My Virtual Garden

My Virtual Garden

THIS IS THE ULTIMATE IN SCULPTURED GARDENING COMPETITION IN THE WORLD.

Happy viewing

TONY CHACKO

International  Mosaiculture  Exhibition

  Montreal - Summer 2013

 

 

Even if you're not into gardening yourself, the plant sculptures in the international Montreal Mosaiculture Exhibition will blow your mind. As defined in the official website of the event, mosaiculture "is a refined horticultural art that involves creating and mounting living artworks made primarily from plants with colourful foliage (generally annuals, and occasionally perennials)." It is also a highly complex form of art, requiring different sets of skills from all the participating artists: not only do they have to plan and build the framework of the sculpture and match the colors, it is also important to understand the maintenance of each plant they use.

 

The Mosaïcultures Internationale competition was founded back in 2000 by Lise Cormier after her visit to China: this is where Lisa saw an enchanting 40-feet-high sculpture of 3 doves and was instantly inspired to bring the idea back home.

 

Considered the world's most prestigious competition of horticultural art, the 2013 edition of Mosaiculture is currently on display at Montreal Botanical Garden in Quebec, Canada. More than three million flowers were raised in greenhouses throughout Quebec, and then shipped to the gardens in May, where designers wrapped them in steel meshes to create living works of art. The sculptures are created using steel or aluminum forms that are wrapped in metal mesh, filled with earth and planted with flowers, ivies and grasses whose foliage provides texture and color. Interior watering systems and growing medium were added so that the flowers could last all through the summer till the end of the exhibition on September 29.

 

Some 50 works graces the 2.2 km circuit through the enchanting grounds of the Botanical Garden. The theme this year is "Land of Hope". About 200 of the world's most talented horticultural artists are taking part in this international competition, representing 20 countries. Entries have come from cities in countries as far as Turkey and Uganda, with China and Japan heavily represented.

  

 

 

 

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Barn  Owl

 

The Real Story behind a Buried Ferrari

A metallic green Dino 246 GTS was uncovered in the yard of a Los Angeles home in 1978 when kids came across it while digging in the mud. At the time, the car's estimated worth was $18,000 and investigators discovered that it was bought in 1974 by Rosendo Cruz of Alhambra, California who had reported the car stolen. 

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This particular car was found only a year after a similar story emerged of a widow who was actually buried in her own Ferrari as followed out as a condition of her will.

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But now the owner of the car hired thieves to steal the Ferrari so that he could claim insurance on it. The thieves then buried the car instead of sinking it in the ocean because they planned to return for it at some point in the future. Luckily, the car was buried in dry sand and this helped preserve it for the years that it was buried.

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The Los Angeles Ferrari was eventually bought by a mechanic for a bid of between $5000 and $9000 who managed to restore it and return it to a working condition.

Top 10 Fascinating Facts You Might Not Know About Phone Numbers

You may have heard some interesting and already common facts about mobile phones on occasion. But what about the phone numbers that give you that unique mobile identity and make using your phone possible. Here's ten great facts that you may have never heard before:

10. Invention of Phone numbers

Before their invention, phone calls were made by dialing the phone service first and requesting a phone operator sitting on the other end with various lines used to connect us to the person we wanted to contact. This was all fine and dandy until the process was questioned by Alexander Bell's (the inventor of the phone himself) friend Dr. Moses. Because the town was infected with an epidemic of measles, the doctor advised initiating a new system without involving these operators for if any one of them fell ill, the others would find it difficult to understand the system and keep it running. Hence, the system of names was replaced by numbers dialed directly by the callers themselves.

Alligator Eats Alligator

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When you have more MONEY than SENSE

Spectacular Sri Lankan wedding is the world's biggest ever, with 126 bridesmaids, 25 best men, 20 pages and 23 flower girls

Planning a wedding is a major undertaking for any couple... but not for Nisansala and Nalin from Sri Lanka who married this week at a Guinness World Record breaking ceremony near the capital city of Colombo.

The bride and groom had a staggering 126 bridesmaids - easily beating the previous record of 96 held by a Thai couple - all dressed by Champi Siriwardana, who is one of Asia's leading wedding planners and dress designers.

Sri Lankan couple Nisansala and Nalin, centre, pose for photographs alongside their entire wedding party.

It also didn't hurt that the guest of honour was Sri Lanka's First Lady, Shiranthi Rajapaksa.

The spectacular ceremony was elaborately staged at the Avendra Gardens in Negombo, 30 kms from Colombo in front of hundreds of family and friends.

All of the wedding party - bride, groom, 126 bridesmaids, 25 best men, 20 page boys and 23 flower girls - were dressed in richly embroidered traditional costumes in shades of purple and gold.

The wedding breaks the previous world record, held by a wedding in Bangkok, Thailand, that included 96 bridesmaids.

'Breaking the Guinness world record is no mean feat and one that I cannot achieve alone,' said Champi.

Sri Lankan wedding couple Nisansala, right and Nalin pose for photographers in front of their massive bridal party, dressed in purple and gold

As for the happy couple... the pictures speak for themselves.

A best man looks on during the wedding ceremony of Sri Lankan couple Nisansala and Nalin - there were 25 best men in all

We list down 15 extreme and craziest things in nature you won’t believe actually exist.

15 Extreme and Craziest Things in Nature You Won't Believe Existed

We list down 15 extreme and craziest things in nature you won't believe actually exist.

Volcanic Lightning

Giant Clouds over Beijing

Light Pillars over Moscow

Lion Dancing

Lion dancing! Adorable dancing cubs practise their moves... two elders show how it's done

• Two cubs shuffle their paws and lurch forward on their 'dancefloor' in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania
• Pair stand on their hind legs and dance paw-to-paw as if they're about to ballroom dance
• Meanwhile, two older females practise their moves at the Great Kruger National Park, South Africa
• Dancing queens also stand on their back legs before embracing, touching paws and swaying together

By LIZZIE EDMONDS

These heartwarming pictures show two playful cubs putting their best paws forward for a spot of lion dancing.

Swiping their claws before pouncing forward, the duo move around their 'dancefloor' with a sort of hap-hazard grace at the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania. 

At one point the pair stand up on their back legs and touch paws - almost as though they're about to start a ballroom dance.

Strictly cub dancing: Two playful lions dance together, swiping their paws and pouncing forward in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

Moves: One of the cubs stands on his back legs while the other watches on slightly cautiously

Roar routine? One cub stands while the other reaches up to place its paws on its partners - perhaps getting ready to ballroom dance

The Enchanted Woodland

The Enchanted Woodland...on the outskirts of London: Gardens around Duke of Northumberland's second home are lit up to create a magical winter trail for walkers

• The Enchanted Woodland at Syon Park in Middlesex has opened to visitors for the eighth year in a row
• Visitors to the park can take in an array of bright and colourful lights in the grounds and the Great Conservatory

By STEVE NOLAN

With an array of bright coloured lights reflecting against the frosty waters of the lake and creating magical silhouettes of the trees against the dark night sky, Syon Park in Middlesex looks more akin to something out of a fairytale than a stately home on the outskirts of London.

The second home of the Duke of Northumberland and his family has been lit up in a rainbow of festive colours to get you in the mood for Christmas a month early.

The Park's Enchanted Woodland attraction launched for the eighth year running this weekend.

Colourful: The gardens of Syon Park in Brentford, Middlesex, have been transformed into an enchanted woodland for the eighth year in a row

Bright lights: Visitors take a stroll through a light show in the Great Conservatory at the London home of the Duke of Northumberland

Enchanted: The attraction allows visitors to walk a trail around the house's eighteenth century lake and inside the Great Conservatory

Gardens have existed on the site for around 600 years - but they have rarely looked as beautiful as when they are lit up at the start of each winter for the annual event.

Impressive Asphalt Lake in Trinidad

This is one of the rare and stunning lakes of our planet. They say it is on the island of Trinidad, near the village of La Brea.

This lake is composed of hundreds of tons of high-quality asphalt.

DISPLAY ART OF VEGETABLES IN ISRAEL MARKETS

 DISPLAY ART OF VEGETABLES
IN ISRAEL MARKETS

31 Rooms

These 31 Rooms Will Blow Your Mind. A One Way Ticket To Any Of These, Please?

You may think interior design is easy, but creating the PERFECT room isn't. Each of these rooms are perfect in their own way and would be difficult for just anyone to pull off. They combine the perfect locations, views, design and furniture to create a space that's so amazing, it seems like it's straight out of a catalog.

No matter what you like, you'll fall in love with at least one of these rooms.

You could read a book… or you could look out over a valley.

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Binge watching Netflix just got a whole lot better.

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Who needs another wall when you have the ocean?

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Chinese Boy has fun with His Tongue.

13-year-old Xiao Xin puts on a show for his family, as he clips everyday items with his tongue.

The young boy from Daqing, northeast China, was born with a snake-like tongue that branches out close to its tip, allowing him to use it as a tool for clipping various things. So far he hasn’t found a proper use for it, apart from using it to entertain family and friends, but who knows when his snake tongue will come in handy. If you have always dreamed of having a tongue like that of Xiao Xin, all you have to do is go to a body-mod shop and they will fix you right up.

The TV of the future is already in Japan and it feels like real life

The TV of the future is already in Japan and it feels like real life

1SEXPAND

Watching Ultra HD 4K content—with 2,160 lines of vertical definition—on a Ultra HD 4K TV set is impressive. But 8K—four times the total pixels—is so incredibly realistic that it feels like you're looking through a window into real life, as demonstrated by this film screened by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK).

Its name is The Chorus, a choral drama filmed with a still camera that looks into a Wes Andersonian building cutout. According to Kaleem Aftab, watching it is an incredible experience:

What was immediately striking was that the image was so crisp that it was possible to distinguish the leaves on the trees in the background. Rather than making the image seem flat, the clarity gave the picture a depth hitherto unseen on digital projections. The colors were also magnificent. The whites and blacks were stunning.

After the movie screening, the tech crew gave some really interesting insight into what this technology means:

The 8K resolution covers almost the entire range of vision (induced visual field) which influences the human grasp of spatial coordinates. The pixel structure remains invisible to the unassisted eye even when viewed across a horizontal angle.

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8K (Super Hi-Vision) should truly come into its own in sports coverage. In a sport such as football (soccer), for example, it is possible to view the whole pitch at once and follow the motion of the ball and every player clearly.

General 8K broadcasting is starting in Japan in 2016, with full implantation expected by 2020.

NASA - Astronomy Picture of the Day

Astronomy Picture of the Day  2013 November 20  Heavy Black Hole Jets in 4U1630-47  2013 November 19  Globular Cluster M15 from Hubble  2013 November 18  Aurora and Unusual Clouds Over Iceland

After Two Years of Nuclear Crises, Japan Opens Its Biggest Solar Park

After Two Years of Nuclear Crises, Japan Opens Its Biggest Solar Park

This month, Japanese electronics company Kyocera launched the country's largest solar plant. The facility can power 22,000 homes—and, maybe more importantly, it poses no risk of melting down, injuring workers, or spewing radioactive water into the Pacific ocean.

Kagoshima Nanatsujima Mega Solar Power Plant—the facility's proper name—is located in an inlet at the very southern tip of Japan, which means it's fairly safe from threatening storms or tsunamis—although it does sit in the shadow of Sakurajima, an active volcano. But no matter what crises may come over the next few decades, Nanatsujima poses almost no threat to the surrounding community.

The Fukushima disaster isn't the only thing spurring Japan's boom in solar energy production. In fact, the country has instituted a large-scale program to encourage new plants—and more importantly, to encourage consumers to choose solar over more traditional forms of energy.

This policy, which began in 2012, is called a "feed-in tariff." In essence, it subsidizes the higher cost of solar power against other sources—supplying solar park owners with payments for their trouble. As the Washington Post explained in June, Japan's solar energy output it expected to double this year thanks to the resulting "explosion" of solar parks:

In short, Kan sacrificed his political career in exchange for a deal that would encourage energy companies to go solar. After more than two years, it looks like he was right to do so.

Suman Khatun - really Hungry Girl.

Suman Khatun, a five year-old obese Indian girl who suffers from a suspected hormonal imbalance, is so insatiably hungry, she is eating herself to death, doctors fear. In just one week, she devours over 10 kilograms of rice, 24 eggs, six liters of milk and five kilos of potatoes. Her hunger even leads her to sneak out and pester her neighbors for food in the village of Metiala in the Indian state of West Bengal.

Rainbows of the Natural World

China's rainbow mountains

Imagine a world where the mountains are striped with candy colours and people are dwarfed by the landscape's immensity. Such a place exists in China's

northwestern Gansu Province, where 24 million years of vibrant stone and mineral deposits have created rainbow-striped mountains.

The tinted peaks were fashioned by uplift from the Earth's tectonic plates – the same ones that formed parts of the Himalayan range – while rain, wind and erosion shaped them into the jagged world seen today. Located around the city of Zhangye, the area covers more than 10sqkm and the vista is most dazzling after a rainfall, when the colours glow even brighter than usual. (Melinda Chan/Getty)

Oregon's painted hills

With the hipster amenities of Portland to the west and the national wonder of Crater Lake to the south, eastern Oregon's John Day Fossil Beds often get overlooked. This 14,000 acre national park is a natural museum of geological eras, though it is the Painted Hills region that offers the most dramatic view. The spectacular landscape was shaped by numerous volcanic eruptions and extreme climate change around 35 million years ago. As time wore on, the lush vegetative climate turned more arid. Ash, clay, minerals and decaying plant matter all mixed into the soil, leaving pronounced streaks of gold, black, red – even purple and blue. The colours change according to the air's moisture level, and are said to be most vivid come late afternoon. (Purestock/Getty)

Ethiopia's alien crater

In the language of the Afar people, Dallol means disintegrated. So it makes sense that Ethiopia'sDallol Volcano is less a volcano than a sunken crater. Caused by 

groundwater and magma colliding, sulphur, iron oxide, salt and other minerals have created the vivid greens and neon yellows that form one of the most remote, untouched and ethereal natural rainbows in the world.

Dallol lies near the border of Eritrea in an area that was closed to foreigners until 2001. Even today it is prudent to travel with an armed guard, as border tensions persist and kidnappings have been known to happen. Because of this, only a few hundred visitors make it to this remarkable landscape every year – which is probably for the best considering the fragility of the landform, the toxic gases and the temperatures that average above 30C. (Thierry Hennet/Getty)