Notes from Norway

[Hoy]

Foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea - not all are purple!) do "pop up" whenever they get a chance. They prefer naked soil so when the vegetation is removed for whatever reason the dormant seed sprout immediately.
One plant has an extra big bell.








Another tall plants but not anything like a foxglove, is the common agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria). It also prefer dry sites.

 


This one, ivy-leaved toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis) has chosen the opposite way of growth form!

[Maggi Young]

Trond, a real pleasure to see all these flowers . I am not a lover of roses generally - and I have no idea what your mystery rose might be - but my word, it is pretty.

[Hoy]

Thanks Maggi 

Here you have some more

Peach-leaved bellflower (what a uncanny name!? Straight from Latin!Campanula persicifolia) grows many places and can make a great display.






The angelica (Angelica archangelica litoralis) has tiny green flowers. What they lack in colour they make up for by producing great amounts of nectar. Many insects feed on them. Also butterflies, but this year I haven't seen many.






Brambles. Impossible to walk through but the flowers are charming and the berries are very nice although late ripening.

[Hoy]

Caucasian stonecrop (I have seen it in full flower in Caucasian pine forest!)(Phedimus spurius - although I prefer Sedum spurium!) is very common here in many colours. Here are two.






Some places hop clover (Medicago lupulina) replaces grass in the "lawn".




Cow vetch (Vicia cracca) has nice flowers. I like the colour! Insects like the nectar.

[Robert]

Trond,

Beautiful photographs!

I am surprised that most of the plants pictured are used by California gardeners, even today. Maybe, I should not be surprised as there is, or a least has been, such a strong connection between Europe and the U.S.A.

Allium scorodoprasum and Toadflax, Cymbalaria muralis are two plants we do not see here. Agrimony can be weedy for us.

Are all the plants pictured native to Norway or are some naturalized? Digitalis purpurea has naturalized itself in parts of the Pacific Northwest U.S.A. Given the history of Europe, maybe some none native plants became naturalized in other parts of Europe in the far distant pass. Who knows what the Romans may have spread around? or maybe something even more accent that that. I think that I remember reading that there was trade between Norway and other parts of the ancient world during the Bronze Age. Plants could have travel too??

Thank you for sharing the photographs. I certainly am enjoying your diary. The plants do not need to be exotic for me to appreciate your efforts and gain something positive. Thank you again.

[Hoy]

Thank you Robert! I really appreciate your comments

Sometimes it is very difficult to know whether a plant is naturally native or brought by man some time in the past. Sedum spurium is a garden escapee and Digitalis purpurea is native and has been here "always". Toadflax may have been brought by the monks and the onion is probably also once grown as staple. Some of the oldest inscriptions in Norwegian contains the word laukR which means onion (lauk, løk in modern Norw). Onions (different kind of alliums) were important food. Many plants here are linked to man either as actively brought in or passively with fodder etc. The land has been inhabited since the ice disappeared.

[Hoy]

All these are garden origin, anyway! Some are quite new and some are old and naturalized.

Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) almost like a weed were the soil is disturbed.




Common mullein (Vebascum thapsus).




Peonies.






Crown vetch (Securigera varia)

[Hoy]

Yesterday we went from the coast to the mountains - or higher grounds is more correct. Passed a some patches of snow along the road. The winter is long this year!

We had one stop to stretch legs and take some pictures.The roadside was very lush with a lot of exciting plants but most were still in buds although this was not high up.


A tall wood cranesbill with deviant colour among many ordinary ones. They were all rather tall.




A little different oxeye daisy. It was not the only one.




Alpine sow-thistle (Cicerbita alpina). The saying is it is bear food!




Huge patches of common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii).

[Hoy]

Some colours:







Out of focus - why can't the camera forget the green leaves

[Robert]

Trond,

I even learned a little bit about onions in Norway when my wife and I were studying the Viking age, and thereabouts. The Varangian Guard in the Byzantine Empire, Olaf Tryggvasen, etc. it is all very interesting. Maybe you might know, is laukR a word now used in the Icelandic language? I understand that the Icelandic language is still close to Old Norse. or maybe I have a misunderstanding.

Your photographs and country are so beautiful. Dactylorhiza is such a beautiful plant. I always admire them. I do not think that they would grow with our heat and dry conditions, however I can admire them from afar. Peonies are worth a try here, but then again I think that they enjoy winters that are much colder than ours. From your photographs they look great! Verbascum thapsus is a weed here in our part of California. I like them so I always let a few grow. I never need to plant them, as they are more than happy to seed themselves around.

Believe it nor not it, here in California it snowed on the highest peaks and mountain passes yesterday. This is very strange weather for us. I can never remember this happening in the past during July or August. A week ago it was 42 C.

[Hoy]

Robert,

In Icelandic it is laukur! Roughly as far as I know the terminating -R became -ur in Iceland but disappeared in Norwegian (common ending in nouns).

I usually let the plants go their own way also. When I have acquired a new plant I try to put it where I think it will like to grow and then it is up to the plant. If it sow around I am happy. It is only two plants which have become problematic, and that is Circaea lutetiana and Meconopsis cambrica.

[Hoy]

Some plants from our mountain cabin "garden". It is no formal garden but I have helped to increase the diversity by planting a few that I think will like it up here. Some are native and some are foreign.

Castilleja miniata (I think) is foreign of course. I spread some seeds and the result so far is two flowering plants.






Also foreign is this Trifolium from USA not USA, probably the Alps. I am not sure of the name maybe Trifolium alpinum. Two plants with different flower colour but both seem to do good.






Not foreign but very native is "tyttebær" Vaccinium vitis-idaea. We like to pick the berries but up here they ripen very late, not until October.

[Hoy]

This Anemone narcissiflora is also foreign and from seed. In a few years it has reached a considerable size.






Native and very abundant around here is Silene dioica. They are often very untidy but have a nice colour.




An uncommon colour.




My sister-in-law once planted one Jacob's ladder (Polemonium caeruleum). Now it is around everywhere without being a nuisance. It is native but not local.

[Robert]

Trond,

The countryside around your cabin looks lush and green by California standards. Around here, at the low elevations, everything is golden brown now except for the trees and shrubs. Maybe I should take a photograph.

Your Castilleja miniata looks like it could be true to form. In California they grow at the higher elevations in moist meadows that are often dry by autumn. Growing semi-parasitic plants is fun and in some cases not all that difficult. In our garden we grow Castilleja foliolosa, one of our local low elevation species. It seems easy to grow from seed and establish in the garden - but then it grows locally too.

Your plants look great! Seeing them certainly helps me put our gardening situation in perspective. Thank you so much. 

[Hoy]

Thanks again, Robert

I am a pleasantly surprised by the Castilleja. It takes both cold and warm weather and doesn't seem to be slowed by frosty nights either.

I would very much like to see a picture of your surroundings, Robert!


Here are a few more of the native plants:


Potentilla crantzii still in flower. It is one of the first to start when the snow disappear.




Antennaria dioica. It is also early. Several colour forms exist. Most are dull gray.




Veronica fruticans. I have sowed this one here. It is from higher up.




Myosotis decumbens. Often in moist places and often very lanky.




Gentiana nivalis. Opens only in warm and sunny weather.