THINKGREEN

    By Michael / 2 January 2013 / Garden Plants , Garden-Design , Gardening , Horticulture , Public Green & Landscape Design / Leave a comment When you think of planting a hedge in your garden and can’t decide wich trees your going to use a Yew-tree can be the best choose. Yews are though strong and compact trees and can become very old. With its bulky, light-absorbing form and its prevalence in churchyards, one could mistake yew as a symbol of death.The opposite is true: the yew trees are older than many of the ancient churches they shelter. Yews’ extreme longevity and evergreen nature encourage hopes of eternal life. It’s the Yew-berrie from wich a lot of people believe it’s poisoned but only the seed in the berrie is the part that’s to blame for this misconception. If you don’t mind spitting out the highly toxic seeds you can munch on the flesh of the berry, but you might find that you have better things to do.Yews were sacred to the Celts and priz...

Laurel leaves Botany and production : The Bay laurel, Laurus nobilis of the Lauraceae family, is the only representative of this family in our part of the world. It is a dioecious tree, 2 to 10 meters high, with evergreen leaves. The female plant produces small yellow flowers followed by black or deep violet shiny fruits. The Bay laurel originates from Greece, where its ancient use is reported from Delphi. In the casting of the oracles, the place was cleaned by the smoke of laurel leaves, and it was regarded the sacred Herb of Apollo, the god of enlightenment poetry and music. Today, it grows spontaneously all around the Mediterranean Basin, and its essential oil is available from North Africa, Spain, Italy and Yugoslavia as well. In Crete, its essential oil has been produced traditionally in the villages of Apokorona, called "Karabassi" and been used mainly for toothache and hair-care, however, today this village production has sadly ceased. In 1992 we met one ...