“It’s a rainbow, it’s a roof, it’s a tree? This 144-year-old Wisteria located in Japan looks nothing like your ordinary tree. With branches protruding out half-a-mile long, standing beneath this tree makes you truly feel like you’ve slipped into another world. A world where an enchanted pink sky hangs like a canopy overhead.
The pink and purple blooms typical to the wisteria tree are spread wildly throughout, extending far and wide. The ginormous vines stretching out of the tree are held up by steel rods placed throughout. Otherwise, the weight of the branches would cause the tree to collapse in on itself–potentially trapping awed visitors inside!
In all seriousness, the steel rods make it possible to venture beneath this tree and see how stunning it looks from the underside. From inside, the light pours in through the brightly colored vines, reflecting off of the flowers in unimaginable ways.
There are wisteria trees in many parts of the world, but one of the most well-known gorgeous giants is located at Ashikaga Flower Park. After looking at these photos I’m ready to book the next flight to Japan!
Planted around the year 1870, this tree has since brought so much delight. The wisteria is at its peak beauty between mid-April and mid-May.
Tourists and locals come to visit this tree, the sights that it offers never get old. Not only is the tree fun to gawk at from all angles, but the vines give off a lovely aroma, reminiscent of grapes.
I love this photo (above) because you can actually see the tree branch in all its curved glory. It’s not really a tree branch but rather a tangle of thick vines. Either way, the trunk’s shape makes this tree all the more mystical in my eyes.
You can see the rods supporting the heavy vines of the wisteria, wisteria that do not have a surface to grow up, or support them, will fall and start to grow into a large heap.
Depending on what time of day you visit, the lighting changes offering a world of diversity. Beware, even though this tree appears beautiful the seeds that it sheds are actually poisonous.
A part of the pea family, the light brown to pale green seeds shed by the wisteria are rather large. Not only are they poisonous, but they are also explosive. When left out unattended, they are known to explode, popping open and splitting apart with a loud sound.
Wisterias look like they have regular tree branches, but they are actually vines. These vines can climb up any nearby support systems, and can grow as tall as 20 meters.
Within only a few years a wisteria can gain a substantial amount of weight. Still, the wisteria will take its time developing to the point where it produces blooms, some take several years. Don’t give up on your wisteria tree just yet, others take as long as 6-10 years to bloom. According to these images, it’s well worth the wait.
Japan’s large wisteria is not the only one, nor is it the largest. There is a wisteria located in Sierra Madre, California that stretches an entire mile long and weighs over 250 tons. This wisteria was planted back in 1894.
If you don’t live close to any huge wisteria trees, at least you can plant and grow your own wisteria. Within one year they can grow 10 feet!
Wisterias aren’t all that hard to look after either, according to the US Plant Hardiness scale they are one tough hunk of bark! Even capable of growing in soil that is of poor quality.
Feeling obsessed with these photos? Wisteria has a way of luring people in, hence the name. Wisteria symbolizes “passionate love” or “obsession” in the Victorian language of flowers.“
honestly the Chantry recruiting templars from their orphanages, WHERE THEY PUT THE CHILDREN THEY TAKE FROM MAGES, is so fucked up
what do you think the Chantry tells those kids tho
Child: What happened to my parents?
Sister/Brother : *noncomittal grunt* *vague hand gesture*
I mean, there’s really only two options here: either they tell them “your parents are monsters and we took you away from them because you’re a monster too and monsters don’t deserve parents,” or they lie through their teeth and tell them “your parents didn’t want you” or, perhaps more kindly, “your parents are dead”
Of the these options I’m inclined to believe “your parents didn’t want you” is the most oft-repeated, since of the two cases we’ve seen of women giving birth in the Circle and being forced to give up the child (Wynne and Fiona,) both came with a hefty dose of victim-blaming towards the mother. In both cases the mother is made to feel guilty for “choosing” to give up the child even though there was no choice whatsoever.
Would the kids of mages ever find out?
The Templars could eventually see babies being taken from mages. And they have to ask permission to get married. Mages blooded ones could get told no.
Would mage born templars be warned they stand a greater risk for having mage kids?
If the chantry wants to cut down on the number of mages then they want to stop mage blooded people from “breeding” like they do for mages right??
That is the beauty of taking mage orphans as Templar recruits: it keeps them under the Chantry’s eye. They stay in the same prison, albeit on the other side of the bars. The Chantry will be able to keep close track of them and if they or any of their family ever shows signs of mage talent, they can be put right back in the Circle immediately.
Also, it’s possible that mage-blooded Templars are actually more effective at Templar skills. Alistair doesn’t even need lyrium to use them. Meredith (whose sister was a mage) gets final boss powers simply from proximity exposure to red lyrium. So that’s likely another reason why the Chantry would recruit Templars that way. Lyrium is expensive, and you don’t need as much for the not-quite-a-mage recruits and they’re easier to train.
now, that’s an interesting theory
I wish there was a side quest or war table mission or even a full plot twist where the inquisitor would find the records of all these families who were essentially bred out of existence (because the key to this level of surveillance would be impeccable records) and have the choice to publish these records for the rebel mages to find their parents, their children, their siblings either within their own sides or out in the world or even on the other side. Templars would know why they were denied permission to marry. Both sides would have to reconcile this new layer to their identity: “My son is a templar in Kirkwall.” “I have siblings in the Montsimmard Circle.”
And when both sides have grieved and raged and reconnected they would look at the Chantry who did this to them—who pitted them against each other for no easily defensible reason—and burn it down.
You can regrow scallions by leaving an inch attached to the roots and place them in a small glass with a little water in a well-lit room.
Garlic
When garlic begins to sprout, you can put them in a glass with a little water and grow garlic sprouts. The sprouts have a mild flavor than garlic and can be added to salads, pasta and other dishes.
Bok Choy
Bok choy can be regrown by placing the root end in water in a well-lit area. In 1-2 weeks , you can transplant it to a pot with soil and grow a full new head.
Carrots
Put carrot tops in a dish with a little water. Set the dish in a well-lit room or a window sill. You’ll have carrot tops to use in salads.
Basil
Put clippings from basil with 3 to 4-inch stems in a glass of water and place it in direct sunlight. When the roots are about 2 inches long, plant them in pots to and in time it will grow a full basil plant.
Celery
Cut off the base of the celery and place it in a saucer or shallow bowl of warm water in the sun. Leaves will begin to thicken and grow in the middle of the base, then transfer the celery to soil.
Romaine Lettuce
Put romaine lettuce stumps in a ½ inch of water. Re-water to keep water level at ½ inch. After a few days, roots and new leaves will appear and you can transplant it into soil.
Cilantro
The stems of cilantro will grown when placed in a glass of water. Once the roots are long enough, plant them in a pot in a well-lit room. You will have a full plant in a few months.
Get your infinite food exploit out of here you cheater. People like you ruin the survival horror experience.
So, possibly one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I mean you know how you hear the “women want him, men want to *be* him” stuff in old movies? Well I’m a man and by *god* I wanted to be this guy. Anyway!
I’m having dinner with my girlfriend at the time, and behind us are a couple on a date. It is.. not going well. Guy was being rather creepy and making some pretty inappropriate comments, the girl doesn’t look at all comfortable.
The girl finishes her appetiser really quickly, my guess is she wanted to get it over with. Guy proceeds to comment on it and says “well, least I know you can swallow right?”. Loudly.
Girl goes red and tells him that isn’t appropriate, he literally waves his hand in a “shoo” type motion and says “oh calm down I was going to find out in a few hours anyway”.
I missed her exact reply as she moved to a hushed tone, but it was fairly obvious what was being said - fuck no, fuck off, fuck this. He responded with “sweetheart I picked you up, I know where you live”. She lost the colour in her face and said nothing.
No. No. Fuck no. I’m one of those “get involved” type of people and there is no way I’m sitting here watching this go down. I get up. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’m 23, fighting fit and happy to put that motherfucker through a wall. I may have had a slight temper in my youth. But anyway.
I was halfway out of my chair when a hand came down on my shoulder and I look up to this mid-50s but super fit guy who says “Easy.. I’ve got this one son”. Absolute, total confidence in his voice.. so seeing as my current plan amounted to “stab him in the neck” and I’m already thinking maybe that’s not the best idea, I sit down.
He walks over, grabs a nearby chair, flips it around and sits down with the couple. Then.. he pulls out his police ID and puts it on the table. Now the guy doesn’t have any colour in his face.
Cop: “So, I’m quietly celebrating my daughters birthday with my family when I distinctly hear you threaten this young lady, would you care to explain yourself?”
Guy: “I, ah, well, um, you see..”
Cop: “That’s what I thought. Now see, we take a *very* dim view of that kind of thing, so right now I’m deciding if I want to have some of my buddies come pick you up.”
Guy: “oh no well that…”
Cop: “But that would disrupt everyone’s dinner, so how about you hand me your ID, because I wouldn’t want you running off on me, then you go see one of the staff here and settle your bill.. the full bill now, this young lady shouldn’t go hungry on account of your poor behaviour. Or we can go with the first option, I’ll leave it up to you.”
Guy: “No no! That’s perfectly fine!” \*hands over ID, gets up and walks very quickly in the direction of the counter\*
Cop: \*while writing down the guys details\* “Sorry about that miss, I hope I’m not intruding it just seemed like you could use some help. Oh and don’t worry, if you want to pursue this further I’ll have some of the boys pick him up on his way home, we can definitely take this further.”
Girl: “No, thank you so much, I wanted to run out 30 minutes ago but he drove me here”.
Cop: \*shifts from hardarse cop to comforting father figure in about half a second\* “Well I’m here with my daughter, she’s about your age, perhaps you’d like to finish your meal with us? We can run you home afterwards if you’d like, unless you’d prefer to call someone else?”
Girl: “Oh.. that would be really nice.. thankyou so much!”
\*guy returns, so does the hardarse cop\*
Guy: “Uh so, I’ve paid the bill, if I could have my ID back..”.
Cop: “There you go.. now I have your details right here so I *highly* recommend you don’t go near or contact this young lady ever again.”
Guy: “Yes yes of course, I’m so sorry!”
The guy pretty much fled the restaurant, the girl went and sat with the cop and his family and by the time we left they were still sitting around talking and laughing about random crap.
It was hands down the best way I have ever seen anybody handle any situation, ever. That cop is my hero.
Rhu // she/her or them/they // Asexual // Derpin' all day .........
☐ Single ☐ Taken ☑ Married to Science //
Dragon Age // Mass Effect // Undertale // LOTR // Portal // Dynasty Warriors // Nature // Sengoku Basara // Final Fantasy // Merlin // Assassin's Creed, etc.
