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Ipomea

See the birth and growth of a garden, flower bed, a border or a composition of hedges that could present a very satisfying and rewarding experience on a creative or emotional level. Not by chance always more frequently, we hear more and more about ‘garden therapy’ as an important antidote to fight against anxiety of everyday life: looking after the garden and the plants thus becomes therapy to live better and let express creativity.

During fine days of spring that indulge the green thumb, in Ischia is an event not to be missed. It is ‘Ipomea by Negombo’, the exhibition of rare and unusual plants of the temperate zone which takes place in Lacco Ameno, in the enchanting scenery of the hydrothermal park of Negombo, just a short walk from one of the most beautiful coves of the island , the Bay of San Montano.
Now in its eleventh edition (on May 24, 25, 26), ‘Ipomea’ has always been a cultural event where the public comes into contact with professionals and enthusiasts to discover, year after year, something new and deepen their knowledge of greenery in all its forms.
For this reason, in every edition, there are the best nurserymen with botanical collections nationally and internationally recognized. But also exhibitors, associations, experts of furniture, individual amateurs, a varied world which is a presence and an increasingly important reality in the scenarios that today are rethinking land, landscape and new ways of life full of beauty and of harmony.
So ancient fruits, rare plants, unusual or exotic, meet with olive and citrus trees. Aromatic plants open to the visitor sensuous worlds of odors, while endangered species blend with citrus fruits, or with the azaleas and orchids that enchant our gardens.
From pink to crimson, to white, blue violet with soft heart that is a bit the essence of the flower, is the Ipomoea imperati, from which the initiative takes its name. In the exhibition spaces, from which it is difficult to leave empty handed ,there is an explosion of colors. And yet Ipomea is not only a market-exhibition, neither pure fashion or marketing of greenery: the primary ambition is to spread the culture and sense of place through the world of plants, essences and natural products derived from them. The nurserymen, in this case, not only are exhibitors or vendors. They defend collections of plants that would otherwise be forgotten, never grudging of words to tell their creatures. The suggestion is always the same: go, buy (if any), but above all listen! Behind the bizarre shapes of a rare plant there is always a story worth telling.
In May ‘Ipomea by Negombo’ is inserted fully in the “Days in defense of biodiversity” for the fight against climate change, food security and to maintain that balance on which the whole animal and plant kingdom rests. So sustainable agriculture, compression of the food chain and the preservation of nutritional diversity of local crops play an important role. A heavenly relationship with the earth certainly subject to the gaze and the hand of man, but also the result of a complex balance that is no stranger to the workings of insects.
That’s why, in the wake of the successful experience of the past year devoted to the world of butterflies, the big news this year is an exhibition dedicated to these fantastic creatures that are the bugs: “Bug’s Life”, from May 13 to June 2.
The exhibition, edited by Antonio Festa, is a valid and interesting means of scientific divulgation which aims to raise awareness of an audience as broad as possible (not just school), to a theme, that one of the life cycle and habits of insects, for many still unknown, yet so present in our lives.Introductory panels will help laymen to know a very vibrant world filled with creatures that there were already before us, and there will be after us. Large and small creatures, in amazing shapes and a variety of colors, used to survive in unthinkable climatic and environmental conditions, organized in systems where it is not uncommon to see parallels similarities with our society and our daily struggles.
In the dozens of terrariums, or through reproductions of models in 3D, it can get acquainted with giant beetles, praying mantises, insects masters of camouflage, the industrious ants, water scorpions and giant cockroaches from Madagascar. For each of these species all climatic conditions of habitats have been carefully recreated by temperature control with infrared lamps connected to thermostats and humidification of each terrarium. Then it will be possible to enjoy them in full activity, intent on feeding, camouflage, mating, or make changes of skin.
A wonderful opportunity that combines the wonder with the knowledge, entomology with the spectacle of nature. It’s enough to activate the curiosity, or change look, to discover, in an environment sometimes familiar, even domestic, an insoluble strangeness, a complexity and infinite beauty that we would do well to respect more.