| Landscape lesson from Asian masters
Were it not for Asian cultures, we would not know the joys of yoga, sweet and sour pork or tea. Our world would be absent the ancient martial arts, silk and the dwarfed trees known as bonsai. From this world, too, comes a great gardening truth: Landscapes that reflect seasonal change are among the most beautiful and rewarding. Nothing does that more simply than the Japanese tea garden. This garden is composed of evergreen shrubs and plants arranged to reflect the sculptural qualities of nature. It would be a static landscape if not for the designer's effort to highlight the spring and fall with certain plants that best represent those seasons' essence. Most often the cherry tree would be the embodiment of spring. A Japanese maple would signal the dying transition into winter. Thus cherry blossom time sparks the festival of spring in Japan as every garden bursts into bloom at the same time.
Art in the Garden Tour Takes Place Sunday
For the first time the tour also includes a public garden, The Old Mill in San Marino. This 1816 adobe was built by the Mission San Gabriel to serve as a grist mill and is considered the oldest commercial building in Southern California. Today the Diggers Garden is one of the sites main attractions as it tries to encourage native California trees and plants. Right now the pomegranate trees are just beginning to flower and everything is very green and waiting to show off for visitors, said Cathy Brown, Assistant Director at the Old Mill. The honor is all ours, Brown said of being asked to be on this years tour. It is a wonderful tour to be a part of, and you get a chance to peek in other peoples backyards. Over a thousand people are expected to make the rounds Sunday and support the CAG and its main fundraising activity for the year.
Hirshhorn Museum Presents "Wolfgang Tillmans" East Coast Debut of ...
The Smithsonians Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden presents the East Coast debut of a major U.S. survey of the work of German artist Wolfgang Tillmans from May 10 through Aug. 12. Tillmans is acclaimed as a chronicler of his generation and has garnered international recognition as one of the most significant artists to emerge in the 1990s. Working in photographic genres such as documentary, portraiture, landscape and still life, he creates evocative images that reflect on often overlooked moments and occurrences in everyday life. .
Chinese poplar trees to undergo ‘sex change’
Beijings female poplars are to receive sex change operations to stop them from producing flying pollen that has overwhelmed the city and worsened allergy and asthma problems among its citizens. Arborists in Chinas capital, home to more than 300,000 poplar trees, were starting to inject some female trees in an experiment to change their nature so no pollen would be produced, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The poplar pollen affects the air quality of the city, and harms human health, so the city authorities must do something to deal with it, the report quoted a gardening expert as saying. Hospitals in Beijing have received increasing numbers of patients who suffer from asthma or allergies after inhaling the pollen, which blankets the city in a snowfall of white fluff, reports said.
Ex-Riverside manager pleads guilty in conflict-of-interest case
A former manager with the city of Riverside was handcuffed and led to jail Thursday after he pleaded guilty to conflict of interest. Gregory Bernard Griffin attempted to bill the city for landscaping at his home, according to police. On Thursday, Griffin, 40, was scheduled for a preliminary hearing but ended up pleading guilty to one count of conflict of interest. He was immediately taken to the county jail to serve four days, said Ingrid Wyatt, spokeswoman for the Riverside County district attorney's office. His sentence also includes five years probation, 180 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine. Griffin was responsible for the Police Department's Magnolia Avenue station in March 2006 when he was a capital-projects manager for the city's Development Department.
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