Image of the day

Weiser wrote:

Sphaeralcea munroana

Remarkable color! Is it pollinated by birds?

The Gentiana punctata is lovely. The scenery dramatic what a great shot!

Hoy
They are are members of Malvaceae and pollinated by bees, wasps, ants, and beetles. There are several other Sphaeralcea with orange, orange/red, or salmon colored flowers.

1  Sphaeralcea ambigua ssp. ambigua
2  Sphaeralcea coccinea

Booker wrote:

Another from the Dolomites ... Gentiana punctata.

I have not tried Gentiana punctata but the similar G. lutea. Seems that punctata is a better plant!

Weiser wrote:

Hoy
They are are members of Malvaceae and pollinated by bees, wasps, ants, and beetles. There are several other Sphaeralcea with orange, orange/red, or salmon colored flowers.

1   Sphaeralcea ambigua ssp. ambigua
2   Sphaeralcea coccinea

Thanks, John.
I have of course seen these hot-colored plants on pictures but never tried them here thinking they need warm, dry weather to proliferate. I know red-colored flowers often are pollinated by birds as bees can't see red light very well. But it is a hint of yellow in the color too, it seems.

Here are some pics from my garden today - after two weeks with freezing temperatures but a clear blue sky.
1) and 2) View from my veranda across the fjord
3) Rhododendron sutchuenense prepared for low temperatures
4) Viburnum farreri had started flowering but needs a break when it is sub-zero C (32F). When it gets milder new buds open.

Skulski wrote:

Hoy wrote:

Get hold of "snow socks"...

Hmm, skins for skiis, "snow socks" for tires... ! They are very useful! I always have a pair in my car in winter and am never stuck in the snow! (I have skins for my skis too.)

Hoy wrote:

I have not tried Gentiana punctata but the similar G. lutea. Seems that punctata is a better plant!

Whether one is more garden-worthy than the other probably comes down to individual preference, but they are not really very similar to me, at any rate - G. lutea is quite different with its open starry flowers... a big, robust plant with handsome foliage, too.  Unfortunately, I have not seen either in nature, but here is G. lutea in the garden.

Excuse me Lori, you got me there! But to my defence: Your G. lutea is much prettier than mine ever was (it is dead now).

Booker wrote:

Only a dusting of snow in Lancashire, U.K. so far, but the icicles are pretty.   A clutch of images captured this morning in Healey Dell, our local beauty spot.
The final images are of autumn leaves trapped in frozen waterfalls ...

What a place to take a walk! Is it a Roman bridge, Cliff?
When the spring arrives you must show us the greening of the leaves!

Booker wrote:

Another from the Dolomites ... Gentiana punctata.

Cliff, I see no mention of the famed "blue dot".  Surely that has to enter into any discussion of relative merits of Gentiana punctata vs any other yellow gentian?

What's the difference - blue, purple or brown spots? Can you tell from let us say, 2m distance?  ;)

Cliff, do you know which Erica it is?
Heaths do fine here. I have never been to Mallorca but remember great Ericas from Madeira. And what about this Erica arborea wood from Kilimanjaro?

Hoy wrote:

And what about this Erica arborea wood from Kilimanjaro?

A grand photo.  How old do you suppose those Erica are? 
And is that something akin to ourAmerican Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides) hanging on them?

Toole wrote:

Raoulia on gravel -----Tasman Valley --South Island --New Zealand

Cheers Dave.

My daughter is going to visit New Zealand March-April 2011. I have to tell her to take lots of pictures! I hope she is going to visit the mountains.

(Am I number 10002 now?)

RickR wrote:

Hoy wrote:

And what about this Erica arborea wood from Kilimanjaro?

A grand photo.  How old do you suppose those Erica are? 
And is that something akin to ourAmerican Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides) hanging on them?

I don't know the age of the shrubs, but the wood is dense and I would guess they are several hundreds years old.
If I remember right the drapery here is very similar to Spanish Moss but I believe it is  lichen. No Tillandsia species grows wild in Africa as far as I know.

Hoy wrote:

If I remember right the drapery here is very similar to Spanish Moss but I believe it is  lichen. No Tillandsia species grows wild in Africa as far as I know.

I bet you are right, Trond.  In northern Minnesota we have a similar lichen that hangs from spruce trees.

Spectacular Raoulia Dave!

Rick, we have plenty of the spanish moss wannabe lichens in Newfoundland...we call them old man's beard ...I'm sure they grow all over Norway too.

Todd wrote:

Spectacular Raoulia Dave!

Rick, we have plenty of the spanish moss wannabe lichens in Newfoundland...we call them old man's beard ...I'm sure they grow all over Norway too.

Oh, yes, that kind of lichen  (called "stry" in Norwegian) is not uncommon here but some kinds are getting rarer, like this:

You find it in old stands of wood.

I have neither feeling of vernum nor verna here so it is good to be reminded of what cometh!

When springs comes I know that Rosa roxburghii f. normalis will flower as splendidly as it does every year. Sown from seeds in a hip I found in Berlin many years ago.

A lovely rose.  How big (tall) does it get?

It grows as an erect shrub, mine is 3m/10ft tall and has a circumference of several meters now. It is however, possible to prune it more heavily than I have done but intend to do!
(I have lots of seed if anybody is interested.)

Toole wrote:

Trond
There should still be some interesting alpines in flower in march --the Gentianella particularly.
If she needs any advice on where to go just contact me.

Cheers dave.

Thanks, I'll tell her.
Trond

Cliff
Lovely Orchid!

Lori, does anything grow on those massive scree slopes?

lori
Is that you, I spy with my little eye? :)

Booker wrote:

The Lesser Butterfly Orchid, Platanthera bifolia ...

Cliff, at last a plant I am familiar with! This is one of the commoner orchids in Norway and I have a few populations at my summerhouse. Have you ever tried to find them by night? Their intoxicating odor can be smelled at some distance at night. In my youth I often tried to find plants in the woods at night using my nose! (It is called "nattfiol" = "night violett" in Norwegian.)

Skulski wrote:

The scale of things...

Yes, a grand landscape!
It's this kind of terrain that makes me feel small but nevertheless I like to hike there!

Finally finished sorting through all my South African pictures.  I managed to get about 75% of the flower pics ID'ed.  here is one of the most beautiful Ericas on the Drakensberg...Erica cerinthoides.

Todd wrote:

Finally finished sorting through all my South African pictures.  I managed to get about 75% of the flower pics ID'ed.  here is one of the most beautiful Ericas on the Drakensberg...Erica cerinthoides.

Todd, a gorgeous Erica manifestation; it boggles the mind to see what happened to Erica when the speciated South Africa.  A few years back I bought a book on the Flora of Table Mountain just so that I look at some of the amazing Erica species.

Todd, how long are the corolla tubes?

It is a pleasure to see the picture of the beautiful South African Erica. Twice have I tried to grow South African Ericas in the garden but unfortunately with no luck. The picture reminds me of why I tried!
By the way, would you say this is a heath or a heather?

Here's a plant for here and now, a plant for every season, particularly nice to view in the winter when the ground is frozen (like today); Luzula nivea, the Snowy Woodrush.  I really like this plant, more for the ciliate-edged leaves that catch the light than for the white flowers, which are pretty enough to add a sparkle of white in the late spring woodland garden.  The leaves are perfectly evergreen and make attractive mounds for winter viewing, one photo was taken on New Year's Day 2007.

The flower stems get rather tall, 2-2.5' (60-75 cm) and need to be cut off in summer, which will also prevent it from reseeding a bit too much, although excess seedlings easily pull out.

McDonough wrote:

Here's a plant for here and now, a plant for every season, particularly nice to view in the winter when the ground is frozen (like today); Luzula nivea, the Snowy Woodrush.  I really like this plant, more for the ciliate-edged leaves that catch the light than for the white flowers, which are pretty enough to add a sparkle of white in the late spring woodland garden.  The leaves are perfectly evergreen and make attractive mounds for winter viewing, one photo was taken on New Year's Day 2007.

The flower stems get rather tall, 2-2.5' (60-75 cm) and need to be cut off in summer, which will also prevent it from reseeding a bit too much, although excess seedlings easily pull out.

I agree it is a nice plant, Mark, but here it self-sow in profusion everywhere especially on bare and moist soil. They make huge tussocks when they get older but are prettier when young.

Rick, the corolla tubes of that erica are about 1.5 inches.  Trond, Erica are considered heaths...Calluna are heathers.

Mark, I also grow Luzula nivea...mine also makes a nice evergreen mound with attractive floral display in summer...mine has never self-seeded.  It is actually one of the very few ornamental 'grasses' I grow.

Here is another Erica...Erica nana.....nothing small about it however!  Its tubes are about an inch long.

Todd wrote:

Trond, Erica are considered heaths...Calluna are heathers.

Yes, that's what I thought, but according to Wikipedia heather is also used for some Erica and some Cassiope

"Heather is the common name for various plants:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather

    * The heather family, or Ericaceae, particularly:
          o Calluna vulgaris or ling, the sole species in the genus Calluna
          o Various species of the genus Erica
          o Various species of the genus Cassiope"

In 5 month all my P. vernalis will flower at the mountain cabin! I am looking forward to that. Thanks for reminding me of a softer time, Cliff.
Here's something from a still warmer place on earth, Mt Meru, Tanzania:
Scadoxus multiflorus (syn Haemanthus m.)

Polemonium boreale ssp. boreale in my garden.