What do you see on your garden walks?

[Hoy]

I had not finished yet! Can upload only one picture at the moment!
Last picture...

[Lori S.]

Nice sandstone outcrop - love the patterns of bedding and fracturing, and the lichen!  What sorts of deciduous trees do you see there?

[Hoy]

Nice sandstone outcrop - love the patterns of bedding and fracturing, and the lichen!  What sorts of deciduous trees do you see there?

The commonest trees are oaks, hazel, grey and black alder (Norw. names), crabapple, maple, elm, ash, rowan, whitebeam and maybe more. Lots of shrubbery (barberry, sloe and more).

[Lori S.]

Once again, I'm reminded of how easy it would be, in relative terms, to have a comprehensive knowledge of the native tree species here... which are so very few, by comparison!

[Hoy]

Once again, I'm reminded of how easy it would be, in relative terms, to have a comprehensive knowledge of the native tree species here... which are so very few, by comparison!

I almost forgot birch, gean and aspen! This is a species-rich area however. It is not like that everywhere in Norway. On the contrary, birch is the commonest deciduous tree.
Two more pictures..

[Hoy]

Some of the area is heavily grazed by cattle. This is to keep down the undergrowth in the woods and keep the meadows open. They have too many animals so the meadows are very short-cut, and almost no flowers. Some areas are fenced off to keep the animals out.
These are common:

Geranium sanguineum and Galium verum.
Especially Lady's bedstraw, you can smell it far out in the sea.

Excuse the diffuse pictures. The camera lens was covered by salt (and so was my spectacles so I didn't notice!)

[Lori S.]

Very pretty!  Do I see Campanula rotundifolia in there too?  I had to look up "gean" -wild cherry?  (Not a familiar term for me - nice to learn things!)

[Hoy]

Very pretty!  Do I see Campanula rotundifolia in there too?  I had to look up "gean" -wild cherry?  (Not a familiar term for me - nice to learn things!)

Yes, you do; and yes, that's right! (The Norwegian name is fuglebær - "bird-berry".)


Here are the harebell, and a spruce to show that they also creep in the lowlands!

The island's name is Jomfruland = Virgin land.

[Lori S.]

I'm not sure of the white flower above - is it Daucus carota?

Just spent the evening "controlling" the virtual plague of self-seeded delphiniums out front, and moving other plants in front of them to hide their tatty, yellow lowermost leaves... mission accomplished, for a while, I hope.   There was a casualty though... I broke the top off an Eremurus... grrr!
A few things from the yard, some alpine-ish...
1) Phyteuma nigrum, done flowering now.
2) Stachys discolor
3) A stem of Lilium martagon 'Album', with Lupinus argenteus in the background
4) Allium obliquum
5) Scutellaria baicalensis, from seed last year... very interesting flowers and buds
6) Phyteuma scheuchzeri
7, 8 ) A long-time favourite plant, Linum flavum 'Compactum'
9, 10) An extremely hardy (at least zone 2) and elegant plant from the Caucasus, Echium russicum

[Hoy]

The white flowers are a carrot lookalike: Pimpinella saxifraga (and the blue grass is Leymus arenarius).

Nice clump of Phyteuma nigra! I sowed this species many years ago and it lowered this spring for the first time!

I have other Phyteuma but never seen discolor, seems to be a fine plant.
My Lilium martagon have all grown small and nonflowering!
It seems that the Onion Man is not the only one growing Allium! I am at the lookout for new species to try here - they have to be summer-flowering and able to cope with very dry periods.
Scutellaria baicalensis have I tried from seed several times but never had any success.
Another nice Phyteuma! We have one native Phyteuma in Norway, P. spicatum, but I have never seen it in the wild.
Longtime favored Linum you say, how long? My perennial Linums never live more than a couple of years! Have not tried this one, however.
Is Echium russicum perennial? Our local Echium, E. vulgare (a very pretty plant by the way) is biennial.

[Weiser]

I grow two grasses in my dry-land garden that add light and movement to my plantings.

The first is my favorite, Indian Rice Grass - Achnatherum hymenoides (syn. Oryzopsis hymenoides, Stipa hymenoides) A moderately sized (6-12 inches) western bunch grass with airy, light refracting inflorescence.

The second is a taller (18-24inch) drought tolerant bunch grass. Mexican Feather Grass - Stipa tenuissima (syn. Nassella tenuissima). For soft flowing movement at the slightest breeze it is hard to beat.

I use these two grasses as companions for an assortment of western prairie natives.

[Hoy]

I like your grasses, Weiser!
Can't you open a new thread on grasses?
By the way, do you collect seed of any of your plants?

[RickR]

Scutellaria baicalensis ... I wonder what I have that is supposed to be baicalensis?  It's scads different.  Mine bloomed in a pot rather than in ground, but still...

[McDonough]

Scutellaria baicalensis ... I wonder what I have that is supposed to be baicalensis?  It's scads different.  Mine bloomed in a pot rather than in ground, but still...

Rick, it does look scads different than Lori's plant... but will  the  real  Scutellaria  baicalensis  please  stand  up?  Googling, one finds scads of herbal sites, many of which seem to use any ol' Scutellaria plant photo... it doesn't matter in their drug/herbal world, so those should be largely ignored.  

The species is named for Lake Baikal, an area in Russian Siberia.  Googling, one learns about this fascinating area, Asia's largest lake, and the world's deepest lake.  This species is also found in China; Flora of China says "traditionally used as a febrifuge, for relieving fever... this is one of the most commonly collected species in China.".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Baikal

I gathered up a few photo links, not sure who's got what, but all these upright "scoots" are a hoot to grow, I like em.

Flora of China drawing and species description:
http://www.efloras.org/object_page.aspx?object_id=3315&flora_id=2
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200020285

More photo/info links:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/scutellaria_baicalensis1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/2007/12/scutellaria_baicalensis_1.php&usg=__yq7YPmWFXX589boWAGSDmP11XaY=&h=600&w=800&sz=150&hl=en&start=1&itbs=1&tbnid=q_88H9lB54OoIM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3DScutellaria%2Bbaicalensis%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1

http://www.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/plants/magnoliophyta/magnoliophytina/magnoliopsida/lamiaceae/scutellaria/baicalensis-1x.jpg

http://www.rmrp.com/Images/Plants/S/Scuttelaria%20baicalensis%20100DPI.jpg

[Hoy]

Scutellaria baicalensis ... I wonder what I have that is supposed to be baicalensis?  It's scads different.  Mine bloomed in a pot rather than in ground, but still...

I don't know which plant is the real thing - yours or Lori's or both!
Yours seems to be a pretty plant anyway, Rick!