For your reading pleasure this weekend I’ve got a few articles about snow, how Google works and some fantastic images of botanic gardens from around the world. Enjoy!

• Dust from Africa impacts snowfall in California. (via CLCA)
• Related: Thin snowpack out west points to summer drought.
• Tech’s best feature: the off switch. (h/t Warren Gorowitz)
• How Google works.
• Landscape designers have the best offices. (h/t Shayne Newman)
• The rise of the new sharing economy.
• Interesting Q&A with Travis Beck, NYBG’s Landscape and Gardens Project Manager and author of “Principles of Ecological Landscape Design.” (via NYBG)
• Above: Best botanic gardens in the world.

• What’s college for if not pranking the administration with bat guano?
• “Biomechanical trebuchets.” (via: New York Botanical Garden’s Tumblr)
• 4 leading botanical gardens to create first online catalog of all plants. (via @BatesNursery)
• Why efficiency won’t solve our water problems. (via @waterguru2)
• How to: reboot a terrible voicemail. (via @jasoncupp)
• Above: Environmental Business Award winner Mark Halla explains why and how he built a wind turbine at his Minnesota headquarters.

We’ve been a bit lax the past couple of weeks, so here’s an extra-long weekly round-up for your weekend reading pleasure. Stay cool out there!

• Can’t catch rainwater? Try these tips. (via @waterguru2)
• Succulents!
• Why you should hire introverts.
• Chris Heiler has a few suggestions on how to get free PR.
• Advertisers and consumers are getting tired of QR codes. Related.
• How to use elephants to control weeds.
• Learn how to talk to tree guys.
• Brad Johnson on planting weeds for healthy turf.
• Also: Brad’s book is in stores now.
• ASLA releases a guide to designing sustainable sites.
• Above: Why trees are important.

YEARS from Bartholomäus Traubeck on Vimeo.

Here’s our weekly digest of fun links from around the web. Hope you like them!

• An edible urban forest is planned for Seattle.
• You can help shape the next version of LEED. (via @waterguru2)
• Nearly half of Americans now own smartphones. More than 60% of people with household income of more than $75,000 do.
• On sick days and dedication. (via @martygrunder)
• A new app to track your water footprint.
• Woman smoking meth burns down Florida’s oldest tree.
• Above: A record player that makes music from trees.