Well the first one's pretty normal, but then it gets sillier.
1. I had a bit of time before a flight to look around Stuttgart Airport and its neighbouring exhibition hall earlier this week, and took a few snaps - click though for larger versions.
Green roofs were much evidence, but not on the huge 4,200-place car park which straddles the adjacent Autobahn. The artist's impression shows a lush green swath:
...but right now they are busy installing a huge expanse of solar panels instead:
A case of one green virtue topping another?
Also a couple of interesting smaller-scale landscaping touches caught my eye - a bank carpeted in Pinus mugo (I think!):
...and some perennial planting that appears designed to have visual interest even in winter:
2. I wrote a few months ago about the perils of ride-on mowers. I imagine the Elf-n-Safety bods would have something to say about this firm of garden contractors in New Zealand:
3. Meanwhile contractors in Massachusetts have found a more environmentally friendly means of vegetation control - by providing "goat and sheep mowing services".
Those involved stress that managing the animals is a specialist business, as they have a tendency to wander:
4. I mentioned last week the landscaping around the world's tallest building, the Burj Dubai, which will open shortly. Here is a better view of the building itself. I wonder if those lower rooftop platforms will be landscaped too? Interesting micro-climates, anyway:
In fact I see one of my fellow countrymen has already made it to the top. This one isn't for those with an aversion to heights:
5. The BBC, looking for a subject that would benefit from more graphic detail, has a video report of the National Trust peeing story.
6. I wonder if the Scottish Wildlife Trust's latest appeal to Adopt a Beaver for Christmas will find many takers at Hertfordshire Golf and Country Club, which has just lost a prominent tree to the critters?
7. Lastly, in light of recent discussions of the content of horticultural websites, I enjoyed this recent Dilbert:
