‘Ragged Wood’ – Fleet Foxes (2008)

As september approaches lots of our woodland comes into life before the onset of autumn and leaf fall.

Tricyrtis formosana ‘Empress’ is an example, this Toad Lily has stunning orchid-like flowers mottled and spotted with reddish-brown. This can be seen growing on our Plane Tree Steps.

Chris Bisson – Plant Records Manager – Eden Project

In the past, the gardeners have kept the forest’s trees under control by using a cherry-picker or by abseiling from the roof of the Biome but some upper branches have grown out of their reach.

Later in the year we hope to be able to give visitors this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly through the treetops, so watch this space!

The soulful singer Paolo Nutini is just one of the many people who have shown their support for Eden’s new volunteering scheme the Barefoot Games.

We caught up with Paolo just before his second sell-out performance at the Eden Sessions to tell him all about it.

The Barefoot Games is a new volunteering scheme for young people aged between 16 and 25. Using the 2012 Olympic Games as inspiration, participants will design the specifics of the programme and how they think they can best help their community

The Barefoot Games is part of the “mygames” programme, set up by V, The National Young Volunteers Service. Within mygames, 20 innovative charities were chosen from across the country to help young people to set up their own projects and to celebrate the values of the 2012 Olympic Games. These values include friendship, respect, excellence, equality and determination.

During the Barefoot Games we will be harnessing people’s passions to inspire them to make positive changes in their community. During the recent Sessions season, we thought that it was the perfect opportunity to see just what gets people motivated.

We asked our 16 to 25 year olds to whip off their shoes, socks, flip flops and crocs to draw around their feet and write down what they’re most passionate about. The answers, which included music, mascara and many more, will eventually form a display on site to inspire our Barefoot volunteers.

Paolo 23, who is six years into his singing career, would be just the right age to join the programme and he was more that happy to lend a hand (or foot) to the cause. After some consideration, he decided that he was most passionate about ‘stayin’ alive’, written Bee Gees style, and signed his name with a smiley face.

Celine Elliot, Barefoot Games Project Leader, said: “It’s brilliant that Paolo has taken the time to help to support the Games, I hope that other people feel the same way and will want to sign up to this great programme.”

The Barefoot Games will be recruiting until the end of the year, so if you’re passionate about something, whether it’s staying alive or just having fun, there is still plenty of time to sign up and help make a difference to your community.

If you’d like further information on the Barefoot Games, then you can contact Celine Elliott on 01726 818587, email barefootgames@edenproject.com or by visiting vinspired.com.

 The Kigelia africana tree is named after the Mozambican words for sausage and tree (‘kigeli-keia’) and has a variety of uses in tropical and southern Africa, including beer-making, timber, and herbal medicines. Wild birds, and animals such as giraffes and baboons, also love the pulp and help spread the seed far and wide.

 Its reddish-orange waxy flowers are usually pollinated by bats and hawk-moths at night – although it’s unlikely that Eden’s specimen appeared thanks to these creatures. Horticulturalists at the gardens have been attempting to artificially pollinate the three sausage trees for the past five years, using a cotton bud to take pollen from the ‘male’ stamen and place it on the ‘female’ part of the flower.

 “But this fruit was a real surprise,” admits one of Eden’s Skilled Horticulturalists, Sandra Austin. She adds: “It’s also possible that a small insect in the biome contributed to the pollination – or perhaps this particular tree is in just the right spot for optimum humidity, heat and shade in the Biome.” 

‘Grass’ – Animal Collective (2005)

The Grass family is massive! We use grasses for a vast range of things from food to construction, Bamboo’s are grasses as are Wheat and Sweetcorn. They have the most amazing flowers, so the next time you are lazing around in a field on a summers day, have a good old look at the grass your sitting on!

The Animal Collective are an amazingly eclectic band with a slightly psychadelic sound, this particular song is quite catchy.

What is your favourite grass?

Chris Bisson – Plant Records Manager – Eden Project

Yesterday saw one million people up and down the country sit down to eat together for The Big Lunch, the initiative started by the Eden Project to sow the seeds of community and friendship.

Across the UK bouncy castles were inflated, sack races cheered and smiley faces painted on children and adults as neighbours came together on what was – in some places at least, a beautiful sunny Sunday. Check out the photos and read some heartwarming stories on The Big Lunch Facebook Page

This Sunday, Brits are breaking out the bunting and barbecues for The Big Lunch. In all four corners of the UK, people are organising events ranging from a full-blown street party to a simple bring-your-own picnic with a couple of neighbours.

There’s still time to take part where you live – search for a local Big Lunch using your postcode, or grab a few neighbours and have a bite to eat in your garden / street / park. You can register and get loads of ideas here http://www.thebiglunch.com

Here’s some inspiration from around the country:

• The Cowgate estate in  Newcastle is gearing up for its second Big  Lunch, with sack races, a bouncy castle and fruit and veg growing  demonstrations.
• A community in King’s Heath,  Birmingham, is pulling together in the wake  of several arson attacks to offer a Big Lunch with free ice cream for kids,  games and music.
• In Truro,  Cornwall, neighbours are laying on a  traditional street party with trestle tables and barrels of beer, as well as a  charity bring-and-buy sale.
• Residents from the scattered rural community  of Traquair and Glen in Scotland’s Peeblesshire will be converging  for a Big Lunch for the second  year.
• In Tufnell Park, north  London, residents are bringing their  national dish and rigging up flags, to celebrate the 30 or so different  nationalities living in the street.
  

“The Big Lunch has the potential to build stronger, friendlier communities on a massive scale,” says Eden’s Peter Stewart, which is behind the campaign.

He organised an event in his own neighbourhood last year and says: “The morning after a Big Lunch has a feeling like no other. You walk down the street where, yesterday, people were eating, chatting, playing instruments, skateboarding and cooking on barbecues. The whole place feels different. I feel different.”

‘Counting Flowers on the Wall’ – Statler Brothers (1966)

Well everything seems to be in full flower here at Eden at the moment, with bright colours exploding out of the Rainforest and the stately colours of our Outdoor Biome, when you add the heady mix of mediterranean flowers you can’t fail to be happy even when wandering around in the rain and wind!

The Statler Brothers were an awesome gospel country group that ended up touring for about 8 years warming up for Johnny Cash, and performed this very song at the famous San Quentin Prison gig.

Have a great weekend, and I hope most of you get a chance to get out and count real flowers, not sit inside and stare at the ones on the wallpaper!

Chris Bisson – Plant Records Manager – Eden Project

The biggest greenhouses in the world played host to what could be the longest picnic table today. A grassy roof between the iconic Rainforest and Mediterranean Biomes at the Eden Project in Cornwall was the setting for the 48m long picnic for a 100 people and a dog.

The spectacular feast was designed to be a “starter” for the Big Lunch, which encourages everyone in Britain to sit down with their neighbours in a simple act of community and friendship. The second annual Big Lunch is on Sunday week, July 18.

“The Big Lunch has grown out of an idea at Eden so what better way to remind everyone about it than to stage our own on the roof,” said Peter Stewart, Eden’s Campaigns and Communications Director. “This is just for starters. The main course will be when many thousands of people the length and breadth of Britain do their own thing on July 18. Lunches big and small are happening around the country and, even though the event takes place in just over a week it’s not too late to organise a simple gathering with your neighbours.”

To sign up to run your own Big Lunch and to play an exclusive Aardman Digital Shaun the Sheep game with a chance to win a family weekend break in Cornwall, see www.thebiglunch.com

*The makers of a 46m (151ft) picnic table in Dufur, Oregon, USA, have laid claim to it being the world’s longest.