Central Austria, August 2008

[Lvandelft]

Hello all,
after enjoying a 3 weeks holiday in Austria with very good weather and back with masses of pictures I hope you don't mind when I show some of them here.
In the first batch some of the little village where we stayed and had a good look at
the Niedere Tauern and some pictures I made in the village.

Austria                           
Austria Bauerngarten
Austria Bauerngarten 1                   
Euphrasia                   

[Lvandelft]

Then some of the many beautyful houses and a picture of a Phlox paniculata
which I saw in a garden.
The lady there told me, her grandmother did already have it in her garden.
So must be a variety from the time before the great development in Phlox culture,
in the early  twentieth age.

Austria nice house                 
Austria old house               
Phlox paniculata               

More to come.

[art600]

Luit

More please

[Armin]

Luit,
I agree with Arthur -please show us more

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Welcome home Luit ! 

Very good start... but it will be clear now that we all want more..

[ranunculus]

Super images Luit.  Many thanks.

[Katherine J]

Beautiful views, thank you.
That Phlox looks so healthy.

[Lvandelft]

O.k. here are some more pictures then.

Beautiful views, thank you.
That Phlox looks so healthy.

Kathrin, that's just what I thought. But above 1000 m. Phlox are not so
susceptible to mildew, or other typical Phlox-deseases.

Last year we were living for some weeks in the same little village. You'll understand that I,
as a gardener always am looking for some interesting plants or gardens.
I saw some small "rockgardens", like you might see many in mountain areas.
This year I made some pictures which I show here.
(The first one was in Filzmoos near the Dachstein)
Rockgarden 1                 
Rockgarden 2                 
Rockgarden 3     

(later some more, have to fix some pictures to the right size!)

[Lvandelft]

So, when making a little walk in this small (some 500 people counting) village,
I looked at a man working in his garden. Nothing special, but my eyes were
attracted by a heap of collected rocks under an appletree.
The man told me that it was his rockgarden and asked me what I found of it.
I told him what my profession had been and where I lived.
Now he complained that his plants in this "rockery" were not doing well.
I asked him, taking care not offending him, if he ever saw a mountain under an
appletree.
Next day I came back to make a picture of the place, but the man had taken all
the stones away and cleaned the place....?

This year I made my round through the village again and had a look at the same
garden.
Under the appletree was now a lawn and edged by a narrow bed with some
big rocks standing between Sempervivum.
On the other side of the drive in full sun  was made a new, and even bigger, "rockery".
I did not see the man, but I think he has made some tribute to a Dutchman,
gratefull for my advice, where to make a rockgarden.
I must admit that he did his work with great skill, as the pictures show.                 

Rockgarden 4                   
Rockgarden 5             
Rockgarden 6               
Rockgarden 7             
Rockgarden 8                   
Rockgarden 9                 

[Brian Ellis]

That Phlox looks so healthy.

Indeed phlox is susceptible to eelworm etc, if you want to rejuvenate your clump take tip cuttings early in the season and they will have no sign of eelworm when they grow on (unless of course it is in another area of the ground!).

[Gerdk]

Luit,
Fantastic, the type of  rockgarden no 4, respectively 5 is called 'Gespickter Rehrücken ' here in Germany.
This means it looks like a saddle of venison garnished with back bacon. There are so much variations to build a rockgarden

Gerd

[Lvandelft]

A special experience for me was a trip to the Dachstein.
Before my heartproblems I used to walk always up and down and never considered this
until I saw the posts of our forumist Johannes Höller this year in the Austrian mountains!
Thanks for that, Johannes!
The weather was nice, but up the mountain the sight was not clear enough to see
as far as the Triglav in Slovenia. But many other mountains were visible, including
Grossglockner.
The Cablestation is on 1700 m and it takes some minutes up to 2700 m.
The snow on the glacier was very wet and very slippery to walk and this time of
year not many flowering plants were to see.
I have made so many pictures and hope I made the right choice.
Here is the first batch:

Dachstein 01
Dachstein up 1                 
Dachstein up 2                 
Dachstein up 3                 
Dachstein up 4           
Dachstein Glacier
Dachstein Glacier 2             
Dachstein Glacier 3       
Dachstein Feeling small

[David Nicholson]

It's good to see our intrepid mountaineer back in the flatlands Lovely pictures Luit, more please.

[Lvandelft]

On one of the terraces was a place where we could stand on a glass and look
at least 700 m. right down. A strange experience because you cannot see how thick
this glass is. Nothing for people with fear of height.
I made some pictures of plants (without flowers) too, because I found it interesting to see how
they managed to stay alive at these heights.

Dachstein Looking down 
Dachstein Looking down 2             
Dachstein Looking down 3       
Dachstein Looking down 4     
Dachstein Looking down 5
Dachstein plants
Dachstein plants 2               
Dachstein plants 3               
Dachstein plants 4               

[Lvandelft]

It's good to see our intrepid mountaineer back in the flatlands Lovely pictures Luit, more please.

I'm glad too David! Would like to stay longer there, but with all the rain here the weeds
were taking over our place. So have to work a lot now. 

The last pics from Dachstein:

Dachstein descend 1           
Dachstein descend 2             
Dachstein descend 3       
Dachstein descend 4     

On our way back home we passed one of the oldest churches in the Upper Ennstal:
The catholic church in St. Rupert am Kulm dates back to Romanesque times.

Old Church Ramsau am Dachstein 

more to come later...