Author Topic: Notes from Norway (Read 46104 times)

Hoy · « **Reply #120 on:** June 14, 2015, 08:19:19 PM »

And a few "weeds"

This one is edible and children used to eat it. Now I think only elder people know what it is. Most people call it 'cow parsley' which it isn't! In Norwegian it is called "jordnøtt" (lit. earth nut) by those who know it and it tastes like fresh picked hazel-nut in fall, not like the ones you buy for Xmas. Conopodium majus has many names in English. One is jarnut which I think is the same as jordnøtt!

Another nice weed is a Hieracium. Most species in this genus are apomicts and it is described about 3000 species in Scandinavia alone. I can't see the difference in the majority of them

Here it grows together with another yellow flowered dandelion like plant, Hypochaeris radicata.

Robert · « **Reply #121 on:** June 14, 2015, 11:50:14 PM »

Trond,

The first photograph of Rhododendron 'Lem's Monarch' - Is the view across the water from your home? Salt or fresh water? Very, very beautiful! A view like that would not be hard to take every day. I reminds me of Echo Lake here in California.

Hoy · « **Reply #122 on:** June 15, 2015, 05:25:57 PM »

Robert,

Yes it is the view from my garden and it is salt water - due west across the Førresfjorden. I look out at the fjord every day when I am in the sitting room. It is not always a pleasant view - when the northwesterlies tear the leaves off the plants!

Hoy · « **Reply #123 on:** June 15, 2015, 06:21:55 PM »

A short trip to a nearby island (Feøy) as part of my work. Beautiful flowers although not rare.

15 minutes by passenger boats, no cars on the island (but people do live there).
The pier, or one of them.

Although no cars it is tractors etc and road signs!

The main road.

Meadows.

Hoy · « **Reply #124 on:** June 15, 2015, 06:37:15 PM »

Some species.

Armeria maritima - very common everywhere here.

Silene dioica - also common.

Silene flos-cuculi - in moist places.

Silene uniflora - on the shore.

Hoy · « **Reply #125 on:** June 15, 2015, 06:59:14 PM »

It is scars in the terrain here also from earlier mining periods. This is from a copper-nickel mine (it also contains platinum and palladium) abandoned in 1924. Another similar but bigger mine on a nearby island (Karmøy) delivered the copper used in the skin of the Statue of Liberty in New York (the Karmøy mine was French owned at that time).

Although left and not used since 1924 the mining site is easy to find. Almost no plants have established in 90 years in the heavy metal containing remnants.

Robert · « **Reply #126 on:** June 16, 2015, 04:11:39 AM »

Trond,

Gold mining from 1849 to about 1940 has had a similar effect on the land here in California. All throughout the "Mother Lode" of California there are still scares upon the land. As a little boy I remember the giant gold dredges abandoned in there ponds surrounded by miles of trailings. Now they have built houses there.

The Silenes and Armeria are fairly common nursery plants even here in California. It is refreshing to see them in there natural habitat.

My wife and I also talked about going to Echo Lake after seeing the photographs from your home. Echo Lake is in the high Sierra's above Lake Tahoe. When I was a teenager I spent part of each summer there. The wildflowers are fantastic in this area and my wife and I are excited to go.

Hoy · « **Reply #127 on:** June 19, 2015, 09:09:15 PM »

Robert,

I think more land is affected by abandoned mines in California than in Norway!
We have an old gold mine not far from here but I have never been there. Think I will go but it has to wait till the fall.

Here is a picture from my house in April 5 years ago! Now the trees and shrubs are much bigger and the fjord is almost hidden!

Robert · « **Reply #128 on:** June 19, 2015, 09:27:21 PM »

Trond,

That is a beautiful view! I appreciate that you shared the photograph.

The situation is somewhat the same here on the farm. The native trees and some of the neighboring trees on the facing hills block the view of the Crystal Range. In the wintertime when the trees are dormant I can see the south end of the Crystals if I walk to the top of our hill, up in the back. Like you, there are other properties with houses in our area.

Hoy · « **Reply #129 on:** June 28, 2015, 06:23:11 PM »

No mountain ranges to be seen from my place, Robert! No mountain at all to be seen from my summer-house either. Down here for a few days . . . .

It is dry here now, need some xeric plants I think! We have no formal garden but garden plants are spread among wild ones. We have very little soil, just some crevices and hollows filled by sand and a little organic soil.

The "garden" is often visited by deer and sometimes by sheep so we have planted some flowers which usually are untouched by them, like peonies.

This one is from seed - a cross between P. delavayi and lutea.