Image of the day

[cohan]

Love the tepuis, Trond! I've seen a couple programs on tv, and did some searching after, but there is not much on the plants (they mention the vegetation of course, but not much detail on what's there), so I'm looking forward to your pics.. how did you get up there--hike/climb? helicopter?

I'll come back with a report when I get home and get access to  my broadband. Now I only have a phone as modem and it is hopeless to load pictures properly. Besides I have not resized the pics yet and neither named the plant species - hopefully I manage to name some of the plants.

It is several tepuis and most are inaccessible without real mountain climbing or helicopter. Roraima is one of the easier - you hike two days through a undulating savannah, cross a couple of rivers without bridges; the third day you climb 1000m up in a very steep scree mostly covered with a kind of rainforest and enter a plateau at about 2700m. Here you spend 2 nights and one day exploring the nature before climbing down and hike back to civilisation in two days. It is a limited number of people up there at the time but some come for a half day trip by helicopter.

It is a strange world up there and even the colours are different. I could easily have spent weeks there exploring the place (it is 31km²).

They showed the hike and climb in a show I saw, but the last part seemed pretty hairy-- I remember people hanging from ropes, but maybe they were doing some extra exploring of the cliffs, I can't remember now... I can imagine one full day would not be enough in such a place...

[Tim Ingram]

Trond - what a stunning and weird place! It puts the garden into context; there is so much more to see than you can ever imagine! I wish we could see more of the wild places of the world on TV. We get plenty of programmes on the wildlife but very few really good ones on plants. A massive opportunity for film-makers. And a learning experience for many of us.

[Booker]

Ranunculus glacialis growing in the crumbling conglomerate detritus at Portovescova, near Arabba in the Dolomites.

[cohan]

Very sweet, Cliff! Who cares for your garden while you are gallivanting in the mountains?

[Booker]

Very sweet, Cliff! Who cares for your garden while you are gallivanting in the mountains?

Hi Cohan,
My dear son-in-law pops in twice a week and literally drowns everything (whatever the weather), but I can't, daren't and won't complain as most plants survive the deluge and I couldn't be more grateful!   We do return the favour, of course, by drowning, feeding their cats every day when they go travelling. 

[Hoy]

Ranunculus glacialis growing in the crumbling conglomerate detritus at Portovescova, near Arabba in the Dolomites.

Happily I don't need to travel that far to find this species!

[Booker]

I will have to travel to Norway to see some more Trond!   

The best display of R. glacialis I have ever seen were on the Hintertux .... utterly spellbinding to see my favourite plant in such floristic profusion.

[Todd Boland]

Not sure if it is considered an alpine but here is a picture of Berkheya purpurea I started from seed last March.  It is native toi the Drakensburg at 3000m, so it is alpine in my opinion.  The plant is extremely spiny.  The flower stem is about 40 cm.  The challenge will be to overwinter it.

[Hoy]

I will have to travel to Norway to see some more Trond!   

The best display of R. glacialis I have ever seen were on the Hintertux .... utterly spellbinding to see my favourite plant in such floristic profusion.

You are welcome any time, Cliff

[Hoy]

Not sure if it is considered an alpine but here is a picture of Berkheya purpurea I started from seed last March.  It is native toi the Drakensburg at 3000m, so it is alpine in my opinion.  The plant is extremely spiny.  The flower stem is about 40 cm.  The challenge will be to overwinter it.

Where's the purpur?
Hope you manage to overwinter this gem!

[Lori S.]

Hey, I imagine 3000m would be pretty alpine in most areas!  Looks interesting - I'm looking forward to hearing about overwintering success.

[Todd Boland]

It survives in Denver...but doesn't everything South African?  I'll collect seed and send them your way Lori...it does prefer dry winters!

As to the 'purpur'...well there is a hint of purple!

[Tim Ingram]

We grow three Berkheya species but on the whole I suppose our climate is pretty mild. Berkheya purpurea seeds around a little, but can also spread underground and is likely to come back from the roots unless the ground is deeply frozen. B.multijuga is probably the hardiest, a massive compact clump of pretty nasty leaves(!) and, sadly, bright yellow flowers that attract hundreds of small beetles - but never sets any seed! The other species came from a remarkable garden on the East Norfolk coast, The Old Vicarage, East Ruston, growing in their 'desert' garden - pretty stunning there in deep gravel but less dramatic in our richer soil. There are many other interesting species, including some that are shrubby, but almost all must be fairly tender. (see The Cape Floral Kingdom, by Colin Paterson Jones for a striking picture of B. francisci in the Swartberg).

[Todd Boland]

Wow Tim, I didn't realzie there were others.  That yellow one is certainly nasty but really, I think the foliage is funky!  Morina has nasty foliage too and it's another I love.

[Hoy]

I once grew a Berkheya species, seems I have to try more of the genus!

These can't compete but the first one (Rumex acetosa) is at least edible! I don't know about the second one and I can't understand how I managed to place my left foot in the frame either! Erigeron acre is a biennial.