Ukrainian Carpathians and their meadows June 2017

[Jacek]

Gabriela,

The rock was not any kind of limestone. It is called flysh (as far as I know) and is typical for much of Carpathians.

If you want to know the companion plants - I hope I will show soon. Now I am back home, the pics are transpalnted from phone to laptop and I have SRGC resizer - it should work now.

Back to R. myrtifolium - not only a tiny beauty, but also should be winter hardy - a feature that is priceless here and not common in rhodies.

[Jacek]

I try to continue. Back on the high mountain meadows.

Gentiana but which one?
Soldanella
Anemone? Pulsatilla?
Unknown small nice plant  - I don't have any book with me to help with identification - potentilla I think.

[Jacek]

Wow, I can post pictures!

Now a series of lovely R. myrtifolium. Some places were just rhododendron meadows. Plants from the previous post were their companions.

[Jacek]

Last myrtifolium.

Gabriela, I could see mountains in Rumania from the summits,.

[Jacek]

Last picture from the tops referring back to history that passed away long time ago.

The old frontier pole was standing on the frontier between Poland and Czechoslovakia. You see the "P"olish side.

[Jacek]

Now descending from the summits we have to cross dark spruce forests. They are full of Aposeris foetida - a new plant to me. Similar to dandelions but smaller and growing in heavy shade. Yellow flowers were so nice in dark places. Might be an interesting plant under evergreens depending on its invasiveness.

[Jacek]

Back to  the lower level meadows.

The last plant to show is Phyteuma spicatum ssp coeruleum. Interesting flower head.

As far as I remember, Ian showed in the Bulb Log this plant (last autumn? on one of the driveways?), but the white version.


I do not have many more pictures of plants. It was not a botany trip and I am not a botanist. I just like plants - in my garden and in the wild.

[Gabriela]

Very nice pictures Jacek.
Phyteuma spicatum is not present in the Southern Carpathians where I usually go. So it's very interesting to see species from the north-western part
I also don't think ever saw Aposeris.

Gentiana acaulis, Pulsatilla alpina ssp. alpina, Soldanella montana (most probably, or something from S. major s.l.) and with Potentilla is hard to say (looks like P. thuringiaca but this one I don't know if present over there).

R. myrtifolium is hardy as it gets; I'll let you know if the seeds germinate