Trees in parks and gardens 2011

[Juan Fornes]

So, one of these trees is dangerous to stand under and the other is certainly not suitable for leaning against. Quite a pair!

Re the Chorisia: where does the "Silk Floss Tree" name come from, does anyone know?

Paddy

  Paddy: as Maggy explained, Chorisia speciosa takes the common name of "silk floss tree"  from the substance inside ripe fruits. In spanish, however, these trees are  called "Arbol Botella" o "Palo borracho" ("Bottle Tree" or "Drunken Stick") (I remember the novel of Gerald Durrell "The Drunken Forest", where he describes one on his journeys through south-america in search of animals) because their trunks store water during wet seasons, giving them a very typical, peculiar look. Here in Valencia they can be seen in flower all year round, althogh winter makes them much reluctant to flower. Pictures below were taken this weekend:, and they are as follows:

1.- Little forest
2.- Detail of flower (see how different is the yellow, glowing looking beggining of petal and the smooth pink distal part: their substance is also very different)
3.- Tree fruiting

4.- Ripe fruit opening
5.- Detail of the substance filling the fruits.
6.- "Smooth" surface of trunk-
7.- Close-up of a fruit
  These fruits, however, are not in their best season so they don´t look much as they should and are mostly seedless. When well grown, they look like white, cotton-like balls hanging up above.

[Paddy Tobin]

Juan,

That is quite a sight - of course, it is everyday for you but for me this is a very exotic tree and one which I would see only on holidays.

Many thanks for the wonderful photographs, very interesting.

Paddy

[cohan]

So, one of these trees is dangerous to stand under and the other is certainly not suitable for leaning against. Quite a pair!

Re the Chorisia: where does the "Silk Floss Tree" name come from, does anyone know?

Paddy

  Paddy: as Maggy explained, Chorisia speciosa takes the common name of "silk floss tree"  from the substance inside ripe fruits. In spanish, however, these trees are  called "Arbol Botella" o "Palo borracho" ("Bottle Tree" or "Drunken Stick") (I remember the novel of Gerald Durrell "The Drunken Forest", where he describes one on his journeys through south-america in search of animals) because their trunks store water during wet seasons, giving them a very typical, peculiar look. Here in Valencia they can be seen in flower all year round, althogh winter makes them much reluctant to flower. Pictures below were taken this weekend:, and they are as follows:

1.- Little forest
2.- Detail of flower (see how different is the yellow, glowing looking beggining of petal and the smooth pink distal part: their substance is also very different)
3.- Tree fruiting

4.- Ripe fruit opening
5.- Detail of the substance filling the fruits.
6.- "Smooth" surface of trunk-
7.- Close-up of a fruit
  These fruits, however, are not in their best season so they don´t look much as they should and are mostly seedless. When well grown, they look like white, cotton-like balls hanging up above.

nice to see these, especially the grove!

[Juan Fornes]

  Paddy, you´re right: flowering Chorisias are a daily sight for me, but I can assure there is no day when passing beside them that I don´t stop and admire them.
  Cohan, I´m glad you like them too.

  I´d like to post two pics of my tiny garden, though I´m a little ashamed for your gardens are amazing. Mine is really a patio-garden. House was bought both as home and as our new flowershop. Patio was first covered with large, red sandstones pieces so beautiful we decided to put them as the shop floor. We dug the patio very deeply and then filled it in with turf. As opening was so near, we decided to plant all our "survivor" pot plants so patio wouldn´t look so naked: Howeia forsteriana, Ficus benjamina, Schefflera arboricola... 8 years later, plants showed how well they did. In some cases too well: Ficus benjamina is fiercely cut so it doesn´t disturb neighbours. Only big shrubs and trees survive, as my dogs "love" also gardening...
Pic 1 is view of the patio from the shop, showing "López", my Head Gardener and Howeia forsteriana, Beucarnea, Ficus benjamina and Ivy
Pic 2 is a back view of the patio. At the left: Dracaena fragans, Acokanthera oblongifolia, young Strelitzia alba (mother plant grew so high it felt over the wall), Euphorbia sp., Ivy on the wall...  At the right: Schefflera arboricola, Ficus benjamina, small Acokanthera and Ivy.
I know it looks very untidy. In fact, it IS very untidy but birds, insects and spiders love this little "jungle"...

[Juan Fornes]

And three trees from parks in Valencia:
1- Podocarpus neriifolius (what about this conifer, Paddy?) : pic missing from this post
2- Erythrina crista-galli flowering branch (still in bud)
3- E. crista-galli flower detail
4- E. crista-galli seeds
5- Female Ginko biloba tree, with some fruits still hanging : pic missing from thisd post
6- Ginko biloba fruits and seeds
7- Another group of Chorisia speciosa and
8- An especially "drunk" Chorisia

[cohan]

  Paddy, you´re right: flowering Chorisias are a daily sight for me, but I can assure there is no day when passing beside them that I don´t stop and admire them.
  Cohan, I´m glad you like them too.

  I´d like to post two pics of my tiny garden, though I´m a little ashamed for your gardens are amazing. Mine is really a patio-garden. House was bought both as home and as our new flowershop. Patio was first covered with large, red sandstones pieces so beautiful we decided to put them as the shop floor. We dug the patio very deeply and then filled it in with turf. As opening was so near, we decided to plant all our "survivor" pot plants so patio wouldn´t look so naked: Howeia forsteriana, Ficus benjamina, Schefflera arboricola... 8 years later, plants showed how well they did. In some cases too well: Ficus benjamina is fiercely cut so it doesn´t disturb neighbours. Only big shrubs and trees survive, as my dogs "love" also gardening...
Pic 1 is view of the patio from the shop, showing "López", my Head Gardener and Howeia forsteriana, Beucarnea, Ficus benjamina and Ivy
Pic 2 is a back view of the patio. At the left: Dracaena fragans, Acokanthera oblongifolia, young Strelitzia alba (mother plant grew so high it felt over the wall), Euphorbia sp., Ivy on the wall...  At the right: Schefflera arboricola, Ficus benjamina, small Acokanthera and Ivy.
I know it looks very untidy. In fact, it IS very untidy but birds, insects and spiders love this little "jungle"...

i think this kind of jungle is much to be appreciated in an urban place--and i bet it is a comfort in hot weather! like a traditional courtyard oasis, but a bit more 'natural'

[Paddy Tobin]

Hi Juan,

I couldn't manage to see your podocarpus photograph - didn't show when downloaded - but I do like podocarpus; it can almost look like a cut-leafed maple, a beautiful plant.

On the other hand, I think the red of E. crista galli is amazing, a truly vibrant colour and the seed pods are nice as well, golden hairy pods.

Your patio is fabulous, certainly a jungle in your back garden and, as Cohan say, perfect for a hot climate.

Many thanks, Paddy

[Maggi Young]

I love the idea of a flower shop with a real garden! 

Juan, pictures 1 and 5 from your last batch did not load correctly.

[manicbotanic]

maggi crug have cotoneaster moupinensis listed this year..

[Maggi Young]

maggi crug have cotoneaster moupinensis listed this year..

Oh, thanks, Sean!

[Juan Fornes]

Maybe one of the most impressive trees in Valencia city: Ficus macrophylla. They were planted in 1856, and the biggest (whose trunk is first pic) has the following measurements:
- Trunk at 1m height: 13,3 m diameter
- Height of tree: 23 m
- Treetop: 36m diameter
Pics are:
- Trunk of biggest tree
- Another tree
- General view of a third Ficus

[Juan Fornes]

   Another Erythrina from our parks. This is Erythrina caffra, a quite different tree from the E. crista-galli: flowers are more orange-red than crimson-red, and above all seeds are very different: beautiful bright red instead of the E. crista-galli brown ones. Building shown behind the tree is the "Museo de Bellas Artes Pio V", one of our most important Painting museums Building is dated XVIII century.
   Pics are:

- Tree in flower
- Flowers
- Seed pods
- Another tree with much more leaves, but flowerless.

Thank you Maggi and Paddy for the advice of my pics of Podocarpus and female Gynko: they got damaged in my camera (not sure why). Hope these will appear right...

[Paddy Tobin]

Juan,

Ficus is regularly grown as a house plant here in Ireland and, I imagine, in other countries in northern Europe but we would never see one so magnificent as that you have shown. What an amazing trunk, such character and age - it even makes me feel young.

It is good to see such vibrant colour, Erythrina caffra, as here in green, green Ireland it is, in fact, grey, grey, grey and raining, raining, raining.

Juan, I used teach English to Spanish students here in Ireland many years ago and can still recall the moment when a young Spaniard asked, with a look of total puzzlement on his face, where was the green in Ireland because all he had seen since his arrival was grey. The poor fellow was very homesick, I think.

Paddy

[Juan Fornes]

yes, yes, yes, Paddy, o.k.: so no green in Ireland, and now you will tell me that Joyce´s Finnegans wake is very easy to read, right?

[Paddy Tobin]

On the day that's in it, it's all grey.

Finnegan's Wake is a pleasant read.

Paddy