A Tour to NE Turkey

[Tony Willis]

Gerd super pictures,it is a great area to go to with wonderful plants. My couple of visits have been really enjoyable.

[art600]

Gerd

When I was last at Artvin they were constructing the series of dams.

Did the new roads make it easier to reach the areas of interest?  Did Erich comment on how the area had changed?

[Lesley Cox]

Thank you Luit. You sent me to an atlas and I hadn't realized how close Turkey is to the Caucasus, right next door in fact. That was where I expected to find R. ponticum.

It has often puzzled me why R. ponticum has never become a weed in NZ, when so many other northern hemisphere plants have done. Rhodos love Dunedin and the bushy areas around. We see it in old plantings from time to time but I'm not aware of its ever having seeded freely the way it does in the UK. Have to be thankful for that I suppose. On the other hand, every year I have to weed out hundreds of seedlings from R. x Cilpinense, from the garden and especially from my seed pots. The flowers can get frosted but the plants never do, so I think it could become a menace in the right, woodsy conditions.

[Gerdk]

Once again - thanks for the kind comments. Of course I'll continue - it is a pleasure for me also.

Gerd

When I was last at Artvin they were constructing the series of dams.

Did the new roads make it easier to reach the areas of interest?  Did Erich comment on how the area had changed?

No - there were new roads built which are situated high above the level of the planned reservoir. To pass this area takes more than half an hour. Compared with the past according to Erich Pasche the whole area looks horribly and a lot of plants will disappear when the waters of the Choruh river will fill the valleys behind the dam.

Here is part 4

1. Hypericum scabrum near Demir Kent
2. A bicoloured rose at the roadside
3. Punica granatum
4. Papaver fugax
5. + 6. Cehennen Canyon (Hells Canyon)
7. Ferhatli Kalesi (ancient castle) opposite the canyon
8. Symphytum asperum
9. someone who is fond of plants too
10. Ornithogalum arcuatum + Gladiolus atroviolaceus near Ardanuc

Gerd

[Lesley Cox]

Lovely pomegranate! And how impressive the canyon pictures, especially the third, with the building work. Presumably someone lived here once? Or maybe it was a fortification against the marauding enemy?

[Gerdk]

Lovely pomegranate! And how impressive the canyon pictures, especially the third, with the building work. Presumably someone lived here once? Or maybe it was a fortification against the marauding enemy?

Lesley,
The rests of the castle were situated opposite to the entrance of the canyon. It towers over an
important road and so it was most likely a fortification. There is a small village near the ruins.
Sorry, no more information.

Gerd

[Gerdk]

Part 5


1. Campanula pontica at the roadside
2. Landscape near Ardanuc
3. Meadow near Ardanuc
4. Gladiolus violaceus
5. + 6. Ishan Monastery - of Georgian origin
7. Village house near monastery
8. Epipactis veratrifolia
9. site of Epipactis - wet rocks with running water
10. Teatime with Mr. Karahan - grey jacket/ Erich Pasche - blue hat/ 2 friends
      - Mr. Karahan (Karahan Hotel, Artvin) accompanied us because he would like to
        see the site of the very rare Orchid which will be flooded by the waters of the
        planned Artvin reservoir. He will have a talk with the Forest Department in order
        to try transfer the population

Gerd

[ranunculus]

Wonderful images Gerd ... many thanks for posting.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Wonderful pictures Gerd - What a great and interesting area to visit !
The blue of Brunnera macrophylla is astonishing !
Thanks very much for the tour (hopefully not finished yet...)

[Hans A.]

Gerd , thanks a lot for posting this fantastic photos - hope there will still follow many more - Campanula troegerae is a stunner -I should try to grow some more Campanulas...

[Gerdk]

Part 6

The following pics were made near and above Yaylalar - a  small village in the Kackar Mountains -for me the most interesting area we visited in course of the whole journey. The road from Yusufeli along the Altiparmak (Barhal) River was extremely narrow, full of fallen rocks and fords to cross.

1. - 3. upper Yaylalar
4. Anemone narcissiflora
5. Arnebia pulchra
6. Wet meadow with Dactylorhiza euxina and Ranunculus
7. Geum coccineum
8. Valley high above Yaylalar
9. Viola alba
10. Primula auriculata

Gerd

[Gerdk]

Part 7


1. Kackar/Alpine pasture (Alm) with huts for herdsmen
2. Kackar/Primula elatior ssp. meyeri (P. amoena)
3. Kackar/Primula longipes
4. Asperula orientalis
5. Annual Adonis
6. Delphinium and Papaver
7. Bridge at Cobandede
8. Teatime
9.+ 10. Glaucium corniculatum

Gerd

[tonyg]

A great thread - thanks.  For those of us stuck at home/work it is a chance to escape .... and to dream.

[Maggi Young]

Gerd, a delight for those of us who don't travel now...such good photos to add to the pleasure of the "trip" ......Thank you 

[Gerdk]

Thank you too for all the kind remarks. Please imagine - I am sitting here in cold and rainy Germany and all those pics are retrospection for me also. Time flies.

Here is Part 8

1. + 2. Mt. Ararat and mountains around
3. on the way to Bayburt
4. Choruh river near Bayburt
5. - 7. Rosa foetida along the road
8. - 10. Tchihatchewia isatidea - very local near Bayburt

Gerd