The year 2022 kicked off in a riot of color as the Netherlands marked National Tulip Day.
Organisers sailed through Amsterdam’s historic canals handing out free bouquets of flowers to members of the public.
The event is held each year to celebrate the start of the tulip growing season, a major export product for Dutch farmers.
In France, blankets of mimosa flowers brought a little Provencal sunshine to chase away the winter blues.
From mid-December to mid-March, golden mimosa trees cover the hills near the city of Mandelieu, known as La Colline Des Mimosa.
With their intoxicating smell, mimosa flowers are a treasure of the French Riviera. Their bloom heralds the arrival of spring.
The flowers are an essential ingredient in modern perfumery, which is important to this area of southern France.
They are also a symbol of solidarity with women and are often used to celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March.
Over in the U.K., gloomy London February days were brightened up as the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew put on its annual orchid festival.
More than 5,000 orchids were on display at the show -this time inspired by the biodiversity of Costa Rica.
The Central American country is home to around 1,600 types of orchid and 6 percent of the world’s flora and fauna species.
“It happens in late winter when outside is still quite bleak, it’s rainy, it’s cold and the gardens are still sleepy, there’s some early bulbs coming up. But you kind of feel eager to have some colour, something exciting for spring,” commented Alberto Trinco, acting supervisor of the Princess of Wales Conservatory, Kew.
In London’s Hyde Park, one of the biggest glasshouses in the UK grows plants for the Royal Parks of the capital.
Thanks to automated roof vents and 12 zones, the nursery can house up to 450,000 plants.
In 2022 the nursery staff’s biggest problem was the exceptionally mild British weather.
The warm temperatures accelerated the growth of most plants, which then had to be slowed down.
In June, with winter a distant memory,Armenia celebrated its diversity of flowers and herbs with a summer festival.
Workshops encouraged visitors to try herbal teas, learn how to cook with herbs and weave flower wreaths.
The HayBuis festival, which translates to “Armenian Herb” festival, celebrates the essential herb ingredients in Armenian cuisine and the traditional knowledge used to forage and prepare them.
But one of the main highlights of the event is the hat weaving competition where visitors get to model their creations for the day.
In July researchers at London’s Royal Botanic Gardens discovered a new species of giant water lily.
Botanists believe the discovery is the first of its type in over a century, but the lily had been long growing right under their noses thousands of miles from its wild habitat in Bolivia.
Specimens of the new species have been in Kew’s herbarium for 177 years and in the National Herbarium of Bolivia for three decades.
A few years ago researchers from both institutions began to collaborate and in July they discovered they were in possession of a completely different species of waterlily.
“It needs very fertile soil to get so big and it grows incredibly quickly. So it goes from the size of a pea, you know, piece sized seed about a centimetre across, and it becomes this monster in the space of three or four months. You know, it’s quite incredible,” commented Dr Alex Monro, Research Leader in the Americas team at RBG Kew, and senior author of the study.
The Victoria boliviana is now recognised as the largest waterlily in the world, with leaves growing three metres wide in the wild.
In August, Belgium celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Brussels Flower Carpet.
Every two years, artists decorate a giant carpet with flower petals on the stones of the Brussels UNESCO recognised Grand Place.
2022’s theme was a nod to the very first flower carpet displayed in 1971.
The 1,680 metre square rug featured begonias, dahlias, grass and bark and included depictions of Saint Michael the Archangel and the Belgian Lion.
In time for Halloween, U.S. farmers in central Illinois were adopting regenerative techniques designed to reduce emissions, attract natural pollinators and improve the health of the soil.
Regenerative farming has its roots in indigenous cultures. It looks different depending on the crops or livestock being farmed.
At its heart is ensuring that soil is thriving, whether through reduced ploughing, which keeps bugs, carbon and other nutrients in the ground, or other practices like rotating crops and using fewer synthetic chemicals and fertilisers that can degrade soil over time.
It’s not organic farming, which has stricter rules and certification, although many of the practices are similar. It meant some of Halloween’s pumpkins had a much greener footprint.
With the cost of living crisis causing many families to have less money to spend on Christmas, some London sellers dropped the price on so-called ‘non perfect’ trees that still stand tall, if not a little wonky.
“Trees like humans are not homogeneous, so they will not all come out perfectly symmetrical like those Disney-style trees. The trees that are value trees or are assigned to be a value trees are the ones that tend to be a little bit wonkier as they grow, but they’re still perfectly good and we still want to try to find them a home for Christmas. So that tends to be how they’re selected.” explained Patrick Crinnigan, general manager at Pines and Needles.
Rory Young, Chairperson of British Christmas Tree Growers Association (BCTGA) hopes a beautifully decorated tree in the home should help to spread some Christmas cheer and provide some normality in difficult times.
“Christmas trees tend to be sort of a symbol of normality for people at this time of year. So, we’re hoping that something will happen this year,” he said. “I think people like to get a Christmas tree, a real treat, sort of signifying to start that Christmas celebration and family. It’s a good way of actually almost forgetting what’s going on in the world for a short period. So, we’re hopeful that we can bring that pleasure to people this Christmas.”
