Let me introduce myself ...

[Maggi Young]

I was similarly curious, Carol.
Simon says ( where have I heard that before?) that they're in the Stara Planina Mts, and I found this....

http://www.staraplanina.org/

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Network/9276/mn/balkan_m.htm

[cohan]

well, i originally thought to read through the other introductions before posting my own, but after 2 full pages, and i see it goes to 40 or so, i guess that may be an ongoing project!

i've read articles from the SRGC site online for some time, and had a couple of mentions of this forum--Kristl Walek in Ottawa, etc..just a forum member, at this point;

as mentioned today in a thread on feeding birds, i am in west central alberta, canada--
for those who know anything about this canadian province second to the west, after british columbia,  i am midway between the two large cities of edmonton and calgary, then straight west;i am in the area where boreal forest (north and west) meets aspen parkland (east and south), and this an area of mixed farming and petroleum extraction, forest growth is very vigorous--my weeds include aspen and spruce;
 half an hour driving will put me in the foothills biome, but an hour to reach the real hills, 90mins will put me in the rockies; hope to share some photos with you all from field trips there and to the drylands (cacti etc) of southern alberta..

this is where i grew up, but just moved back summer of 2007 after 25 years living in the hearts of several large cities, most recently toronto, where i grew(and still do) lots of indoor plants, esp cacti and succulents (and branching into other tiny odd south africans, bulbs etc) but had little to no outdoor growing space;

now i am back at my mother's place, around 6 acres, much of it forested, slowly working on carving out some sunny spots and coaxing the tree roots to surrender some beds for veggies, herbs, rock gardens, native woodland (lots here already, a matter of enhancing and concentrating) and bog/marsh plantings etc;

we can have bitterly cold but fairly sunny and dry winters (min low -45C, but rarely seen, usually a few days at least with nights near -40C), usually fairly good snow cover, but it is variable; summer can reach 30C and above, but the frost free season is short(usu june to mid-late august), and nights usually still cool, even in midsummer..so i think i should be in good shape for lots of alpines! so far i have just a few natives, and  a couple of sempervivum, which do well here; very interested in native alpines from alberta and neighbouring areas, but i am no purist, and will want some great europeans to make my semps feel at home! and central/asians to go with things like rosularia and orostachys i hope to try....

the photo is at Abraham Lake, at the edge of the rocky mountains, in early feb this year; nearly blew away!
cohan

[cohan]

i've only got through 4 full pages of the intros, so i am not sure if anyone else has posted this list of special alt characters-- remember, as mentioned earlier to use the numeric keypad to the right of regular keyboards:
http://www.tedmontgomery.com/tutorial/ALTchrc.html
the other method mentioned--you have to have microsoft word and have an open document to use that, right?
cohan

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Welcome to the merry world of this grand Forum Cohan - I'm sure you'll have lots of fun and we all look forward to your pictures of great Canadian scenery and blooms ! 

[Carol Shaw]

I was similarly curious, Carol.
Simon says ( where have I heard that before?) that they're in the Stara Planina Mts, and I found this....

http://www.staraplanina.org/

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Network/9276/mn/balkan_m.htm

Thanks Maggi, that is an area of Bulgaria we haven't visited but would love to.

[cohan]

thanks, luc..i still have to figure out where such pictures should be posted...

[Maggi Young]

thanks, luc..i still have to figure out where such pictures should be posted...

Oh, let's see.... a new page in  Flowers and Foliage Now , or in General Forum ....... choice is yours,  by and large!

[Carol Shaw]

Oh, and as new members will discover we go off at tangents all over the place 

[Maggi Young]

Oh, and as new members will discover we go off at tangents all over the place 

Yes, I like Tangiers....... and tangerines....

[Anthony Darby]

...and tanagers.

[cohan]

good to see a group that doesnt mind some tangents

[Maggi Young]

...and tanagers.

I haven't got any children, Anthony, so I'm not that keen on tanagers   ..... I do like birds though 

good to see a group that doesnt mind some tangents

Cohan, life is full of tangents, why should this place be any different?

[cohan]

i totally agree maggi! i run a yahoo group on cacti and succulents where you will find occasional threads on weather, wildlife, spiders, pets etc! while there are groups that are all business, and thats ok--esp for very focussed--family or genera specific groups--for a more general group, i think one of the functions is social, and its much nicer to talk about the plants we all love with friends, and you cant really make friends if the talk is all business!

[Maggi Young]

i totally agree maggi! i run a yahoo group on cacti and succulents where you will find occasional threads on weather, wildlife, spiders, pets etc! while there are groups that are all business, and thats ok--esp for very focussed--family or genera specific groups--for a more general group, i think one of the functions is social, and its much nicer to talk about the plants we all love with friends, and you cant really make friends if the talk is all business!

 Thanks for putting that so well, Cohan.   

A little while ago, I would have been surprised at someone in the middle of Canada with a cactus passion..... but now that I have seen Kristl's cactus growing outside and doing so well, I realise that I was being somewhat narrow minded.
Pretty stupid of me to have doubts anyhow, since I know so many folks in the UK who have large cactus collections... all under glass.   Funny how we get these daft notions in our heads, isn't it?

[Sinchets]

I was similarly curious, Carol.
Simon says ( where have I heard that before?) that they're in the Stara Planina Mts, and I found this....

Sorry to take so long to reply to this theme. The Stara Planina is thename for the mountains that form the backbone of Bulgaria stretching from almost as far as Sofia in the west across in to the east where they lose height and become a series of hills as they reach the Black Sea. We are lucky to be located almost smack bang in the middle of these mountains 60km from the historic city of Veliko Tarnovo, and 16km from the picturesque town of Elena. The nearest mountain, Chumerna, is around 1500m above sea level- and easily visible while sitting on the throne
The foothills leading up into the mountains are all well wooded and several valleys radiate from the slopes of Chumerna. The woods are managed for timber but have an amazing amazing diversity of woodland plants especially bulbs. in a few weeks we re hoping to be able to recommence our walks across the valley here looking for interesting colour forms of Corydalis and Erythronium dens-canis,as well as large flowered forms of Anemone ranunculoides, we will post pictures soon.