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Author Topic: Notes from Norway  (Read 38061 times)

Gabriel B

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #195 on: July 15, 2015, 06:21:29 PM »
Tim and Trond, glad you liked the pictures!

Trond, Antennaria plantaginifolia certainly seems to like a little more moisture than A. neglecta and partial shade. My guess is that the larger leaves are an adaptation for less light. So you might try growing it in open woods, or underneath shrubs.
Gabriel
Cyclamen and bleeding-heart lover in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Average daily high of 22 F (-6 C) in January, 83 F (28 C) in July; 22 days dropping below 0 F (-18 C) each winter

Hoy

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #196 on: July 16, 2015, 11:33:56 AM »
Trond,
. . . .

Well enough with my long windedness. I am not sure when I will get away for an outing this week. Hopefully soon.  :)

Robert,

I do not easily tire of your expositions ;D

Two growing seasons - I guess together they are as long as our one! We have something like two seasons at the summerhouse. In the spring and fall the grass is green but in the summer it is yellow unless it comes a lot of rain. Our house is at an island and the climate is much drier than the mainland.

I am astonished that farmers use a "scorched earth" method :o Is it due to laziness or imprudence?


It is quite understandable that you are phase out growing rhododendrons :) My problem with them isn't lack of water (usually) but strong wind (almost the whole year) that damage the foliage or completely defoliate them - especially the larger leaved ones. It seems it is more wind than before though.

17F is about as cold as it gets here a few times during winter. The coldest I have experienced in the 35 years I have lived here is 0F.
Trond Hoy, gardening on the rainy west coast of Norway.

Hoy

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #197 on: July 16, 2015, 11:41:04 AM »
Tim and Trond, glad you liked the pictures!

Trond, Antennaria plantaginifolia certainly seems to like a little more moisture than A. neglecta and partial shade. My guess is that the larger leaves are an adaptation for less light. So you might try growing it in open woods, or underneath shrubs.

Thanks for the advise! I'll try it next time I get some :) I have more than enough of shady spots ;D
Trond Hoy, gardening on the rainy west coast of Norway.

Robert

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #198 on: July 16, 2015, 02:39:42 PM »
Robert,


I am astonished that farmers use a "scorched earth" method :o Is it due to laziness or imprudence?


17F is about as cold as it gets here a few times during winter. The coldest I have experienced in the 35 years I have lived here is 0F.

Trond,

I have yet to meet a lazy farmer! Here in California we have "gentlemen farmers". These are generally rich people from the city that know nothing about farming. They never get their hands dirty! At the best, they hire Mexican labours to do the farming. Too often they treat these people terribly - this is very disgusting and degrading. Sometimes I wonder if slavery has ever ended in the U.S.A. !  :'(   :(

Politicians are often "gentlemen farmers" too. Their so-called farms are disasters too, unless they can hire good Mexican labours. They are too busy being politicians to farm, however they think that it makes them look good to the voters to say that they are farmers.

Over the past 40 years many from the city have moved to the countryside to live, mostly in retirement. Too many do not know anything about living in rural areas and are unwilling to learn or change. They have a tremendous fear of wild fires. Maybe rightly so, their fears are somewhat understandable, however this is most often the source of the 'scorched earth" policy around their homes. They are not "bad" people, they just do not know any better. Change and new ideas can be difficult, maybe for everyone, however this does not help the environment, or the plants we love.

It appears that you have very mild winters too.
« Last Edit: July 16, 2015, 02:43:18 PM by Robert »
Robert Barnard
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If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him stepto the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
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christian pfalz

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #199 on: July 16, 2015, 02:46:29 PM »
hello trond,
many thanks to show us the plants of your country, looks very well.
greetings from southwestern germany
chris
Rheinland-Pfalz south-west Germany, hot and relatively dry

Hoy

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #200 on: July 16, 2015, 09:30:35 PM »
Trond,

I have yet to meet a lazy farmer!

Neither have I, but it seems to be farmers and people just owning farms then ;)

Regarding wildfires I once read an article where the author said that the forests burnt too seldom. This make dry wood etc to pile up and make a much bigger fire when it eventually catch fire.

(I am writing this at 10.23PM and the sun sets right now after a beautiful day :) )

I couldn't live without something green around, anyway.

Yes the winters are mild here at the coast as long as the fjord doesn't freeze over.
Trond Hoy, gardening on the rainy west coast of Norway.

Hoy

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #201 on: July 16, 2015, 09:31:36 PM »
hello trond,
many thanks to show us the plants of your country, looks very well.
greetings from southwestern germany
chris

Hi chis,

Nice to met you!
Trond Hoy, gardening on the rainy west coast of Norway.

Hoy

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #202 on: July 16, 2015, 09:58:13 PM »
This summer it has been much driving and now we are home again for a while. The weather is nice but not warm. In fact the weather has been colder than normal since April and much colder than last year (2014).

The warm summer last year have led to a fabulous bloom this year on the shrubs and trees which produce the flower buds the previous year.

Like this Cornus kousa and the cultivar 'Satomi'. Although at the end of the display they are still a sight.








Down there in the lower end of the garden a Stranvaesia (Photinia) davidiana is also laden with flowers but they are difficult to see among the leaves. The bees though have no problems. An evergreen Prunus lusitanica is also in flower and attracts bees. The trees and shrubs here are planted to get shelter from the prevailing, always cold, wind from N and NW.




A big shrub rose (Rosa roxburghii) adds colour when it is in flower, usually in June. All these trees and shrubs also produce a pleasant fragrance discerable at a considerable distance when in flower.


« Last Edit: July 16, 2015, 10:43:44 PM by Hoy »
Trond Hoy, gardening on the rainy west coast of Norway.

Hoy

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #203 on: July 16, 2015, 10:24:39 PM »
A Campanula lactiflora has planted itself among the shrubs. It has just started blooming. A pink one has found another place near by.






I have not many roses but a climbing 'Blaze' is growing against the west wall. It has to take all kind of weather during winter and I have tried to kill it with Roundup once when I wanted to grow something else there.




Higher up in the garden a Stewartia pseudocamellia keeps it flower almost to high to admire. I had to bend down a branch to get a closer look.





Trond Hoy, gardening on the rainy west coast of Norway.

Hoy

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #204 on: July 16, 2015, 10:38:33 PM »
I have always liked geraniums therefore I have several. Some of the modern cultivars are almost too overwhelming! This one has already swamped several smaller plants.




Geranium macrorhizum isn't that greedy but it also spreads considerably.




Another nameless one . . together with an onion which can't stand on its feet.






An early marsh orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata) (not so early here!) has to look out for not to be engulfed by its neighbors. Yes, it is weeds in the background ;D

 

« Last Edit: July 16, 2015, 10:40:09 PM by Hoy »
Trond Hoy, gardening on the rainy west coast of Norway.

Hoy

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #205 on: July 16, 2015, 10:57:01 PM »
A vigorous climber, Lonicera henryi does what it can to cover the garage. In summertime it is always laden with flowers. The colour isn't the most conspicuous but the bumblebees like them - they make a lot of noise up there!




In the woodland the blooming period is almost over. Only a few like this unnamed seedling, still show some flowers.




The foliage is more to the eye at this time when the new leaves unfold.




I had to protect the plants in the rockery against the magpies which liked to pick the plants apart looking for edible stuff.
I have not been able to protect the plants against slugs though, they have destroyed dozens of plants here. So the pests do more harm than the weather.



Trond Hoy, gardening on the rainy west coast of Norway.

Maggi Young

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #206 on: July 16, 2015, 11:09:20 PM »
I don't think I've ever seen  Lonicera henryi  - perhaps I've led a very sheltered life? !!  Sounds like a great plant for a biggish space.

Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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Robert

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #207 on: July 17, 2015, 12:49:07 AM »
Trond,

I had a quick look at all your great photographs. Something for me to contemplate. Today I had a good outing in the High Sierra, however now I have to rush off to the big city, Sacramento for a few days - the farmers' market and all. I will have some good photographs to post sometime next week.

Your garden is very green and lush. Very nice!  :)
Robert Barnard
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If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him stepto the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
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Hoy

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #208 on: July 17, 2015, 06:50:37 AM »
I don't think I've ever seen  Lonicera henryi  - perhaps I've led a very sheltered life? !!  Sounds like a great plant for a biggish space.

The first and I think only time I have seen it other places was at a nursery which had specialized in unusual plants. At that time (35 years ago) I was looking for plants (that is shrubs and trees) staying green in winter. I still have a fair amount of evergreens including conifers and rhododendrons in my garden ;D

It needs a house or something as big as that to climb. It has even found the way behind the wall panel and roof tiles and flower at the ridge of the roof! Have to remove that :-\
Trond Hoy, gardening on the rainy west coast of Norway.

Hoy

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Re: Notes from Norway
« Reply #209 on: July 18, 2015, 02:39:39 PM »
Back to the cabin again ???

Had a little morning walk today - windy and cloudy but nice walking weather. Unfortunately it was not easy to photograph plants in the strong wind :(

I visited a place on the other side of the lake where I know about a different-coloured common butterwort, Pinguicula vulgaris. This form is sometimes called f. bicolor. I tried to shelter the flower with a piece of cloth but then the camera preferred to focus on the cloth in stead :-X






Not far form the butterwort grows a colony of the fragrant orchid, Gymnadenia conopsea. Here it always grows in bogs. Too much wind and a stupid camera (or inept photographer) entails blurred pictures.






A welcome companion from high up in the mountains to the seashore is May lily (Maianthemum bifolium) should be called July lily up here.

Trond Hoy, gardening on the rainy west coast of Norway.

 


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