Image of the day

My new scythe was made by meassure (of tallness). I am but a novice as I have used scythe very little. My grandpa did. But it is fun when you have the right tool and technique and you have to keep the blade (ljå) very sharp.
Mark, do you use a "langorv" (with long shaft) or a "stuttorv" (with short shaft)? In the picture you see "langorv".

PS. I did get my share of wheaties, yes! ..and home baked bread.

Couldn't resist showing my breakfast place. Taken this morning 7.30AM after morning bath in the fjord.
Have eaten all meals outside this summer.
The photo is overexposed due to strong sun and bad photographer!
I usually eat breakfast alone - my wife and mother are still sleeping!

What a great view to wake up to Trond!  Looks like it could be Newfoundland based on the cliffs and ocean...although I am sure you are warmer than us!

Mark,  my giganteum was certainly a GIANT bulb!  It has increased dramatically over the years, whatever it is.  I have about 30 so-called 'Purple Sensation' but there is obviously at least another one in the mix.  The second pic is the so-called giganteum next to Purple Sensation

Thought I'd throw in a desert gem.
Escobaria vivipara var. arizonica

Weiser wrote:

Thought I'd throw in a desert gem.
Escobaria vivipara var. arizonica

Those are indeed gems! I have always wanted to visit a desert with flowering cacti but never had the chance. Your pictures make up for that!

Todd wrote:

What a great view to wake up to Trond!  Looks like it could be Newfoundland based on the cliffs and ocean...although I am sure you are warmer than us!

I thought Newfoundland was a bit more rugged but it is formed by glaciers as well.
Todd, do you have a landscape picture? (With fiords)

Trond, there is much variation in Newfoundland...as the 10th largest island in the world, that is not surprising.  We have true fjords along the south coast and parts of the west coast, otherwise the shores are mostly cliffs with a few more level areas.  Yes, we are perhaps more rugged in places but your mountains are taller than ours.  Here is a sampling.  First is a view of St. John's where I live, the second is a typical view of the coast adjacent to St. John's.  The third is part of a fjord on the south coast (notice the forest drops to the coast here) and the last is the cliffs near the spot where Johann Caboto (John Cabot) made first landing in Newfoundland and essentially North America in 1492.  It is near the modern day community of Bonavista along the northeast coast.  In essence we are more like northern Scotland.

Our native vivipara have completely white pistils.

This thread is so interesting, from amazing hardy cacti (love the Escobaria), to inviting outdoor breakfast nooks in Norway, to stunning landscapes in Newfoundland... really enjoying it all... taking it all in. :D

It is amusing to be thought of as a "southerner", although with 99 F heat today, it sure feels like being down in the "deep south".  I like playing with Google maps, so I thought I'd check out just how far St. Johns, Newfoundland is from my town on the Massachusetts-New Hampshire line.  St. John's is about 320 miles to the north, but I'm surprised to learn it is about 1000 miles to the east!  Typing in my address and St. John's to get Google directions maps it all out with the distance of 1,229 miles :o :o :o

Amazing we are such a short distance north yet we are soooo much colder.  Our warmest day so far has only been 74 F.  Yesterday it was only 52F!  Suppose to hit 80 F on the weekend but we have been told that before and have been let down.

Thanks for the nice pictures, Todd! The landscape reminds me a little of western Norway. We have no natural spruce (or fir) forests down to the shores however. Our west coast has not much woodland at all due to grazing and burning since man arrived just as the last glaciers disappeared 12000 years ago.

But you know, Todd, you are a southerner too compared to me: I am still way north of you at 59th latitude! That's about the northern tip of Labrador.

The Physoplexis are (or rather were?) magnificent! (Hope they set plenty of seed!)
I remember first time I saw a picture of this plant - couldn't believe it was real. Had to be made of plastic or something.

Your homeplace in Lancashire, Cliff, seems to be pretty unspoilt? I thought all England was built up or cultivated.

Todd wrote:

Trond, there is much variation in Newfoundland...as the 10th largest island in the world, that is not surprising.  We have true fjords along the south coast and parts of the west coast, otherwise the shores are mostly cliffs with a few more level areas.  Yes, we are perhaps more rugged in places but your mountains are taller than ours.  Here is a sampling.  First is a view of St. John's where I live, the second is a typical view of the coast adjacent to St. John's.  The third is part of a fjord on the south coast (notice the forest drops to the coast here) and the last is the cliffs near the spot where Johann Caboto (John Cabot) made first landing in Newfoundland and essentially North America in 1492.  It is near the modern day community of Bonavista along the northeast coast.  In essence we are more like northern Scotland.

Beautiful pictures, Todd. Thanks for sharing.

Booker wrote:

Britain, and our part of Lancashire in particular, is a mixture of densely populated conurbations that sprawl across the landscape and enormous open tracts of moorland, arable land, forests, lakes and hills.  We just happen to live on the very edge of a large conurbation but actually quite high up on the moors.  I am always amazed when commentators stress how over populated our country (and, to a lesser extent perhaps, the U.S.A.) is ... we can drive for many miles even in this part of England without passing a building of any kind.     

You know, when I read about (or watch TV) it is always from the cities (rather mostly about gardens). I have been to England a couple of times but only in cities like London, Liverpool etc. Next time I visit I have to rent a car and drive out of the cities!

I suspect this skullcap has not yet been discovered by many rock gardeners, although it is widely distributed by nurseries through the Plant Select program (http://www.plantselect.org/plant_details.php?comment=no&plant_number=61) It was introduced (I believe) by the Yucca Do Nursery folk in the 1990's from the gypsum barrens near Galeana in Nuevo Leon--the area that also produced Salvia darcyi, another stunning garden plant. While the Salvia is quite large, this skullcap is the perfect size for the rock garden. It has come through for me in a variety of well drained sites, and seems amazingly hardy for a plant from Northern Mexico. However, we have accidentally discovered that the BEST way to grow it is in a rock wall where it suckers and fills the crevices and blooms magnificently all summer long. We've recently obtained a crimson flowered variant I am trying to establish in the same sort of spot in my home garden...

What a spectacular colour!  I've seen "ladies" downtown wearing lipstick that colour!  LOL!

It is the oldest profession!...and as quaint as we are, we are not THAT quaint!

Yesterday hit 28 C...up to now the warmest its been is 21...the poor Meconopsis melted  :-[

Todd wrote:

It is the oldest profession!...and as quaint as we are, we are not THAT quaint!

Yesterday hit 28 C...up to now the warmest its been is 21...the poor Meconopsis melted  :-[

  Hi Todd, we're still in the Dolomites and today we hiked high as usual. In the valley which I believe is close to 5000'. the temperature hit 31.  Where we were there was quite a breeze but it was still hot. It's really pushing the  plants although they had a lot of snow high up two weeks before we got here so we've seen most of the early plants. We've been here two weeks and not a drop of rain and warmer than usual. Unusual for the mountains in the Dolomites.

Instead on an image of the day, I'm doing an image (or two) of the night.  I started my own thread on a cool night-blooming saponaria endemic to the highest regions of the Troodos Mountains, Cyprus; Saponaria cypria.
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=325.0

This year the plant is outdoing itself, I think because we've had so much hot weather in the 90s to nearly 100 F (32-37 C) which is to its liking.  Tonight, at dusk, the plant looked particularly fetching, lots of bubblegum pink flowers and dark red calyxes hovering just above a low mat of neat succulent spoon-shaped leaves.  How wonderful to have a mat-forming Saponaria that flowers so late, typically starting in August, but starting in July this year with our advanced season.

No hot summer so far here but very dry (other parts of Norway have had plenty of rain). Today at last - rain! I can literally see the plants straighten their limbs and open their flowers. Now they are saved so far. (The Sedums and their like tolerates the dry condition but not all the others.)

Another scorcher from a Newfoundland perspective....27 C and 92% humidity...now showering.  The house feels so clammy!

Primula capitata doesn't seem to mind it!

Todd, spectacular Primula :o :o :o

Loving the endless heat we're getting, the Alliums are going crazy and blooming prolifically.  The one I'm posting is just starting to flower, it is a hybrid between our native Allium stellatum x Asian species A. senescens.  It is a wonderful plant that was selected from a number of such crosses over the last decade... it is named Allium 'Rosey Affair' (the name Rosey is spelled as intended :D).  The flower color deepens to a rich pink as they open and age.  A second photo shows 2-year old seedlings from it, they closely resemble the parent in habit but vary in flower color.  Normally this is an August bloomer, but as I've been harping on, the season is 2-3 weeks earlier than normal this year.

Todd, do you have trouble with P. capitata in the winter? Here it often freeze(!) to death when it changes between cold dry and mild wet weather.

Mark, you have an infinite number of interesting onions!

Here's a small one, you have to use magnifying glass and a stonecrop something with nice flowers.

Mark, I have that allium hybrid too...or at least looks very similar.  I thought it was a cernuum X senescens hybrid...did you offer seeds several years ago?

Trond, I cover my P. capitata under a pot in winter to keep the freeze-thaw to a minimum.  I can get 3-4 years out of them, then have to start again.

I grew Silene keiskei this year...bloomed first year from seed...I assume it will be an annual type....nice and compact at any rate.

I can't say I have grown it as well as you, Todd, but for me S. keiskei returns the next season about a third of the time.

Here Silene keiskei has been a shortlived perennial.

Booker wrote:

Oxalis 'Gwen McBride' captured at Ness Gardens on the Wirral, U.K.

A lovely Oxalis.  Of course Cliff, had you posted this to the SRGC, with forumists spying some slight yet evident irregularities and breaks in the network of pink patterning on the petals, there would be screams of... VIRUS! ;D

Fantastic Oxalis Cliff!  I have a few from this group but not that one!

Well I'm off to Alberta for 10 days as of today.  hear from you all when I get back.  I'll sign off with a view of my rock wall...this is the 'public' rockery of my garden!  I am amazed that youngsters walking down the road have not pulled them up.

A very fine wall, Todd (maybe the youngsters are not too bad always) and what a turf. Almost believe it is English!
Have a nice time in Alberta!

Back from Salida...I shall have to change my motto! The conference went well, we had good weather, good food and good company. I have not downloaded images, but shall before long...

Trond's (Lori's) unnamed succulent is Rosularia sedoides. I once had Silene keiskei that was so robust I took it out of the garden. That form was a LONG lived perennial, and spread quickly. Looked just like the pic.

Edited to correct name - Lori.

Sarcodes sanguinea is a strikingly beautiful but odd plant you are likely to encounter while hiking through the Sierra Nevada forests.
Here are links that explane a little about it's strange and fascinating growth habits.

http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/sarcodes_sanguinea.shtml
http://www.botany.org/parasitic_plants/Sarcodes_sanguinea.php

Very special plant! Beautiful but odd, as you said.
What kind of conifer does it prefere? The Snow Plant is so beastly beautiful that I gladly would grow it in my garden!

Most of my encounters have been in forests dominated by Pinus jeffreyi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Pine

I am not sure if it prefers one species over another. From what I have read it is not parasitic to the tree but to the fungi that live in the soils around the trees.

Weiser wrote:

Most of my encounters have been in forests dominated by Pinus jeffreyi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Pine

I am not sure if it prefers one species over another. From what I have read it is not parasitic to the tree but to the fungi that live in the soils around the trees.

Thank you.
I don't have any Jeffrey Pine but a Ponderosa Pine in my garden! What kind of mycorrhizza it has I don't know!

Thought I'd show off a few photographs of Penstemon newberryi ssp. newberryi. It is in full bloom this time of year along the Sierra Nevada Range. These shots are from  Yuba Pass in California at about 7200' elevation. There were several Black Chinned Hummingbirds - Archilochus alexandri - having a dog fight over this patch, when we first came upon it.  As we took pictures they of course scolded and buzzed us a few times.

The Sierra Nevada Range seems to be a place to visit! Although the spruce(?) forest in the background of your last picture could have been in Norway the plants (and animals) are totally different.

That Penstemon is wonderful for sure!

Had a hot time? Why not do some snow-walking!