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plep (2)

Haw Par Villa, also known as Tiger Balm Gardens, was quite possibly the weirdest theme park on the planet. The first park was built in Hong Kong in the 30s, soon followed by another in Singapore. Built by brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, who made their fortunes selling Tiger Balm, the park was really a sculpture garden devoted to all aspects of Chinese mythology. Weirdest and most surreal of all was the section of the park which depicted the the 10 levels of Buddhist hell, featuring demons dismembering sinners, and is best described as "if Heironymus Bosch built a putt putt course."
posted by puny human on Jun 20, 2011 - 30 comments

Urban gardening and agriculture are becoming increasingly important as our world becomes more urbanized. Urban Gardening Help is for those environmentally conscious urban dwellers who want to use hydroponics and other tools to create a green corner devoted to nature in their own home. Urban Gardens looks for innovative and eco-friendly designs, trends, and ideas for the stylish urban home. See, for example, tiny herb gardens, where succulent cuttings come in small packages. Urban Garden Casual works with the constraints of limited-space, light, and micro-climates created from the shadows of neighboring buildings by using unconventional ideas like the garden pouch.
posted by netbros on Jul 10, 2010 - 9 comments

As a boy he grew plants up his bedroom wall. Patrick Blanc's most recent vertical garden is eight stories tall.
posted by alms on Sep 6, 2009 - 27 comments

Paradise: The Gardens of Tokyo. A collection of amazing photographs of Japanese gardens as taken by Tim Porter. [more inside]
posted by Effigy2000 on Apr 10, 2008 - 6 comments

Gardeners unite! Folia is a new website for gardeners to organize, document and share their adventures. And now you too can obsess about your seed saving and hardiness zones. [more inside]
posted by Stewriffic on Feb 7, 2008 - 7 comments

When it's been gray for days and it seems like spring will never come, making a terrarium (sometimes known as a Wardian case) is a good way to keep from going mad. Your own little ecosystem can be set up easily and cheaply in almost any clear-walled, enclosed container -- even a Mason jar or a two-liter Coke bottle. (Inspired by this.)
posted by fiercecupcake on Jan 25, 2008 - 21 comments

An espalier is a plant trained to grow flat against a wall, fence, or trellis. Developed by the Romans, they were popular in Middle Age Europe as a source of fruit in castles and monasteries because they could be grown against the keep's stone walls leaving open space unencumbered. Now they are an excellent choice for apartment and condo dwellers with small yards. For larger yards espaliers can be used as a decorative feature, to provide shade or to increase the variety of trees under cultivation. University of Florida PDF detailing the technique.
posted by Mitheral on Sep 17, 2007 - 16 comments

MAKING HAPPY/one human life is a photoblog by Gayla Trail.
posted by JohnR on Aug 16, 2007 - 11 comments

A clip from "Grey Gardens" on Broadway! (YouTube). The critics have been won over. Albert Maysle has commented on how the Beales might react to their portrayals. Meanwhile, a new doc, "The Beales of Grey Gardens", made from Al's previously unused footage, comes with the Criterion Collection DVD of the original. Also, previously.
posted by hermitosis on Dec 11, 2006 - 19 comments

Ian Hamilton Finlay is a poet, dramatist and short story writer. However, his greatest work is his garden, Little Sparta, located in the central belt of Scotland and free to visit, it is perhaps Scotland's most impressive piece of public art.
posted by johnny novak on Nov 7, 2005 - 8 comments

Alnwick Castle , used in various films including Harry Potter and Robin Hood, has started planting the Poison Garden as part of its most recent additions (pdf). The Poison Garden includes belladonna and other examples of the worlds most deadly plants. Some specimens are kept behind bars for security purposes. Both the castle and the extensive garden seem like wonderful places to visit.
posted by onhazier on Mar 9, 2005 - 2 comments

Collect Britain 'presents 90,000 images and sounds from the British Library, chosen to evoke places in the UK and beyond.' Dialects, gardens, sketches, stamps, and all kinds of stuff.
posted by plep on Mar 4, 2005 - 4 comments

The fabulous ruins of Detroit: "After decades of blight, large swathes of Detroit are being reclaimed by nature. Roughly a third of this 139-square-mile city consists of weed-choked lots and dilapidated buildings . . . rather than fight this return to nature, urban farmers have embraced it, gradually converting 15 acres of idle land into more than 40 community gardens and microfarms — some consuming entire blocks." [note: NY Times link]
posted by ryanshepard on Dec 9, 2003 - 22 comments

"Going Wild in Urban America - To be an individual hunter-gatherer in America is to lead a lonely life." Southern Californian hippy college student alienates friends, gains weight by subsisting on stolen figs (more inside).
posted by troutfishing on Sep 30, 2003 - 14 comments

Wild West Yorkshire Nature Diary. 'My diary describes a year in the life of woodland, field, marsh, river, canal . . . and a fairly wild back garden . . . in the Calder valley in coal measures country near Wakefield.'
Richard Bell's nature diary has been online since 1998.
The site's links page leads to more nature diaries and related resources :
Ackworth School's natural history diary, Roseberry Topping, an environmentally friendly slug trap, Yorkshire dialect verse, wildscapes from Texas, Notes from Pure Land Mountain (a journal from countryside Japan), and more.
Although it's not linked, An English Country Garden, chronicling a garden in a small village in Dorset, would not be out of place here; neither would Blackberry Creek Journal, 'a country newsletter about the seasons, animals, gardens and people of a small Michigan farm'. There is a huge collection of gardening journals and homepages here. [more inside]
posted by plep on Mar 20, 2003 - 8 comments

The Eden Project celebrates its first birthday today. Happy birthday.
posted by homunculus on Mar 18, 2002 - 3 comments