Ligurian Landscape

[Paddy Tobin]

Hey Robin,

Good to have you back and glad you brought back some photographs for us.

Great scenes etc but for me it is the fig which captured the essence of Liguria. They are simply delicious and I have never tasted them as nice anywhere.

Paddy

[Ragged Robin]

Luit, so glad you enjoyed the Ligurian Landscape and Mediterranean sunshine - the region has such an intriguing combination of valleys and coastline that leads you on to explore the next place.

Thanks for the ID for photo 42 of the tree

[Ragged Robin]

Great scenes etc but for me it is the fig which captured the essence of Liguria. They are simply delicious and I have never tasted them as nice anywhere.
Paddy

Paddy, I totally agree, I have never tasted such sun ripe figs packed with flavour - I have no idea what type of fig they are, do you?  Eaten with parma ham or pecorino they make a delicious taste of the Mediterranean. Thanks for your comments.

[Gerdk]

Robin,
Not much to add to the comments of the other Forum Members - only I love your special view on landscape, plants and animals. Thanks for showing these impressions!

Gerd

[Ragged Robin]

Gerd, thank you so much for expressing your enjoyment of the impressions of Liguria. It gives me great pleasure to think that this 'view' is of interest to Forum Members as it is they who inspire me to write them and to share my experience    Equally I gain pleasure from all the knowledge and expertise and sheer enjoyment of growing plants that comes from being part of this fantastic club 

[Paddy Tobin]

Robin,

This fig is a Ligurian cultivar called "Delicious". Lunch of insalata caprese followed by some figs and a few bottles of wine - Ligurian perfection.

Paddy

[Ragged Robin]

Buone saluti Paddy, sounds delicious, tastes delicious   !

[cohan]

lovely spot!
hmm, so mad dogs and robins go out in the midday sun?

the path leading along the terrace, in and out of sun and shade amongst the ancient olives sums up well an ancient way of life, very much a humanised landscape, yet very close to the earth...

[Ragged Robin]

Cohan, you really do feel the presence of centuries of humans working here in the olive groves when you walk along the old paths in the shade of the trees.  I'm glad you liked that photo, the trees have great character, too, each one bending or twisting at a different angle to catch the sun.

The olives are harvested in November and, by then, are black - last year I made a card of this photo as an olive branch of friendship in difficult times - here it is for new friends who have helped me more than they will ever know 

[Maggi Young]

Robin, I am having a hard time here.... fresh figs are one of my most favourite foods - we have chums now living in France who delight in emailing me when they have so many figs they don't know what to do with them.... drives me crazy with jealously
I can only dream about the flavour of those Ligurian gems.....

Your olive shot, against the clear blue sky is not the only photo you have shown us which would make a good card ..... it is lovely that you dedicate this one to us....

[Ragged Robin]

Pleasure Maggi, sorry to drive you crazy, figuratively speaking!   

[Maggi Young]

Pleasure Maggi, sorry to drive you crazy, figuratively speaking!   

It's the drooling that causes the bother, really! 

[johnw]

Robin, I am having a hard time here.... fresh figs are one of my most favourite foods - we have chums now living in France who delight in emailing me when they have so many figs they don't know what to do with them.... drives me crazy with jealously

Maggi - I have the same sort of chums.  They even count how many they have eaten every day just to rub it in.

I grew a fig for years against the house and had not one fig.  Previously in a tub it made two crops (not quite the same as those from further south) a year but that was ages ago and it grew so fast it had top be re-propagated regularly.

I think my most memorable meal, in fact a dessert, was aboard an Italian liner - fresh figs, fresh Parmesan cheese and an incredible wine.

johnw

[cohan]

Cohan, you really do feel the presence of centuries of humans working here in the olive groves when you walk along the old paths in the shade of the trees.  I'm glad you liked that photo, the trees have great character, too, each one bending or twisting at a different angle to catch the sun.

The olives are harvested in November and, by then, are black - last year I made a card of this photo as an olive branch of friendship in difficult times - here it is for new friends who have helped me more than they will ever know 

a nice card, for sure--the peace of the blue sky, with the implied strength of the sun the branch reaches for hopefully; the ripe black fruit signalling the earth's rewards and depth; and all this offered as a gift- of richness and subtlety!
thanks!

[Lvandelft]

I can only dream about the flavour of those Ligurian gems.....

Maggi, I was advised to plant the Ficus carica White Marseille.
I planted a young plant of about 1 m. high 2 years ago and we picked already 9 fruits for the first time this year.
I received it from my friend on the Dutch island of Texel, but he always had this variety in his garden (and specialist tree nursery)
in Boskoop. With me the min. temps go down to - 15 C., but in Boskoop go down to -18 C.!
The young tree withstood - 10 C. ( 2 weeks!) this last winter without cover.
I found this article in The Observer:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/sep/18/shopping.gardens

I believe in your garden it should grow and ripen, because I know it is fairly sheltered!