1.
Garden
–
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials, the most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has traditionally been a more general one. Zoos, which wild animals in simulated natural habitats, were formerly called zoological gardens. Western gardens are almost universally based on plants, with garden often signifying a shortened form of botanical garden, some traditional types of eastern gardens, such as Zen gardens, use plants sparsely or not at all. Xeriscape gardens use local plants that do not require irrigation or extensive use of other resources while still providing the benefits of a garden environment. Gardens may exhibit structural enhancements, sometimes called follies, including features such as fountains, ponds, waterfalls or creeks, dry creek beds, statuary, arbors, trellises. Some gardens are for ornamental purposes only, while some also produce food crops, sometimes in separate areas. Food-producing gardens are distinguished from farms by their scale, more labor-intensive methods. Flower gardens combine plants of different heights, colors, textures, Gardening is the activity of growing and maintaining the garden. This work is done by an amateur or professional gardener, a gardener might also work in a non-garden setting, such as a park, a roadside embankment, or other public space. Landscape architecture is a professional activity with landscape architects tending to specialise in design for public. See Grad for more complete etymology, the words yard, court, and Latin hortus, are cognates—all referring to an enclosed space. The term garden in British English refers to an enclosed area of land. This would be referred to as a yard in American English, garden design is the creation of plans for the layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Gardens may be designed by garden owners themselves, or by professionals, professional garden designers tend to be trained in principles of design and horticulture, and have a knowledge and experience of using plants. Some professional garden designers are also landscape architects, a formal level of training that usually requires an advanced degree. Garden design can be divided into two groups, formal and naturalistic gardens. All of these considerations are subject to the limitations of the budget, most gardens consist of a mix of natural and constructed elements, although even very natural gardens are always an inherently artificial creation
2.
Museum
–
Most large museums are located in major cities throughout the world and more local ones exist in smaller cities, towns and even the countryside. Museums have varying aims, ranging from serving researchers and specialists to serving the general public, the goal of serving researchers is increasingly shifting to serving the general public. There are many types of museums, including art museums, natural history museums, science museums, war museums, the city with the largest number of museums is Mexico City with over 128 museums. According to The World Museum Community, there are more than 55,000 museums in 202 countries, the English museum comes from the Latin word, and is pluralized as museums. The first museum/library is considered to be the one of Plato in Athens, however, Pausanias gives another place called Museum, namely a small hill in Classical Athens opposite to the Akropolis. The hill was called Mouseion after Mousaious, a man who used to sing on the hill, the purpose of modern museums is to collect, preserve, interpret, and display items of artistic, cultural, or scientific significance for the education of the public. The purpose can also depend on ones point of view, to a family looking for entertainment on a Sunday afternoon, a trip to a local history museum or large city art museum could be a fun, and enlightening way to spend the day. To city leaders, a healthy museum community can be seen as a gauge of the health of a city. To a museum professional, a museum might be seen as a way to educate the public about the museums mission, Museums are, above all, storehouses of knowledge. In 1829, James Smithsons bequest, that would fund the Smithsonian Institution, stated he wanted to establish an institution for the increase, Museums of natural history in the late 19th century exemplified the Victorian desire for consumption and for order. Gathering all examples of classification of a field of knowledge for research. As American colleges grew in the 19th century, they developed their own natural history collections for the use of their students, while many large museums, such as the Smithsonian Institution, are still respected as research centers, research is no longer a main purpose of most museums. While there is a debate about the purposes of interpretation of a museums collection, there has been a consistent mission to protect. Much care, expertise, and expense is invested in efforts to retard decomposition in aging documents, artifacts, artworks. All museums display objects that are important to a culture, as historian Steven Conn writes, To see the thing itself, with ones own eyes and in a public place, surrounded by other people having some version of the same experience can be enchanting. Museum purposes vary from institution to institution, some favor education over conservation, or vice versa. For example, in the 1970s, the Canada Science and Technology Museum favored education over preservation of their objects and they displayed objects as well as their functions. One exhibit featured a printing press that a staff member used for visitors to create museum memorabilia
3.
Waterperry
–
Waterperry is a village beside the River Thame about 7 miles east of Oxford in Oxfordshire and close to the county boundary with Buckinghamshire. The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin is partly Saxon and has medieval stained glass, sculptural memorials, Georgian box pews. Waterperry House is a 17th-century mansion, remodelled early in the 18th century for Sir John Curson and it is now a house of seven bays and three storeys with a balustraded parapet and Ionic porch. The house has extensive grounds, and until 1971 housed the Waterperry School of Horticulture under Beatrix Havergal, the gardens are now a horticultural business and visitor destination. The 8 acres of flower from May until the first frosts. The gardens also include rose and alpine gardens which include the NCCPG collection of Kabschia Saxifrages, a knot garden, trained fruit and nursery beds. The grounds also include nurseries, orchards, plant centre and teashop, gardening courses are still taught here. The grounds host the annual Art in Action festival of art, the 2011 Census incorporated the figures of Waterstock into an output area accordingly used to enlarge Waterperrys civil parish definition due to the small population of Waterstock. A History of the County of Oxford, Volume 5, Bullingdon Hundred, west Gallery Churches, Oxfordshire Waterperry St Mary the Virgin Waterperry Gardens Art in Action
4.
Wheatley, Oxfordshire
–
Wheatley is a relatively large town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about 5 miles east of Oxford. There was a Roman villa on Castle Hill, about 1 mile southeast of the parish church and it was excavated in 1845, when Roman coins dating from AD260 to 378 and fragments of Roman pottery and Roman tiles were found. The village had its beginnings in the Anglo-Saxon era and it is in a valley running eastwards, the stream of which flows through the centre of the village to join the River Thame. The stream used to be in the open, with stepping stones for people to cross it, however, it is now in a culvert that runs along under the High Street. In 1883 a Saxon cemetery was excavated, and artefacts removed from it are housed in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, in the 13th century Wheatley was part of the property of the Abbey of Abingdon and in 1279 was described as a hamlet of Cuddesdon. Wheatley manor house was enlarged and improved in 1601, and bears an inscription on the front stating T. A.1601, which stands for Thomas Archdale and it still retains its original appearance whereas most of the other old cottages and buildings have been restored. The Church of England parish church of St. Mary the Virgin was built in the 18th century, samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, disliked the building and had it rebuilt in 1855-1857 by the Oxford Diocesan architect, G. E. Street. Its tower has a peal of six bells, four of which came from the former 18th century church, there is also a Russian bell from Troitsa, thought to have been claimed as a spoil of war and given to the church early in the 20th century. The Congregational church was built in 1842–1843 on the site of the old tannery and it is now a United Reformed Church. Wheatleys Roman Catholic church is Our Lady of Lourdes in Crown Road and it is part of the parish of Corpus Christi, Headington. Wheatley Community Church is a new church which formed in 2015. There was once also an independent church in the old Granary building at 30 Church Road, many Wheatley residents talk of having attended Sunday School at the mission, which is how a generation usually identify the church. All the churches in Wheatley are now in a Local Ecumenical Partnership which also includes the church of Saint Bartholomew in Holton. Other occupations included faggot cutting and ochre cutting, the ochre being crushed at the windmill which stands today. There were two windmills on the hill southwest of the village, one was a post mill which burnt down in 1875. The other, Littleworth Mill, is a mill that dates from before 1671. It has been rebuilt and re-equipped a number of times, including in 1784 when the Eagle Ironworks, the tower mill had fallen out of use by 1915, but since 1977 the Wheatley Mill Restoration Society has been restoring it. Wheatley once had ten public houses, a plaque on a gable of the Kings Arms in Church Street says that it was built in 1756
5.
Oxford
–
Oxford is a city in the South East region of England and the county town of Oxfordshire. With an estimated 2015 population of 168,270, it is the 52nd largest city in the United Kingdom, the city is situated 57 miles from London,69 miles from Bristol,65 miles from both Southampton and Birmingham and 25 miles from Reading. The city is known worldwide as the home of the University of Oxford, buildings in Oxford demonstrate notable examples of every English architectural period since the late Saxon period. Oxford is known as the city of dreaming spires, a term coined by poet Matthew Arnold, Oxford has a broad economic base. Its industries include motor manufacturing, education, publishing and a number of information technology and science-based businesses. Oxford was first settled in Saxon times and was known as Oxenaforda, meaning Ford of the Oxen. It began with the establishment of a crossing for oxen around AD900. In the 10th century, Oxford became an important military frontier town between the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex and was on several occasions raided by Danes, Oxford was heavily damaged during the Norman Invasion of 1066. Following the conquest, the town was assigned to a governor, Robert DOyly, the castle has never been used for military purposes and its remains survive to this day. DOyly set up a community in the castle consisting of a chapel. The community never grew large but it earned its place in history as one of Britains oldest places of formal education and it was there that in 1139 Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote his History of the Kings of Britain, a compilation of Arthurian legends. Mary at Oseney and to the canons serving God in that place and we have made this concession and confirmation in the Common council of the City and we have confirmed it with our common seal. These are those who have made this concession and confirmation, a grandson of King John established Rewley Abbey for the Cistercian Order, and friars of various orders all had houses of varying importance at Oxford. Parliaments were often held in the city during the 13th century, the Provisions of Oxford were instigated by a group of barons led by Simon de Montfort, these documents are often regarded as Englands first written constitution. Richard I of England and John, King of England the sons of Henry II of England, were born at Beaumont Palace in Oxford, on 8 September 1157 and 24 December 1166 respectively. A plaque in Beaumont Street commemorates these events, the University of Oxford is first mentioned in 12th century records. Of the hundreds of Aularian houses that sprang up across the city, what put an end to the halls was the emergence of colleges. Oxfords earliest colleges were University College, Balliol and Merton and these colleges were established at a time when Europeans were starting to translate the writings of Greek philosophers
6.
Oxfordshire
–
Oxfordshire is a county in South East England bordering on Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. The county has major education and tourist industries and is noted for the concentration of performance companies and facilities. Oxford University Press is the largest firm among a concentration of print and publishing firms, the main centre of population is the city of Oxford. The highest point is White Horse Hill, in the Vale of White Horse, oxfordshires county flower is the Snakes-head Fritillary. Historically the area has always had some importance, since it contains valuable agricultural land in the centre of the county, largely ignored by the Romans, it was not until the formation of a settlement at Oxford in the eighth century that the area grew in importance. Alfred the Great was born across the Thames in Wantage, Vale of White Horse, the University of Oxford was founded in 1096, though its collegiate structure did not develop until later on. The university in the county town of Oxford grew in importance during the Middle Ages, the area was part of the Cotswolds wool trade from the 13th century, generating much wealth, particularly in the western portions of the county in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds. Morris Motors was founded in Oxford in 1912, bringing industry to an otherwise agricultural county. The importance of agriculture as an employer has declined rapidly in the 20th century though, nonetheless, Oxfordshire remains a very agricultural county by land use, with a lower population than neighbouring Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, which are both smaller. The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, the army unit in the area, was based at Cowley Barracks on Bullingdon Green. Conversely, the Caversham area of Reading, now administratively in Berkshire, was part of Oxfordshire as was the parish of Stokenchurch. This is a chart of trend of gross value added of Oxfordshire at current basic prices published by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Oxfordshire has a comprehensive education system with 23 independent schools and 35 state secondary schools. Only eight schools do not have a form, these are mostly in South Oxfordshire. The county has two universities, the ancient University of Oxford and the modern Oxford Brookes University, both located in Oxford, in addition, Wroxton College, located in Banbury, is affiliated with Fairleigh Dickinson University of New Jersey. The dreaming spires of the buildings of the University of Oxford are among the reasons for Oxford being the sixth most visited city in the United Kingdom for international visitors. Among many notable University buildings are the Sheldonian Theatre, built 1664–68 to the design of Sir Christopher Wren, Blenheim Palace close to Woodstock was built by the great architect John Vanbrugh for John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, after he had won the battle of Blenheim. The gardens, which can be visited, were designed by the landscape gardener Capability Brown, in the palace, which can also be visited by the public, Sir Winston Churchill was born in 1874
7.
England
–
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
8.
Horticulture
–
Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of growing plants. It includes the cultivation of plants, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and non-food crops such as grass and ornamental trees. It also includes plant conservation, landscape restoration, landscape and garden design, construction, and maintenance, inside agriculture, horticulture contrasts with extensive field farming as well as animal husbandry. Horticulturists apply their knowledge, skills, and technologies used to grow intensively produced plants for food and non-food uses. Their work involves plant propagation and cultivation with the aim of improving plant growth, yields, quality, nutritional value, and resistance to insects, diseases and they work as gardeners, growers, therapists, designers, and technical advisors in the food and non-food sectors of horticulture. Horticulture even refers to the growing of plants in a field or garden, hortus is cognate with the native English word yard and also the borrowed word garden. Turf management includes all aspects of the production and maintenance of grass for sports. Floriculture includes the production and marketing of floral crops, landscape horticulture includes the production, marketing and maintenance of landscape plants. Olericulture includes the production and marketing of vegetables, pomology includes the production and marketing of pome fruits. Viticulture includes the production and marketing of grapes, oenology includes all aspects of wine and winemaking. Postharvest physiology involves maintaining the quality of and preventing the spoilage of plants, Horticulture has a very long history. The practice of horticulture can be retraced for many thousands of years, the cultivation of taro and yam in Papua New Guinea dates back to at least 6950–6440 cal BP. In the Pre-Columbian Amazon Rainforest, natives are believed to have used biochar to enhance productivity by smoldering plant waste. European settlers called it Terra Preta de Indio, in forest areas such horticulture is often carried out in swiddens. A characteristic of horticultural communities is that trees are often to be found planted around communities or specially retained from the natural ecosystem. Horticulture primarily differs from agriculture in two ways, first, it generally encompasses a smaller scale of cultivation, using small plots of mixed crops rather than large fields of single crops. Secondly, horticultural cultivations generally include a variety of crops. Agricultural cultivations however as a focus on one primary crop
9.
Knot garden
–
Most knot gardens now have edges made from box, whose leaves have a sweet smell when bruised. The paths in between are usually laid with fine gravel, however, the original designs of knot gardens did not have the low box hedges, and knot gardens with such hedges might more accurately be called parterres. Most Renaissance knot gardens were composed of square compartments, a small garden might consist of one compartment, while large gardens might contain six or eight compartments. Knot gardens were first established in England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, some early knot gardens have been covered over by lawn or other landscaping, but the original traces are still visible as undulations in the present day landscape. An example of this phenomenon is the early 17th-century garden of Muchalls Castle in Scotland, media related to knot gardens at Wikimedia Commons Gardens of the French Renaissance Garden à la française Parterre Pizza farm The Knot Garden in the Garden Museum, London
10.
Herbaceous border
–
A herbaceous border is a collection of perennial herbaceous plants arranged closely together, usually to create a dramatic effect through colour, shape or large scale. The term herbaceous border is mostly in use in the United Kingdom, in North America, the term perennial border is normally used. Herbaceous borders as they are today were first popularly used in gardens in the Victorian era. Hybridization and new imported plant species revolutionized the form of British gardens in the 18th and 19th centuries. In addition, the works of Gertrude Jekyll, a British 20th-century garden designer and prolific writer, maintaining the herbaceous border is work-intensive, as the perennials had to be dug up every 3-4 years and divided to keep the bed clean-looking and prevent overgrowth of the plants. In World War I this type of border became less popular in Britain as there was a shortage of labour to keep the gardens maintained, however, there are still some celebrated examples in British gardens. The worlds longest herbaceous border at 215-metres, is according to the Guinness Book of Records at Dirleton Castle, East Lothian, Scotland
11.
Rose garden
–
A rose garden or rosarium is a garden or park, often open to the public, used to present and grow various types of garden roses or rose species. Designs vary tremendously and roses may be displayed alongside other plants or grouped by individual variety, joséphine imported both leading gardening talent and scores of roses, financing many plant collecting trips. At her death in 1814, the garden included more than 250 varieties of rose and it is said that her plant hunters also introduced some 200 other plants to France, among them the dahlia. One of the oldest still existing public rose gardens is Jules Gravereauxs Roseraie de LHaÿ south of Paris in LHaÿ-les-Roses, public rose gardens are a feature of many towns and cities. Since 1995, the World Federation of Rose Societies grants the Award of Garden Excellence, so far,42 gardens have been selected. Notable gardens around the world include, Rosedal de Palermo in the Parc 3 de Febrero in Buenos Aires was created in 1912 and it was granted the Award of Garden Excellence in 2012. A public park in the heart of Austrias capital, famous for its rose gardens with over 3,000 plants of more than 200 different cultivars of roses. Rustons Roses in Renmark, South Australia houses the National Rose Collection of Australia and displays more than 4,000 modern and old garden varieties. The garden, which started life as a fruit orchard, began supplying the cut-flower trade. Alister Clark Memorial Rose Garden, a garden in Bulla, Victoria, home town of the rosarian Alister Clark. Morwell Centenary Rose Garden in Morwell, Victoria, with over 4000 rose plants on an area of 4 acres, the WFRS granted the Award of Garden Excellence in 2009. It was granted the Award of Garden Excellence in 2003. § Nieuwesteeg Heritage Rose Garden in Bacchus Marsh, coloma Castle, six miles south of Brussels has more than 60,000 rose plants of some 3,000 different varieties. These include a collection of Belgian-raised roses and an area devoted to historic roses. The largest rose garden features varieties grouped by country and by breeder, the Garden of Roses at Hex Castle at Kasteel Hex, containing an exceptional assortment of about 250 varieties in a restored formal Renaissance garden originally laid out in 1770. It was the first rose garden in Belgium to be granted the WFRSs Award of Garden Excellence in 1998, the International rose garden of Kortrijk in Kortrijk, West Flanders, on the grounds of Castle t Hooghe was redesigned in 2003/2004 after 45 years of existence. The garden has three sections, a garden presenting commercially available modern rose cultivars from around the world, a collection of historic and wild roses, in 2012, it was granted the WFRSs Award of Garden Excellence. The Rose Garden at Vrijbroek Park in Mechelen consists of three gardens in a landscape park designed in the 19th century. The oldest is a rose garden, followed by a rose garden showcasing the history of the rose opened in 1994
12.
Nymphaeaceae
–
Nymphaeaceae /ˌnɪmfiːˈeɪsiː/ is a family of flowering plants, commonly called water lilies. They live as rhizomatous aquatic herbs in temperate and tropical climates around the world, the family contains five genera with about 70 known species. Water lilies are rooted in soil in bodies of water, with leaves, the leaves are round, with a radial notch in Nymphaea and Nuphar, but fully circular in Victoria and Euryale. Genera with more parts, Nuphar, Nymphaea, Victoria, have a beetle pollination syndrome, while genera with fewer parts are pollinated by flies or bees. Thus, the number of relatively unspecialized floral organs in the Nymphaeaceae is not an ancestral condition for the clade. Water lilies do not have leaves in the winter time. The leftover of internal pressure is embodied by the constant streams of bubbles that outbreak when rising leaves are ruptured in the spring. Methane is still penetrating the roots and rhizome in the summer, moving fast up the petioles, the Nymphaeaceae are aquatic, rhizomatous herbs. The family is characterized by scattered vascular bundles in the stems. Hairs are simple, usually producing mucilage, stipules are either present or absent. Flowers are solitary, bisexual, radial, with a pedicel and usually floating or raised above the surface of the water. Sepals are 4-12, distinct to connate, imbricate, and often petal-like, petals lacks or 8 to numerous, inconspicuous to showy, often intergrading with stamens. Stamens are 3 to numerous, the innermost sometimes represented by staminodes, carpels are 3 to numerous, distinct or connate. Fruit is an aggregate of nuts, a berry, or an irregularly dehiscent fleshy capsule, seeds are often arillate, more or less lacking sperm. Nymphaeaceae has been investigated systematically for decades because botanists considered their floral morphology to represent one of the earliest groups of angiosperms, modern genetic analyses by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group researchers has confirmed its basal position among flowering plants. In addition, the Nymphaeaceae are more diverse and geographically dispersed than other basal angiosperms. Nymphaeaceae is placed in the order Nymphaeales, which is the second diverging group of angiosperms after Amborella in the most widely accepted flowering plant classification system, Nymphaeaceae is a small family of three to six genera, Barclaya, Euryale, Nuphar, Nymphaea, Ondinea, and Victoria. The genus Barclaya is sometimes given rank as its own family, Barclayaceae, on the basis of a perianth tube arising from the top of the ovary
13.
Saxifraga
–
Saxifraga is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 440 species of holarctic perennial plants, known as saxifrages or rockfoils. The Latin word saxifraga means literally stone-breaker, from Latin saxum + frangere and it is usually thought to indicate a medicinal use for treatment of urinary calculi, rather than breaking rocks apart. The genera Saxifragopsis, and Saxifragella are sometimes included in Saxifraga, most saxifrages are smallish plants whose leaves grow close to the ground, often in a rosette. The leaves typically have a more or less incised margin, they may be succulent, needle-like and/or hairy, the inflorescence or single flower clusters rise above the main plant body on naked stalks. The small actinomorphic hermaphrodite flowers have five petals and sepals and are usually white, as in other primitive eudicots, some of the 5 or 10 stamens may appear petal-like. A good number of species grow in glacial habitat, such as S. biflora which can be found some 4,000 metres above sea level in the Alps, the genus is also abundant in the Eastern and Western Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows. Though the archetypal saxifrage is a small plant huddling between rocks high up on a mountain, many species do not occur in habitat and are larger plants found on wet meadows. Various Saxifraga species are used as food plants by the caterpillars of butterflies and moths. Numerous species and cultivars of saxifrage are cultivated as garden plants, valued particularly as groundcover or as cushion plants in rock gardens. Many require alkaline or neutral soil to thrive, S. × urbium, a hybrid between Pyrenean saxifrage and St. Patricks cabbage, is commonly grown as an ornamental plant. Another horticultural hybrid is Robertsoniana saxifrage, derived from kidney saxifrage, some wild species are also used in gardening. Cambridge University Botanic Garden hosts the United Kingdoms national collection of saxifrages, the following species and cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Societys Award of Garden Merit, - Purple Saxifrage is a popular floral emblem. It is the flower of Nunavut and the county flower of County Londonderry in the UK. Known as rødsildre in Norway, it also is the county flower of Nordland and it is on the seal of Fitchburg State University, whose motto is Perseverantia in reference to the rock-breaking abilities of the plant over time. Tsukuba in Japan has as its city flower hoshizaki-yukinoshita, the form of Creeping Saxifrage. The leaves of the Japanese variety yukinoshita can also been eaten and it is prepared by frying the younger succulent leaves in tempura batter. White Mountain saxifrage is discussed in Nicholas Culpepers 1652 herbal The English Physitian, well-known references to saxifrages in literature are, In William Carlos Williams poem A Sort of a Song, Williams refers to his idea of perception when he writes Invent. Saxifrage is my flower that splits the rocks, in Kim Stanley Robinsons Mars trilogy, the character Sax Russell – a physicist sent to Mars as part of Earths first colony attempt on that planet – is named after this plant
14.
TripAdvisor
–
TripAdvisor, Inc. is an American travel website company providing reviews of travel-related content. It also includes interactive travel forums, TripAdvisor was an early adopter of user-generated content. The website services are free to users, who provide most of the content, and the website is supported by a business model. K. In February 2000, TripAdvisor was founded by Stephen Kaufer, Langley Steinert, Kaufer says the original idea wasnt a user generated social media site to swap reviews. Rather, We started as a site where we were focused more on those official words from guidebooks or newspapers or magazines and we also had a button in the very beginning that said, Visitors add your own review, and boy, did that just take off. Pretty soon the number of average consumer reviews far surpassed the number of professional reviews and that is when the site really turned into this collection of what the normal traveler was saying wherever they were going. Original financing was obtained from Flagship Ventures, the Bollard Group, in 2004, the company was purchased by IAC/InterActiveCorp. In August 2005, IAC spun off its travel group of businesses under the Expedia, in April 2009, TripAdvisor launched its official site in China, www. daodao. com. Since then it has indexed more than 20,000 hotels and restaurants information and customer reviews, in September 2010, SmarterTravel, part of TripAdvisor Media Group, launched SniqueAway, the first members-only site where each travel deal is endorsed by the people. In March 2011, TripAdvisor informed all registered TripAdvisor members that a third party had stolen some of TripAdvisors email list. No passwords or other information was stolen and this happened shortly before many other companies reported similar thefts of the addresses on their email lists. In April 2011, it was announced that Expedia would split into two publicly traded companies by spinning off the TripAdvisor brand of travel sites. According to Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, the allows the two businesses to be pure plays and to operate with the proper amount of focus to grow respectively. In December 2011, TripAdvisor was spun off from Expedia in a public offering, TripAdvisor states it is the world’s largest travel site, with nearly 280 million unique monthly visitors. In April 2012, the company launched a connection to Facebook that lets users select reviews from people in their social graph, in August 2014, a survey found that TripAdvisor was the most widely recognized, used, and trusted travel website. In October 2014, Trip Advisor released a new feature, Just for you, offering tailored hotel recommendations based on the users preferences and this feature mirrored the Tribes feature launched on competitor site Gogobot in 2013. In 2015, Tripadvisor started letting users not only places but tag them, saying, for example that a place offers brunch, is open on Sunday, or offers delivery, takeout. In May 2007 TripAdvisor acquired Smarter Travel Media operator of SmarterTravel. com and BookingBuddy. com, SeatGuru. com, TravelPod. com, and Travel-Library. com
