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I had the good fortune to accompany the Boston.about.com guide to the New England Flower show for the press preview. The show is similar to other years. I do believe the competitive horticulture section is improving (although they still allow plastic pots!). Here’s a shot from the bonsai exhibit that I rather like.

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A really cool project in the UK: The Woodland Trust | Ancient Tree Hunt
Help us to find and map all the old, fat trees across the UK.

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Yesterday I planted a Korean Mountain Ash (Sorbus alnifolia) in memory of Barbara at Jan and Ken Hoffman’s house in Amherst. It’s in the back pasture, not far from the copse, nicely positioned to get plenty of sun. The Korean Mountain Ash has very pretty leaves (”alnifolia” means alder-like leaves), dark green and serrated, that [...]

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Timbuktu Chronicles, a “view of Africa and Africans with a focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, technology, practical remedies and other self sustaining activities” by Emeka Okafor, takes note of Community Seed Banks with links to fuller reports..

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Bonsai is the Japanese word, penjing the Chinese. I decided to try the photo album capacity of typepad, so there the link is to photos over on the right.

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One of our priority destinations in Montreal was Jardin botanique de Montréal/Montreal Botanical Garden , since we didn’t get there last year.
Here are a few photos of greenhouse plants and the nearby Olympic Stadium with and without clouds.

And some photos of the koi in the pond in the Japanese Garden:

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Another bloom photo, this time Hoya longifolia.

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This is the first time I’ve seen a Cast Iron Plant (Aspidistra eliator) blossom:

And one of my hoyas is filled with blossoms. Here’s a closeup of Hoya lanceolata bella:

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I went back to the New England Flower Show this year. It seemed slightly better than previous shows, but that may have just been the winter fatigue clouding my judgment. One of the parts I liked best was this set of sculptures.
Here’s one side of Noah’s Ark and a detail:

Another was called Adam and Eve:
And [...]

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After attending the New England Flower Show last year, I wasn’t impressed. I’ve been spoiled by the Philadelphia Flower Show (which is sort of like how the San Diego Zoo spoiled all zoos for me, and Disneyland spoiled most amusement parks).
But I went again this year, because six weeks mostly housebound with a broken ankle [...]

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