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It is the beginning of February and California’s Central valley is painted vibrant shades of pink and white from millions of almond blooms. While much of the country is white with snow, California is white with blooms.

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Although the art of Bonsai originated in China over 2,000 years ago, the development and practice has primarily become part of the Japanese culture. The word ‘bonsai’ translates as ‘tray-planting’ and is not meant to describe the plant itself, but the process through which the plant was created. Bonsai is truly an art practice.

The art of bonsai consists of growing miniaturized trees and is based purely on aesthetics. Bonsai trees are not miniature naturally, but can be made out of any ordinary tree or shrub and are miniaturized through bonsai techniques. There are many different bonsai techniques, some are basic techniques while others are very advanced and only practiced by experienced bonsai masters.

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Cars and Corn? Would you have ever guessed that corn might fuel the car or bus that takes you to school every day? Yes, corn.

Ethanol is a clear, colorless liquid made from corn. When ethanol is mixed with gasoline it helps the gasoline to burn more efficiently. That means that while you are increasing the number of miles you can go on a gallon of gas you are also reducing the amount of pollution that the car creates.

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A glass bowl of deep red cherries gleams on the dining room table. As you reach for a piece of the shiny fruit you remember your mother’s stern look and admonition to eat them anywhere but over her good white tablecloth. You know why she’s so adamant about it too! Last summer, just as you bit into a sweet cherry, a little juice squirted right out onto the tablecloth. That bright red stain stubbornly clung to the fabric despite heroic attempts to remove it.

Well, you may not have made your mom too happy and you probably won’t ever eat a cherry around a white damask tablecloth again, but you have discovered an ancient and very practical bit of knowledge. We can recreate the vivid colors that Mother Nature displays all around us and we can do it with her very own paint box!

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The shaft of sunlight that punctured the low slung gray clouds seemed purposeful in its aim. Like a spotlight it focused on the lone Gingko tree just across the pond from me. The tree glowed golden in the fading autumnal light.

I love this graceful tree, planted for me by my grandfather so many years ago. It is a tradition here in China for grandfathers to plant a Gingko for their grandsons, understanding that the slowly maturing tree will only bear fruit about the time their grandchild marries.

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Do you know what a carnivorous plant is? Basically, it is a plant that is able to trap and digest living creatures as a way of nourishing themselves. Sounds disgusting doesn’t it?

Well if you like gross things, then you’ll love the Venus Fly Trap. Here we’ll give you a description of this fascinating plant, and give you some basic instructions to care for one, should you decide to own one.

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There are many things that come to mind when we think about Autumn. Things like pumpkins, apples, a new school year, and Halloween all play a major part in the autumn feeling. And many of us live in areas that help define what autumn is all about, because the leaves on the trees change all different kinds of colors. This changing of colors is called foliage. But did you ever wonder what makes the leaves turn to vibrant reds and oranges and yellows? Let’s take a look and find out.

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You’ve probably gone to the movies and tried it, or you most likely have munched on it at home for a snack, but have you ever given any thought to what causes popcorn kernels to pop into the fluffy white stuff we know and love? Well, first let’s see what other people thought of these little kernels. In some Native American tribes, they believed that spirits lived inside of each kernel of popcorn. They believed that these spirits were happy to live in the kernel as long as the house stayed cool. When the house began to heat up, the spirits began to get upset and shake. The hotter a house would get, the angrier the spirits would become until they blew off their steam by bursting into white puffs.

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Have you ever picked a flower out of a garden? Ever put your nose to a flower to inhale the sweet scent of it? Well you probably wouldn’t be able to do either of those things if you encountered the Amophophallus titanum flower. This flower, also known as the Titan arum, is the largest flower in the world, and it has begun to blossom in the United States. This is only the eleventh time that this giant flower has ever blossomed in the U.S. In fact, it flowers so rarely that since 1889, there have only been five flowerings in England, and ten in the U.S.

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