Drink it In: 14 Buildings Made from Plastic Bottles

These 14 incredible structures, from simple greenhouses to stunning schools, are built almost entirely out of a pervasive waste material: plastic bottles.
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14 Unbelievably Unique Parks & Botanical Gardens

[ By Steph in Geography & Travel & Home & Garden & Nature & Ecosystems. ]

Intricately shaped topiaries, ponds full of lily pads and koi, greenhouses brimming with dazzling arrays of exotic flowers, strange and fascinating sculptures – these 14 botanical gardens, private gardens and parks around the world show off the beauty of cultivated nature. Representing a fusion of the wild, untamed natural world and the architectural genius of humans, these parks are the closest to paradise that we can craft with our own hands.

Claude Monet Foundation at Giverny, Normandy, France

(images via: ell brown)

Immerse yourself in the landscape that inspired some of French Impressionist painter Claude Monet’s most beautiful and celebrated works at the artist’s former estate. Walking through these gardens, it’s almost as if time has stood still, as you can view what seem to be the very same lily pads that the artist saw and painted. Giverny is located 50 miles outside Paris, on the banks of the River Seine.

Kirtenbosch National Botanical Garden, Western Cape, South Africa

(images via: wikimedia commons)

Founded in 1913, South Africa’s Kirtenbosch National Botanical Garden may just be the most beautiful botanical garden in the entire world. In this preserve you can view live samples of plants that grow in five out of South Africa’s six biomes and a stunning selection of ‘protea‘ flowering plants, all within view of Table Mountain.

Villa Lante, Bagnaia, Italy

(images via: wikimedia commons, ineedaholiday.com.au, awesome-places)

One of the most important gardens in Italy, Villa Lante was in the possession of the Lante family from the 17th century, when it was already 100 years old, until the 20th century, when it was opened to the public. Bordered by two nearly identical homes, the garden is characterized by beautiful stone fountains, lush grottoes and intricate patterns of hedges.

Jardin Botanique de Montreal, Quebec, Canada

(images via: chris dlugosz, abdallah, wikimedia commons)

The Montreal Botanical Garden has such extensive collections and facilities, it’s considered one of the most important botanical gardens in the world. An indoor greenhouse holds a wide variety of labeled plants, and four themed outdoor gardens including the Chinese Garden, the Japanese Garden, the First Nations Garden and the Alpine Garden showcase the indigenous flora of various cultures and locales. In fact, Montreal boasts the largest Chinese garden in the world, outside of China.

The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Mevagissey, UK

(images via: heligan.com)

A part of the Heligan estate in Cornall, England, these gardens fell into disuse in the 1970s and were forgotten for decades – hence the name. But when ownership of the estate transferred to a trust, a group of enthusiasts revitalized them, planting hundreds of varieties of plants, a vegetable garden, a walled garden and a ‘jungle’. A stroll through the gardens will reveal fanciful ‘creatures’ covered in grass and moss including ‘The Mud Maid’ and a ‘Giant’s Head’.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia

(images via: chromolux, louise docker, brian giesen, renata)

View both downtown Sydney and the infamous Sydney Opera House from the Royal Botanic Gardens, located on the site of Australia’s first ever farm, which was established in 1788. Centuries of improvements to the soil have enabled a gorgeous array of plants to flourish, including many that grow inside the Pyramid Glasshouse. Up until May 2011, a colony of over 22,000 flying foxes – a large species of fruitbat – called the gardens home, but the bats killed dozens of trees and were eventually driven out.

Byodo-in Temple, Oahu, Hawaii

(images via: timothy tolle, alan light, horschmology)

Surrounded by Oahu’s greenery-cloaked mountains, the Byodo-in Temple is a replica of a historic Kyoto, Japan, temple of the same name, but it has many merits of its own – especially its gardens, which include two acres of koi ponds. Stone paths cut through emerald-green lawns and Zen-style gardens.

Parco dei Mostri (Park of the Monsters), Bomarzo, Italy

(images via: wikimedia commons)

A large monster, referred to as the ‘Door of Hell’, opens its mouth to admit you into a  dark, cramped space with a small table. A watchtower tilts at a rather disturbing angle. Mythological creatures and unidentified monsters leer at passersby. The Parco die Mostri (Park of the Monsters) in Bomarzo, Italy is so surreal it is said to have greatly inspired the artists Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau. The chaotic style of the gardens, which were created in the 16th century by Pier Francesco Orsini in honor of his beloved deceased wife Giulia Farnese, may be an intentional contrast to the orderly symmetry of the nearby Villa Lante.

Monte Palace Garden, Madeira, Portugal

(images via: montepalace.com, lukegordon1)

The Monte Palace Tropical Garden is a surprising glimpse of Asia found in Madeira, Portugal. Once a hotel, the gardens have been open to the public since 1989 and include a collection of ceramic tiles from the 15th – 20th centuries and various gardens that highlight both indigenous and exotic species. A group of educational panels explain the reason for the oriental gardens, telling of “The adventures of the Portuguese in Japan.”

Kew Gardens, London, UK

(images via: neiljs, paul friel, jim linwood, dan taylor, laura nolte)

More than 30,000 live species of plants can be viewed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in southwest London, England – and if you think that’s impressive, consider this: inside the glassed ‘herbarium’ are over seven million preserved specimens. The Kew Gardens are well-deserving of their worldwide fame, thriving despite locally unfavorable growing conditions. In addition to the outdoor gardens and greenhouses are a number of educational and research facilities and architectural features like a treetop walkway and a 49-foot-tall pagoda.

The Gardens of Las Pozas, Xilitla, Mexico

(images via:  lucy nieto, i_amici)

More of a surrealist sculpture park than a garden, Las Pozas is the playground of British poet Edward James, a patron of the arts. James was a passionate supporter of the Surrealist art movement and his love for the stile is evident in Las Pozas (the pools), which includes more than 80 acres of natural waterfalls and pools as well as concrete sculptures. The spindly, strange sculptures were built between 1949 and 1984; the whole project cost James over $5 million, which he raised by selling his considerable collection of Surrealist art.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York

(images via: steve soblick, jose oquendo, elena gaillard)

Manhattan may have a botanical garden of its own, but it’s eclipsed by that of Brooklyn, a 52-acre garden located near the Prospect Heights and Park Slopes neighborhood. Putting on a jaw-dropping display of cherry blooms in the spring, the park also includes climate-themed plant pavilions, an aquatic plant house, a bonsai museum and an art gallery. Themed gardens include the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, constructed in 1915, and the Shakespeare Garden which exhibits over 80 plants mentioned in the bard’s plays and poems.

Francisco Alvarado Park, Zarcero, Costa Rica

(images via: puroticorico, wikimedia commons)

Abstract shapes, arches and the faces of strange creatures grow out of the courtyard at Parque Francisco Alvarado, found in the town center of Zarcero in Costa Rica. The park’s topiary garden has been shaped into these fascinating shapes by the same man since the 1960s.

Garden of Cosmic Speculation, Scotland

(images via: reckon)

A private garden created by Charles Jencks, the Garden of Cosmic Speculation at Portrack House, near Dumfries in Southwest Scotland is opened to the public for just one day each year. Science and mathematical concepts, like black holes and fractals, inspired the complex arrangements and sculptures contained within the garden.

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Green Goes Gigantic: Huge Public Gardens & Eco-Museums

The world’s largest public gardens, greenhouses, zoos and natural history museums offer plenty of space to stretch out and learn about nature.
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Filed Under: Green Things
Tagged: australia, chinese, garden, geography & travel, italy, japanese, london, love, montreal, nature & ecosystems, river, south-africa

Making your Old New Again

October 24, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments 

1. Reuse your blankets and towels. Bring them to a local shelter that will be glad to put them to good use and give animals a soft, warm place to sit.

2. Reuse seeds from fruit and vegetables and try to grow them!

3. Reuse old plastic bags. There are 10 creative ways to reuse plastic bags here.

4. Reuse paper bags as school book covers, or be a little more creative with these ideas.

5. Cut used pieces of paper into scrap pieces of paper (a message pad!).

6. Reuse stove heat by opening up the stove once you are done with it and letting the warm air into your home in colder weather. Reuse the heat!

7. Reuse coffee grinds by keeping them aside and placing them into your garden or soil.

8. Reuse coffee that you don’t drink by putting it over ice and placing it in the fridge for an iced coffee later.

9. Reuse Christmas trees (not the fake ones) by putting them outside for birds and letting it naturally break down.

10. Reuse packing peanuts, air pillows, bubble wrap and boxes for your own ebay shipping, or bring them by the local post office or recycling center for others to use.

Check out more here.

Beth

Filed Under: Positive News
Tagged: bags-as-school, blankets, check-out-more, christmas, garden, garden-or-soil, green, local-shelter, naturally-break, packing-peanuts, positive, reuse-christmas, reuse-plastic, reuse-the-heat

Tiny Living Worlds in Glass: 12 Terrarium Ideas

October 10, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments 

[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]

Light bulbs, mason jars, cake stands and tea pots: practically any clear glass container can contain a tiny greenhouse, providing humidity and warmth to plants. Whether you keep it simple with moss and a few cute figurines or curate complex miniature landscapes with tropical or even carnivorous plants, terrariums bring a touch of nature indoors and make stunning centerpieces for special occasions.

Tiny Garden in a Light Bulb

(images via: hipster home)

Used light bulbs, typically destined for the trash bin, could be the setting for an adorable miniature terrarium. The Hipster Home explains how in a tutorial that requires needle-nose pliers, long tweezers or chopsticks, a screwdriver and some sand and plants. Adhesive silicone bumpers allow you to stand the light bulb up at the angle you prefer.

Hang an Bit of Nature

(images via: design sponge)

Now, you could either wrap some wire around your light bulb terrarium, or find a clear glass ornament in order to make a tiny hanging terrarium. If your ornament is destined for holiday use only, use dried moss, not live plants, or you’ll be sad when you pull them out next year to find that greenery has turned brown. Get the details at Design Sponge.

Reclaim Those Jars

(image via: space stitch)

Many mason jars are just too pretty to toss into the recycling bin, and why should you when they have so many uses? Clean out a used jar and simply add stones, soil, plants and any little figurines you may want to include. Learn the details about maintenance and care at Make Online.

Light it Up in a Lamp

(images via: moontree handworks)

Combine two functions in one with a terrarium lamp! A company called MoonTree Handworks offers a lamp kit with a clear glass jar, or you could easily create a DIY version with your own mason jar using an adapter kit.

Wear It Close to Your Heart

(image via: woodland belle)

Carry a miniature garden close to your heart. Terrarium necklaces like this one from Woodland Belle are easy to find on Etsy, the online market for handmade goods. If you’re crafty, you could also make your own using miniature corked glass bottles, wire and chain.

Sweet Cake Stand Idea

(image via: diyideas.com)

Put your terrarium on a pedestal. A cake stand is the perfect way to show off your creation, and vintage cake stands are easy to find at garage sales, flea markets and online auction sites.

Frame it to Perfection

(images via: country living)

Reminiscent of the large, enclosed terrariums that were popular in the Victorian era, this sweet DIY creation is essentially a mini greenhouse in which hothouse plants like ferns and orchids can thrive throughout the year. Country Living offers a step-by-step tutorial for making it out of eight picture frames.

Invite Nature in for Tea

(image via: ohafternoonsnacks)

Is this tea pot garden adorable or what? Ideal as a table centerpiece at special events, particularly weddings or garden parties, a clear tea pot filled with live or artificial plants is cute and quirky.

Hang it on Your Fridge

(images via:ruffledblog)

Magnetic metal tins, often used to organize office supplies or arrange spices on a refrigerator, are the perfect containers for tiny vertical terrariums. This version keeps things clean and super-easy to maintain using air plants, so that no soil is needed.

Garden in a Bottle

(image via: terrarium man)

Wine bottles, jugs and carafes can be laid on their sides or even hung with wire. Want a super-easy (and practically free) terrarium project you can complete with the kids? Try using a plastic soda bottle.

Another Bright Idea

(image via: design spunk)

When blogger Kat of Design Spunk spotted an outdated 1970s chandelier, she didn’t see junk – she saw an incredibly creative terrarium container for live orchids, showing off the flowers in a beautiful and unusual way.

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DIY Lightbulb Recycling is Cooler Than You Think

When a lightbulb burns out, we rarely give it a second thought. Light up your house and defy expectations with these DIY uses for otherwise useless lightbulbs:
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Filed Under: Green Things
Tagged: art & design, crafts, decor, design, diy, facebook, garden, kids, online, powered-lamp, terrariums

Garden to Go: Vegetation Takes Over Chicago Train Car

September 25, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments 

[ By Delana in Art & Design & Nature & Ecosystems & Transit & Auto. ]

As part of the world’s largest mobile art exhibit, Art on Track, one Chicago Transit train car was taken over by grass and other local plants. For five hours, passengers had the pleasure of walking on lush grasses, admiring lovely blossoms and sitting on a thick lawn – all while riding the train around Chicago’s downtown loop.

(images via: Colossal)

The Mobile Garden car is the work of nonprofit arts group noisivelvet. Thanks to donations from local businesses and gardens, the train car was outfitted with a variety of indigenous plants that helped to bring the outdoors into the normally-barren transit system. Members of the Chicago art community were on hand to discuss not only the Mobile Garden car, but the entire Art on Track exhibit.

The Mobile Garden is in itself an opportunity for noisivelvet to garner support for their dream project: an open-air CTA car planted with a mobile garden that will be towed behind a CTA train for an entire month. The project will promote urban stewardship encourage the use of sustainable, responsible materials.

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Acoustic Botany: Nature’s Music Produced Scientifically

Artist David Benque explores humans’ aesthetic relationship with nature in this intriguing conceptual art project: a genetically engineered musical garden.
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Filed Under: Green Things
Tagged: facebook, garden, metal-recycling, mobile, mobile-garden, recycling, scientifically, sculptures

The Great Outdoors: Office Space Goes Green and Open-Air

August 24, 2011 by admin · View Comments 

[ By Delana in Art & Design & Home & Garden & Nature & Ecosystems. ]

When you work at a desk, the nine-to-five workday can seem like an eternity – even if you like your job. An outdoor installation in downtown Denver uses fabulous living greenery to remind office drones that we all need to get out of the cubicle and into nature once in a while. The installation, put together by Tres Birds Workshop, was part irreverent, playful art and part serious commentary on our increasingly sheltered (as in: lived out within the walls of our homes and offices) lives.

(all images via: Tres Birds Workshop)

Using recycled office furniture and real living greenery, Tres Birds Set up five workplace-themed installations in the 16th Street Mall area of Denver’s business district. A conference room, a cubicle, a break room, a filing cabinet and an executive office line the outdoor space and entice pedestrians to stop and interact with them.

The charming bits of furniture all covered over with growing vines, leaves and various other green plants look like they must have been there for years. Indeed, it was the intention of Tres Birds to make the installation look as if nature had reclaimed the entire area. They call the project “Natural Systems Domination,” a reference to the ability of nature to completely take over and dominate everything if we only step aside and allow it to happen.

The green spirit of the installation carried far past its concept. The live vegetation was recycled into the neighborhood following its display, and all of the office furniture was re-donated to secondhand stores in the area. Nothing went to waste, which is just how this green-minded collective likes it.

Overall, the message of this fun but poignant installation is that we can all find a bit of time to step away from the desk each day. Nature is out there waiting to be enjoyed: it’s healthy, free relaxation. And who couldn’t use that in the middle of a busy workday?

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It’s Alive! 13 Examples of Green Growing Furniture

From mushrooms growing on benches to moss bath mats and even live crystals on chairs, these 13 furniture designs are unusually vivacious.
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Filed Under: Green Things
Tagged: art, denver, ecosystems, facebook, garden, green, nature, sculptures, street

15 (More!) Terrific Towering Tree Houses

August 22, 2011 by admin · View Comments 

[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]

There’s something about human dwellings perched in trees that brings out the child in all of us, gazing up in wonder at seemingly endless staircases and platforms so near the sky. These 13 (more!) tree houses range from rustic cabins that seem like overgrown versions of children’s playhouses to modern interpretations gleaming in glass and stainless steel.

Fairytale-Inspired Forest Tree House, British Columbia

(images via: enchantedforestbc.com)

Deep in the woods of British Columbia is the Enchanted Forest, a fairytale-like theme park filled with ‘jolly fairy folk figurines’, boardwalks, nature trails, castles and BC’s tallest treehouse. The latter is certainly a magical place, spiraling into the air , supported both by tree trunks and added beams.

Reverend Burgess’ Reclaimed Treehouse, Tennessee

(images via: stephanie alice rogers)

Thought to be one of the largest treehouses in the world, this wacky structure located in the small town of Crossville, Tennessee was built over 15 years by Reverend Burgess, who believes he’s on a divine mission. Burgess has built the 10-story, 100-foot structure out of reclaimed wood, and it now occupies six mature trees.

Camp Treehouse

(images via: the lettered cottage)

Camp Treehouse was built by a group of friends for Wandawega Rentals, a private resort in Wisconsin. The two-story treehouse was built on an old dead tree trunk and includes a wrap-around porch, a vaulted ceiling with a loft, a hammock, a ladder and a rope swing. Nearly all materials were reused or handmade.

Lord Northumberland’s Scottish Treehouse

(images via: alister cameron)

Another contender for the world’s largest treehouse was built for an astonishing $7 million in 2006 (compare that to the $12,000 spent by Reverend Burgess!) Scotland’s Lord Northumberland commissioned the treehouse from Treehouse Company. It features disabled access and full facilities for its 120-seat restaurant. The treehouse is suspended between 16 lime trees and is located on the grounds of Alnwick Gardens.

Lifepod by Kyu Che Studio

(images via: kyuche.com)

A traveling yurt that can be placed nearly anywhere, the ‘Lifepod’ by Kyu Che Studio also makes for one incredible (and slightly scary, for those afraid of heights) suspended treehouse. The prefab pod home concept can be shipped worldwide within weeks of ordering, and fits within a 40-foot shipping container.

Sky High Treehouse, Saleve Mountain, France

(images via: curbly)

This unbelievably high treehouse is perched near the apex of a 130-foot Austrian pine in Saleve Mountain, France. The treehouse is supported by a hidden ring; guests who brave the nearly 70-foot spiral staircase are rewarded with views of Lake Geneva.

Home Built Around a Tree

(image via: the chive)

Homes like this unidentified castle-like abode prove that homeowners building on untouched land don’t necessarily have to clear out trees in order to bring their dream home to life. This treehouse appears to be about one story above the ground, with branches poking through the roof and deck.

Nussraum, Dusseldorf, Germany

(images via: cimots)

Supported on stainless steel legs, the Nussraum design by Baumraum, a German company specializing in modern treehouses, could either be assembled around a tree like conventional treehouses, or stand alone. Nussraum, which translates as ‘Walnut Room’, gets its name from the walnut wood used to create it. This one stands in a garden in Dusseldorf.

Towering Twin Treehouses

(image via: edmerritt)

The provenance of this incredible treehouse photo is unknown, but it’s certainly captivating. Two tiny cabins teeter atop fir trees, accessible via spiraling staircases.

Cedar Spire, Fife, Scotland

(images via: erindale real estate)

Located on an estate in Fife, Scotland, Cedar Spire is a castle-like treehouse with stained glass windows, a turret-like main room, a balcony and a suspended walkway leading to a viewing platform on an adjacent tree.

Pharrell Williams’ Eco Treehouse Concept

(images via: oppenheim architecture)

Rapper Pharrell Williams is collaborating with architect Chad Oppenheim on a vision for a treehouse-inspired youth center in William’s hometown of Virginia Beach. The 30,000-square-foot Pharrell Williams Resource Center features three modern volumes set within a dense forest.

Wilkinson Treehouse by Robert Oshatz

(images via: oshatz.com)

Noting the sloped grade of the site, architect Robert Harvey Oshatz saw an opportunity to bring the main level of a commissioned home up into the tree canopy. The Wilkinson Residence is an organic, flowing home with shapes that mimic those in nature. While the home is not supported by trees like a traditional treehouse, it achieves a similar effect with its unusual shape.

Spiral House, Rambouillet Forest, France

(images via: independent)

HIdden within Rambouillet Forest in France, the Spiral House is a tiny cabin high up in a tree, accessible only by a tall staircase.

DIY Traditional Tree House

(images via: edmund sumner)

This treehouse, built without help from an architect or skilled carpenter, perches almost frighteningly high in the sky on just a few skinny supports. Used as a tea house in Japan, the treehouse was created by a tea master who harvested the logs for the support from a local mountain.

Takashi Kobayashi Treehouse

(images via: treehouse.jp)

Designed for an advertising agency client, which used it to film an ad for Nescafe commercial, this rustic, playful treehouse resembles a bird’s nest. It was conceived and built by Takashi Kobayashi, one of Japan’s foremost tree house designers.

“What exactly is it about treehouses that would so captivate a slacker like me, a man who could never devote himself to any one cause or finish anything he started?” says Kobayashi. “What is it in treehouses that attracts anyone? I’ve come to think the answer lies in the vitality of the trees themselves. Everlasting life.”

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Suspended Swedish Tree Hotel Reflects Natural Environment

Experience the woods of Northern Sweden as would a bird nestled into a hole in a tree at the Tree Hotel, a mirrored cube in the sky with room for two.
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Filed Under: Green Things
Tagged: architecture, child, france, garden, home and garden, house, tree, treehouse, trees, virginia

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