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Reading Time: 3 minutes Nothing induces memories quite like smells. Especially in winter, different smells trigger warm emotional responses: the smell of cotton candy, fried sausages and cheap mulled wine makes people reminiscence of Christmas markets. The smell of pine gives us that lovely feeling of sitting in front of a Christmas tree on a cold but exciting morning. […]

Reading Time: 3 minutes It began with a Christmas Card, which only caught my eye because of the Penguins.* But the penguins were holding a small placard – the protesting kind, and the placard read ‘down with sprouts’. *Penguins are the greatest. It goes Plants, Cats, Penguins. Although some penguins are probably even better than some cats. I didn’t […]

Reading Time: 2 minutes Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reading up on the various Christmas traditions of different cultures in search for some inspo for this Advent Calendar. And I think I’ve found my favourite.

Reading Time: 2 minutes When I was young, I loved The Sound of Music.

Reading Time: 2 minutes Those who love winter usually love it for the opportunity to wrap oneself in a blanket, sit by the fire and enjoy the cozy indoor heat. Well, plants don’t have that luxury, most of them have to stay outside (despite Tegan’s best efforts to give them all a warm home). And for some, winter is […]

Reading Time: 2 minutes As I was reading fun facts about my beloved West Australian Christmas tree, wikipedia had the audacity to note that New Zealand also has its own Christmas tree. And I suspect it just might be better.

Reading Time: < 1 minutes We’re back! The podcast took a short break for a few weeks but now, it is back, and it’s going strong. This week, we’re talking about not one but two papers – at the same time! We’re all about mistletoe, present you our favourite plant and so much more. It feels good to be back. You […]

Reading Time: 2 minutes The conversation went a bit like this:

Reading Time: 3 minutes Growing up in Australia, we had a bunch of Christmas traditions that anyone from the far North (Eurasia and North America) might consider strange. Christmas in my hometown of Perth commonly reaches 40+ degrees C (104 F), so we swap snow with swimming, and often favour seafood and salad over hot turkey roast. There’s even […]

Reading Time: 3 minutes I don’t understand why someone would put a spiky, angry little plant as a decorative element in their own home. For some reason however, holly made the cut of nice-to-have decorative plants, even though it is ready to stab me at any moment. If it only wasn’t for goats, then it would be a perfectly […]

Reading Time: 3 minutes When you think of Christmas, you probably have a pretty good visual. But do you also have a good nose-ual? (smellual? scentual? someone help me with this). Basically what I’m asking is – when you think of Christmas, what scents come to mind?

Reading Time: 2 minutes Do you know where your Christmas tree is from? Chances are you can pinpoint the nursery that grew the trees in your local area, but where did they get the seeds?

Reading Time: 2 minutes If you just saw the cover image, would you known what the post was about? How about now?:

Reading Time: < 1 minutes Today, it’s podcast release day. And as we’re both far from being fit, this is not a regular fun full episode, it is an irregular fun focused episode. It is about a post you might have read – but did you listen to Joram’s soothing voice read it to you on your way to work? […]

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winter would be that much sadder without the green that remains on some trees – like our beloved Christmas trees conifers. They resist the peer pressure of other trees that drop their foliage as soon as it gets a little bit colder.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Given that you should, right about now, be decorating and hanging thematic wreaths on your doors, walls, loved ones and pets, I thought it might be a good time to ask you if you had heard about Kranz Anatomy.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Look, I don’t even think we need a leading paragraph. That title speaks for itself…

Reading Time: 2 minutes Next up on the ‘plants we associate with Christmas’ roundabout is the Poinsettia (aka, Euphorbia pulcherrima). Here are five fast facts about these red and green beauties.

Reading Time: 2 minutes While Christmas trees are now ubiquitous and popular, the tradition of erecting a pine or fir in the confines of a home is relatively new. Using evergreens as a reminder of the better, as in warmer, times is an older tradition but it was Martin Luther, the protestant reformer, who is credited with coming up […]