bunga tulip (I like this flower)

Tulip (Tulipa) merupakan nama genus untuk 100 spesies tumbuhan berbunga yang termasuk ke dalam keluarga Liliaceae. Tulip berasal dari Asia Tengah, tumbuh liar di kawasan pegununganstepa di Kazakhstan. Negeri Belanda terkenal sebagai negeri bunga tulip. Tulip juga merupakan bunga nasional Iran dan Turki. Pamir dan pegunungan Hindu Kush dan Tulip merupakan tumbuhan tahunan berumbi yang tingginya antara 10-70 cm, daunnya berlilin, berbentuk sempit memanjang berwarna hijau nuansa kebiru-biruan, dan bunganya berukuran besar terdiri 6 helai daun mahkota. Tulip hasil persilangan menghasilkan bunga berwarna tunggal, merah, oranye, kuning, hijau, biru, ungu, atau berbagai macam kombinasi dan gradasi warna. Tulip menghasilkan biji-biji berbentuk bundar pipih yang dibungkus kapsul kering. Seperti halnya bunga mawar, lili, anggrek dan peony, tulip adalah tanaman bunga yang paling banyak dibudidayakan manusia.

Sejarah Tulip

Pada mulanya bunga tulip tumbuh liar di kawasan Asia Tengah dan Asia Barat. Kerajaan Ottoman Turki terpikat pada keindahan dan kesempurnaan bunga tulip dan mulai membudidayakan bunga tulip sejak tahun 1000. Motif-motif bunga tulip sudah sejak lama banyak dipakai dalam seni ornamen Persia dan Turki. Nama yang diberikan orang Eropa untuk tulip berasal dari bahasa Persia untuk sorban (bahasa Persia: دلبنت, dulband) karena bunga tulip ketika belum mekar sepenuhnya bentuknya terlihat seperti sorban.

Jenis-jenis tulip yang sudah dikenal sejak zaman dulu mempunyai motif garis-garis, "coretan kuas," atau "jilatan api" atau mempunyai warna lain pada bagian-bagian tertentu daun bunga, sedangkan jenis-jenis yang lebih baru mempunyai pola aneka warna pada daun bunga. Sentuhan warna lain pada warna dasar bunga tulip disebabkan perubahan pigmen di bagian atas dan bagian bawah bunga.

Infeksi virus mosaik yang dibawa serangga sejenis kutu menyebabkan terjadinya jenis tulip langka dengan motif indah seperti coretan kuas yang diburu orang Belanda sewaktu demam bunga Tulip mania. Virus mosaik menyebabkan tanaman tulip menderita dan mati perlahan-lahan, walaupun bunga yang dihasilkan menjadi sangat indah. Sekarang ini, virus mosaik dapat dikatakan sudah hampir musnah dari ladang-ladang bunga tulip.

Di Kerajaan Ottoman dan Belanda, tingginya permintaan atas tulip yang tidak diimbangi pasokan yang cukup menimbulkan fenomena yang disebut Tulip mania. Permainan harga tulip oleh para spekulan juga menjadi salah satu sebab kemunduran ekonomi Kesultanan Ottoman.

Belanda setiap tahunnya mengirimkan bunga tulip untuk ditanam di kota Ottawa sebagai ucapan terima kasih kepada Kanada yang membebaskan Belanda dari Nazi Jerman dan sewaktu zaman pendudukan bermurah hati menyediakan tempat bermukim Ratu Juliana yang pada waktu itu masih puteri mahkota.

Teknik Penanaman

Tulip tidak bisa hidup di alam terbuka wilayah tropis karena memerlukan suhu rendah di musim dingin untuk dapat tumbuh. Tulip dapat dipaksa untuk berbunga lebih cepat dari normal jika diletakkan di tempat yang suhunya diatur menjadi lebih tinggi.

Tulip dapat ditanam dengan dua cara, menggunakan umbi atau biji. Tulip yang ditanam dari umbi membutuhkan waktu setahun untuk dapat menghasilkan bunga yang cukup besarnya, sedangkan tanaman yang ditanam dari biji membutuhkan waktu antara 5-7 tahun agar dapat berbunga.

Bunga yang telah selesai mekar harus dipotong untuk mendapatkan umbi.

Menurut hasil penelitian yang berlaku hanya untuk bunga Tulip, jika sewaktu bunga belum mekar bagian bawah kuncup bunga ditusuk hingga tembus dengan jarum (misalnya jarum jahit), gas etilen akan diproduksi oleh bunga yang terluka sehingga masa mekar bunga menjadi lebih panjang. Perlakuan yang sama jika dilakukan terhadap bunga yang sudah mekar menyebabkan masa mekar malah menjadi lebih singkat.

Beberapa spesies

Tulipa acuminata Tulipa agenensis Tulipa armena Tulipa aucheriana Tulipa batalinii Tulipa bakeri Tulipa biflora Tulipa borszczowii Tulipa butkovii Tulipa carinata Tulipa celsiana Tulipa clusiana Tulipa cretica Tulipa cypria Tulipa dasystemon Tulipa didieri Tulipa dubia Tulipa edulis Tulipa ferganica Tulipa gesneriana Tulipa goulimyi Tulipa greigii

Tulipa grengiolensis Tulipa heterophylla Tulipa hoogiana Tulipa humilis Tulipa iliensis Tulipa ingens Tulipa julia Tulipa kaufmanniana Tulipa kolpakowskiana Tulipa kurdica Tulipa kuschkensis Tulipa lanata Tulipa lehmanniana Tulipa linifolia Tulipa marjolettii Tulipa mauritania Tulipa micheliana Tulipa montana Tulipa orphanidea Tulipa ostrowskiana Tulipa platystigma Tulipa polychroma

Tulipa praecox Tulipa praestans Tulipa primulina Tulipa pulchella Tulipa retroflexa Tulipa saxatilis Tulipa sharonensis Tulipa sprengeri Tulipa stapfii Tulipa subpraestans Tulipa sylvestris Tulipa systola Tulipa tarda Tulipa tetraphylla Tulipa tschimganica Tulipa tubergeniana Tulipa turkestanica Tulipa undulatifolia Tulipa urumiensis Tulipa urumoffii Tulipa violacea Tulipa whittalli

Tulipa kaufmanniana	Tulipa praestans	Tulipa turkestanica	Tulipa pulchella
Tulipa sylvestris	Tulipa orphanidea'	Tulipa urumiensis	Androecium dan gynoecium pada tulip

all about vintage

Vintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and declare vintage Port in their best years. From this tradition, a common, though incorrect, usage applies the term to any wine that is perceived to be particularly old or of a particularly high quality.

Most countries allow a vintage wine to include a portion of wine that is not from the year denoted on the label. In Chile and South Africa, the requirement is 75% same-year content for vintage-dated wine. In Australia, New Zealand, and the member states of the European Union, the requirement is 85%. In the United States, the requirement is 85%, unless the wine is designated with an AVA, (e.g., Russian River Valley), in which case it is 95%. Technically, the 85% rule in the United States applies equally to imports, but there are obvious challenges in enforcing the regulation.

The opposite of a vintage wine is a nonvintage wine, which is usually a blend from the produce of two or more years. This is a common practice for winemakers seeking a consistent style of wine, year on year.

The importance of vintage, however, is both varied and disputed.

In wine produced on the colder limits of wine production, vintage is often very important, because some seasons will be much warmer and produce riper grapes and better wine for people to drink. On the other hand, a poor growing season can lead to grapes low in sugar, which lowers the quality of the resulting wine.

In many wine regions, especially in the New World, growing seasons are much more uniform. In dry regions, the systematic and controlled use of irrigation also contributes to uniform vintages. However, such wines are regularly labeled by vintage because of consumer demand.

Wines of superior vintages from prestigious producers and regions will often command much higher prices than those from average vintages. This is especially the case if wines are likely to improve further with some age in the bottle. Some wines are only labeled with a vintage in better-than-average years, to maintain their quality and reputation, while the vast majority of wines are produced to be drunk young and fresh. In such cases, a vintage is usually considered less important. However, it can serve to protect consumers against buying a wine that would not be expected to improve with age and could be past its best, such as with Beaujolais nouveau, a wine style made to be consumed within months of its bottling.

The importance of vintage may sometimes be exaggerated. For example, New York Times wine columnist Frank J. Prial declared the vintage chart to be dead, writing that "winemakers of the world have rendered the vintage chart obsolete" (Prial), and Bill Marsano wrote that "winemakers now have the technology and skills to make good and even very good wines in undistinguished years" (Marsano). James Laube of Wine Spectator has asserted that "even an average vintage can yield some grand wines" (Laube).

Roman Weil, co-chairman of the Oenonomy Society of the US and Professor at the University of Chicago, tested the controversial hypothesis that experienced wine drinkers "cannot distinguish in blind tastings the wine of years rated high from those of years rated low, or, if they can, they do not agree with the vintage chart's preferences" (Weil).

Dr. Weil used wines ranging from four to 17 years beyond their vintage with 240 wine drinkers and found that the tasters could not distinguish between wines of good and bad vintages, except for Bordeaux wines, and even when they could make a distinction, the match between the tasters' individual assessments and the charts' rankings were little better than tossing a coin. When the tests were replicated with wine experts, including French wine academics, the results were again the same as chance.

Many critics believe that Bordeaux has the world's largest variance in vintages. Indeed, Weil found that "tasters can distinguish the Excellent from the Appalling one, even if they didn't agree with which is the Appalling one."

Weil does not consider a vintage chart to be useless. He suggests using one to help "find good buys in wine. Buy wine from the Appalling years," which may be priced far below actual quality.

The subject of the importance of vintage is one about which disagreement can be expected to continue.

the fear

Lily Allen - The Fear

I want to be rich and I want lots of money
I don't care about clever I don't care about funny
I want loads of clothes and f***loads of diamonds
I heard people die while they are trying to find them

I'll take my clothes off and it will be shameless
‘Cuz everyone knows that's how you get famous
I'll look at the sun and I'll look in the mirror
I'm on the right track yeah I'm on to a winner

Chorus
I don't know what's right and what's real anymore
I don't know how I'm meant to feel anymore
When we think it will all become clear
‘Cuz I'm being taken over by The Fear

Life's about film stars and less about mothers
It's all about fast cars and passing each other
But it doesn't matter cause I'm packing plastic
and that's what makes my life so f***ing fantastic

And I am a weapon of massive consumption
and its not my fault it's how I'm program to function
I'll look at the sun and I'll look in the mirror
I'm on the right track yeah I'm on to a winner

Chorus
I don't know what's right and what's real anymore
I don't know how I'm meant to feel anymore
When we think it will all become clear
‘Cuz I'm being taken over by The Fear

Bridge
Forget about guns and forget ammunition
Cause I'm killing them all on my own little mission
Now I'm not a saint but I'm not a sinner
Now everything is cool as long as I'm getting thinner

Chorus
I don't know what's right and what's real anymore
I don't know how I'm meant to feel anymore
When we think it will all become clear
Cause I'm being taken over by fear

fall for you :)

Secondhand Serenade - Fall For You

The best thing about tonight’s that we’re not fighting
Could it be that we have been this way before
I know you don’t think that I am trying
I know you’re wearing thin down to the core

But hold your breathe
Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don’t make me change my mind
Or I wont live to see another day
I swear it’s true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
Your impossible to find

This is not what I intended
I always swore to you i’d never fall apart
You always thought that I was stronger
I may of failed
But I have loved you from the start
Ohhhh

But hold your breathe
Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don’t make me change my mind
Or I wont live to see another day
I swear it’s true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
It’s impossible

So breathe in so deep
Breathe me in
I’m yours to keep
And hold onto your words
Cuz talk is cheap
And remember me tonight
When your asleep

Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don’t make me change my mind
Or I wont live to see another day
I swear it’s true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
Tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don’t make me change my mind
Or I wont live to see another day
I swear it’s true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
Your impossible to find