Botany photo of the day: Halloween edition

Oct 31 ’09

Filed in plants

One of my photos was chosen to be today's Botany Photo of the Day by the UBC Botanical Garden. I think it's because the flower in question is a crazy bat-looking tropical thing. Read the rest …

Digital plants by Macoto Murayama

Aug 14 ’09

Filed in distractions, plants

It's not too often that you find a good mashup of plants and computers, but artist Macoto Murayama manages the trick:

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Botany Photo of the Day, again!

Aug 29 ’07

Filed in ephemeral, plants

Really, twice. First was at the end of June: I completely forgot to note it here. I took a photo of Erythronium montanum at the top of Larch Mountain outside of Portland. It was a rainy day, which usually doesn't make for good hiking, but we were under a thick understory for most of the hike so it worked. There were vast numbers of these very delicate avalanche lilies waiting for us near the top of the mountain, all covered with droplets. They are quite charismatic.

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Botany photo of the day, take 2

Mar 05 ’07

Filed in plants

Once again it seems I owe my thanks to Daniel Mosquin from the UBC Botanical Garden for choosing my photo of Acer japonicum, the japanese maple, for yesterday's photo of the day. That's two in two months; we'll see if I can make a third. If you read his comments I think that he's completely right — there is something very appealing about the Japanese maples in the winter time, because of their architectural shapes. I took this photo shortly after a big rain, and the way the sunlight was catching the drops was so appealing that I couldn't resist. I think that it makes the tree look somehow much more ancient than it really is.

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I'm UBC's botany photo of the day!

Jan 18 ’07

Filed in plants

Many thanks to Daniel Mosquin from the UBC Botanical Garden for choosing my photo of Zantedeschia aethiopia, also known as the calla lily, for today's photo of the day. Woohoo!

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Plant-inspired architecture

Nov 30 ’06

Filed in ephemeral, plants

I can't resist, this is too good to be true: there is such a thing as an urban cactus. It's a housing project in Rotterdam, based on a cactus. By placing the balconies as the architects did, every resident gets a double-height outdoor space and more sunlight than they would with a typical balcony. I think it's brilliant.

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Marionberries make everything better

Jul 16 ’06

Filed in food, plants

Yesterday Sally and I went to Sauvie Island Farms to pick marionberries, and what a bountiful harvest it was. After a few hours with only a couple of minor scratches (those things have thorns!), we weighed in with 23 and a quarter pounds of gorgeous marionberries. When they are super fresh off the plant, and are warmed by the sun, they have a wonderful musky spiciness to them that I had never quite experienced like this. To date my marionberry consumption, though non-trivial, has been through farmer's market berries, which are usually picked a day or two before they are sold. As good as those have been, freshly picked is better.Read the rest …

New site design: Aeonium

Apr 11 ’06

Filed in plants, site administrativa

There's a new site design! If you look just underneath the search box in the sidebar, you'll now find a pair of links, titled "Banksia" and "Aeonium." These allow you to switch between the Banksia and Aeonium layouts. I think that the newer Aeonium layout is more successful, but I love the colors of Banksia and so I couldn't let it disappear. The new layout is named after the genus Aeonium, which graces the banner, and was inspired by both the geometric regularity of that species and a Japanese aesthetic of simplicity. Let me know what you think!

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Great photos of plants without flowers

Feb 13 ’06

Filed in ephemeral, plants

Finally, I've found a great page with photos of non-flowering plants: Dr. Dennis Walker of Humboldt State University has an online gallery of plant images that focusses mostly on non-flowering plants. It has excellent coverage of ferns and conifers, but very little in the flowering plants. The most interesting part is that many of the photos of weird species such as Welwitschia have full plant photos in the native habitats. If you want to see what weird plants can look like, check the Gnetopsida gallery. Via Scott's botanical links.

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