October 18, 2012

Rest Stop Plants

October 18, 2012/ Gwen Morrison

The rest stops along the interstates are the quickest ‘stop’ along the way and definitely add to the comfort of road trips. The rest stops have improved over the years. They are clean (usually cleaner than fast food restaurants or truck stops) and designed for smooth traffic flow - often separating cars from the truck traffic.

This year I’ve appreciated the plantings. On our fall foliage trip, the rest stop in Pennsylvania featured angel’s trumpets and sunflowers.

So - thank you to the people that make the decision to keep keeping those rest stops opened and in good working order…and making them beautiful too.

August 25, 2012

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 25, 2012

August 25, 2012/ Gwen Morrison

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article:

The Secret Life of a Cardboard Box - infographic

Developing Economies At Highest Risk of Climate Change Disasters - resilience outranks risk

3D-Printed Exoskeleton - Engineers at the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Philadelphia used a 3-D printer to make a lightweight plastic exoskeleton for a 2-year-old girl named Emma Lavalle.

Slideshow: Echoes of the Ancients - large file but wonderful images of Mesa Verde and other Southwestern US National parks

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #20 - learning about more birds from around the world with each of these postings

Sunflower Party Time - great pictures of the plant and some insects

Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano (pictures)

Easy whole grain pumpkin-banana bread - sounds yummy….but I would just double the recipe to use up the whole can of pumpkin

Make Room for (the New) Daddy - Essay and slide show from Marlo Thomas

Renewable Energy’s Growth Over the Past 15 Years - infographic

August 10, 2012

Serendipity at the Grocery Store - A Sunflower

August 10, 2012/ Gwen Morrison

My grocery store seems to have a new display of plants just outside the door almost every week. This week it was pots of sunflowers and I couldn’t resist.

There is one bloom on the plan - and a lot of potential with at least 3 buds. I’ll plant it out in the garden after a few weeks and hope it produces seed that will sprout next year so I’ll have many sunflowers next year. The goldfinches may visit the garden to enjoy the seeds as well.

Now that I have it home it is still a day brightener - just the thing for a humid August day in Maryland. Enjoy the slideshow below!