Winter Blues You Should Know

 

This article will be a good primer for anyone that wants to propagate plants over the winter…in fact winter propagation is one of the best times for woody plants. Are you a business that wants to double their stock? A savvy homeowner that wants to maintain their frugal ways? Or are you just bored and need something to do over the winter? Then keep on reading.
Hardwood Cuttings are by far the best way to start most deciduous plants; althea (rose of sharon), chaenomeles (quince), crepe myrtle, currant, fig, forsythia, gooseberry, grape, honeysuckle, ligustrum (privet), mulberry, multiflora rose, philadelphus (mock orange), pomegranate, spiraea and wisteria.
The first step of the process is to find a healthy host / stock plant that you can multiply and multiply and multiply and eventually take over the world….muhahahaha! Ahem, anyways, it is very important to find a healthy host plant free from disease, insects, or any other ailing problems. We are going to need a healthy gene pool here.
Choose your cuttings after the leaves have fallen and all of the energy has been stored in the plant. Say away from old wood and frail new wood. You want something in the middle, good and sturdy. Harvest 6-12 good stalks taking note of the top and the bottom. Easy way to keep track is to cut the tops at an angle and the bottoms flat. Make sure to use sharp clean pruners and not to crush the cuts. When you have your harvest material tie them together (jute twine will work) making sure the bottoms are all even with each other.
Now there are two options here…depends on your climate.
Our winters are cool like dat (not much snow if any, but a definite season change)
The most important part of this method of propagation is to create calluses development. To do this, dig a hole 12-to-18 inches deep in sandy or well-drained soil in a sunny location and place the bundles of hardwood cuttings into this pit. Place them top end down, so that the bases of the cuttings are about four inches below the soil surface. This promotes root initiation at the cuttings base and inhibits bud formation at the top. Fill in the pit, leaving a shallow basin over the ends of the cutting to channel water and keep the cuttings moist (important).
Our winters are so cold my pug needs to wear booties (too much snow and too cold to care about anything or anyone)
In area’s with severely cold winters, wrap the cuttings in moist burlap and store them in a cellar or cold frame at 32-to-40F. After winter storage, when you see that there is callus formation, lift the bundles and wash and untie them. (Protect cuttings with moist burlap so that the callus tissue does not dry). Then, set the callused cuttings (top end up) directly in a propagation bed or container so that half or two to three buds of each cutting are above the soil surface. Firm the soil around the cuttings and water to eliminate air pockets and assure good contact between the cuttings and the soil.
In warm winter climates, callus may develop in four to eight weeks. In fact, some species won’t need to be stored to develop callus. Cut leafless stems of rose, abelia, bridal wreath, privet and other plants into 8-to-10-inch lengths and set them directly in the propagation bed or container.
So there ya go, just a taste of what you can try out. Tell us your propagation stories (legal ones) and how they worked out for you. Did you find this article useful? Please comment.

How Long Do Cherry Blossom Bloom?

When do they bloom?


The most important factor in determining the blooming time of cherry trees is the geographical location. Basically, the milder the climate, the earlier the blossoms open.

On Japan's southern, subtropical islands of Okinawa, cherry blossoms open as early as January, while on the northern island of Hokkaido, they bloom as late as May. In most major cities in between, including Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, the cherry blossom season typically takes place in early April.
Furthermore, the blooming time of cherry trees differs from year to year depending on the weather. If the weather during the months and weeks preceding the cherry blossom season is mild, blossoms will open early. If it is cold, blossoms will open later. From year to year, the start of the blooming season can vary by as much as two weeks.

How long do they bloom?


The cherry blossom season is relatively short. Full bloom (mankai) is usually reached within about one week after the opening of the first blossoms (kaika). Another week later, the blooming peak is over and the blossoms are falling from the trees. Strong wind and rain can cut the blooming season even shorter.

Cherry blossom forecasts


Every year, weather services and the media, including japan-guide.com, closely follow the so called "cherry blossom front" as it slowly moves northward. Note that the front indicates the opening of the first blossoms (kaika) rather than the arrival of full bloom (mankai).

Of course, not every tree in a city opens on the same day, as trees in shadowy places, for example, bloom several days later than trees in sunny places. For this reason, a set of representative sample trees is selected to define the date of kaika (the opening of the first blossoms) for a whole city. In Tokyo, the sample trees are located at Yasukuni Shrine.

Beautiful Nature In The Heart Of The Urban Jungle

Beautiful Nature

For many city dwellers, the only glimpses of beautiful nature they’ll have on a regular day would be in the images of their desktop nature themes or screen savers. Unless you live near an urban community garden or a rooftop garden, the only green you’ll see sometimes is the flaking green paint on your neighbor’s wall.

Photographer Tim Simmons in an initiative called The Urban Land Project seeks to break the monotony of the urban scenery by injecting billboard images of nature right along busy metro arteries. Large scale, highly-visible billboards showing Simmons’ vivid images of breathtaking natural scenes — underground pools, forest floors teeming with life, moss-covered stones, etc, — are placed next to hard urban features in Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

Beautiful Nature

 In a way, it’s a challenge to people to reflect and reconnect with their surroundings.

“From the outset I have tried to produce work that captures the feeling of a place, and expresses the memory of that feeling. That is what I am trying to communicate to others,” says Simmons.

“This project is meant to stimulate awareness. These images against these backdrops accentuate the tension between the human and natural worlds.”

Nature Is Mighty

Nature is mighty

Nature is strong

Nature is usually always right

Nature is rarely ever wrong

Nature is beauty

Nature is moody

Nature is smart

Nature always has the greater part

Nature is blue

Nature is green

Nature is every color possibly seen

Nature is true

Nature is beaming

Nature is dreaming

Nature is in every place

Nature is always with grace

Nature is true

Nature is you

Nature is me

Nature will forever be free.

Do You Know What Are The Natural Sciences?

Natural science is one of three divisions of science, the other two being the social sciences — psychology, sociology, economics, etc. — and the formal sciences — mathematics, logic, and statistics. The natural sciences are astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth science, and physics. There are also cross-disciplines such as biophysics which integrate between sciences. Natural science has been practiced for millennia, but prior to the 17th century it was called natural philosophy and was less scientific. The introduction of the scientific method by Sir Francis Bacon and the ensuing scientific revolution came to create what is considered science today.

The natural sciences, especially physics, are often referred to as “hard science” because of the heavy use of objective data and quantitative methods. In contrast, the social sciences rely more on qualitative evaluations and thus tend to have less certain conclusions. The study of human beings in the social science is hampered both by the complexity of humans and the increased tendency towards unscientific bias when studying humans as opposed to, say, rocks.

Much of what defines our modern civilization are advances in knowledge and technology caused by investigations in the natural sciences. For instance, the production of most if not all of the food you eat can be traced back to a chemical process called the Haber-Bosch process which was developed during WWI. This chemical process allows the creation of fertilizer nitrates from atmospheric nitrogen, rather than relying on biologically fixed sources of nitrogen such as cow dung or bat guano.

hanks to developments in biology, especially accelerating in the last half-century, we have advanced medicines capable of curing or treating many diseases that were otherwise fatal. The scourges of the 19th century and before, such as plague and smallpox, are now largely under control or eliminated thanks to biology research. The biological subfield of genetics has allowed us to understand the very code of life itself, and recognize the way it expresses itself within each of us.

Advances in earth science have allowed us to extract huge amounts of minerals and petroleum from the Earth’s crust, powering the engines of modern civilization and industry to the present day. Paleontology, a subfield of Earth science, has given us a window into the Earth’s distant past, long before humans ever existed. This helps us trace the reasons why the spectrum of life and the geology of Earth is the way it is today.

Some of the most fascinating of the natural sciences are physics and astronomy, the most quantitative fields in all of empirical science. Physics is the science that underlies all others, and has been subject some of the most unexpected twists and turns in the last century, most notably the discovery that matter and energy, space and time are each facets of each other. Astronomy has led us to discover an enormous amount about the universe we live in. Up until about a century ago, it was thought that the entire universe was just the Milky Way galaxy, until a series of debates and observations clued us in that it was literally millions of times bigger than we previously imagined.

The natural sciences are one of the most important and interesting fields of human endeavor, and while the specifics of future advances are largely unpredictable, one thing is for sure: scientific findings will continue to improve our lives and fire up our imaginations for a long time to come.

4 Incredible Natural Phenomena You've Never Seen

Venezuela's Everlasting Storm

The mysterious "Relámpago del Catatumbo" (Catatumbo lightning) is a unique natural phenomenon in the world. Located on the mouth of the Catatumbo river at Lake Maracaibo (Venezuela), the phenomenon is a cloud-to-cloud lightning that forms a voltage arc more than five kilometre high during 140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours a night, and as many as 280 times an hour. This almost permanent storm occurs over the marshlands where the Catatumbo River feeds into Lake Maracaibo and it is considered the greatest single generator of ozone in the planet, judging from the intensity of the cloud-to-cloud discharge and great frequency.

The area sees an estimated 1,176,000 electrical discharges per year, with an intensity of up to 400,000 amperes, and visible up to 400 km away. This is the reason why the storm is also known as the Maracaibo Beacon as light has been used for navigation by ships for ages. The collision with the winds coming from the Andes Mountains causes the storms and associated lightning, a result of electrical discharges through ionised gases, specifically the methane created by the decomposition of organic matter in the marshes. Being lighter than air, the gas rises up to the clouds, feeding the storms. Some local environmentalists hope to put the area under the protection of UNESCO, as it is an exceptional phenomenon, the greatest source of its type for regenerating the planet's ozone layer.

Honduras' Rain of Fishes

The Rain of Fish is common in Honduran Folklore. It occurs in the Departamento de Yoro, between the months of May and July. Witnesses of this phenomenon state that it begins with a dark cloud in the sky followed by lightning, thunder, strong winds and heavy rain for 2 to 3 hours. Once the rain has stopped, hundreds of living fish are found on the ground. People take the fish home to cook and eat them. Since 1998 a festival known as "Festival de la Lluvia de Peces" (Rain of Fish Festival) is celebrated every year in the city of Yoro, Departamento de Yoro, Honduras.

Morocco's Climbing Goats

Goats on trees are found mostly only in Morocco. The goats climb them because they like to eat the fruit of the argan tree, which is similar to an olive. Farmers actually follow the herds of goats as they move from tree to tree. Not because it is so strange to see goats in trees and the farmers like to point and stare, but because the fruit of the tree has a nut inside, which the goats can't digest, so they spit it up or excrete it which the farmers collect. The nut contains 1-3 kernels, which can be ground to make argan oil used in cooking and cosmetics. This oil has been collected by the people of the region for hundreds of years, but like many wild and useful things these days, the argan tree is slowly disappearing due to over-harvesting for the tree's wood and overgrazing by goats.

As a result a group of people and organizations have banded together to try to save the tree. To do so one of the primary locations where the trees grow has been declared a biosphere preserve. It was also decided that by making the world aware of the oil, it's great taste and supposed anti-aging properties, would create a demand for it. However, the people who planned to marketthe oil could not envision people wanting to put an oil on their food or their face that was collected from goat excrement. As a result, a campaign is being led to ban grazing on the trees by goats during certain parts of the year to allow the fruit to ripen and fall off on its own. The fruit is then collected and turned into oil by oil cooperatives. So far, this arrangement seems to be working.

Denmark's Black Sun

During spring in Denmark, at approximately one half an hour before sunset, flocks of more than a million European starlings (sturnus vulgaris) gather from all corners to join in the incredible formations shown above. This phenomenon is called Black Sun (in Denmark), and can be witnessed in early spring throughout the marshlands of western Denmark, from March through to the middle of April. The starlings migrate from the south and spend the day in the meadows gathering food, sleeping in the reeds during the night.

The Beauty of Nature

Nature is the masterpiece of god. Nature, like the coin, has two sides, both beauty and disaster, but I prefer to concern natural beauty, because I believe that there are more beautiful things in nature than disasters. Wherever we are, as long as we observe nature attentively, where natural beauty exists.

A lot of natural phenomenons bring new hope and gain to people, so there are a lot of writers and poets and painters who like to sing the praises of nature. When spring is coming, someone says that “the ten thousand things of creation come to life”; when it snows, there is a saying “a timely snow promises a good harvest”. When I see a rainfall, first I think of a beautiful sight, and it needn’t worry about the rain would cause flood so quickly since that there are few opportunities of flood. And if we worry about every natural phenomena would occur disaster, consequently, we would have no happiness.

And nature also can give us beautiful environment in which we can enjoy ourselves. Take our campus for example. Our campus is like a garden, especially including some wonderful sights. When I am in depression or in trouble or in some other bad position, I often find some silent and beautiful places to ponder upon my problem. As a result, fortunately, through this I often can get out of trouble. As a matter of fact, no matter you are happy or sorrow, nature is the honest friend of you, because it can listen to you heart everywhere as you like.

Therefore, we see a rainfall, we think of amrita; and we see the sun, we can bathe in sunshine. Just like me, see the good side of one thing first, and then consider its bad aspect. Effectively, I am always positive to life. However, nature has its own rules so that we cannot dominate its way; there are also some nature disasters like earthquake, flood and drought, etc. So it reminds us to not only recognize the beauty of nature, but also the disasters of nature.

Orange Mystery Dust

We were only a few pitches into the first inning and everyone's feet were completely orange. No one could figure out why the grass had been spray painted.

Luckily, there was a plant pathologist in center field.

The softball field was infected with a rust fungus, most likelyPuccinia graminis. This fungus grows invisibly inside the grass blades until it's ready to reproduce, when it bursts through the epidermis with structures called uredinia, covered in the appropriately named (and bright orange) urediniospores.

These fungi are famous for their very complicated lifecycles, which often require different host plants at different spore stages. The stages of P. graminis are shown in the figure: Urediniospores are an asexual spore stage that allows the fungus to spread quickly through fields during the summer. Later in the season, this infection produces teliospores (on telia), which are a thick-walled survival structure that remain attached to the host. Teliospores eventually produce basidia, which eject wind-blown sexual spores, known as basidiospores. The basidiospores ofP. graminis can only infect barberry plants, on which they produce spermagonia on the upper leaf surface.* Spermagonia produce sticky male gamete cells, which are tracked onto receptive hyphae by rain or insects. Once fertilized, the hyphae of the spermagonium grow down through the leaf to produce another spore structure, an aecium. Aecia produce aeciospores, which in P. graminis can only infect certain grasses.

Rust fungi often don't hurt their hosts very much, at least until they burst through the epidermis to produce spores, which interrupts photosynthesis and makes the plant susceptible to dehydration. It's pretty much just a cosmetic problem on lawns, but causes major diseases on crops like wheat. It was such a problem for the ancient Romans that they invented a special god who presided strictly over rust epidemics, Robigo. Every spring, they celebrated the holiday of Robigalia, when they sacrificed red dogs and sheep in hope of appeasing him!

According to Purdue Extension, lawn rust fungi rarely survive the cold winters of Indiana, but blow up north from warmer climates in the late summer and early fall. The same thing happens with wheat rust - urediniospores are carried on the wind along the "puccinia pathway," from the southern U.S., where it successfully overwinters, north into Canada, infecting progressively later and more northerly wheat crops along the way each summer.

Recently ag scientists have been scrambling to find wheat and barley genotyes that are resistant to a newly discovered strain of wheat stem rust, P. graminis f.sp. triticiUg99. Previously, they had worked to prepare for the inevitable U.S. invasion of asiatic soybean rust, Phakospora pachyrizi. One of my old plant path professors liked to tell a story about how epidemiologists had predicted the exact location and time when they expected soybean rust spores to blow up into the Southern U.S. They were proved wrong when a hurricane brought the spores in early. Others (who hoped the invading rust would wipe out kudzu) were also proved wrong as this noxious weed just provided another host for the fungus to sporulate on.

"Alternate hosts" of rust diseases simply refer to the required host that we don't care about. In the devastating forest disease, white pine blister rust, the alternate hosts include gooseberries and currents (Ribes spp.). Unlike the previous example though, this rust attacks our host of interest as basidiospores and severely damages trees with the repeated production of bark-rupturing aecia.

Although the aeciospores can travel for hundreds of kilometers to infect Ribes plants, the basidiospores that cycle back to attack pines are very fragile and short-lived. So, unlike these grass rusts, an infected pine can only sicken its neighbors if there are Ribes plants within range. For awhile, the New Deal's Works Progress Administration tried to take advantage of this by eradicating this alternate host from mountain forests of North America. To some extent, eradication of alternate hosts is still used today. And in fact, this tactic was one of the first recorded descriptions of people dealing with plant pathogens.

Simple Benefits Of A Tree

Most trees and shrubs in cities or communities are planted to provide beauty or shade. These are two excellent reasons for their use. Woody plants also serve many other purposes, and it often is helpful to consider these other functions when selecting a tree or shrub for the landscape. The benefits of trees can be grouped into social, communal, environmental, and economic categories.

We like trees around us because they make life more pleasant. Most of us respond to the presence of trees beyond simply observing their beauty. We feel serene, peaceful, restful, and tranquil in a grove of trees. We are “at home” there. Hospital patients have been shown to recover from surgery more quickly when their hospital room offered a view of trees. The strong ties between people and trees are most evident in the resistance of community residents to removing trees to widen streets. Or we note the heroic efforts of individuals and organizations to save particularly large or historic trees in a community.

The stature, strength, and endurance of trees give them a cathedral-like quality. Because of their potential for long life, trees frequently are planted as living memorials. We often become personally attached to trees that we or those we love have planted.

Even though trees may be private property, their size often makes them part of the community as well. Because trees occupy considerable space, planning is required if both you and your neighbors are to benefit. With proper selection and maintenance, trees can enhance and function on one property without infringing on the rights and privileges of neighbors.

City trees often serve several architectural and engineering functions. They provide privacy, emphasize views, or screen out objectionable views. They reduce glare and reflection. They direct pedestrian traffic. They provide background to and soften, complement, or enhance architecture.

Mushrooms Glowing In The Dark

Brendan tipped me off to the discovery of 4 new glowing mushroom species (and 3 old species that no one knew glowed). These tiny mushrooms (with caps less than 1 cm in width) continuously emit a bright yellow-green light and belong to the genusMycena, which also contains most other known luminescent mushroom species.

The genus Mycena contains innumerable tiny, dull-colored species that are much more common than anyone would normally notice. Their tiny caps can be found sprouting from decaying vegetable matter wherever it's found.Mycena species (and those of a few other genera) are often referred to as "little brown mushrooms" or "little brown jobs," reflecting their nondescript ubiquity and the near-impossibility of actually identifying them. Back when I worked in redwood forests, I often saw putative Mycenas popping out of fallen Doug-fir cones.

Dennis Desjardin, author of the above discovery, points out that luminescence appears in 16 separate lineages of Mycena species - suggesting that the ancestor of all Mycena species was capable of glowing, but that some species and lineages have since lost this ability. Desjardin came to this conclusion because one of the key tactics in science is to assume that the simplest explanation is most likely to be correct - and should be assumed to be correct until proven otherwise. Because it is more difficult/unlikely for an organism to acquire the ability to glow than to lose the ability, it is more likely that many Mycena species lost the ability (and a few retained it) than that many Mycena species acquired it independently. When shared traits are used to place evolutionary links between related species on a phylogenetic tree, this is known as "parsimony."

Desjardin suggests that the glow of these tiny mushrooms may attract nocturnal animals, which disperse their spores.

So the next time you kick open a rotten log and find the inside glowing, think of Mycena!

Cloud Forest In Monteverde

A Cloud Forest is a specific type of rainforest in which cloud covers the foliage and deposits moisture directly onto the leaves. The Monteverde Cloud Forest is the place in Costa Rica where visitors come to experience the unique environment. Even though the clouds don"t actually rain onto the canopy, the humidity is so high that the moisture that does make it onto the leaves often drips to the rainforest floor.
Monteverde is a protected biological reserve that is home to hundreds of species of plants and animals. Howler monkeys, snakes, and colorful birds fill the rainforest canopy with sound.

Skywalking and rappelling are two ways you can explore the Costa Rica rain forest and the animals that live in its upper reaches. The Skywalk is a series of bridges and platforms that are perched high up in the trees. Cable ranging in length from 195 to 650 feet let you fly at high speeds through the rainforest canopy to get a birds" eye view of this exotic environment.
There are a couple of different ways to get to the cloud forest from the capitol of San Juan. You can take the scenic northerly route, which is a full day"s drive but it allows you to see the city of La Fortuna, and you will get to drive around Arenal Volcano and Lake Arenal. Or, you can opt for coming from the Southwest, going through San Ramon and Sardinal before turning at Lagarto for the last leg of the journey. Either way, plan for at least a four-hour drive, although the northern route is going to be a great deal longer, so take a full day to make this drive. It is a great way to get a feel for this part of the country before arriving at the rainforest.
Eight different trails crisscross the reserve. This protected part of the rainforest is open from 7am to 4pm, to allow you to have the best light in which to see animals in the dense canopy. Admission is $12 for adults, $6.50 for students that have ID, and it"s free to visit for children 10 and under.
400 types of orchids live in this part of the rainforest Costa Rica. 30 types of hummingbirds are part of the 400 species of birds that call the rainforest canopy home. Over 5000 species of moths are included in the ten of thousands of types of insects that make this their home. You might be able to see the regal Quetzal, an animal that lives here and that was considered sacred by the Mayan throughout the life of their empire.
Rainforest Costa Rica is filled with life and natural beauty. Even if you bring a poncho, a warm jacket, and comfortable hiking shoes, nothing you can do will prepare you for the experience of the Costa Rica rainforest.

World’s secret rooms

We see beautiful places everywhere we go; huge mountains, ridiculous plains, scary jungles and nice forests are all great places to experience nature, but how often do we venture into the world beneath us? Unless you’re an avid spelunker, or a troglodyte, the answer is probably not too often. Here we take a look at two gorgeous examples of the world’s secret rooms underneath us.

Beautifully Chaotic

We all remember the explanations; stalactites need to hold on “tight,” and if stalagmites try hard enough they just “might” reach the ceiling some day. At least, that’s one version out of countless rhymes and lessons children learn when studying caves. However they’re learned, they’re never fully understood until seen, and once seen they are never forgotten. Strange and wonderful at the same time, these formations and others like them that take thousands of years to grow, only take seconds to change a life forever when seen in their full splendor. To add to that appeal, every cave is different. Above we see two in stark contrast: First, the Onondoga Cave in Missouri, with strange rock “lilly pads” and “colons” as the photographer jokingly described them. Beneath that, the famed Reed Flute Cave in South China, creatively lit and spanning over 240 meters of acoustic cavern.

Fire and Ice

A number of things came together in an eons-long ballet of creation to make the caves that we find today.  Most that we’d find throughout the world would fall into one of two major categories; either ice/water carved them out, or lava flows birthed them.  These origins leave us with geologic oddities that are more like alien landscapes than anything we’ve ever experienced first-hand.  We see the results above, with caves in Vietnam, Scotland, and Norway.  The sea cave in Scotland is especially interesting to note; known as Fingal’s Cave.  Though it is a sea cave now, its history is volcanic in nature, and left it with an unusually man-made appearance.

The Most Remarkble Natural Phenomenal

The classical natural wonders are huge and hard to miss – vast canyons, giant mountains and the like. Many of the most fantastic natural phenomena, however, are also least easy to spot. Some are incredibly rare while others are located in hard-to-reach parts of the planet. From moving rocks to mammatus clouds and red tides to fire rainbows, here are three of the most spectacular phenomenal wonders of the natural world.

When a thick lava flow cools it contracts vertically but cracks perpendicular to its directional flow with remarkable geometric regularity – in most cases forming a regular grid of remarkable hexagonal extrusions that almost appear to be made by man. One of the most famous such examples is the Giant’s Causeway on the coast of Ireland (shown above) though the largest and most widely recognized would be Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. Basalt also forms different but equally fascinating ways when eruptions are exposed to air or water.

Blue holes are giant and sudden drops in underwater elevation that get their name from the dark and foreboding blue tone they exhibit when viewed from above in relationship to surrounding waters. They can be hundreds of feet deep and while divers are able to explore some of them they are largely devoid of oxygen that would support sea life due to poor water circulation – leaving them eerily empty. Some blue holes, however, contain ancient fossil remains that have been discovered, preserved in their depths.

While many see these apparently perfect ice circles as worthy of conspiracy theorizing, scientists generally accept that they are formed by eddies in the water that spin a sizable piece of ice in a circular motion. As a result of this rotation, other pieces of ice and flotsam wear relatively evenly at the edges of the ice until it slowly forms into an essentially ideal circle. Ice circles have been seen with diameters of over 500 feet and can also at times be found in clusters and groups at different sizes as shown above.

Planting Poinsettia

The Poinsettia, which belongs to the Euphorbia family, has become almost synonymous with Christmas and brings colour and joy to households all over Canada. It was first introduced to North America by the American ambassador to Mexico, Robert Poinsett.
The poinsettia does well in an indoor environment and if a few simple guidelines are followed will bloom well into Spring.

Watering is one of the most important factors in maintaining a healthy poinsettia. Check the soil daily and when the surface starts to feel dry its time to water. Water until it runs freely out of the drainage hole. Never let water remain in the saucer, as the poinsettia does not tolerate sitting in water.
Poinsettias like lots of light so placing it near a south window is the best place for it. Lacking that option an east or west window will do. Never allow the leaves to touch the glass, as the cold will damage them.
One of the reasons Poinsettia’s do so well inside is that they like the same kind of temperatures we do. So during the day a temperature of 20 – 22 degrees Celsius is ideal and in the evening a temperature a couple of degrees cooler is preferable.
Every year after Christmas I am determined to keep my Poinsettia over the year and have it bloom beautifully just in time for Christmas. And every year it doesn’t happen. Well, this year I think I’ve finally found the right formula to produce a beautiful plant for next Christmas. You can too just by following these simple ( well, not too hard) guidelines:
• Continue watering normally until April 1st then let it dry out gradually. Note that you don’t want it to dry out so much that the stems shrivel. After drying keep in a cool room until the middle of May.
• In the middle of May prune the poinsettia back to about 4 inches above the soil and re-pot in a new pot 1 – 2 inches bigger than the old pot. Put it in a sunny window and water when the soil starts to feel dry. As the new growth starts you can begin fertilizing every two weeks.
• In early June you can move it outside in a lightly shaded area. Continue to water and fertilize while it is outside.
• In early July pinch out 1 inch of the terminal stems.
• Between the middle of August and September 1st prune the plant back so that each stem has three or four leaves on it, bring it back inside and place in a sunny location.
• From the beginning of October until the last week in November keep the plant in total darkness from 5PM until 8AM. This is the important part. There has to be total darkness. Any stray light will delay the blooming cycle. During the day it still needs to be in a sunny window and don’t forget to water and fertilize regularly.
If you follow these guidelines you should have a beautiful Poinsettia blooming just in time for Christmas.
Just a note. For years various reports have led the general public to believe poinsettias are toxic to humans; however, this has not been authenticated. Research conducted at The Ohio State University and other institutions has proved the old wives' tale that poinsettias are poisonous to be false.

Are You Interested In Kangaroo

If you are interested in learning about Kangaroo, you must look at its natural kangaroo habitat. Kangaroos are found mainly in Australia but they can also be found in New Guinea and Tasmania. They are the largest marsupial mammal and Kangaroos belong in the macropodidae family. They like to graze on leaves and small foliage and can adapt and live even with only small amounts of water.

 Kangaroos are light brown on color and have long legs. They also have a long tail to help them hop and maneuver and use it to balance and lean on when fighting. This frees up their large powerful legs to kick and injure the offending enemy. They are also unique because they carry their young in a pouch. The pouch is located on the stomach area and it is used to house the offspring for 9 months. During this time the young kangaroos stay in this pouch. Inside the pouch the mother kangaroo or doe has 4 nipples, so that the baby joeys can eat.
When you are looking for a particular kangaroo habitat, you must first look at the type of kangaroo you are studying.
Eastern gray kangaroos are perhaps the heaviest of all the different types of kangaroos. The males are larger then the females and even though they live in smaller groups, they can join larges ones if they are crazing. They are active at night and during the day they like to relax under trees and hide in shrubbery. These larger marsupials are very powerful and can run at incredibly fast speeds and can leap over 9 feet. The eastern gray kangaroo habitat is located in eastern Australia. This area skirts the coastline and the gray kangaroos like to be in the moist damp forest that surrounds it.
Red Kangaroos are the largest marsupials and they are known for their unique coloring. The females have a blue gray tinted fur and the males are distinctly red in the eastern sections, but elsewhere both sexes can be a brownish red color. Red kangaroos travel in mobs. These mobs can have hundreds of kangaroos but all mobs only have one male that dominates over the rest. The red kangaroo habitat covers most of Australia. They can adapt and live in just about any area. They like the moist forests but they can also live in desert areas. This is because kangaroos can go without water for days without feeling any negative affects.
Western gray kangaroos are a gray and brown color but they resemble the eastern gray kangaroo. One difference is they are a smaller size. They are slim animals and the males have a distinct odor. For this reason they are referred to as stinky animals. They are also very loud and like to communicate with others using a clicking sound. The western gray kangaroo habitat can be found on the lower west and southern corners of Australia. Like the red kangaroo, the western gray can be found not only in the dense forest but also in the desert areas. They are known to be found in golf courses and even in cities. Where ever there is an unlimited food and water supply, these western gray kangaroos can be found.
The reason more kangaroos are found in Australia compared to other countries is because Australia has incorporated many new watering sites for the kangaroo population. They were concerned about the health and well being of the animal and began to help them in the wild. Now, Australia has by far the most species of kangaroo and in some places kangaroos over populates entire areas.

Connecting With Nature Is Good For You

Connecting with nature can improve your health and wellbeing, say researchers in this week's British Medical Journal. The theory is known as ecotherapy: restoring health through contact with nature.
Use of wildlife in some therapies is reported to improve quality of life, write the authors. Smaller animals (for example, squirrels, owls, and raccoons) have been used successfully in therapies for children with emotional and behavioural problems.
People who take part in conservation projects report subjective health benefits, ascribed to being outdoors and to feeling part of a greater system connecting beyond the individual. Such projects can help overcome social isolation, develop skills, and improve employment prospects, as well as provide the known benefits associated with exercise.
Although initial research has been promising, the UK needs robust health impact assessments of wildlife projects to determine their objective therapeutic value, say the authors.
English Nature has advocated a national strategy to encourage people to reconnect with nature and benefit from proximity to wildlife.
Partnerships between healthcare providers and nature organisations to share and exchange expertise could create new policies that recognise the interdependence between healthy people and healthy ecosystems, they conclude.

Carnac, France: traditional and beautiful place is exactly the same

A prehistoric stone enclosure at Carnac that may have been a sacred area. (Susan Spano)

Florida. It is my home state, a beautiful

    

 Add your photos

Ah, Florida. It is my home state, a beautiful and diverse place with ecosystems ranging from uplands and freshwater wetlands to coastal and aquatic ecosystems. It is a fragile place full of endangered species. And it is currently wavering and in need of your environmental support.

As I have mentioned numerous times before, Florida is a magical place. The subtropic climate breeds biodiversity, and although we relish tourism, a great many awe-inspiring nature retreats await us just outside of the bright lights.

With this in mind, my final column is dedicated to this great and beautiful state. I would like to welcome every single one of you to make it your personal duty to care for it, to have and to hold it with the utmost respect. If you enjoy watching the wading birds and swimming dolphins, please consider the ways you can help protect this beautiful place.

Many local nonprofit agencies are working to protect and save Florida. Follow the links below to discover the various ways you can give back. After all, we are ultimately responsible for the overwhelming urban sprawl and how it has contributed to Florida’s conservation issues. We must start somewhere to begin to make the change.

I encourage you to find an organization that advocates for something that you feel passionately about. Whether it be manatees, birds or panthers, please forward this information to your friends and family, and then get thoroughly involved! 

I love the green nature

　　
　　This is the story of a reformed beauty queen — a girl who was once drawn to her local drugstore by the allure of a magazine ad and its promise of magical ingredients, snazzier packaging and better results. No longer... And here's why:
According to a 2005 survey of 2,300 adults by the Environmental Working Group, the average woman encounters 168 chemical ingredients in her beauty regimen everyday. And let's not forget about the men — they're slathering themselves with an average of 85 chemicals everyday, too.
With 90% of the 10,500 different chemicals used in personal care products never evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration for safety, it's impossible to have peace of mind when our skin is potentially absorbing chemicals that might cause cancer, reproductive problems or other health concerns. Plus, some of these chemicals can harm the environment, too. Even the drugs and personal care products that disappear down the drain can harm fish and other wildlife at the other end of the pipe.
So you may be asking: What's the big deal? Beauty products contain small amounts of toxic chemicals. Even "active ingredients" that promise the most benefits for your beauty make up just 1% of most products.
The big deal is that we're using these products regularly, essentially creating a stockpile of some chemicals in our bodies (stored in fat cells) that may only cause harm after years of use. Some preservative chemicals used in cosmetics (like parabens) have been shown to mimic the hormone estrogen, contributing to breast cancer risk. Pregnant mothers can pass along the effects of some chemicals to their unborn offspring, like testicular abnormalities in little boys or obesity in teenage girls. And don't think that spending more money is the answer — endocrine-disrupting chemicals are found in both drugstore and high-end department store brands.
These are frightening claims that have inspired me to pursue preventative measures now in my 20s, rather than allow this ticking time bomb to explode years down the road, potentially affecting me or my future children.
Thanks to information from expert sources like The Green Beauty Guide ($10.50 at amazon.com), The Essential Green You! ($6.40 at amazon.com), and Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products ($11.50 at amazon.com), I've compiled my top takeaway points from these books to show you how to embrace the green in your beauty regimen. I call them my 8 Commandments of Natural Beauty.

Nature photography

　　
　　The Complete Guide to Nature Photography - Professional Techniques for Capturing Digital Images of Nature and Wildlife by Sean Arbabi is a new book published by Amphoto Books. To be released in December, The Complete Guide to Nature Photography guides readers through every stage of shooting landscapes close-­‐ups, and animal portraits, from packing your gear bag to selecting sites, deciding on a composition, getting a perfect exposure taking macro images, and processing your digital images afterward Using his own exceptional work as examples Arbabi discusses each type of nature subject and how to approach it. An assignment at the end of each chapter gives readers a step-­‐by-­‐step opportunity to practice one of the chapter’s key concepts. Packed with 250 of the author’s beautiful images of nature and wildlife, The Complete Guide to Nature Photography will hit bookstores in the US on December 6th and most international locations around early February.

The natural landscape of the piece of magic stone

　　What a huge week we’ve had here in the wide world of photography, and Toad Hollow Photography has been very busy compiling this very comprehensive list of tutorials, great photography and interesting blogs to share. You will find some great links here taking you off to see some fabulous works by some truly talented people. We hope you enjoy visiting these links as much as the Toad did in bringing them to you.
Check out the Toad’s photo blog and gallery of Canadian Fine Art and Landscape Photography.

　　Rodeo Beach Sunset by the_tahoe_guy, on Flickr
TUTORIALS
Getting The Perfect Portrait Every Time – a great piece from master photographers outlining tips and tricks on how to achieve that perfect portrait, every time you get behind the lens. David Ziser hosts this fabulous tutorial, making it widely available for everyone to enjoy and gain some behind-the-scenes information from.
Make Your Own Canvas Portrait – a short but awesome post on how to create your very own canvas portraits. Even if this is something you don’t have an immediate plan for, this great post is highly informative and left me personally with a lot of new creative ideas.
Lighting Basics: Hard Light and Soft Light – an absolutely detailed and highly informative article on different lighting, how it effects photography and how best to employ it. This is an in-depth article, sure to shed some light on this subject for most photographers, if you’ll pardon the pun.
GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY
Learning to See (Part 3) – seriously profound, this series of pictures and accompanying story will leave you feeling something, no doubt about it. Master photographer and writer Tom Dinning shares a personal story that is punctuated with the most incredible imagery, sure to move all those who take it in. As the story unfolded, I had a strong sense I knew where we were going with it, but each and every word, each and every picture, was taken in like the finest square of chocolate or a sip of the finest whiskey.
Pyestock – The Gates Of The River Styx – easily one of my picks of this week, Mark Blundell roars onto the photography scene with this picture that will leave you with as many questions as answers. Incredible photography and processing merge to create this absolutely incredible piece. A great accompanying write-up explains the setting, leaving the viewer yearning for much, much more.
The House of the Crazy Man – our very own @astaroth delivers a profound, moving, dramatic and highly emotional piece that will take your breath away!! An absolutely incredible set of photographs of an abandoned and dilapidated building forms the imagery that is encapsulated in some of the most incredible writing I have seen this week. Guaranteed to move you, this series is a must see!!
Waterfall – a gorgeous and brooding image from the studio of A.D Wheeler shares a view of a waterfall and an older building on the side of the river. A beautiful and detailed photograph, this is absolutely amazing.
In The Pond – a montage of one of my favorite subjects; frogs. Barbara Youngleson shares a truly wonderful image, full of color and wonder that is sure to delight everyone.
Open Doors – textures, tones and a strong visual interest that is partly a result of a slightly minimalistic scene… a great photograph from the studio of Steve Beal shares a not often seen picture taken in an abandoned factory.
Dance Images – wonderful photographs of dancers in action are the prime subject of this post. Frank Doorhof captures and shares a truly stunning and evocative set of pictures with a captive audience.
Sure Footed Fellow – this picture showcases a shaggy mountain goat captured in Banff National Park. A fabulously composed image from the studio of Jeff Clow reveals a truly wonderful creature enjoying it’s life in a natural habitat.
Blue Door – personally, one of my favorite subjects is doors. If they have character and drama, all the better. Rich Helmer delivers such a piece in this post, full of great textures and contrast, creating a piece that is just fabulous.
Cloud To Ground – another great photograph from the studio of storm chasing Mike Olbinski. Mike’s work in this genre of photography is truly second to none, and in this shot we have all the inherent drama of the power of Mother Nature at work.
Conception of Peace in the Distance – a masterful picture from the studio of Gareth Glynn Ash shares a minimalistic view of a shoreline. Processed in dramatic black and white, with a brooding sky to add drama, this picture is a wonderful work.
Inveraray and Oban – a stunning series of HDR photos taken of a small town in Scotland provides a truly wonderful subject. Great colors and details adorn the set, creating a chance for everyone who visits to get to see a truly wonderful part of the world.
The Day Is Done – a gorgeous sunset creates spectacular splashes of color, using a train bridge as a silhouette and leading lines producing a great photo. Chris Frailey captures and shares a truly beautiful picture, one that immediately introduces a strong sense of serenity.

　　In Through the Out by CJ Schmit, on Flickr
Red-Tail Hawk at Bolsa Chica Wildlife Sanctuary – a powerful and commanding photograph of one of Mother Natures beautiful birds sitting on a tree, like a sentry. Jay Taylor captures and shares a truly breathtaking picture of this amazing bird, one well worth the time to view.
Click Here: 94 Photography Links That Rock

This post will bring you beautiful nature

　　This post will bring you beautiful nature pictures from the portfolio of Sebastian Kubatz. We live in a beautiful world and we have so much beauty around us. Sometimes we don't realize the beauty of nature while walking on streets, roads or beaches, but many photographers save those moments in beautiful pictures for inspiration.
Sebastian Kubatz is also one of them who like nature. He's Grown up in Leipzig and now studying Media Engineering at the University of Applied Science Mittweida, Sebastian is in pursuit of ambitious photographs. Living in a very monotonous landscape. He prefer traveling the world for new spots or portraying people that come across.

The Antarctic

　　For most purposes, the Geographic South Pole is defined as the southern point of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface (the other being the Geographic North Pole). However, the Earth's axis of rotation is actually subject to very small 'wobbles', so this definition is not adequate for very precise work; see Geographic North Pole for further information.

　　The geographic coordinates of the South Pole are usually given simply as 90°S, since its longitude is geometrically undefined and irrelevant. When a longitude is desired, it may be given as 0°W. At the South Pole all directions face north. For this reason, directions at the Pole are given relative to "grid north", which points northwards along the prime meridian.[1]
The Geographic South Pole is located on the continent of Antarctica (although this has not been the case for all of Earth's history because of continental drift). It sits atop a featureless, windswept, icy plateau at an altitude of 2,835 metres (9,306 ft), about 1,300 km (800 mi) from the nearest open sea at Bay of Whales. The ice is estimated to be about 2,700 metres (9,000 ft) thick at the Pole, so the land surface under the ice sheet is actually near sea level.[2]
The polar ice sheet is moving at a rate of roughly 10 metres per year in a direction between 37° and 40° west of grid north,[3] down towards the Weddell Sea. Therefore, the position of the station and other artificial features relative to the geographic pole gradually shifts over time.
The Geographic South Pole is marked by a small sign and a stake in the ice pack, which are repositioned each year on New Year's Day to compensate for the movement of the ice.[4] The sign records the respective dates that Roald Amundsen and Robert F. Scott reached the Pole, followed by a short quotation from each man and gives the elevation as 2,835 m (9,301 ft).[5]

Nature, in the broadest sense

　　Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the cosmic.
Hopetoun Falls, Australia 　The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth".[1] Natura was a Latin translation of the Greek word physis (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord.[2][3] The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has steadily gained currency ever since. This usage was confirmed during the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries.[4][5]

　　

　　Bachalpsee in the Swiss Alps
Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and wildlife. Nature may refer to the general realm of various types of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects – the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth, and the matter and energy of which all these things are composed. It is often taken to mean the "natural environment" or wilderness–wild animals, rocks, forest, beaches, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For, example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature". This more traditional concept of natural things which can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind. Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might also be distinguished from the unnatural, the supernatural, or synthetic.

All things because the most beautiful heart

　　

Beautiful Nature Photography by Amazing Photographers
Some of the most amazing nature moments and glimpse catched by amazing photographers. This collection includes photography of trees, waterfalls, rainbows, fields, forest etc. All images are collected from Deviant Art.
All amazing Photographs are properly linked back to their sources, Click on the images to get to their sources.

Orange is a color that comes into its own this month

　　
　　Orange is a color that comes into its own this month: Glowing pumpkins, crisp leaves, dazzling marigolds, and for those of us lucky enough to live around here, fluttering butterflies — Monarchs to be precise — making their unlikely journey south for the winter.
One October of my childhood, a number of the evergreen trees in our yard burst into a blaze of orange as a swarm (no, really, that’s their collective noun) of Monarch butterflies arrived to rest for the night. We spent a wide-eyed evening watching these fragile creatures, and imagining how many times those paper wings would pulse in the 2,000 mile journey to sunny canyons in Mexico.
This year, when we have poured more sand than rain from our gauges, and we ponder the effects of a devastating drought on livestock and land and people and wildlife, it has been especially sweet to see those familiar little wings dipping and soaring and swooping on their timeless trail south.
Each flash of orange reminds us that nature has a grand way of carrying on through the worst of times.
When you need a little good news, don’t forget to look outside. It might be fluttering by

Nature, Discovery News etc: Krikey and Holy Captain Jack Sparrow, It’s a KRAKEN!

　　

The kraken that demolished a sailing ship in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was bigger, but the one in the news today is a pretty tall tale too. Krakens don’t all you forever-adolescent monster fans know, is a mythological beast, more squid than octopus but it’s a myth so it’s your pick. It was huge. Old woodcuts show ships foundering in their arms. Then along came a paleontologist from Mount Holyoke College to tell a meeting of the Geological Society of America that by a long tentacle of inference he thinks a 100-foot long beast of krakenish appearance once broke ichthyosaurs’ necks and ate them, back in the Triassic. The evidence lies in Davey Jones’s locker – lined up vertebral disks, in regular patterns and rearranged from their natural sequence in a living creature. Today’s they are in Nevada, stranded by geological uplift of a vanished sea. They are strange – who’s to say they cannot be a deliberate mimicking of the suckers on its arms by a colossal cephalopod at the entry to its abyssal lair? A self-portrait, if you will. Octopi are darned smart for a spineless creature, squid maybe too, and a big one might have done this.

　　Hmppphhhhtt. Sure. It’s possible. But possible means maybe and maybe usually means probably not in my book just because the cosmos has more maybes than realities. One does not pass up a story like this easily. But, one ought to call around just to be sure there aren’t other experts giggling at the notion. A few did. The story, if one has to write it, ought to be the persistently deep mystery of this one fossil bed, as illustrated by the lengths to which some (one) expert went to make sense of them. This is a stab in the dark.
Still, hard not to get on board with the imagery this fabulation inspires.

I want to say everyone should love our environment

　

　I wanted to share my enthusiasm and hope for our unique and wonderful Eastern Panhandle community. I recently traveled throughout southern West Virginia. Returning home to our little corner of the world made me appreciate everything that we have here. I send my hearty thanks to those individuals who are trying to revitalize downtown Martinsburg. It is rewarding to come home to our cozy community.
If there is one important lesson I learned from my trip - it derived from the profound sadness of viewing the stripped and barren landscape of "mined" West Virginia. Talking to my fellow West Virginians throughout our state made me more aware of how precious our unpolluted, healthy and pristine environment is here. The daily sight of ugly stripped barren land and constant water troubles are part of everyday living for many our southern West Virginia neighbors.
Residents who live near mining areas have health burdens that are sad to witness. Everyone has remembrances of how vital and healthy their neighborhoods were before mining came to town. There is no pride left among those who remain. Many wish they could leave, and most eventually do.
My thoughts and prayers go to my friends and family locally in Gerrardstown, who may be doomed to the same plight due to the company that plans to operate an industrial quarry mining operation on North Mountain in an incompatible residential location.
There is alternative progressive economic development besides mining in which West Virginia should invest. Citizens and our environment should not be continually exploited for the enrichment of out-of-state mining entities.
West Virginia is at a crossroads. If residents do not have the promise of healthy water and air along with a peaceful homestead, there will be no future growth for our state. Either elected officials will work with the citizens and protect our residential communities or we can continue to watch as towns become empty shells.

Drifting at sea

　　At long last, here is an account of our Saturday at Preseli – spent sea kayaking and coasteering!
We started our morning by kayaking. When we arrived at the harbor a salty, chilly breeze was whispering past us, but we were kept warm by our wet suits and our anticipation of adventure.

　　Ready for Kayaking
Following a brief “how to” session (during which I may or may not have been guilty of splashing my flat mates a few times), we headed out into the sea. We tried our paddles at “rock-hopping” – essentially surfing a wave between rocks – explored the coast, peeked into some caves, and were visited by some seals.

Everybody is going green

　　Everybody is going green. And its our responsibility is to take care of our green nature. So I have also started my mission to make this earth more green. You can be a part of it also and the most easy and quick step will be making your Desktop Wallpaper Eco Friendly. In this Article I have collected some High Quality Beautiful Nature Wallpaper for all of my Readers. Go Get them, Grab them, Download them all and start spreading “Go Green” Slogan.

　　

Welcome to my Beauty of nature blog

Welcome to Beauty By Nature Day Spa, a complete beauty and health integrative center located in Markham,Ontario. We offer a range of services, to help our patients to achieve healthy skin and physical well being.
Our Mission
At Beauty By Nature our highest priority is the rejuvenation of your body and spirit.We are dedicated to helping you look and feel Robust,Natural and Expensive by integrating aesthetics with personalized care,exellent service and healthy aging strategies. We believe that what begins with quality aesthetics care becomes the change of your live from within.

Welcome to China nine Taniguchi natural beauty

Yamaguchi looked from the Great Wall to fly with both wings in the top of the peaks of mountains, majestic, though not when the British made​​, but still noble spirit, charm and lush. According to historical records, here is the Ming and Qing military town, perennial heavily guarded. Beacon "folder flat floor" is a fine history of the Great Wall construction in Badaling Museum has documented. There are nine major scenic valley that is Wangcheng Valley, Galaxy Valley, Poplar Valley, ring Fountain Valley, Sky, Whale Point Valley,  

Taoyuan Valley, neat's foot Valley, rattan baskets of grain, its varied landscape, beautiful. Such as: whale Point Valley, angel station, meta gem, stone hat, ring Fountain Valley, blasted rock, Guanyin stone, reclining stone; rattan basket rattan basket plate valley ten thousand sticks the wrong section, to the north is rare. Valley as long as there is water, there are fish, shrimp, frog ... ... now there, the first phase of the development area has been completed, a unique gate design, wooden structure Qulang restaurant, nestled in the mountains, the forest of the bungalows, the mountains stadium surrounded by sandy beaches, hilltops and built pasture,  

high-level summit of a hot air balloon, a farm-out packages, the forest of rainbow trout fishing barbecue, accompanied with the mountain, and water dependent bonfire party. How can we not hard to forget it!