Italy 2008

[Mick McLoughlin]

The caterpillars may be these:
http://web.cortland.edu/fitzgerald/PineProcessionary.html

Nice pics from what looks to have been a very enjoyable trip.

Cheers
Mick

[Lvandelft]

Hi Thomas, just found the pictures of your trip.
Beautiful and interesting.
Looks you had more nice days than we had in our short trip to Switzerland.
We saw the tulips too. You might have a look at the topic Tulipa sylvestris.

[Thomas Huber]

Thanks Mick for the help - these caterpillars were found in a pinewood, so I guess you're right!

Hi Luit and welcome back. Didn't you have good weather in Switzerland? Where have you been?
Your plants look much "wilder" than mine 

7th day  Gargano

From our hotel it was just half an hour to Gargano, so we decided to have a look there. Here are
just a few plants we found. Any ID for the orchid?

[Thomas Huber]

7th day the second: Campo Imperatore/Abruzzo

From Gargano we used the Autobahn to Abruzzo, with the Corno Grande - the highest mountain
in the middle of Italy:




On the way up were lots of crocus vernus:








On top of the pass street we were welcomed by this great sight - hope your monitor is big enough 
The panorama-photo shows Campo Imperatore, a high alpine plain, 30km long, in an altitude of 1500m:


Looking from the top, the plain looked like pure snow, but driving down we saw the first dark blotches of
melted snow - covered in a soft blue of thousands of Crocus vernus. What a great sight this must be,
if we were two weeks later 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Wonderful pictures Thomas !
What an impressive background for these brave Crocusses ... and equally brave Chris 

[Lesley Cox]

A wonderful trip Thomas. Thanks for sharing it with us. I love those caterpillars, but NZ's MAF would throw a major fit, if they were to enter li'l ol' Noo Ziland!

[Gerdk]

Oh, a nearly white Anemone apennina! Thank you Thomas.
Concerning the the caterpillars I have a speculation. They are en route
to the Monte del Papa (6th day)?

Gerd

[Lvandelft]

Hi Luit and welcome back. Didn't you have good weather in Switzerland? Where have you been?
Your plants look much "wilder" than mine 

Thomas we were with friends near Schaffhausen and visited Bern and Zürich.
We had one day with about 10 C. the other days were not over 5 C. with very cold winds.
Not good for botanizing!      

[Katherine J]

Thank you very much for this diary Thomas.  These places look rather different in august.

[ian mcenery]

What a great trip Thomas thanks for sharing

[Thomas Huber]

Thank you very much for this diary Thomas.  These places look rather different in august.

Katarine you should try to visit your relatives in Frosinone in spring, not in summer when everything is burned down by the sun!

[Thomas Huber]

8th day

Starting from L'Aquila in the morning we had planed to visit Forresta Casentinesi and Monte Subasio on the way
to Alberto Grossi, but meanwhile something like homesickness has appeared in our minds. It was good to make
such a men's trip without the girls but now it seems like we really miss Tanja and Celine   
So we decided to make just a short stop on Monte Subasio and Assisi:


Early in the afternoon we arrived in Grossi's botanical garden.
While Chris was relaxing in his garden, Alberto and I made a trip through the garden.




Again I have to say, many, many thanks to Alberto and his Mama
for the good service we achieved. It was very nice with you and I
hope we will meet again soon!!!


You have noticed, that the sun was still shining. But this has changed soon: After we had left the
Lötschberg-Tunnel (the geographical border from South to North-Europe) we didn't see a single sunshine 

So you see, Luit, you've been too far North in Switzerland - behind the Gotthard-Tunnel you would have had better weather!


That's the end of the story - hope you have enjoyed the trip and the photos have helped to give a new
impression of this beautiful country, far away from crowded beaches on the Adria.

Each of the locations we have visited would be worth a visit of a week or more alone, but unfortunately we
didn't have the time. We decided to visit them all and I would do it again if I had the chance. It was very
exhausting but worth every minute, that's what also Chris tells everybody who's asking him!

[ranunculus]

Wonderful trip Thomas....I enjoyed every mile...many thanks for taking the time and trouble to post.

[Lesley Cox]

What a wonderful story Thomas. We were there with you both, all the way. Super plants, places and best of all, people. Many thanks.

[hadacekf]

Wonderful trip Thomas! I wear beautiful memories of Campo Imperatore.
It is Hermodactylus tuberosus and Tulipa silvestris.