BULB LOG 48 --- 29th November 2006


This last week in November is going to be a very busy one for me for two reasons. one of which is that I am off on my travels to South East England for a weeks' lecture tour starting on December 1st so I am writing the next two bulb logs in advance. There is not too much activity out in the bulb houses just now as flowers open slowly and last for quite a few weeks in the cooler conditions we are now in, so you will not miss out on anything that may appear.



Trømso Botanic Garden


How lucky am I? I get to travel around the world talking to groups about one of my favourite subjects - bulbs (I do talk on other plants as well). I have visited Trømso in the far north of Norway not once but twice once in summer and once in autumn. The Botanic garden up there is among my favourite gardens and is well worth a visit on its own but when you also take in the magnificent scenery and flora it should not be missed.



Arctic mountains twice


While in Trømso I was able to visit the beautiful artic mountains twice, once in the summer when I saw a wonderful range of plants in glories weather.



Arctic mountains autumn


Then again in the autumn with the early snows painting a very different mountain scene.



Gothenburg Botanic Garden


Another of my favourite Botanic gardens, top of the list for bulb interest, is Gothenburg Botanic Garden: I have been there several times and each visit brings new delights both in the plants I see and the people I meet.



St John's Newfoundland


Jumping across the 'pond' the furthest north I have been there is St John's Newfoundland, in Canada, where I felt very much at home. Again it was an autumn visit and the colours of the heath land flora were stunning.



Botanic Garden St John's Newfoundland


St John's also has a Botanic Garden with a good layout and structure which looked very good in its autumn colours.



New York


It was very much the case of the wee highland boy hitting the big city when I visited New York - I got a stiff neck staring up all the time as I tried to take in the height and closeness of the sky scrapers.



Pay homage


I was delighted to be able to pay homage to a legend and one of my musical heroes in Central Park.



Utrecht Botanic Garden


Back over to Europe where I was so inspired by the layout and imaginative use of materials at the Utrecht Botanic Garden even though it never stopped raining while I was there.



Bulb fields of Holland


I had a big smile on my face when I was invited to speak at a conference in Holland; me telling the Dutch how to grow bulbs?

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Tulip collection


I was enthralled by the massive collections of tulips both species and cultivars some of which I hated while others I would love to get hold of.
And so my travels go on as I head 500 miles south to England at the end of this week; spring of 2007 brings trips to Copenhagen and Dublin and in January 2008 I will travel as far away from Scotland as it is possible to get, without leaving the planet, when I head for a conference in New Zealand. While I am off enjoying these travels, Maggi is busy at home, minding the plants and the Forum.
So what else I have I to do this week that prevents me writing my log as normal?
Some of you may know that as well as being a bulboholic I am also an artist and I have a major exhibition opening on Thursday of a large series of collograph prints that I have been working on for the last two years.

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Print workshop


Here I am hard at work in the print workshop pulling a proof from the block. The exhibition is a series of images relating the links between the fate of the sea birds to man's fishing activities.


To give you a flavour of the works I will leave you with four images.


Fish report prints 1


Fish report prints 2

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