on the label, and you can make sure of getting a strong healthy specimen free from pest or disease. 

Furthermore the herb can be planted without disturbance to the roots almost immediately after buying, whereas those sent through the post may spend many days travelling in inadequate packing having been dug up or removed from a container. Even plants which were well grown and vigorous to start with, are unlikely to do well after such treatment, and unfortunately the mail-order nurseries have no control over postal treatment or delays. As far as cost is concerned there is little difference between the two sources since the cost of postage I offset by the extra cost of the container plants from a garden center. 

But it must be said, that even with the best garden centers, the range of herbs is not great, and consists mostly of the culinary type. For the widest selection, it is better to apply to a specialist herb nursery of which there are now a good many. If there is a local one, then that is far and away the best place to go, otherwise there is avoiding a postal order. A specialist nursery has the advantage that it can advise may be available on the various ways of using it. Some nurseries run short courses on cultivation, cooking with herbs, perfumery and other uses. 

As with any plant, when buying it look for a specimen which is undamaged and healthy, and with plenty of potential growth in the form of small new shoots and buds. Avoid those with broken or hanging stems, wilting leaves, dry compost, and any pest or leaf discoloration at all and preferably buy a plant not yet flowering, though the buds may already be visible.  Tall lanky plants in small pots are not likely to be good buy. Be very careful if the herb has flowered and started to set seed, because if it is an annual, or a biennial, it will shortly die in the natural course of events. This is why it is worth finding out in advance what type of herb it is. 

The correct naming of herbs is a third aspect which unfortunately is not yet as good as it should be. Mail-order plants that turn out not to be the ones ordered are tiresome enough, but when they are labelled as the plant ordered, and are not that plant, it is particularly irritating. Herbs to keep an eye on are the marjoram’s, of which there are at least three different kinds tarragon, dill and fennel, which hybridize very easily, garden mint which is often a cross with horse-mint or may even be that species, lovage which can look like ground elder while young, and French sorrel which is invariably confused with the inferior tasting English sorrel. 

Besides mail-order herb nurseries, there are also seed firms supplying nothing but herbs and wild plants. These will be much less expensive on postage charges and are more likely to be true to name. For success in growing from seed, there is a book entitled, seed Growers Guide to Herbs and Wild Flowers by Helen McEwan available from Seed bank), which has detailed instructions on seed germination and seedling cultivation for herbs together with information on their eggs. 

Many specialist herb nurseries are planned so that the visitor can inspect the plants and their condition at close range. Each herb is labelled with both its botanical and common name. The leaf pattern of fennel is similar to that of dill. When buying a fennel plant, check that it is true fennel. Well (Foeniculum Vulgare), which has a strong anise flavor. Coriander is easily grown from seed but should be planted outdoors and not in a confined space. Until the seeds ripen, it has a strong and disagreeable odour. French tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) is one of the most distinctive and delicious culinary herbs. Its close relation, Russian tarragon (Artemisia dracunculoides) has a greatly inferior flavor and should not be substituted in the garden or the kitchen for true tarragon. Source: Charismaticplanet.com