October 2010 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Brian Ellis]

I particularly like those leaf forms in pics 3 & 6 John, lovely collection

[annew]

1,3 and 5 are my favourites. Scolly looks nice too, have you any more?

[Lesley Cox]

Two new threads have appeared in my Inbox, Alpines - Plants and Alpines -Iris. There was one yesterday Alpines - Blue Corydalis. Each seems to be a potentially very interesting list of relevant species. But when I click on them to open, I get the "Error has occurred......" message and there's nothing there. Anyone know what's going on?

[Maggi Young]

Yes, Lesley... those threads were begun by a forumists who was using them to post lists of plants for sale- and which I regarded as suspicious - they have been removed.

[KentGardener]

Scolly looks nice too, have you any more?

scolopendrium or cyclamen?  The answer is yes to both.   

[Lvandelft]

After coming back from our trip to Scotland it was nice to see these plants in flower here
               
Allium thunbergii var. Ozawa                       
               
Nerine bowdenii Marnie Rogerson     

[Carlo]

Purple and white forms of Allium thunbergii ('Ozawa') are in bloom here now. Any reason you're growing yours in pots rather than in ground? They're quite hardy for us here in the northeastern US.

[angie]

Like your Nerine bowdenii Marnie Rogerson 

Angie

[Knud]

Maggi/Mark

I struggled to cultivate Tricyrtis macrantha macranthopsis until I was told it was seen growing in the wild with a constant mist/spray from a waterfall.  Also if the foliage is in direct sunlight it scorches really badly & the flower buds abort.  Even though the foxes dug up a large amount, which ended up bare rooted and dry, all pieces with roots have survived.  I also spray the plant daily with water in warm weather.

Mike

Hello,
Very nice and enticing pictures of the Tricyrtis, and from Mike's description, just the plant for a wet west-coast garden. I must try!

The autumn in the Northern Hemisphere mountains (autumn anywhere I guess, but it keeps me almost on thread) can be very beautiful, and richly coloured. Alpines that are boringly plentiful, green, and flowerless as we wade through them in summer's search for "gems", have their moment of glory as they turn whole mountainsides into a palette of earth-colours. I have included some pictures from mountains of southern Norway, the first of which is from the Ryfylke hills just east of Stavanger (elevation about 900 m). The colour is provided by alpine grasses, sedges and rushes just turning at the end of August. The next few pictures were taken the last weekend of September, which is already a bit late in the "colour season". The second picture is from Valdresflya in the Jotunheimen range (elevation about 1000 m), with a sea of Reindeer Moss (a Cladonia lichen) in the foreground. Other plants seen are dwarf birch (betula nana) and downy birch (b. pubescens probably ssp tortuosa). The third picture is from Hardangervidda, east of Bergen (elevation about 1000 m) with patches of reinder moss, dwarf birch, various Vacciniums, Empetrum, salix, and juniper. The fourth picture has Vaccinium myrtillus, V. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea, and Empetrum nigrum ssp hermaphroditum growing through reindeer moss. The last picture is also from Hardangervidda, showing crowberries (Empetrum nigrum hermaphroditum), blueberries (Vaccinium myrtillus), and lingonberries (V. vitis-idaea, leaves only), all contributing to the culinary feast an autumn hike can be.

Knud Lunde, Stavanger, south-west coast of Norway

[Maggi Young]

Knud, good to hear from you..... and wonderful photos of the super landscape and grand plants.

[cohan]

great images and places, knud! very interesting to see alpines at my altitude (i am a little under 1000m) when we are still so far from alpines!..of course i know there are other conditions of exposure, etc..

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Great images of beautiful Norway preparing for winter Knud !
Thanks a lot for showing !

[Ragged Robin]

Wonderful rich tapestries of colour carpeting the rocks, a lovely sight Knud, thank you.

[Diane Whitehead]

Grindelia, a coastal wildflower, flowers all summer and fall.

The first picture was taken in June and the second, of a nearby plant,
in late October.  There are still lots of buds coming, so it hasn't finished yet.

I sent some seeds to someone in Europe who requested them last year.
I wonder how they did.

[cohan]

Grindelia, a coastal wildflower, flowers all summer and fall.

The first picture was taken in June and the second, of a nearby plant,
in late October.  There are still lots of buds coming, so it hasn't finished yet.

I sent some seeds to someone in Europe who requested them last year.
I wonder how they did.

very nice! do you know the species, diane? G squarrosa occurs in alberta, though i have not seen it..