Cosmic Speculation Garden
The Garden of Cosmic Speculation is a 30-acre private garden in Jencks’ own home in Portrack House, near Dumfries, Scotland. Inspired by the contemplative tradition of Japanese zen gardens, Persian paradise gardens, and French renaissance gardens, Charles Jencks and his late wife Maggie built the garden to explore the fundamental principles of the universe in their ultimate search for meaning. Enormous spiraling mounds rising several stories high portray the ‘science of complexity.’ The Universe Cascade is a series of steps ascending from a large pond which signifies the unfolding of the universe across billions of years. Continue reading »
Thriving since 1960, my garden in a bottle: Seedling sealed in its own ecosystem and watered just once in 53 years
David Latimer first planted his bottle garden in 1960 and last watered it in 1972 before tightly sealing it shut ‘as an experiment’. The hardy spiderworts plant inside has grown to fill the 10-gallon container by surviving entirely on recycled air, nutrients and water.
For the last 40 years it has been completely sealed from the outside world. But the indoor variety of spiderworts (or Tradescantia, to give the plant species its scientific Latin name) within has thrived, filling its globular bottle home with healthy foliage. Yesterday Mr Latimer, 80, said: ‘It’s 6ft from a window so gets a bit of sunlight. It grows towards the light so it gets turned round every so often so it grows evenly. ‘Otherwise, it’s the definition of low-maintenance. I’ve never pruned it, it just seems to have grown to the limits of the bottle.’
The bottle garden has created its own miniature ecosystem. Despite being cut off from the outside world, because it is still absorbing light it can photosynthesise, the process by which plants convert sunlight into the energy they need to grow. Continue reading »
Camera Garden of André Feliciano
Absolutely fantastic gardens made from plastic cameras by Brazilian artist André Feliciano. Check it out! Continue reading »
Photo of the Day: Sitting in the English Garden
22-year-old Jana and her dog Rocco sit in the summer weather in the English Garden in Munich, southern Germany on September 6, 2011. Germany is experiencing a mix of sunny and rainy weather. (SVEN HOPPE/AFP/Getty Images)
