Downland
A downland is an area of open chalk hills. This term is used to describe the chalk countryside in southern England. Areas of downland are often referred to as downs, deriving from a Celtic word for hills, downland is formed when chalk formations are raised above the surrounding rocks. The chalk slowly erodes to form characteristic rolling hills and valleys, where the downs meet the sea, characteristic white chalk cliffs form, such as the White Cliffs of Dover and Beachy Head. Chalk deposits are very porous, so the height of the table in chalk hills rises in winter. This leads to characteristic chalk downland such as dry valleys or coombes. The modern practice of extracting water from reservoir, in order to satisfy demand for water. In the valleys below the downs there is typically a clay soil, along this line and farms were often built, as on the higher land no water was available. This is demonstrated very clearly beneath the scarp of the White Horse Hills, in many chalk downland areas there is no surface water at all other than artificially created dewponds.
The soil profile of chalk downland in England is a thin soil overlaying the parent chalk, weathering of the chalk has created a characteristic soil known as rendzina. This is largely because of the purity of the chalk, which is about 98% calcium carbonate, steep slopes on chalk downland develop a ribbed pattern of grass covered horizontal steps a foot or two high. Although subsequently emphasised by cattle and sheep walking along them, these terracettes were formed by the movement of soil downhill, in temperate regions chalk downland is typically calcareous grassland, a habitat formed by grazing from both livestock and wild animals. Chalk downland is often unsuitable for agriculture, horticulture, or development because of the nutrient-poor, shallow soil. For this reason downland often survived uncultivated when other, more easily worked land was ploughed or reseeded and this shallow soil structure makes downland ecosystems extremely fragile and easy to destroy. The UK cover of lowland calcareous grassland has suffered a decline in extent since the middle of the twentieth century.
Much remaining chalk downland has been protected against future development to preserve its unique biodiversity
Philip Herbert, 5th Earl of Pembroke
Philip Herbert, 5th Earl of Pembroke, 2nd Earl of Montgomery, was an English nobleman and politician. He was the son of Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and he succeeded his father in 1649. They had one child, who succeeded his father as 6th Earl, in 1649, after the death of his first wife, he married Catherine Villiers, daughter of Sir William Villiers, 1st Baronet. They had one daughter and two sons and Thomas, both sons succeeded to their fathers titles. Their daughter, married John Poulett, 3rd Baron Poulett, the younger Philip became notorious as the infamous Earl, due to his frequent bouts of homicidal mania, during which he committed several murders. He was MP for Wiltshire in 1640 and Glamorgan 1640–1649, surveys of the Manors of Philip, earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, 1631-2, ed. E. Kerridge
Vine training
For instance, while having a large spread out canopy can promote a favorable leaf to fruit ratio for photosynthesis, it offers very little wind protection. While closely related, the terms trellising and vine training are used interchangeably even though they refer to different things. Technically speaking, the trellis refers to the stakes, posts. Some vines are allowed to free standing without any attachment to a trellising structure. Part of the confusion between trellising and vine training systems stems from the fact that vine training systems will take on the name of the particular type of trellising involved. Pruning refers to the cutting and shaping of the cordon or arms of the grapevine in winter which will determine the number of buds that are allowed to become grape clusters. In some wine regions, such as France, the number of buds is outlined by Appellation dorigine contrôlée regulations. During the summer growing season, pruning can involve removing young plant shoots or excess bunches of grapes with green harvesting, as one of the worlds oldest cultivated crops, grapevines have been trained for several millennia.
Cultures such as the ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians discovered that different training techniques could promote more abundant, when the Greeks began to colonize southern Italy in the 8th century BC, they called the land Oenotria which could be interpreted as staked or land of staked vines. In the 1st century AD, Roman writers such as Columella, for most of history, regional tradition largely dictated what type of vine training would be found in a given area. In the early 20th century, many of these traditions were codified into specific wine laws, the widespread study and utilization of various training systems began in the 1960s when many New World wine regions were developing their wine industry. While the most pertinent purpose of establishing a training system is canopy management, especially dealing with shading. As members of the Vitis family, grapevines are climbing plants that do not have their own natural support like trees. While grapevines have woody trunks, the weight of a leafy canopy.
Ever since the epidemic of the 19th century, many vines are grafted on phylloxera resistant rootstock. Additionally this daughter vine will leech resources of water and nutrients from the vine which can diminish the quality of both vines grape production. Other reasons for vine training involve setting up the vineyard and each individual vine canopy for more efficient labor usage or mechanization, keeping the fruiting zone in a consistent spot on each vine makes it easier to set up machinery for pruning and harvesting. Many vine training systems are designed to avoid excessive shading of the fruit by the leafy growth, while some shading is beneficial, especially in very hot and sunny climates, to prevent heat stress, excessive amounts of shading can have negative impact on grape development
Gertrude Jekyll
Gertrude Jekyll was an influential British horticulturist, garden designer and writer. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom and the United States, Jekyll has been described as a premier influence in garden design by English and American gardening enthusiasts. Jekyll was born at 2 Grafton Street, London, the fifth of the seven children of Captain Edward Joseph Hill Jekyll, an officer in the Grenadier Guards, and his wife Julia Hammersley. Her younger brother, Walter Jekyll, was a friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, in 1848 her family left London and moved to Bramley House, where she spent her formative years. Jekyll is remembered for her designs and subtle, painterly approach to the arrangement of the gardens she created. In works like Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden she put her imprint on modern uses of warm and her theory of how to design with colour was influenced by painter J. M. W. Turner and by impressionism, and by the colour wheel. Later in life, Jekyll collected and contributed a vast array of plants solely for the purpose of preservation to numerous institutions across Britain.
This pure passion for gardening was started at South Kensington School of Art, where she fell in love with the art of planting. At the time of her death, she had designed over 400 gardens in Britain, Jekyll was known for her prolific writing. She penned over fifteen books, ranging from Wood and Garden and her most famous book Colour in the Flower Garden, to memoirs of her youth. Jekyll did not want to limit her influence to teaching the practice of gardening, but to take it a step further to the study of gardening. Her concern that plants should be displayed to best effect even when cut for the house, Jekyll returned to her childhood home in the village of Bramley, Surrey to design a garden in Snowdenham Lane called Millmead. She was interested in traditional cottage furnishings and rural crafts and her book Old West Surrey records many aspects of 19th-century country life, with over 300 photographs taken by Jekyll. From 1881, when she laid out the gardens for Munstead House, built for her mother by John James Stevenson, more than half were directly commissioned, but many were created in collaboration with architects such as Lutyens and Robert Lorimer.
Most of her gardens are lost, Jekyll was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1897 and the Veitch Memorial Medal of the society in 1929. Also in 1929, she was given the George Robert White Medal of Honor of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the monument was designed by Edwin Lutyens. Eberle, Eve with a Spade, Gardens, The Unknown Gertrude Jekyll, Queen of the mixed border
Villa La Petraia
Villa La Petraia is one of the Medici villas in Castello, Tuscany, central Italy. It has a distinctive 19th century belvedere on the upper east terrace on axis with the view of Florence, in 1364, the palace of Petraia belonged to the family Brunelleschi until in 1422 Palla Strozzi bought it and expanded it by buying the surrounding land. In the first half of the century, the villa became the property of the Salutati, who sold the villa to Cosimo I de Medici in 1544. Then from 1588, there was a decade of excavation works which transformed the stony nature of the place into dramatic sequence of terraces dominated by the massive main building. It is traditionally attributed to Bernard Buontalenti, even though the only documented certainty is the presence on site of Raphael Pagni, in 2014 a new permanent gallery at Petraia Villa Medici was opened to display the 14 surviving paintings of Medici villas by Giusto Utens. The Medicean Villas by Giusto Utens, polo Museale della Toscana, Firenze - Villa medicea della Petraia Media related to Villa La Petraia at Wikimedia Commons
Latticework
Latticework is an openwork framework consisting of a criss-crossed pattern of strips of building material, typically wood or metal. The design is created by crossing the strips to form a network, latticework can be purely ornamental, or can be used as a truss structure such as a lattice girder bridge. Latticework in stone or wood from the period is called transenna. In India, the house of a rich or noble person may be built with a baramdah or verandah surrounding every level leading to the living area. The upper floors often have balconies overlooking the street that are shielded by jalis carved in stone latticework that keeps the area cool, brise soleil Jali Lattice tower Lattice truss bridge Lattice stool Mashrabiya Mesh Pergola Trellis Truss Wattle
Late Latin
Late Latin is the scholarly name for the written Latin of Late Antiquity. The English dictionary definition of Late Latin dates this period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD and this somewhat ambiguously defined period fits between Classical Latin and Medieval Latin. Although there is no consensus about exactly when Classical Latin should end, nor exactly when Medieval Latin should begin. Being a written language, Late Latin is not identical with Vulgar Latin, the latter during those centuries served as proto-Romance, a reconstructed ancestor of the Romance languages. Although Late Latin reflects an upsurge of the use of Vulgar Latin vocabulary and constructs, it remains to a large extent classical in overall features, some are more literary and classical, some more inclined to the vernacular. Nor is Late Latin identical to Christian or patristic Latin, the writings of the early Christian fathers. While Christian writings are considered a subset of Late Latin, pagans wrote much Late Latin, serving as some sort of lingua franca to a large empire, Latin tended to become simpler, to keep above all what it had of the ordinary.
Neither Late Latin nor Late Antiquity are modern terms or concepts, instances of English vernacular use of the term may be found from the 18th century. The term Late Antiquity meaning post-classical and pre-medieval had currency in English well before then, Imperial Latin went on into English literature, Fowlers History of Roman Literature mentions it in 1903. There are, insoluble problems with the beginning and end of Imperial Latin, politically the excluded Augustan Period is the paradigm of imperiality, and yet the style cannot be bundled with either the Silver Age or with Late Latin. Moreover, in 6th century Italy, the Roman Empire no longer existed, subsequently the term Imperial Latin was dropped by historians of Latin literature, although it may be seen in marginal works. The Silver Age was extended a century and the four centuries represent Late Latin. Low Latin is a vague and often pejorative term that might refer to any post-classical Latin from Late Latin through Renaissance Latin depending on the author.
Its origins are obscure but the Latin expression media et infima Latinitas sprang into public notice in 1678 in the title of a Glossary by Charles du Fresne, the multi-volume set had many editions and expansions by other authors subsequently. The title varies somewhat, most commonly used was Glossarium Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis and it has been translated by expressions of widely different meanings. The uncertainty is understanding what media and infima, the media is securely connected to Medieval Latin by Canges own terminology expounded in the Praefatio, such as scriptores mediae aetatis, writers of the middle age. Canges Glossary takes words from authors ranging from the Christian period to the Renaissance, in the former case the infimae appears extraneous, it recognizes the corruptio of the corrupta Latinitas Cange said his Glossary covered. The two-period case postulates a second unity of style, infima Latinitas, Cange in the glossarial part of his Glossary identifies some words as being used by purioris Latinitatis scriptores, such as Cicero
Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens is a botanical garden in southwest London that houses the largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world. The library contains more than 750,000 volumes, and the collection contains more than 175,000 prints. It is one of Londons top tourist attractions and is a World Heritage Site, Kew Gardens has its own police force, Kew Constabulary, which has been in operation since 1847. Kew, the area in which Kew Gardens are situated, consists mainly of the gardens themselves, Royal residences in the area which would influence the layout and construction of the gardens began in 1299 when Edward I moved his court to a manor house in neighbouring Richmond. That manor house was abandoned, Henry VII built Sheen Palace in 1501. Around the start of the 16th century courtiers attending Richmond Palace settled in Kew, early royal residences at Kew included Mary Tudors house, which was in existence by 1522 when a driveway was built to connect it to the palace at Richmond.
Around 1600, the land that would become the gardens was known as Kew Field, the exotic garden at Kew Park, formed by Lord Capel John of Tewkesbury, was enlarged and extended by Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales, the widow of Frederick, Prince of Wales. The origins of Kew Gardens can be traced to the merging of the estates of Richmond. William Chambers built several structures, including the lofty Chinese pagoda built in 1761 which still remains. George III enriched the gardens, aided by William Aiton and Sir Joseph Banks, the old Kew Park, was demolished in 1802. The Dutch House adjoining was purchased by George III in 1781 as a nursery for the royal children and it is a plain brick structure now known as Kew Palace. Some early plants came from the garden established by William Coys at Stubbers in North Ockendon. The collections grew somewhat haphazardly until the appointment of the first collector, Francis Masson, capability Brown, who became Englands most renowned landscape architect, applied for the position of master gardener at Kew, and was rejected.
In 1840 the gardens were adopted as a botanical garden, in large part due to the efforts of the Royal Horticultural Society. Under Kews director, William Hooker, the gardens were increased to 30 hectares and the grounds, or arboretum, extended to 109 hectares. The first curator was John Smith, the Palm House was built by architect Decimus Burton and iron-maker Richard Turner between 1844 and 1848, and was the first large-scale structural use of wrought iron. It is considered the worlds most important surviving Victorian glass and iron structure, the structures panes of glass are all hand-blown. The Temperate House, which is twice as large as the Palm House and it is now the largest Victorian glasshouse in existence
Rome
Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was taken up by Ovid and Livy. Rome is called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism.
Famous artists, painters and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum.
Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
Withy
A withy or withe is a strong flexible willow stem - typically used in thatching and for gardening. The term is sometimes used to describe any type of flexible rod used in rural crafts such as hazel or ash. Withies traditionally serve to mark minor tidal channels in UK harbours, in many places they remain in use as of 2015 and are often marked on navigation charts. At high tide the tops of a line of withies stuck in the mud on one or both sides of a channel will show above water to indicate where the water lies. Note the images of international navigation-chart symbols for withies, places such as Wythenshawe and Withy Grove take their names from the willow woods and groves that grew there in earlier times. The Somerset Levels remain the area in the UK growing basket willow commercially. The Bitter Withy, a folk song Coppicing Fascine Willow Man, a sculpture in England BBC Inside Out - Thatching Terminology
