Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: pehe on May 23, 2012, 11:01:06 AM

Title: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: pehe on May 23, 2012, 11:01:06 AM
In the middle of May my wife and I was on a one week Line Dance holiday in Alanya, Turkey. As I am not dancing I went to the Taurus Mountains just behind Alanya to look for some bulborous plants. It is not the best time of year for that, but I was lucky to find the following species:
Allium, Arum, Colchicum, Cyclamen, Gladiolus, Orchidaceae, Ornithogalum. I found these species at a height of 300 – 500m, only 2 hours walk from Alanya city.
Besides these bulbs there were many nice wild flowers (mostly unknown to me) and not the least there were many spectacular rock formations and natural crevice gardens.

So if you are on holiday in Alanya, don’t miss the chance to go botanizing in the mountains. I took 3 short trips of 3-4 hours duration. If your wife goes shopping or are laying at the beach, she won’t even notice that your are away on such short trips ;D

Poul
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: pehe on May 23, 2012, 11:04:44 AM
Cyclamen from Alanya
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: pehe on May 23, 2012, 11:09:24 AM
More bulbs from Alanya
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: pehe on May 23, 2012, 11:13:26 AM
Natural crevice garden in the Taurus mountains
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: pehe on May 23, 2012, 11:17:42 AM
Wild flowers
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: pehe on May 23, 2012, 11:21:25 AM
More flowers from the Taurus mountains - and a few animals
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: shelagh on May 23, 2012, 11:28:18 AM
Lovely pictures Poul.  I'm glad you found some colour.
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: pehe on May 23, 2012, 11:34:15 AM
And finally a member of the orchid family (I think)

Hope you enjoy the pics from a holiday destination.
It was a great holiday - I found much more bulbs than expected and I spend some nice time with the line dancers.
(Maggi, some of them came from Scotland - two of them even from Aberdeen, but they didn't know you or Ian. I asked them to look at the SRGC homepage, so maybe we will have some new members ;) )

Poul
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: Lesley Cox on May 23, 2012, 12:28:34 PM
well that shows what comes of line-dancing! ;D You saw many lovely and interesting things Poul. The crevices were superb, begging for all kinds of little plants to be inserted. :)
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: Maggi Young on May 23, 2012, 01:15:23 PM
I know of quite a few folks who love Line Dancing..... but I had no idea that there were special holidays for that in Turkey.... :) Always learning something  :)

Great that you could see so many flowers in your trips, Poul. You were not wrong about the interesting rocks.
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: Pauli on May 23, 2012, 05:37:00 PM
Hello Pehe,

the orchid is Orchis coriophora ssp. fragrans

regards

Herbert
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: pehe on May 24, 2012, 07:43:16 AM
well that shows what comes of line-dancing! ;D You saw many lovely and interesting things Poul. The crevices were superb, begging for all kinds of little plants to be inserted. :)

Lesley, if I had these crevices in my garden I would certainly pay more attention to alpines. Unfortunately I have only a small garden so I better have to stick to bulbs, which is my great interest.

Poul
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: pehe on May 24, 2012, 07:58:43 AM
I know of quite a few folks who love Line Dancing..... but I had no idea that there were special holidays for that in Turkey.... :) Always learning something  :)

Great that you could see so many flowers in your trips, Poul. You were not wrong about the interesting rocks.

Yes it was nice to see all these flowers, but I would have loved to be there in the autumn, to be able to identify the different colchicums - or even better to participate in the SRGC trip to eastern Turkey. That would be great! But as my budget is limited I must take what I can get. And with my trip I think I got much value for the money. It was nice to see the bulbs in their natural habitat even if they were not flowering.

Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: pehe on May 24, 2012, 08:08:16 AM
Hello Pehe,

the orchid is Orchis coriophora ssp. fragrans

regards

Herbert

Thanks for the ID!


I would appreciate if anyone (maybe our Turkish members) could identify more of the flowers. Particular 'Wildflower9' I find very pretty.

Poul
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: ArnoldT on May 24, 2012, 03:41:23 PM
Poul:
Wildflower # 7 looks to be an Eryngium
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: ashley on May 24, 2012, 04:17:47 PM
I would appreciate if anyone (maybe our Turkish members) could identify more of the flowers. Particular 'Wildflower9' I find very pretty.

Thanks for sharing these interesting pictures Poul.
#9 is a Michauxia sp., perhaps campanuloides, and certainly a very striking plant 8)
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: Gerdk on May 24, 2012, 06:14:19 PM
Enjoyed your pics a lot! Thank you Poul.
The little fern above the red soil picture is Asplenium ceterach.

Gerd
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: Armin on May 24, 2012, 09:32:10 PM
Poul,
wildflower 2: Agrostemma githago
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: Maren on May 24, 2012, 10:08:30 PM
Poul,

I'd love to know what wildflower 12 is. That certainly has garden merit.
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: pehe on May 25, 2012, 07:27:56 AM
Poul,

I'd love to know what wildflower 12 is. That certainly has garden merit.

Maren,
My guess is that it is a Salvie, perhaps Salvia viridis.
It is quite common in the Taurus mountains. Also shown in 'crevice3'.

Poul
Title: Re: Trip to Alanya May 2012
Post by: pehe on May 25, 2012, 07:49:41 AM
Enjoyed your pics a lot! Thank you Poul.
The little fern above the red soil picture is Asplenium ceterach.

Gerd

Thank you Gerd for the id. It is a fascinating little fern with its habit of growing in crevices in full sun.
Here some more pics.

Thanks also to Arnold, Ashley and Armin!

Poul
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