From The Old Farmer's Almanac.
Say it with flowers they did! The official title of the bouquet: “Booming.”
Leave it to a garden geek/flower freak to unearth the meaning of the bouquets bestowed upon the medalists of the Olympic games.
from cri.english.com
They are created by using 9 perfect China red roses, six leaves of fragrant plantain lilies (hostas), six pieces of ophiogon japonicus (grass), hypericum berries (St. John’s wort) and obedient plant (physostegia).
From the Bejing Review (China’s weekly English journal):
“The flower that will play the leading role is the Chinese red rose, a flower species first cultivated by the Chinese people. As red is propitious in Chinese tradition, red Chinese roses are suitable to convey the hospitality of the Chinese people,” said Lin Fengjun, Executive General Manager of the Olympic Flowers Delivery Center.
“The remaining five flowers that will play a supporting role all have unique Chinese characteristics. They represent friendship, unity and fairness, and bless the Olympic Games with great success.”
“The supporting flowers all have golden brims, to match the color of the gold medal,” explained Wang Suizhi, a florist. In the boutique, there are nine Chinese red roses, because nine is the biggest and the most honorable number in Chinese tradition. Six represents smoothness, so all the supporting plants come in batches of six flowers, bunches, or with six leaves.
There are strict requirements on the shape, size and the color scheme of each bouquet. For example, each bunch should look like a pyramid, with a height of 40 cm. The leading and supporting flowers should be compatible. The petals must not fall off easily and its branches or leaves must not prick. “The bouquets should be so standardized that they look like they were all prepared by one person,” Wang said.
A total of 6,000 bouquets will be presented at the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games. Their journey from the field to the hands of the Olympic heroes should take no longer than six to eight hours. After a bouquet is created, it is refrigerated so that it will look fresh when presented to the medallist. The delivery process is strictly moderated, and each bouquet will be assigned an ID number so that the entire delivery process can be tracked.
OK, is there something I missed about the inclusion of the obedient plant? Hmmmm. Call me crazy, but I am thinking it has something to do with the Chinese people’s cultural tendency toward obedience.
For more about Floriography, the language of flowers, click HERE.
Post from: Idaho Gardener
Rainbird®, one of the world's leading water irrigation manufacturers, has been running a competition to reward those peoples who having been taking steps to manage water more efficiently. The five finalists, with their short bios, can be found here - but be warned that it reads like a press release (probably because it is a press release).
While all five finalists seem worthy recipients of the honour and accolades, as a gardener my vote would head to Glendale's Demonstration Garden. It's a no-brainer for me as gardens are one of the highest consumers of our liquid resources - nearly 25% of domestic water is used for this purpose alone. That being the case, any effort to re-educate gardeners about their water consumption could potentially save millions of gigalitres annually.
What I like most about this garden is it's ability to make it a garden. Unfortunately many nurseries and gardening shows - the prime sources of most home gardeners information - fail to educate their audiences on how to create xeriscape (dry) gardens. They may sell or discuss low-water-requiring plants but making them work in a garden setting is left for speculation.
The garden at Glendale is an interactive demonstration garden where the public can see how these plants work together. Apart from the audio technology they've implemented in the park they have also put together a short virtual tour as well.
Kudos Glendale. You're a very deserving recipient of this award.
Bill Hole’s State of the Industry
I believe that what many businesses call “good customer service” and “good sales technique” really just represent poor customer service, plain and simple. Case in point, when a customer has to ask staff the most obviously required pieces of information because signage is missing. Unfortunately, many businesses don’t see this as a problem.
There is a school of thought that the more we engage customers in dialogue, the more products we can sell them. Companies that sell customer relations management software have also told us that customers want store staff to know them on a personal level. Experience has shown me the very opposite; customers are pressed for time and many have absolutely no desire to build a personal relationship with staff. Customers simply want information and goods consistently delivered—quickly and easily.
Where’s the proof? Look at the explosion of shopping on the Internet. When an online store meets the customer’s needs, they return over and over. For example, why do most people like the online experience of Amazon? This company does a very good job of providing all of the information a buyer needs without the buyer ever having to ask a question or build a personal relationship. Vending machines, self-serve checkouts and pay-by-phone parking all achieve the same result. Most importantly, the best of these services and companies enable customers to talk to a live salesperson or service representative in the event that a problem or difficult situation arises. Now that’s good customer service and good sales technique.
The relationship between customers and businesses would be much better if our chats were about the weather and current events instead of businesses’ communication failures. Don’t you agree?
Hits & Misses: Dapper dahlias & haggard hangers
Question of the Week: What causes scab on apples, and how can I prevent it?
Science & Technology: Floricultural industry
This past weekend I took a walk with my daughter down a beautiful street that’s shaded by a long row of huge American elms. It was a hot, sunny, cloudless day, so I was a little surprised when my daughter commented on how nice the gentle rain felt on her skin. Being that clouds—which are sort of a prerequisite for rainfall—were nowhere to be found, I was faced with the task of delicately informing her that the “rain” she was enjoying was, in fact, aphid poop. Thanks to the recent heat wave, aphid populations have exploded in numbers and been feeding like mad on the elms. As I explained to my daughter, aphids are like mini pumps that draw large amounts of sugary sap from leaves as they search for plant proteins. And because what goes in must also come out, the result is a shower of aphid poop (affectionately called “honeydew”) that rains down on us and everything else beneath the elm’s canopy. After walking another “rainy” block, my daughter decided that honeydew was an infinitely better name than aphid poop.
Hits & Misses
Hit: Dapper Dahlias
Many gardeners are drawn to certain plants simply for their size. Some find miniature plants fascinating, while others are attracted to plants on the opposite end of the scale, those giants with huge foliage or monstrous blooms. I confess to falling into the latter group and one plant that always impresses me is the dinner plate dahlia. These definitely fall into the “extra-large” category of interest, and are great conversation starters. Trust me, if you grow even one dinner plate dahlia in your front yard you can be absolutely certain to have a steady stream of quizzical neighbors stopping by to marvel over the huge blooms.
Kelvin Floodlight Dinnerplate Dahlia
Miss: Haggard Hangers
August is the month when hanging baskets tend to look a little haggard. And not surprisingly, the main reason for their tired look is because we tend to take them for granted. By August, many of us forget to deadhead old flowers or to pick up another jug of fertilizer. The good news, however, is that with a few deft snips here and a bit of a feed there, hanging baskets can be fairly easily rejuvenated.
Question of the Week
What causes scab on apples, and how can I prevent it?
The scabs you see on apples are caused by a fungal disease called Venturia inaequalis. It attacks leaves and blossoms as well as fruit, but people usually first notice it on the fruit. The disease overwinters on fallen leaves so it’s particularly critical to clean up your apple leaves in the fall. One last point to note is that the problem tends to be worst during periods of high humidity and temperatures above 26 C.
Science & Technology
Floricultural Industry
Being that the Olympics are in full swing in Beijing, I thought it would be interesting to take stock of China’s floricultural industry. According to the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China had 14,000 hectares of greenhouses in 1984, with a wholesale production value of .85 billion dollars. By 2006, the production area was 722,136 hectares with a wholesale value of over 70 billion dollars. Each province specializes in certain crops because of the government’s policy of regionalization of plant production.
Did You Know?
Portuguese peasants used sticky, insect-trapping sundew plants in their homes as a substitute for flypaper.
“Even with insects—some can sing, some can’t.”
–Kobayashi Issa
