greenthumb's profile

List of Cypress Trees

Taxodium distichum, also known as Bald Cypress, Baldcypress or Swamp Cypress, is a species of conifer native to the southeastern United States, from Delaware Bay south to Florida and west to southern Texas, and also inland up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers north to southern Illinois and Indiana.

It is a large tree, reaching 30-45 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 3 m. The leaves are spirally arranged but twisted at the base to lie in two horizontal ranks, 1-2 cm long and 1-2 mm broad; unlike most other cypresses, it loses the leaves in the winter months (hence the name 'bald'). The cones are green maturing gray-brown, globular, 2-3.5 cm in diameter, and disintegrate when mature to release the large seeds. The seeds are 5-10 mm long, the largest of any species in the cypress family, and are water-dispersed.

Bald Cypress occurs mainly along riparian (riverside) wetlands subject to periodic flooding by silt-rich 'brownwater' rivers, unlike the related Pond Cypress, which occurs in silt-poor blackwater rivers and ponds. Ancient Bald Cypress forests, with some trees over 1200 years old, once dominated swamps in the southeast US. The largest remaining stand of Bald Cypress is at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, near Naples, Florida. These trees are around 500 years of age and some exceed 40m (130 ft) in height.

Bald Cypresses growing in swamps have a peculiarity of growth called cypress knees. These are woody projections sent above the water from the roots. One rather popular view of their function is that they provide oxygen to the roots that grow in the low dissolved oxygen (DO) waters typical of a swamp (see also mangroves, which have similar adaptations). However, there is little evidence for this; in fact, swamp-dwelling specimens whose knees are removed continue to thrive. Another more likely function is that of structural support and stabilization. Lowland, or swamp grown cypress which are flooded or flood prone, tend to be buttressed, as opposed to cypresses grown on higher ground which may grow with very little taper.

The natural northern limit of the species is not due to a lack of cold tolerance, but to specific reproductive requirements; further north, regeneration is prevented by ice damage to the year-old seedlings. If slightly larger young trees are planted, they are able to tolerate much lower temperatures, and can be grown as far north as Minnesota. It is also commonly planted elsewhere outside of its native range in other temperate regions of the world.

The Bald Cypress was designated the official state tree of Louisiana in 1963, and is considered by some to be a symbol of the southern swamps.

List of Cypress Trees

Cupressus × leylandii, is often referred to as just Leylandii. It is a fast-growing evergreen tree much used in horticulture, primarily for hedges and screens.

The Leyland Cypress is a hybrid between the Monterey Cypress, Cupressus macrocarpa, and the Nootka Cypress, Cupressus nootkatensis, family Cupressaceae. The hybrid has arisen on nearly 20 separate occasions, always by open pollination, showing the two species are readily compatible and closely related. Two other similar hybrids have also been raised, both involving Nootka Cypress with other Cupressus species:

-Cupressus arizonica var. glabra × Cupressus nootkatensis (Cupressus × notabilis)
-Cupressus lusitanica × Cupressus nootkatensis (Cupressus × ovensii)

The taxonomic status of Nootka Cypress is disputed; in the past, it was widely regarded as belonging in the genus Chamaecyparis, and in 2002 it was classified in a new genus Xanthocyparis. The most recent treatments (2004), however, transfer it to Callitropsis. In any of these treatments, the hybrids becomes very unusual in being intergeneric hybrids, the only ones ever reported among the Gymnosperms. In fact the very existence of these hybrids, and their ease of formation, is a further strong pointer (in addition to genetic and morphological evidence) for the treatment of Nootka cypress in Cupressus. It may be added that attempts to cross Nootka cypress with other Chamaecyparis species have been universally unsuccessful.

Where Nootka Cypress is treated in Chamaecyparis, the name of the hybrid becomes × Cupressocyparis leylandii, and where treated in Xanthocyparis, it becomes × Cuprocyparis leylandii.

Leyland Cypresses are commonly planted in gardens to provide a quick boundary or shelter hedge. However, their rapid growth (up to a meter per year), heavy shade and great potential height (often over 20 m tall in garden conditions, and they can reach at least 35 m) make them problematic. In Britain it has been the source of a number of high profile disputes between neighbours, even leading to violence (and in one recent case, murder), because of its capacity to cut out light. Part VI of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 introduced a way for people affected by high hedges (usually, but not necessarily, of leylandii) to ask their local authority to investigate complaints about the hedges, and gave the authorities power to have the hedges reduced in height.

It is poorly adapted to areas with hot summers, such as the southern half of the U.S.A., and in these areas becomes - perhaps fortunately - very prone to the disease cypress canker caused by the fungus Seridium cardinale. This causes extensive dieback and ultimately death of the tree. In California's Central Valley, they rarely live more than ten years before succumbing, and not much longer in southern states like Alabama. In these areas, the canker-resistant Arizona Cypress is much more successful.

In Northern areas where heavy snows occur, this plant is also susceptible to broken branches and even uprooting in wet, heavy snow.

Note: Caution should be exercised when handling tree clippings - after trimming, for example. The sap can cause skin irritation in susceptible individuals.

List of Cypress Trees

Widdringtonia is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae (cypress family). There are four species, all native to southern Africa, where they are known in the past as "cedars" (to which they are not related) but are now known as African cypresses.

They are large shrubs or trees, reaching 5-20 m tall (to 40 m in W. whytei). The leaves are evergreen and scale-like, except on seedlings, which have needle-like leaves 1-1.5 cm long. The adult scale leaves are arranged in decussate opposite pairs in four rows along the twigs, while the juvenile needle leaves are arranged spirally.

The male cones are small, 3-6 mm long, and are located at the tips of the twigs. The female cones start out similarly inconspicuous, maturing in 18-20 months to 2-3 cm long and wide, globular to ovoid, with four, thick, woody scales, arranged in two opposite pairs. The cones mostly remain closed on the trees for many years, opening only after being scorched by a wildfire; this then releases the seeds to grow on the newly cleared burnt ground. In W. whytei the cones open soon after maturity to shed the seed without fire; this species is more sensitive to fire and only grows in moister situations where it is protected from fire. The best adapted to fire is W. nodiflora, which has the ability to re-grow from the roots, as well as by seed.

Cheap Plant Stands

http://www.furniturebuzz.com/category.asp?type=plant_stand

Cheap Plant Stands

http://www.onlinediscountmart.com/plant-stands.html

Cheap Plant Stands

http://www.bizrate.com/birdsupplies/mid25977/oid357870428__keyword--bird%20stands.html

List of High School Musicals

The Pajama Game is a Broadway musical based on the novel 7-1/2 Cents by Richard Bissell. It features a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross.

The original Broadway production ran from May 13, 1954 to November 24, 1956. It was revived between December 9, 1973 to February 3, 1974. A current production by The Roundabout Theatre Company has been running since February 23, 2006, starring Harry Connick, Jr. (Sid), with Kelli O'Hara (Babe) and Michael McKean (Hines). The original production won a Tony for best musical, and the most recent revival won a Tony Award for best revival.

List of High School Musicals

Annie is a musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie. The music is by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book (spoken dialog) by Thomas Meehan. Famous songs from the musical include "Tomorrow" and "It's A Hard Knock Life".

List of High School Musicals

Aida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. It was first performed at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo on December 24, 1871.

Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, commissioned Verdi to write the opera for performance in January 1871, paying him 150,000 francs, but the premiere was delayed because of the Franco-Prussian War. Contrary to popular belief, the opera was not written to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, nor that of the Khedivial Opera House in the same year. (Verdi had been asked to compose an ode for the occasion, but refused on the grounds that he did not write "occasional pieces".) The opera was met with great acclaim when it finally opened and continues to be a staple of the standard operatic repertoire. There are many recordings of it, and it is one of the most popular operas. Opera America claims it to be the sixteenth most performed opera in North America.

List of High School Musicals

Guys and Dolls is a successful 1950 musical. On Broadway, it enjoyed a long initial run (1200 performances), as well as three revivals (totalling another 1397 performances). On November 3, 1955 the film version debuted starring Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons, and Vivian Blaine (who along with Stubby Kaye starred in the original Broadway production as well as the movie).

Frank Loesser both composed the music and wrote the lyrics. The book was adapted by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows from "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown", a short story by Damon Runyon. It also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most notably "Pick the Winner." It has been asserted that many of the characters were based on real people in Runyon's hometown, Pueblo, Colorado.[citation needed]

(Disney has recently bought the rights to Guys and Dolls and the company plans a remake of the film starring Hugh Jackman.)

List of High School Musicals

The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas. The official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York on December 31, 1879. The London premiere was on April 3, 1880, at the Opera Comique, where it ran for 363 performances, having already been playing successfully for over three months in New York.

List of High School Musicals

Footloose is a 1984 movie that tells the story of Ren McCormack (played by Kevin Bacon), a teenager who was raised in Chicago and moves to a small town where the town government has banned dancing and rock music. Ren and his classmates want to have a senior prom, with music and dancing, and so must figure out a way to get around the law and Reverend Shaw Moore (played by John Lithgow) who makes it his mission in life to keep the town dance and rock-free. The movie was loosely based on events that took place in the tiny, rural farming community of Elmore City, Oklahoma. Much of the film was filmed in Lehi, Utah, with the Lehi Roller Mills featured prominently.

Dean Pitchford wrote the screenplay for Footloose, Herbert Ross directed, and Paramount Pictures co-produced and distributed the film. Footloose also starred Lori Singer as Reverend Moore's independent daughter Ariel and Dianne Wiest as the Reverend's devoted yet sympathetic wife. Footloose is one of the earliest film appearances of Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker for which she was nominated for Best Young Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Musical, Comedy, Adventure or Drama at the Sixth Annual Youth in Film Awards, and Chris Penn as Willard Hewitt, Ren's friend, who doesn't know how to dance until Ren teaches him.

Two songs from the movie, "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins and "Let's Hear It For The Boy" by Deniece Williams, both hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received 1985 Academy Award nominations for Best Music (Original Song). The song "Footloose" also received a 1985 Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song – Motion Picture.

There is a soundtrack of the music from the film released and is available in compact disc format. The soundtrack includes two rock singles, the title song by Kenny Loggins and "Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler, two R&B singles, "Let's Hear It For the Boy" by Deniece Williams and "Dancing In the Sheets" by Shalamar and the love theme "Almost Paradise" by Mike Reno from Loverboy and Ann Wilson from Heart. The film was later released in VHS, Laserdisc and DVD (in widescreen only) formats and the soundtrack went on to sell over 9 million copies in the USA.

A musical version of Footloose that features many of the same songs from the movie is currently playing at the Novello Theatre in London's West End. The musical is generally faithful to the film version, with some slight differences in the story and characters.

List of High School Musicals

Beauty and the Beast is a traditional folktale (type 425C -- search for a lost husband -- in the Aarne-Thompson classification). The first published version of the fairy tale was a meandering rendition by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740. The best-known written version was an abridgement of M. Villeneuve's work published in 1756 by Mme Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, in Magasin des enfants, ou dialogues entre une sage gouvernante et plusieurs de ses élèves; an English translation appeared in 1757.

Similar tales include the Hellenistic romance Cupid and Psyche (1st century BCE), and Madame d'Aulnoy's Le Mouton (The Ram).

List of High School Musicals

Damn Yankees is a musical comedy, a modern retelling of the Faust legend set in Washington, D.C., with book by Douglass Wallop and George Abbott and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. It was based on Wallop's novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant.

The plot concerns a long suffering middle-aged fan of the Washington Senators baseball club, Joe Hardy, who sells his soul to the Devil to enable the Senators to win the American League pennant.

It opened on Broadway in 1955 starring Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston, and won Tony awards for "Best Musical" and for "Best Composer and Lyricist". The musical also featured a young Jean Stapleton before her career-defining role of Edith Bunker in All in the Family.

A made-for-TV movie version was filmed in 1967. Phil Silvers played the role of "Mr. Applegate", the earthly form of Satan.

The stage version was revived in 1994 featuring Bebe Neuwirth in the role of seductive temptress Lola.

List of High School Musicals

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde1 is a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson first published in 1886. It is about a London lawyer who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll2, and the misanthropic man Edward Hyde. The work is known for its vivid portrayal of the psychopathology of a split personality; in mainstream culture the very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" has come to signify wild or polar behaviour.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was an immediate success and one of Stevenson's best selling works. Stage adaptations began in Boston and London within a year of its publication and it has gone on to inspire scores of major film and stage performances.

List of High School Musicals

Wonderful Town is a musical with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Leonard Bernstein. It is based on the play My Sister Eileen, which is itself based on the collection of short stories by Ruth McKenney of the same name. It follows the story of Ruth and Eileen, who come to New York City from Colombus, Ohio in search of love and fortune. Having premiered in 1953, Wonderful Town has seen only one major Broadway revival in 2003, starring Donna Murphy (and later in the run, Brooke Shields) as Ruth.

Fastest Growing Trees

The Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) is a deciduous tree native to eastern North America. It is mostly found in the moist soil of river valleys from southeastern South Dakota south to New Orleans and central Texas, and east to central Pennsylvania.

It can reach a height of 20–30 meters (66–100 feet), with fast growth. They are relatively short-lived, however, living about 120 years. They are also prone to losing large branches in windstorms. The leaves are pinnately compound on older trees but bipinnately compound on vigorous young trees. The leaflets are 1.5–2.5 cm long (smaller on bipinnate leaves) and bright green. They turn yellow in the fall. The strongly scented cream-colored flowers appear in late spring, in clusters emerging from the base of the leaf axils.

The fruit is a flat legume (pod) that matures between September and October. The pods are generally between 15–20 cm long. The pulp on the insides of the pods is edible and sweet; it should not be confused with Black locust, which is toxic. The seeds are dispersed by grazing herbivores (e.g. cattle and horses), which eat the pod pulp and then excrete the seeds in their droppings; the animal's digestive system assists in breaking down the hard seed coat, making germination easier.

Honey locusts commonly have thorns 10–20 cm long growing out of the branches; these may be single, or branched into several points, and commonly form into dense clusters. It has been suggested that these thorns evolved to protect the trees from now-extinct large animals (which may also have been involved in seed dispersal). Thornless forms (f. inermis) are occasionally found growing wild.

Despite its name, Honey locust is not a significant honey plant, while Black locust honey is prized. The name derives instead from the sweet taste of the legume pulp.

The genus contains 12 other species, native to Asia and other areas of North America; see Gleditsia for details.

A Native American legend is that the Thunder Spirit recognized his son by his ability to sit comfortably on locust branches, despite the thorns.

Fastest Growing Trees

Populus is a genus of trees which includes the cottonwoods, poplars, and aspens, all of which are sometimes termed poplars (in some areas "popple").

Poplars are deciduous, and turn bright gold to yellow before their leaves fall. The leaves of many poplars, including the cottonwoods and aspens (but not the balsam poplars), have laterally-flattened stems, so that breezes easily cause the leaves to wobble back and forth, giving the whole tree a "twinkling" appearance in a breeze.

Like willows, many poplars have very strong and invasive root systems, so they must not be planted too close to houses or water pipes as they will crack walls and pipes in their search for moisture.

Poplars of the cottonwood section are often wetlands or riparian trees. The aspens are among the most important boreal broadleaf trees.

Fast-growing hybrid poplars are grown on plantations in many areas for pulpwood and used for the manufacture of paper. Poplar is also sold as inexpensive hardwood timber, used for pallets and cheap plywood; more specialised uses include matches and the boxes in which camembert cheese is sold. The wood is generally white, often with a slightly yellowish cast.

Poplars and aspens are important food plants for the larvae of a large number of Lepidoptera species - see list of Lepidoptera which feed on Poplars.

Best Prom Updos

http://beauty.about.com/od/hairstylephotogalleries/qt/blondeprom.htm

Best Family Dogs

The Golden Retriever is a relatively modern and very popular breed of dog. It was developed as a retrieving dog to use while hunting wild fowl. Today it is one of the most common family dogs as it is easy to handle, very tolerant and does not require very much of the owners, other than regular exercise, food and veterinary check-ups. It is often affectionately known as a Golden or "Yellow Retriever". Golden Retrievers are observed to be highly compatible with people and other dogs, though after the seclusion from dog life it may develop human qualities and then may not be fond of other dogs. It will bark when startled but other than that it makes a poor watchdog due to its friendly nature. Golden Retrievers are particularly valued for their high level of sociability towards people.

Best Family Dogs

The Labrador Retriever ("Labrador" or "Lab" for short), is one of several kinds of retriever, and is the most popular breed of dog (by registered ownership) in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The breed is exceptionally friendly, intelligent, and good natured, making them excellent companions and working dogs. Labrador Retrievers are known to be one of the fastest learning breeds of dog and respond well to praise.

Best Family Dogs

The Pug is a small but robust toy dog breed with a compressed, wrinkly face. A perky, outgoing little dog, it has been referred to as "Multo in Parvo" meaning "a lot of dog in a small space". The pug breed is the largest of all the toy breeds.