Flowering HD

By Alexander Reeder and Yutaka Kitamura.  "touched by strangers" is a performative piece where audience members touch interactive garments worn by dancers to make flowers bloom on a 120' by 12' screen. The project emerged from a class called Big Screens at the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP)
at New York University.

St. John’s Wort Flower

St John's wort is the plant species Hypericum perforatum, and is also known as Tipton's Weed, Chase-devil, or Klamath weed. St John's wort is widely known as a herbal treatment for depression.

Hypericum perforatum is a yellow-flowering, stoloniferous or sarmentose, perennial herb indigenous to Europe, which has been introduced to many temperate areas of the world and grows wild in many meadows. The common name comes from its traditional flowering and harvesting on St John's day, 24 June. The genus name Hypericum is derived from the Greek words hyper (above) and eikon (picture), in reference to the traditional use of the plant to ward off evil, by hanging plants over a religious icon in the house during St John's day. The species name perforatum refers to the presence of small oil glands in the leaves that look like windows, which can be seen when they are held against the light.

St John's wort is a perennial plant with extensive, creeping rhizomes. Its stems are erect, branched in the upper section, and can grow to 1 m high. It has opposing, stalkless, narrow, oblong leaves which are 12 mm long or slightly larger. The leaves are yellow-green in color, with transparent dots throughout the tissue and occasionally with a few black dots on the lower surface. Leaves exhibit obvious translucent dots when held up to the light, giving them a ‘perforated’ appearance, hence the plant's Latin name.

Its flowers measure up to 2.5 cm across, have five petals, and are colored bright yellow with conspicuous black dots. The flowers appear in broad cymes at the ends of the upper branches, between late Spring and early to mid Summer. The sepals are pointed, with glandular dots in the tissue. There are many stamens, which are united at the base into three bundles.
When flower buds (not the flowers themselves) or seed pods are crushed, a reddish/purple liquid is produced.

St John’s wort has a complex life cycle that includes a mature plant cycle with vegetative and sexual reproduction. It thrives in areas with either a winter or summer dominant rainfall pattern; however, distribution is restricted by temperatures too low for seed germination or seedling survival. Altitudes greater than 1500 m, rainfall less than 500 mm, and a daily mean January temperature greater than 24 degrees C are considered limiting thresholds. Depending on environmental and climatic conditions. Summer rains are particularly effective in allowing the plant to grow vegetatively, following defoliation by insects or grazing.

This herb is not just an anti-depressant it is a mild sedative as well. St. John’s Wort has also been shown to have a lower risk of side effects than conventional anti-depressants and is worth trying for those that don’t quite have severe enough depression to mandate the use of a prescription pharmaceutical, but instead need something to take the edge off and boost the mood a bit.

If you are suffering from anxiety that has a form of depression associated with it, then this would be a great herb to consider in your herbal sedative blend pending that you are not on any anti-depressants or anti-psychotic medications. The condition “serotonin syndrome” may occur from combing this herb with those classes of medications or other herbs and supplements that boost neurotransmitter levels.
This herb should not be used by those on oral contraceptives, or any medications as it increases the cytochrome p450 enzyme system which results in a more rapid detoxification of drugs from the system. The drugs or birth control pills are then rendered useless. Standard dose of St. John’s Wort for those not on any other medications, is 300 mg three times daily of the 0.3% standardized extract.

Lucid Dream Plants

Plants have been used for thousands of years to induce states of lucid dreaming by shaman throughout the world. These plants are often classified as oneirogens. Oneirogen, from the Greek "oneiros" meaning dream and "gen" meaning to create, describes that which produces a dream-like state of consciousness.


Silene Capensis 

Silene capensis, also known as African Dream Root, is a plant native to the Eastern Cape of South Africa, where it is regarded by the Xhosa people as a sacred plant. The root is traditionally used to induce vivid lucid dreams during the initiation process of shaman. It is regarded as the most powerful dream inducing plant, more powerful than Calea zacatechichi or Entada rheedii.

It is suspected that this sacred plant's oneirogenic activity is due to triterpenoid saponins contained within its roots, although the exact pharmacological action is still unknown. Relatively small amounts of root (250 mg mixed with water) is reported to be active. The plant exerts only minimal alterations in waking consciousness, yet the effects upon the dream state are often reported as being profound (Psychoactiveherbs, 2008).

Calea Zacatechichi

Calea zacatechichi, also known as Dream Herb, is a plant used by the indigenous Chontal of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The plant naturally occurs from southern Mexico to northern Costa Rica. It has been scientifically demonstrated that extracts of this plant increase episodes of lively hypnagogic imagery during SWS stage 1 of sleep and the frequency and/or recollection of dreams versus placebo and diazepam.

Its oneirogenic activity lies within its leaves which are usually boiled with water to make a tea and then drank directly before going to sleep. The leaves are also often smoked, sometimes even at the same time as the tea is drank. Bouncing bear botanicals (2008) explained that , "Those who partook of the Dream Herb were able to experience lucid dreaming; the ability to control and remember their dreams with less effort. Auditory hallucinations are also fairly common, which prompted the Chontals, believing they were hearing the voice of God, to refer to Calea zacatechici as Leaf of God." The exact pharmacological action of this plant is unknown, as with many consciousness altering plants more research studies are desperately needed.

Entada Rheedii

Entada rheedii, also known as African Dream Herb, is a large woody liana or climber. These very large seeds are often washed up onto beaches. Because of this, they also have gained the name Sea Beans.

The seeds, which are usually ground up and smoked, contain the plants oneirogenic activity. It has been reported to cause vivid dreaming and is traditionally used by shaman in South Africa to remember dreams. Like the other plants described in this article, the exact pharmacological action of Entada rheedii is unknown.

How To Create Bonsai Forest

The spring season is the best time of year to create a group planting. First of all suitable trees need to be selected; a group planting should consist of different sizes of trees, a few tall ones for in the middle and several smaller ones to plant on the sides. Use trees mostly growing upright, as the composition will look unnatural when using different shapes of trees. How many trees to use in total is up to you. Selecting the right pot is very important! Choose a large and quite shallow pot. Use a soil mixture of akadama, fine gravel and potting compost mixed together in a ratio of 1/2 to 1/4 to 1/4.

After having selected the trees and the pot, follow the step-by-step plan to create the group planting:
1. Cut of several pieces of copper wire (of about 10 cm or 4’’ long) and attach these with waterproof glue to the pot. The wires will be used to anchor the roots and stabilize the composition of trees.
2. To provide for a good drainage, fill the bottom layer of the pot with fine gravel and akadama in a ratio of 1/2 to 1/2.
3. Now prepare the trees by removing any dead branches and pruning the lower branches to create a trunk (till about 1/3 of the tree’s height). Take the trees out of their pots and after having removed the soil carefully disentangle the roots.
4. Place the taller trees somewhat out of the middle in the pot and add smaller trees around them, when you are satisfied with the composition of the group planting, carefully use the copper wires to anchor the trees.
5. Use the prepared soil mixture to fill the pot and cover all the roots.
6. Use some moss to cover the surface, to protect it against erosion.

Place the newly formed Bonsai group planting in the shade for at least a few months and wait with training the trees until the next spring.

Eko Bio Pens

Plastic ballpoint pens are one of the world's most notorious 'gone missing' objects -- but with pens made from Cereplast's bioplastic, you don't have to worry so much about what happened to them.
The resins that make up the pen are sourced from corn, wheat, tapioca, and potato, and break down in a fraction of the time that traditional pens do after they're trashed -- the classic styles can stay in landfills for as long as 400 years.

The Venus Flytrap

Or also known as Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey, mostly insects. Its trapping  is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap closes if a different hair is contacted within twenty seconds of the first strike. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against a waste of energy in trapping objects with no nutritional value.

Reasons Why They Should Legalize Industrial Hemp

Hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel. Hemp is one of the faster growing biomasses known. For a crop, hemp is very environmentally friendly (with the exception of chemical fertilizers used in industrial agriculture) as it requires few pesticides and no herbicides. So imagine how much nature we would safe by just using this amazing plant.

Check out documentary film about the struggle to legalize industrial hemp in USA with Woody Harrelson, Ralph Nader, Gatewood Galbraith, Craig Lee, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard,and many others.

Flowers Growing (Time-Lapse)

Time lapse video of flowers growing and blooming should adequately acquaint you with their natural majesty.Growth is a really beautiful process, even more fun if you watch it in slow-motion. Enjoy!

Netherlands Tulip Fields

The tulip has come to be a loved symbol of the Netherlands.Many tourists visit the country just to see the bright coloured flower and the astonishing view over the fields. When spring is over, the Netherlands is still a garden, visitors can enjoy flowers in the Netherlands all year round. Maybe you will sit on a plane and fly to Netherlands just to see this amazing fields. Enjoy!