Magic Mirror on the (Green) Wall, what is Greenery at all?

I live HERE:

which is here:

which is here:

 

which is here:

which is in Singapore (the walls are at Ocean Financial Centre, Singapore).

These green walls are covering a total area of 2,125.56 sqm. and is the largest vertical garden in the world. Ocean Financial Centre recently won an Excellence Award in Skyrise Greenery Awards 2013.

Singapore is indeed a very green city. There is plenty of urban greenery, like the hotel Park Royal on Pickering:

see how it looks from the top.

Or take a look at some of the newly built suburban highrises - btw called The Tree House.

Here are some pics from the central shopping area of Singapore (YES, I said shopping areas believe it or not):

   

 

 

I love when urbanity is combined with everything green. The more the merrier. 

And Singapore is definitely much greener than most cities, which is due to a  vision put forward by former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew way back in 1968, just after Singapore's independence. He envisioned and carried through the idea of Singapore as a Garden City in order to integrate the environment with urban development and soften the effects of a concrete jungle. 

Today the vision has gone further and is called Singapore - a city in a garden.

But man made greenery is somehow always predictable, always in patterns, in shapes and even lines. No man made greenery in Singapore (or anywhere else) can replace the country's true jewels: the last remaining primary forests in MacRitchie and Bukit Timah Nature Reserves. It is here that we have a chance to indulge in the luxury of a lushness that includes decay and "disorder" - the last remains of something that has been let alone by man - something OTHER - and yet something US.

This kind of greenery asks for one action only: NO action, i.e. hands off the chain saws and instead, relax and enjoy:

Cultural Selection

Today I went to the opening of the exhibiton: The Origin of Domesticated Species around Væksthuset (The Growth House) at Copenhagen University.

Interesting to see how different plants like cabbage, heartsease and beet-plants have developed via human selection, in part methodically, and in part unconsciously, during the last 10.000 years. The exhibition is situated in a beautiful garden around the university and I will return with updated pictures when the plants have grown a bit more.

Natural History for beginners

The Green Table* is still growing and strange creatures appear - they have all got names but for a while I will let them remain unnamed - just to be enjoyed as they are.

* In Denmark "The Green Table" usually refers to an exam table - that table where you are sitting alone sweating on the one side with 2 examiners opposite you.