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The Islington Council made a sign warning people not to attach anything to park furniture or trees -and then attached it to a tree at Highbury Fields in north London, England. A neighboring architect, who was annoyed at the many signs posted recently, went to remove the sign and was surprised to see who had posted it on the tree. Soon, others gathered around to laugh at the nonsensical notice. The council soon relocated the notice to a nearby message board. They blamed the mistake on a junior member with good intentions. Link
Money doesn't grow on trees, but that doesn't stop a group of renegade agriculturists from turning public trees into a provider for bountiful harvest by grafting fruit-bearing branches.
Meet the Guerilla Grafters:
What makes them guerrillas is the fact that this grafting is illegal. As the group’s Tara Hui explains, “people think of fruit trees as kind of a nuisance.” That’s both because of the mess they might create in the form of rotten fruit and the vermin they might attract in the form of rats. Depending on the species you’re using, grafting might also run afoul of patent law. The Guerrilla Grafters address the first two problems by making sure each grafted tree has a “steward” who can monitor and take care of it.
Andrew Price wrote the article on Fast Company: Link
Photo: Tilen Sepic
From The Miha Artnak, here's Pomlad je sed zime or The Rise of the Fall, an art project in Slovenia, in which a tree is recreated with hundreds of colorful plastic bags: Link - via Unurth
Previously on Neatorama: Hidden Layers
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Musical Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tree – $34.95
Are you having trouble getting into the holiday spirit? Recapture your Christmas joy with the Musical Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tree from the NeatoShop. This adorable 24″ tree plays the Peanuts theme song.
Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Christmas Decorations.
Comments Off Are you big on holiday spirit, but short on time? Inflatable Christmas Decorations from the NeatoShop can help. Below is a simple step by step guide to creating instant cheer.
Step one. Decorate your stoop with the Inflatable Wreath.
Inflatable Wreath – $19.95
Step 2. Inflate the table top Christmas Tree.
Inflatable Christmas Tree (ornaments not included) – $11.95
Step 3. Blow up the fruitcake and let the holiday euphoria overcome you.
Inflatable Fruitcake – $11.95
Now sit back and have yourself a very merry instantaneous Christmas.
Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Inflatable fun and fantastic Christmas items.
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Yoda with LED Light Saber Tree Topper – $59.95
Does Yoda make your days merry and bright? Let the Yoda light up your holiday season with LED Light Saber Tree Topper from the NeatoShop. This fantastic Tree Topper shaped like Yoda wields a green light-up LED Light Saber. Strong with this tree topper, the force is. Hmmmmmm.
Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fabulous Star Wars items and unusual Holiday gear.
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Orange County Deputies in Laguna Hills, California were summoned by residents who heard screams from a creek bed Tuesday morning. They arrived to find an unnamed man stuck inside a tree trunk.
Firefighters and deputies said they are not sure why, but the man climbed into a narrow hole located near the base of the tree. The hole led inside the hollow tree trunk and about four or five feet underground, said Battalion Chief Kris Concepcion of the Orange County Fire Authority.
It took firefighters about 90 minutes to get the necessary equipment and safely cut through the branches of the tree to free the man from inside, he said.
The only body parts visible outside the tree truck were the man’s head and arms, he said. Part of the body was underground.
The man was checked for injuries and mental health. Link -via Arbroath
It’s not easy getting trees to build a tunnel -they have to grow that way! But after many years, you end up with something spectacular. Check out a list of lovely tree tunnels from around the world, blossoming, growing, dormant, and even photographed in glorious autumn color. This photo shows a tunnel in Portugal. Link -Thanks, David!
(Image credit: Flickr user Raul Lieberwirth)
A 20-foot juniper tree near Sunset Point, Arizona survived a wildfire last week that consumed everything around it. It’s not the first time, either. In fact, the tree is a famous survivor.
Every year it’s decorated for Christmas and Independence Day. Right now, it’s covered with several American flags and yellow ribbons. It also has its own water system set up underneath, with several large drums and a pipe to feed it water.
That’s where the tree gets its name — the mystery tree. A mystery person or people decorate it every year, but it’s also a mystery because it manages to have survived several wildfires over the years.
“It’s survived wildfire after wildfire” says ADOT engineer Greg Gentsch. “We’re just happy it’s still here.”
After
you're done with these sneakers from Dutch footwear maker OAT
Shoes, don't throw 'em away. Bury 'em in the ground, instead. Don't
worry - you're supposed to do that:
The second-place winner at Amsterdam’s Green Fashion Awards last week, OAT’s “Virgin Collection” is the world’s first line of sneakers that, upon disposal, will biodegrade and sprout trees. The materials—some developed by OAT itself—are all easily broken down, and tree seeds packed in the lining will hopefully leave saplings where your sneakers once stood.
Here’s an online thesaurus that gives you a graphic look at how words relate. Neat! Or otherwise tasteful, refined, clean, tidy, smashing, great groovy, nifty, or keen! Link -via Breakfast Links
A cycad tree of the ancient species Encephalartos woodii was brought from Africa to the Kew Gardens in London in 1895. Since then, it has been cloned, but cannot reproduce in the normal way, because it is male -and it may be the only natural example of its species left in the world.
Researchers have wandered the Ngoya forest and other woods of Africa, looking for an E. woodii that could pair with the one in London. They haven’t found a single other specimen. They’re still searching. Unless a female exists somewhere, E. woodii will never mate with one of its own. It can be cloned. It can have the occasional fling with a closely related species. Hybrid cycads are sold at plant stores, but those plants aren’t the real deal. The tree that sits in London can’t produce a true offspring. It sits there, the last in its long line, waiting for a companion that may no longer exist.
“Surely this is the most solitary organism in the world,” writes biologist Richard Fortey, “growing older, alone, and fated to have no successors. Nobody knows how long it will live.”
The tree produced a cone in 2004 for the first time ever, which is the signal for reproduction, but there was no female for it to pollinate. Link
(Image credit: Andrew McRobb/RBG Kew)
Previously: Another species of cycad at Kew Gardens is even older.
The tree named Ochroma pyramidale is better known as the balsa tree, from which we get lightweight wood to make model airplanes. But its flowers are more valuable to many species in Panama, because they bloom at night during the dry season and fill and refill with sweet nectar.
Throughout the night and into the next morning, the trees here and on the mainland nearby will play host to an unusually large and pan-Linnaean cast of characters—mammalian, avian, amphibian, insectile. A few of the customers look familiar: A close cousin of the opossum often seen bumbling around trash cans in the United States turns out to thrive in the tropics and to love the taste of Ochroma juice. Others are gorgeously obscure: If you were to catch a rare glimpse of the olingo, a distant relative of the raccoon, as it slid silently through the branches like an oil spill with feet, you’d realize how alien our planet remains, how poorly we understand its parts.
Read more about this fascinating tree at National Geographic. Link to story. Link to photographs. -Thanks, Marilyn!
(Image credit: Christian Ziegler)
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Photo: James Balog
The tree in the photo above is pretty tall – so tall, in fact, that it used to be the tallest known tree in the world. Until people found other trees that are even taller. NPR’s Robert Krulwich has a very neat post about the discovery of the world’s tallest tree: Link
See also: 10 Most Magnificent Trees in the World
You know we get maple syrup from the sap of maple trees. Other trees have sugary sap that runs in the spring as well. Minnesotastan, who I believe lives in Minnesota, noticed his birch tree was dripping sap after being trimmed. So he did what you would expect: he collected it in a bag, researched it, gave it a taste test, and blogged about it.
There is an outstanding amount of information at that link on the science of birch sap and the techniques for its harvest and for protecting the trees, and the subtleties of rendering it down to a syrupy consistency.
I haven’t decided yet whether to undertake that aspect of the adventure. Everything I’ve read suggests the process is time-consuming and needs to be undertaken with some degree of care to avoid scorching the concentrate. I have about a half-liter of fluid now, because the trees are still dripping into this third day (memo to self: in the future don’t prune when the sap is running).
Read more about birch sap at TYWKIWDBI. Link
Kostas Syrtariotis of Kostas Design created this fantastic book shelf that looks just like a tree: Link – via Like Cool
Artist Curtis Killorn has a unique way of making dead trees come to life. Well, artistically, anyways. He said:
"I paint dead trees in bright colors in the mountains of Colorado as public art. … The trees that I paint are long dead and weathered by hundreds of years. What I do is bring "life" back to the tree in a completely new way. This tree which was once dead is now vibrantly alive to be noticed by all, no longer blending in with all the other dead trees."
Dark Roasted Blend has the gallery: Link
What do you do when your beautiful old oak tree is struck by lightning? Have it carved into a ten-foot lion of course. At least that’s what Sandy River’s of Alabama has decided to do.
Four years ago, Rivers’ 100-year-old red oak tree was struck by lightning. But she couldn’t bear to let it die.
“They came out and they removed the limbs and everything. And they wanted to grind the tree down. But I couldn’t do that. Because this tree, it belongs here. And I feel a connection with this tree. And I’m all about nature. I guess that’s just the hippee in me,” joked Rivers.
A few years later, Rivers came across the wood work of Andy Cummings, a local artist known for his chainsaw artworks. The idea finally came to her like a roar in the night. The ten-foot stump would be transformed into a lion.
So far her neighbors seem excited about the rather large art piece in her front yard.
Katie Herrera of MyFoxAL has more: Link
Sharajat-al-Hayat, or the Tree of Life, is a 400-year-old mesquite tree standing i the desert two kilometers from Jebel Dukhan in Bahrain. Local inhabitants believe it to be the site of the original Garden of Eden. See many pictures of the tree and its surroundings at Triggerpit. Link -via the Presurfer
(Image credit: Flickr user Harold Laudeus)
Almond was born in a maple tree last summer and never left. Ron Venden of Belleville. Wisconsin, says he’s never sen the cat leave the tree, and there are no paw prints on the ground when snow covers his yard. And Almond doesn’t need to leave the tree, since his needs are catered to.
To Venden’s knowledge, Almond has no other home outside his maple. The cat was born there in June, and while the mother and the other kittens left, Almond stuck around. Venden has been feeding it ever since.
So why does Almond stay?
“I think it’s because I’m treating it too good,” said Venden, who at least twice a day climbs a ladder about 12 feet up to check on and feed Almond. He’s also made a protected straw bed for the cat in a hollow of the tree, set up a dry cat food feeder and provides daily deliveries of fresh food, which Wednesday morning included a bowl of salami, meatloaf and milk.
“I kind of enjoy it,” Venden said of caring for Almond, although he admits: “The neighbors think I’m goofy.”
Vendon was scratched trying to remove the cat at first, but Almond is gentle enough when left where he belongs. Link -via Fark
Have you ever seen an albino plant? Albino redwood trees are very rare, since they lack chlorophyll plants use to convert sunlight to nutrients. However, they can survive by sucking nutrients from neighbor trees. There are only 25 known specimens of albino redwoods alive, eight of which are in California. Read more about them at Discoblog. Link -via mental_floss
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Illustrator Kevin Kidney once reminisced about the wonderful tree that was the center of the Disney film The Swiss Family Robinson. One of his readers responded by not only tracking down the location of the tree, but taking several pictures of it as well!
“Kevin, I stumbled upon your post of March this year “Some Really Big Roots” which mentioned the original Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse from the movie of 1960. I live on the island of Tobago in the Caribbean and did research on the tree and actually found it still very much alive in Goldsborough!
Link -via Metafilter
Comments Off The cat wants to learn from the tree. You know how cats are, so let’s see how that turns out. A Russian animated fable from 1983, with English subtitles. -via Nag on the Lake
A 100-year old tree in Belgium is the new star of the internet. The Talking Tree has over 4,000 fans on its Facebook page, over 2,000 following its Twitter feed, and many other people visiting its website.
As you can see in the video below, the tree transmits raw information about particulate matter in the environment and weather conditions to researchers. They analyze what the tree sees and senses, then translate that into updates like “Won’t be doing too much photosynthesis in this cloudy weather,” and “This ozone concentration makes it difficult to do my job.” It also advises people to ride their bikes on days with air pollution.
Photo: RaboDirect Australia [Flickr]
Money doesn't grow on trees. Or does it? As a publicity stunt, RaboDirect of Australia sponsored a stunt where a tree in a park in Sydney is festooned with real $5 bills:
An Overview of Responses:
Lost Opportunity
In the early stages, almost 100 people passed the tree without noticing that anything was different. Even when a group of joggers noticed, they were too busy to stop. The first groups who eventually stopped to interact couldn’t believe it. They inspected the notes and took pictures, but left empty handed.Follow the Crowd
Only once one brave participant started taking the money, did momentum gather. Legitimised by the crowd, a wide spectrum of behaviour ensued.Frugality
Some took just one or two notes, satisfied by their modest and unexpected gains.Opportunist
Consumed by the fantasy, a group of braver participants made the most of the opportunity by filling their pockets.Employing Tools and Working Together
When the low hanging $5 notes were depleted, participants employed tools such as swinging coats and umbrellas, to help them reach higher branches. Teamwork also came into play as spectators formed human pyramids to reach the notes seemingly out of reach.Altruism
Perhaps the most comforting observation from the participants was that of altruism. Taller participants shared their earnings with shorter spectators, while one gentleman on identifying the undercover observation team, requested his money be donated to charity.
Link [with video clip] - via Marketing Alternatif
No fence is going to stop this Spider-Dog! Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – via Arbroath
Not impressed? How about this Tree-Climbing Dog?
Rickshaw cyclist Chen Chuanliu can’t afford daycare so he has to think of a way to prevent his 2-year-old son from wandering off on his own when he has a fare.
His solution? Chain him up on a pole!
The rickshaw cyclist, from the Chinese capital Beijing, decided to put tot Lao Lu under lock and key after his four-year-old daughter Ling went missing last month.
Child snatching is rife in China where strict laws govern the size of families.
"My wife is ill and I can’t stop work. So I chain him to a pole when I have a fare. It seems harsh but it is better than losing him," said Chen.
The problem is that he’s probably training the kid to think like Houdini: Link
New York-based artist Naoko Ito transformed a tree branch into art by sawing it into small pieces, putting them in jars, then stacking the jars into the original shape of the branch.
The piece above is titled "Ubiquitous." It’s a part of her art series "Urban Nature 2009."
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by rale87.
For the second year in a row, Greig Howe has created a seasonal spectacle with his 50′ Christmas tree. The 15 mile drive from the Forestry Commission to his home turned a lot of heads since he towed it behind his tiny blue G-Wiz electric car! Once home, the fir was to be part of an elaborate illusion. More to the story and pictures at the link.
Link. -via The Cellar IotD | Photo: Bournemouth News & Picture Service
Tesladownunder (aka Peter Terren) is the contributor of a number of items of high voltage arty goodness to Neatorama. Remember the Modern Thinker and sparks around a car?
His latest is a colorful 2 minute long exposure that looks most unlike a Tesla coil and marginally like an Xmas tree (but much better than the 2007 Tesla coil Christmas tree). No photo shopping, it’s all done with a flash and changing the position of the rod with the sparks as well as colour filters. The star is made of 10 dead fluoro tubes. Even Santa popped in to check it out -he obviously doesn’t mind a zap to the foot!
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by 
