Some plants I encounter in Norway.

[Hoy]

It is not a long way from where we started to the drainage divide. After the highest point we enter an area with moors, swamps and bogs. 100 years ago this was an important grazing area for cattle, horses and sheep.

Salix repens is a common shrub and itis not always prostrate.




It is very wet here although it doesn't look wet.




Still some sheep graze here but not enough to keep the trees down.




Brackens take over also, especially on the drier land.




Small creeks are overflown today.

[Hoy]

The small creeks end up in Vormedalsvatnet. It is an interesting flora on the shores but it's all submerged at the moment.




Although holly, Ilex aquifolium, is native here most specimens in this area are garden escapes.







Large areas are planted with sitka spruce. They form very dark forests where nothing grows.




A sitka spruce seedling has found its place on top of the fence post. We turn back here. The rest of the road down to the fjord goes through farms and and a village.

[Maggi Young]

Interesting Sorbus in Norway - in this  article, Robbie  Blackhall-Miles  writes  about  a  recent  trip to Arran ....

https://globaltrees.org/news-blog/evolution-and-discovery-on-the-isle-of-arran/?fbclid=IwAR0moiTZHtkUCnImpP4hC-ilB2F8K_qjD7-_Z9W9Y_50hGq_3-YqJOQJqj0

[Hoy]

Interesting article about Arran Sorbus! Thanks Maggi.

S. pseudomeinichii looks very similar to S. meinichii which is very common here. The genetics is also quite similar. The cross that created S. meinichii has probably happened several times as meinichii is very variable.

Sorbus meinichii:

[cohan]

Rowan berries usually last for months here, especially if it is other berries also!

Mine are eaten by the birds almost as soon as they appear, I'm lucky to get a few pictures with berries and fall colour, not always!

[cohan]

Been out for a walk here today

A windflower (Anemone nemorosa) has got it all wrong!

Hieracium umbellatum, always a late bloomer.

I saw a couple of Calthas flowering on the farm in autumn, this year, I think they may have been seedlings that just reached flowering size .
Our H umbellatum looks nothing like that-- probably one of those species that really should be divided up..

Great outings-- some really interesting and varied landscapes. And that Fuchsia in the garden looks huge!

[Hoy]

I saw a couple of Calthas flowering on the farm in autumn, this year, I think they may have been seedlings that just reached flowering size .
Our H umbellatum looks nothing like that-- probably one of those species that really should be divided up..

Great outings-- some really interesting and varied landscapes. And that Fuchsia in the garden looks huge!

Cohan, I have never seen Caltha that late in the season here. The local ones finish early and go dormant.

The Fuchsia is huge. I have to remove some of it next spring, the path is blocked!

[Hoy]

It is not only the leaves that get nice colours in fall.




Damaged by wind and rain.




Leycesteria formosa is still going strong. The berries taste ok when ripe. Unripe they are very bad.




This rhodo starts a bit early.




Geranium endressii I believe.

[Hoy]

Seems to fly away, Viburnum farrerii.




Some keep to their foliage, Eucalyptus gunnii.




A bleak red clover!




Heavy fog today!




The little larch refuses to let the foliage go.

[Hoy]

Alnus glutinosa, black alder.




An optimistic  dandelion.




Erica tetralix often flower in fall.




To the alchemist.




Another optimist, a Myrica gale on a dead stump.

[cohan]

Cohan, I have never seen Caltha that late in the season here. The local ones finish early and go dormant.

The Fuchsia is huge. I have to remove some of it next spring, the path is blocked!

I have never seen the Calthas do that either-- they were very small plants and I strongly suspect it was not rebloom, but new seedlings just reaching flowering size, and fall was mild enough.

[cohan]

Lots of colour and interest still. Larix laricina here is very slow to release needles. I suspect it is some different mechanism than broadleaf trees that drop them more actively-- it is almost like they need to be knocked off by weather etc-- or maybe just because they are so light, gravity alone doesn't do it? Here they have dropped  a lot of the needles, but there is still widespread (muted) colour because they retain some..

[Rick R.]

i think it is a juvenile characteristic with larix laricina.  it's normal for seedlings to hold their needles even into the winter here in Minnesota.

[Hoy]

Cohan and Rick R,

Larix laricina is very rarely planted here. This could be L. decidua or kaempferi.

[cohan]

i think it is a juvenile characteristic with larix laricina.  it's normal for seedlings to hold their needles even into the winter here in Minnesota.

It is not juvenile here, all tamaracks are slow to release the needles...  they eventually all fall, but they don't do it quickly.. they are always the latest of native trees to turn colour in the first place.