Friday Shoot out: Earth Day: Plants

New ZEaland flowering cherry tree. The flowers are very beautiful, but the fruits are very small and not edible.






This is a flax, unlike most bottle brushes which are small trees or shrubs. Another name is Knights Lily. Four million years ago, a volcano created some small islands off the coast of New Zealand. Captain Cook discovered the islands in 1760 and named them the Poor Knights Islands. Separated from the mainland for millions of years, the islands developed unique plants and animals found nowhere else on earth. A beautiful example of this is the Poor Knights Lily - Xeronema callistemon.

Xeronema callistemon - Poor Knights Lily





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Member Voice for April 22 - Earth Day - dirt, branches, leaves, trees, new plantings
Earth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment.

The idea came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land.

As a result, on the 22nd of April, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

In honor of Earth Day show your fresh new plantings, leaves, dirt, trees and branches. Plants and trees help us and the environment in many ways.
plants make food
plants make oxygen
plants provide habitat for animals
plants help make and preserve soil
plants provide useful products for people
plants beautify

Posted by Doreen

Dear Doreen,
This is one of my favorite themes.

I am lucky to live in New Zealand where the weather is neither too hot or too cold.
Our vegetation is great. So are some of the people. We go out and plant native plants.

This this day coincides with the anniversary of BP oil spill.