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8th February is the Slovene Cultural Holiday, named after our biggest poet, Prešeren’s day.At that day the most important cultural achievements and the greatest artists in Slovenia are awarded. This year laureate in category life’s work is illustrator Marlenka Stupica.  Generations of kids grew up with her books, she offered beauty to each childhood. Part of this beauty came from great love for natural detail.My Botanical Garden is expressing, at this occasion, the greatest respect and profound admiration to Ms Marlenka Stupica’s work.Congratulations

Pistia stratiotes – hyperaccumulator plant

from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistia

A plant is said to be a hyperaccumulator if it can concentrate the pollutants in a minimum percentage which varies according to the pollutant involved (for example: more than 1000 mg/kg of dry weight for nickel, copper, cobalt, chromium or lead; or more than 10,000 mg/kg for zinc or manganese).^[10] This capacity for accumulation is due to hypertolerance, or phytotolerance: the result of adaptative evolution from the plants to hostile environments through many generations. A number of interactions may be affected by metal hyperaccumulation, including protection, interferences with neighbour plants of different species, mutualism (includingmycorrhizae, pollen and seed dispersal), commensalism, and biofilm.

from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoremediation

Cd-Cadmium

T-

Pistia stratiotes

Water lettuce

Cu(T), Hg(H), Cr(H)

Pantropical, Origin South U.S.A.; aquatic herb

from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperaccumulators_table_%E2%80%93_3

Helleborus in snow and in Anticyra

Christmas rose -Helleborus niger-is one of my favourite flowers.Each year, already somewhere in the midst of December ,it brings first flowers of the upcoming spring.When days are short, nights cold,when woods is silent and when snow covers everything under our feet,then its big white flowers show up like a correct botanical drawing. They seem two-dimensional in a way, but on a closer look you may see they are real ones,and even more , they are not three-dimensional,they have the fourth dimension within them :the promise if spring,When I see them I know spring is to come .As all of us sometimes need to believe spring will come I am sending this year’s first helleborus bouquet to my dear friend in hospital.

Hellebore was the main reason for Antikyras’ fame all over the ancient world. The city was famous for its black hellebore (helleborus niger), and for a drug elaborated from the base of white hellebore (veratrum album).^[3] Both species of hellebore are herbs which grew in the vicinity of Antikyra and were regarded as a cure for insanity. This circumstance gave rise to a number of proverbial expressions, like Αντικυρας σε δει or “naviget Anticyram,” and to frequent allusions in the Greek and Latin writers. Hellebore was likewise considered beneficial in cases of gout and epilepsy.from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticyra

.

from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helleborus_niger

 

Venetian gondolas, flowers and gondolier

Black elegant gondolas ,iconic Venetian boats ,have become a symbol of Venice far ago.Visually totally emerged in the reflexes of the old architecture over green lagoon waters they still remember green forests from the mainland. A  heart of eight different woods gives shiny gondolas this smooth glide bringing tourists from the world back in the history of masks,dodges, Italian canzone and forgotten loves. Watch carefully, when the gondolier turns back to answer his mobile phone,for you may catch his gondola decorated with flowers,remembering an old song………do embark then and remember,your love should newer end…. 

No laminates or plywood are used at the Tramontin boatyard, only carefully selected natural woods. The eight types of wood that are used in making a Tramontin gondola each have different qualities and therefore perform different functions in the boat:   Oak – solid, used for sides;   Fir – lightweight, used for bottom;   Cherry – easy to shape, used for thwarts;   Larch – lightweight and solid, good water resistance;   Walnut – easy to bend with wood, used for frames;   Linden – stable;   Mahogany – homogeneity, used for structure;   Elm – flexible, used for frames. from:http://www.tramontingondole.it/ing-gondola.htmor

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or frames; Linden – stable; Mahogany – homogeneity, used for structure;  Elm – flexible, used for frames.

Grasshopper movie star

My petunias eaten? Green grasshopper was near by ,so I claimed him guilty.To feel better about it ,I went on net to check it out.I am calm now, grasshoppers do eat plants,indeed.But I’ve got another question by now-I’ve remembered old Aesop tale ”Grasshopper and ant” and I wonder does this assumption about lazy grasshopper have any realistic backgrounds or was it just made up for didactic purposes by Aesop? For my grasshopper was quiet laborious to cut so many petunias as it did……Nevertheless,I have found two old grasshopper films on you -tube.Both of them around 100 years old, yet ending a bit different one from the other-to fit didactic needs of the time.Which could mean, that also Aesop made it up,too.Of course My Botanical Gardens in this case absolutely disprove use of grasshoppers good name in a way that has no realistic grounds . But please, do have a look-and enjoy! Any scientific explanation about grasshoppers working habits is welcome!

Grasshoppers prefer to eat grasses, leaves and cereal crops. The majority of grasshoppers are polyphagous. Many will eat from multiple host plants in one day, while some prefer to rely on the same host plant. Only one of the 8000 species of grasshopper is monophagous and will only eat a single species of plant.^[2]

Grasshopper Temporal range: Late Permian – Recent
Immature grasshopper
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Hexapoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Orthoptera
Suborder:	Caelifera Ander, 1939
Superfamilies
Tridactyloidea Tetrigoidea Eumastacoidea Pneumoroidea Pyrgomorphoidea Acridoidea Tanaoceroidea Trigonopterygoidea

from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grasshopper

Sempervivum tectorum-Common houseleek,Jupiter’s eye

drawing from:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sempervivum_tectorum

Today post is without story, for I am just too tired after this week-wish to be like sempervivum ,that:

History relates that a botanist tried hard for eighteen months to dry a plant of the House Leek for his herbarium, but failed in this object. He afterwards restored it to its first site when it grew again as if nothing had interfered with its ordinary life.^{[2]from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sempervivum_tectorum}

Common Houseleek
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Core eudicots
Order:	Saxifragales
Family:	Crassulaceae
Genus:	Sempervivum
Species:	S. tectorum
Binomial name
Sempervivum tectorum L. from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sempervivum_tectorum

Gentiana asclepiadea, blue end of summer

Every year ,when the summer gets hot each day making me believe it would newer end , comes the moment bringing a small piece of forthcoming autumn with it. Seeking shadow forest paths I’ve found  blue willow gentian started to flower this week, with flowers blue as the bluest skies I’ve ewer seen. There is something sad in these blue bells I can not explain,is it their announcement the summer is dying  or is it their blue blue color painting eternal skies in front of me but leaving me to wonder what comes after this summer……….  

One of the larger species within the genus, it produces pairs of leaves, sometimes whorled in three’s or fours around particularly vigorous shoots on stems that generally arch elegantly outward from the base of the plant between 60-90cm (2-3ft) in length. Flowers occur in late summer into autumn.

Gentiana asclepiadea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Gentianales
Family:	Gentianaceae
Genus:	Gentiana
Species:	G. asclepiadea
Binomial name
Gentiana asclepiadea L.from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentiana_asclepiadea

Antheraea yamamai -from silk to Mach number

It is a hot August whether these days here around, the temperatures above 30 degrees C for almost two weeks.Only nights are a bit cooler,we stay awake quiet late. Yesterday evening was the same,we were watching TV as a strange visitor came in-a yellow, huge moth was flying across the room almost like a bird,then he sat down on a plant and remained there long enough for us to make some pics.We’ve seen such a big moth here for the first time-and have been very impressed by his story.

Yamamai or Japanese Oak Silkmoth has been cultivated in Japan for more than 1000 years,its silk is white,elastic,durable and very expensive.Adult moth has a wingspan of 10-15cm.Its larvae feed on quercus while the adult moth doesn’t eat at all,he has enough energy to fly for a couple of days and to reproduce,then he dies.In the middle of 19-th century family Mach has settled in Veliki Slatnik (Slovenia).In 1866 Johann Mach imported yamamai eggs to start with the production of Shantung silk .The business didn’t succeed ,but the yamamai butterflies succeeded to survive in new habitat ,even more, from Veliki Slatnik they spread to whole Balkan, Italy,Austria,they have been spotted in Germany. Johann Mach and his wife are buried for a long time.Their grave at the cemetery of Veliki Slatnik is almost forgotten. Yet whenever yellow yamamai   appears here around, he brings with him a story of family  coming from far to live in these rural area,with a strange idea of producing silk and leaving this beautiful moth to fly further to Europe.And there is still another story yamamai brings with him, a story of Mach son ,loving the land around fathers farm that much that he was returning back home for his holidays.Professor of physic at the universities of Graz,Prague,Vienna wrote some of hist best works at the farm where his father explored the conditions to suit  yamamai silk production best.And who this son was? Ernst Mach, great physic and philosopher of time,Mach number is just one of his many contributions.So  from now on when I will see a yamamai I will remember Veliki Slatnik, silk and Mach number……..

Ernst Mach (German pronunciation: [ˈɛɐnst ˈmax]) (February 18, 1838 – February 19, 1916) was an Austrian physicist and philosopher, noted for his contributions to physics such as the Mach number and the study of shock waves. As a philosopher of science, he was a major influence on logical positivism and through his criticism of Newton, a forerunner of Einstein‘s relativity.from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Mach

In fluid mechanics, Mach number ( or ) (generally  /ˈmɑːk/, sometimes /ˈmɑːx/ or /ˈmæk/) is a dimensionless quantity representing the speed of an object moving through air or other fluid divided by the local speed of sound.^[1][2] It is commonly used to represent the speed of an object when it is traveling close to or above the speed of sound.from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_number

Antheraea yamamai
Living adult
Antheraea yamamai superba
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Saturniidae
Tribe:	Saturniini
Genus:	Antheraea
Species:	A. yamamai
Binomial name
Antheraea yamamai Guérin-Méneville, 1861[verification needed]
Synonyms
Antheraea calida Antheraea fentoni Antheraea hazina Antheraea morosa Antheraea sergestus Antheraea ornata Antheraea ornatrix  from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antheraea_yamamai

Triticum aestivum , straw hat and Sorolla

Searching a photo for the end of summer holidays post this butterfly taking a rest on my straw hat was the one I liked at once.My first thought was to write how summer holidays always end  even before a butterfly opens its wings,and how the butterfly effect on the other side bears some possibility that also a too short vacation could change our perspectives in the future.Then I noticed the nice structure of my straw hat and wandered what it is made from, recognizing this post ca not be only about ending summer holidays, butterfly effect or my dear hat, but mostly about common wheat and Sorolla.  

from:http://www.domzale.si/index.php?S=1&Article=4442

Near the place I live is Domzale-today almost a suburb of Ljubljana,but not so far ago a center for production of straw hats.It all has begun in the first half of 18-th century, when country women have started with straw plaiting as it has been a good possibility to earn some extra money during winter months. During wheat harvest the proper wheat plants were chosen and picked manually, then sorted (the tiniest straw was more expensive) and prepared for plaiting.  In 1879 there were 12000 people (half of the population) involved in production of straw hats,in 1880 the production was estimated to be 1 million hats ,made in 6 hat factories in Domzale. These straw hats  were exported all around the world,it could be that even the ladies from the picture of the Spanish painter Sorolla do wear those hats,very modern at the time.This picture is one of my favorites,not only as I love straw hats and white dresses and the sea,but mainly for this feeling of summer Sorolla managed to catch so well…….

PASEO A ORILLAS DEL MAR,1909, from:http://museosorolla.mcu.es/colec_pintura.html

Sorolla was certainly a master of summer light,his paintings of his garden make you feel like it is possible to step further, right into the garden shade……………

JARDÍN DE LA CASA SOROLLA, 1920,from:http://museosorolla.mcu.es/colec_pintura.html

JARDÍN DE LA CASA SOROLLA,1918-1919, from:http://museosorolla.mcu.es/colec_pintura.html

Being in garden once again,here comes the picture of common wheat used (also) for straw hat the butterfly on my pic was sitting on…………

from:USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950. Manual of the grasses of the United States. USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 200. Washington, DC.

Classification:
Triticum aestivum L.

Click on a scientific name below to expand it in the PLANTS Classification Report.

Kingdom	Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision	Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division	Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class	Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Subclass	Commelinidae
Order	Cyperales
Family	Poaceae – Grass family
Genus	Triticum L. – wheat
Species	Triticum aestivum L. – common wheat

from:USDA, NRCS. 2012. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 4 August 2012). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.

Pink shades-photo study of a rose from the rose garden