Gardening's New Challenge
Avast, you gardeners! Heard the latest? Well, there's a new challenge out there in the gardening world and anyone who is interested can take advantage of it. With patience. Of course that's something true gardeners have a lot of, patience. We're also a greedy bunch wanting it all, every new cultivar, any new colours of favourite flowers, double or single, in our growing zone or out of it.
It takes patience, after all, and no little amount of faith to invest all that time and gentleness on the flora of our area and those which come from thousands of miles away, to gladden our hearts in seasonal bloom. Flowers which are perennials in their home territory are fragile annuals in our great frozen north, and we tend to them lovingly.
Do we hesitate to invest healthy sums on the acquisition of an exotic species not meant for our growing season and winter cold? Not at all. When it comes to standard roses, for example, whose glory in the summer months we adore, we adapt to their needs by carefully digging these beauties out of the garden in the fall.
These are wonderful rose varieties grafted onto the trunk of an apple tree, so that the roses grow in little bush-like clumps at the top of the slender trunk, and they've been around in their glory for hundreds of years, having graced gardens in Victorian England and likely before. Wouldn't be surprised that they thrived in ancient Persia.
Once dug up, they're carefully wrapped in their entire length in burlap, after the soil has been gently shaken off the roots, and the leaves carefully plucked off the branches. Then in a clear area of the garden where no perennials are planted, a trough is dug, the burlap-wrapped standard rose laid to rest, and the soil shovelled neatly over top to wait out the winter.
Mustn't wait too long in the spring to dig it up again and re-plant it in the garden soil, lest it begin to become mouldy. And don't forget the saucer magnolias planted here where they don't belong, and the rhododendrons too, along with the azaleas and the Japanese maples. They all have to be carefully wrapped (in situ) against the cold of this climate.
So we're accustomed to challenges. We know how to prune our rose bushes, our apple trees. And now, look here, we can grow our very own homes. Tree Habs. Honestly; the "Fab Tree Hab" is an all-green concept home. It grows from a few seedlings into a two-storey, water-recycling, energy-efficient abode.
Truly, I kid you not. "The intention is to create a home that is a positive contributor to the climate as opposed to something that's taking away," said architect Mitchell Joachim, who helped craft the concept as an MIT doctoral student. "Not only are these zero-emission homes, but they are healthy for the environment."
Powered by a combination of solar energy and wind turbines, the structures blend naturally into their surrounding ecosystems. Plantware, an Israeli arboriculture firm is to test techniques for growing the lattice-like weave of vines and roots that would help form the walls of the homes.
Wooden jigs are placed at key portions of young saplings to guide the formation of the walls and roof. A dense layer of vines and other plants are grown to reinforce the exterior, featuring soy-based plastic windows. Almost any kind of tree in its natural habitat can be used. The Tree Hab is expected to have a lifespan of 100 years.
Despite the all-natural exterior the homes will look 'normal' in the interior with walls lined in clay and plastered. Tree Habs will include modern technical luxuries with a roof-top water collector and recycling system to provide water for bathing, cooking and an eco-friendly sanitary system.
Sounds, um, challenging, all right. Yup, finally gardeners get to live in their gardens.
It takes patience, after all, and no little amount of faith to invest all that time and gentleness on the flora of our area and those which come from thousands of miles away, to gladden our hearts in seasonal bloom. Flowers which are perennials in their home territory are fragile annuals in our great frozen north, and we tend to them lovingly.
Do we hesitate to invest healthy sums on the acquisition of an exotic species not meant for our growing season and winter cold? Not at all. When it comes to standard roses, for example, whose glory in the summer months we adore, we adapt to their needs by carefully digging these beauties out of the garden in the fall.
These are wonderful rose varieties grafted onto the trunk of an apple tree, so that the roses grow in little bush-like clumps at the top of the slender trunk, and they've been around in their glory for hundreds of years, having graced gardens in Victorian England and likely before. Wouldn't be surprised that they thrived in ancient Persia.
Once dug up, they're carefully wrapped in their entire length in burlap, after the soil has been gently shaken off the roots, and the leaves carefully plucked off the branches. Then in a clear area of the garden where no perennials are planted, a trough is dug, the burlap-wrapped standard rose laid to rest, and the soil shovelled neatly over top to wait out the winter.
Mustn't wait too long in the spring to dig it up again and re-plant it in the garden soil, lest it begin to become mouldy. And don't forget the saucer magnolias planted here where they don't belong, and the rhododendrons too, along with the azaleas and the Japanese maples. They all have to be carefully wrapped (in situ) against the cold of this climate.
So we're accustomed to challenges. We know how to prune our rose bushes, our apple trees. And now, look here, we can grow our very own homes. Tree Habs. Honestly; the "Fab Tree Hab" is an all-green concept home. It grows from a few seedlings into a two-storey, water-recycling, energy-efficient abode.
Truly, I kid you not. "The intention is to create a home that is a positive contributor to the climate as opposed to something that's taking away," said architect Mitchell Joachim, who helped craft the concept as an MIT doctoral student. "Not only are these zero-emission homes, but they are healthy for the environment."
Powered by a combination of solar energy and wind turbines, the structures blend naturally into their surrounding ecosystems. Plantware, an Israeli arboriculture firm is to test techniques for growing the lattice-like weave of vines and roots that would help form the walls of the homes.
Wooden jigs are placed at key portions of young saplings to guide the formation of the walls and roof. A dense layer of vines and other plants are grown to reinforce the exterior, featuring soy-based plastic windows. Almost any kind of tree in its natural habitat can be used. The Tree Hab is expected to have a lifespan of 100 years.
Despite the all-natural exterior the homes will look 'normal' in the interior with walls lined in clay and plastered. Tree Habs will include modern technical luxuries with a roof-top water collector and recycling system to provide water for bathing, cooking and an eco-friendly sanitary system.
Sounds, um, challenging, all right. Yup, finally gardeners get to live in their gardens.
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posted by Pieface @ 5:45 PM
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