The Best in Show gold medal winner in this year's 2005 Northwest Flower and Garden Show is the Seattle Youth Garden Work, a non-profit that turns homeless and impoverished kids into accomplished gardeners. The Seattle Post Intelligencer described the win this way: "In the horticulture world, it's the equivalent of the Everett AquaSox beating the New York Yankees."
The Garden Works annually accepts 60 people between 14 and 22 years old who have had problems with poverty and homelessness. The youths are taught to work in the growing, marketing and selling of the plants cultivated by the organization.
Three judges (one from England, one from the East Coasts, and one from the West) considered several criteria in assessing the competing gardens, including: design, color palette, health of plants and quality of the overall horticulture. Before judging none of the gardens' creators was identified.
The winning garden won on merit alone. The theme of the garden was Urban Land Use and Food Security.
One infinitesimal sliver of a silver lining after the Tsunami--
The deadly tsunamis that crashed into southern India have unearthed priceless relics, including two granite lions, buried under sand for centuries, archaeologists say.
The towering waves that killed over 285,000 people throughout Asia also appear to have swept a bronze Buddha to Indian shores from Thailand in a basket attached to a bamboo raft, they say.
Archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have descended on the ancient seaport of Mahabalipuram, famed for its rock carvings dating back to the great Pallava dynasty, to see the objects. "The sea has thrown up evidence of the grandeur of the Pallava dynasty. These have been buried for centuries," the archaeological body's superintending archaeologist, T. Sathiamoorthy, said late on Thursday. "We're all very excited about these finds."
The Hindu dynasty dominated much of South India from as early as the first century BC to eighth century AD and Mahabalipuram is now recognised as the site of some of the greatest architectural and sculptural achievements in India.
Among the tsunami "gifts" found in Mahabalipuram, 70 kilometres south of Madras, are the remnants of a stone house and a half-completed rock elephant, archaeologists say. There are also two giant granite lions, one seated and another poised to charge. The statues are each carved out of a single piece of granite stone, testifying to the carver's skill. The objects were uncovered when the towering waves withdrew from the beach, carrying huge amounts of sand with them.
The archaeologists are also excited about a report from locals that just before the waves struck on December 26, the sea withdrew a great distance baring the seabed on which lay a temple structure and several rock sculptures. "We'll be exploring the seabed to document these Pallava relics," Sathiamoorthy said, adding the Archaeological Survey of India would dispatch a team of marine archaeologists next month to the area.
Experts are examining as well a 15-centimetre tall bronze Buddha found inside a bamboo basket attached to a raft to determine its age and origin. The figure with Myanmarese writing on its back is seated lotus style and holds a begging bowl on his lap.
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