Commonly known as ‘Our Lord’s Candle’ the Yucca whipplei in our  Mediterranean Biome is flowering for the very first time! It is native to southern California and Baja California in Mexico where it occurs in chaparral, coastal sage scrub and oak woodland plant communities usually between 300 and 2500 m.

From the centre of a rosette of long, narrow, spine-tipped leaves, the single inflorescence can sky-rocket to a height of 3m bearing hundreds of bell-shaped greenish-white flowers edged with purple. It is pollinated during the night by the female Californian yucca moth and in return the plant provides food for her larvae.

In early spring these majestic flowers provide a stunning spectacle in the Californian countryside but in the past the flowers, fruits, seeds and stems were eaten by indigenous peoples. They also provide food for antelopes, ground squirrels and hummingbirds. This plant has been an important fibre plant in the past.

So head for the Mediterranean Biome and you’ll find our Yucca on the Californian hillside beyond the Harley Davidson!

(For a bit of fun, every Friday our Plant Records Manager, Chris Bisson, the guy who maintains all the recorded information on our plant collections, will do a regular blog slot where he recommends his favourite “plant records” – that is, songs that are in some way linked to a plant. (Do you see what we did there?) )

‘Pork and Beans’ – Weezer

A nice cheery tune featuring my favourite plant family the Legumes! One of the largest plant families, the Fabaceae not only include beans and peas we know and love, but also the fantastic Acacia and Flaming Coral trees. We have loads of Fabaceae here at Eden, come down and see if you can spot them. Broom, Gorse, Broad Beans the list goes on!

Chris Bisson – Plant Records Manager  – Eden Project

Commonly known as ‘Our Lord’s Candle’ the Yucca whipplei in our  Mediterranean Biome is flowering for the very first time! It is native to southern California and Baja California in Mexico where it occurs in chaparral, coastal sage scrub and oak woodland plant communities usually between 300 and 2500 m.

From the centre of a rosette of long, narrow, spine-tipped leaves, the single inflorescence can sky-rocket to a height of 3m bearing hundreds of bell-shaped greenish-white flowers edged with purple. It is pollinated during the night by the female Californian yucca moth and in return the plant provides food for her larvae.

In early spring these majestic flowers provide a stunning spectacle in the Californian countryside but in the past the flowers, fruits, seeds and stems were eaten by indigenous peoples. They also provide food for antelopes, ground squirrels and hummingbirds. This plant has been an important fibre plant in the past.

So head for the Mediterranean Biome and you’ll find our Yucca on the Californian hillside beyond the Harley Davidson!

(For a bit of fun, every Friday our Plant Records Manager, Chris Bisson, the guy who maintains all the recorded information on our plant collections, will do a regular blog slot where he recommends his favourite “plant records” – that is, songs that are in some way linked to a plant. (Do you see what we did there?) )

‘Turnip Farm’ Dinosaur Jr.

The humble Turnip (Brassica rapa var. rapa) is a fantastic vegetable! It’s a brilliant ingredient for stews, soups,
pies and pasties. Not to be confused with the Swede the turnip is white and purple, with a whiter flesh.

Dinosaur Jr. although not directly singing the praises of Turnips in this slightly melancholy song, are most
definately influenced by the Brassicaceae Family, which you can feel in the more ‘twangy’ chords.

Chris Bisson – Plant Records Manager  – Eden Project

More than 300 homeless and disadvantaged people from across the country are now preparing detailed plans for the “Places of Change” Garden, the biggest-ever show garden in the history of the world-famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2010.

The Places of Change Garden is an ambitious collaboration between national housing and regeneration delivery agency, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the Eden Project, national membership charity for frontline homelessness agencies Homeless Link, and Communities and Local Government (CLG).

This partnership builds on the success of the silver medal award-winning Key Garden at Chelsea in 2009, which saw collaboration from 20 homeless agencies and 200 homeless service users involved at all stages of the  garden’s development. The project aimed to give participants the chance to unlock their hidden potential, and many of the service users involved consistently reported a huge confidence boost, new skills, and renewed hope for their future.

The 2010 Garden is being funded by CLG and the HCA’s Places of Change programme – a £80m capital funding improvement programme that aims to bring about a step change in the way homeless services are perceived and challenge stereotypes around homelessness.

Following on from the themes of The Key last year, the new garden is founded on the ideas of skills,  employment and enterprise.

All the people taking part are going to be guided and looked after in their activities. The National Open College Network is going to assess and accredit their activity. For the designers, this will not only mean being part of a unique project, it also means they will have an accredited qualification in garden design.

Among the creative concepts already being developed is a towering “planted man” figure being made up of medicinal plants grown in the precise bodily regions to which they bring benefit.

The novel idea was suggested by Lucy Fleming, a project worker at Stonham,  a supported housing provider.  The framework is now being devised and the plants are being researched, selected and grown.  Among the remedies proposed is St John’s Wort, sometimes used in the treatment of depression, to make up part of the figure’s head.

Lucy said: “All of my colleagues and clients at the services involved are really excited about appearing at the show.  We’re hoping our plant man looks really eye catching and that visitors to the garden learn something about which plants can help them live more healthily.”

Also working on the garden’s Health zone are Herefordshire SHYPP, supported housing for young people project, whose clients have chosen the theme of toxic and healing plants for their design, and have recruited two herbalists  from London to work with ten young people,  to teach them about their own health, plants and their healing properties.

Overseen by Paul Stone, the Eden Project garden designer and a multiple medal winner at Chelsea, the 590 square-metre garden will feature a network of themed zones all conveying the empowering nature of growing for life.  In addition to the health zone, other areas will feature food production, the senses, industry and the environment.

Paul Stone is working with Architecture Sans Frontieres-UK and Roderick James Architects on the masterplan.  The experienced designers are taking a holistic approach and are involving people from eight homeless centres in creating the framework.  In total, as many as 50 centres across the country will be involved in design, planting and building of the garden.

Paul Stone said: “The real work is now starting to happen.  We know it is fantastically ambitious to have so many hands on the project and in particular the design.  The exciting thing is to empower so many people.  The stage is there for them to express themselves in all kinds of creative ways.

“Already there are some great ideas on the drawing board, including the planted man. Experienced horticulturists from Eden are being assigned to the teams to help guide them through but essentially the garden is being designed by people who would never have taken on anything like this before.

“As well as the separately designed zones and all the features and plants within them, a major structure on display will be the dramatic central spine of the garden, made up of 250 sentinel posts. These will require traditional carpentry skills and are very much part of the training and learning experience which is such an important element of this project.”

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You can find out more about Eden’s project’s and programmes on the Our Work section of our website. Support us by spreading our messages and get daily updates on our latest stories by following us on our Eden Facebook page.

Ricky Lawlor, now in full time employment at the Eden Project

A programme that gives unemployed people a chance to work and train at the Eden Project has led to full-time jobs for some of its users. Taste of Eden is designed to help unemployed people overcome obstacles to employment, guiding them through training, giving them a 13-week work experience placement, teaching CV writing, interview skills and other life skills to help get them back into paid employment. The programme is financed by the European Social Fund, an EU body set up to improve employment opportunities and help raise standards of living.

Ricky Lawlor, 22, came to Eden through Taste of Eden in December 2008. He has recently started working full-time in the project’s maintenance team, eventually hoping to qualify as a plumber. His job involves helping to look after the complex technical systems in Eden’s iconic Biomes, including responsibility for the pond in the Rainforest Biome’s Oceanic Island’s exhibit, as well as dealing with general maintenance issues around the site as they arise.

In the past, he has he found himself on the wrong side of the law so, three years ago, he decided to move from Nottingham to have a fresh start in Cornwall. He joined Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall trainee chef programme before moving to Taste of Eden when Fifteen’s former Admin Manager Lynn Major was appointed European Social Fund Programme Manager at the project.

Since starting work, Ricky has moved from a hostel into his own flat and, with Lynn’s help, is making arrangements to finish the City and Guilds Level 2 in Basic Plumbing Studies qualification he started in Nottingham. He has also got his Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card, which proves his occupational competence, and gained first aid and health and safety qualifications.

Ricky said: “I love working at Eden, the atmosphere is good and I enjoy meeting the visitors. Without the Taste of Eden programme and Lynn’s help, I don’t know where I’d be or what I’d be doing now.

“I wasn’t cut out to be a chef and have always wanted to be a plumber so when Lynn got her job at Eden she called me and said she may be able to help me achieve that goal.

“Working at Eden is a positive influence on my life, it helps keep me stable and I look forward to going in every morning. I’m gaining qualifications, learning my trade and growing in confidence and I’ve got all the back-up I need from Lynn and my team.

“My advice to anyone considering whether this is right for them is to just give it a go. There’s nothing to lose and plenty to gain.”

Lynn said: “I’m really proud of what Ricky’s achieved. The reason we do this work and think it’s important not only for Eden but for the wider community is that it gives people the opportunity to make a positive change.

“Most of the people on the programme are very willing and able to work but sometimes find too many obstacles in their way. This programme aims to remove those obstacles and help people reach their full potential.

”A lot of people have the misconception that jobs at Eden are mostly plant-based but this isn’t the case. We do have a world class horticulture team but a whole host of other professionals – catering, marketing, ICT, science and many more – work together to make Eden what it is.”

Ricky is one of 18 Taste of Eden graduates who have been given paid work either at the project or elsewhere since the scheme started in June 2008.

In total, Lynn has worked with 79 people, 30 of which have done the 13-week work experience. Many of those who haven’t been employed yet are working as volunteers at Eden.

Anyone who is over the age of 16 and unemployed is eligible for Taste of Eden. To enquire or for more information on the programme and how it can help people move closer to paid employment, please contact Lynn Major on 01726 818554 or lmajor@edenproject.com.

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You can find out more about Eden’s project’s and programmes on the Our Work section of our website. Support us by spreading our messages and get daily updates on our latest stories by following us on our Eden Facebook page.

So, Jack Johnson was the very first headliner to be announced for the 2010 Eden Sessions and last night tickets went on sale to the general public. And wow! what a response. Because the man is sooo popular we had an absolutely huge demand for tickets when they went on sale at 6 pm (Monday February 8).  There was a huge rush on the website and telephone - in fact one of the highest we have had since the Sessions began. This meant that not everyone could get through to book. To help cope with the demand our lovely Box Office team stayed here until 11 pm so that people had a better chance of getting through by phone as well as the website. Fans continued to book online all night and the Session sold out overnight.

We’ll be making further announcements on the rest of the 2010 Eden Sessions headline acts in due course.