Blue tit (blåmeis) singing
Jackdaws (kaie) resting
Female blackbird (svarttrost)
Siskins
Every day there’s something different birdwise to see in the garden. This morning, a flock of some 20 siskins (grønnsisik) were looking for crumbs under the feeder, but they were soon gone again! (together with bramblings / bjørkefink and redpolls / gråsisik in the videos)
The VanDusen Botanical Gardens in Vancouver BC
After visiting the UBC botanical garden on 4th April 2018, I bussed across town to Vancouver’s better known more formal VanDusen botanical garden, although it’s a younger garden (from 1970) against UBC which was established in 1916. The rain started when I arrived and I didn’t have that much time. Nevertheless, here are a few impressions!
Hydrophyllum (water leaf / Indian salad) is one of the 80 in my book!
Inundated with perennial seed!
Yesterday, I sowed some 110 varieties of perennial edibles….and I had about 20 left to sow….I thought I was finished for now! Guess what was in the post box!! Another 60 that need sowing now! It’s never happened before that SRGC (Scottish Rock Garden Club) and NARGS (North American Rock Garden Society) seed arrived together!
Did I mention that the Rock Garden seed exchanges are the best places to source unusual edible plants :)
Mostly Edibles in the UBC Botanical Garden, Vancouver
On 4th April 2017 I visited the University of British Columbia botanical garden in Vancouver, Canada. It was more dfficult to find by public transport as I had imagined and smaller, but nevertheless an interesting garden with, in particular, a good collection of Asiatic plants. I’ve known of this garden for many years as I was a member of their garden forums, one of the most active on the net before Facebook: http://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca
Here’s an album of pictures I took, mostly, but not all, edible plants…and there’s not many gardens you can find breeding eagles!
Sea smoke
There was some sea smoke on the fjord this morning as the temperature dropped below -10C in the night!
Papaws – Asimina triloba – in Norway?
I was asked if it is possible to grow papaws (Asimina triloba) in Norway. I don’t think it’s impossible, but I suspect they need warmer summers than most parts of Norway can offer. I have seen good size trees in Malmø (Southern Sweden) with one fruit at the end of July in Åke Truedssons garden and a good size tree in the Gøteborg Botanical, pictures in both sites are from 29th-30th July 2008. I don’t know how these trees are doing today. I’ve tried a couple of times. I’ve managed to germinate seed, but the plants hardly grow in my cold summers! See more about papaw (which is not the same as the better known tropical pawpaw or papaya) on the wiki page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba
1) In Åke Truedsson’s garden in Malmø with a fruit!
2) In the Gothenburg Botanical Garden
Bullfinches in the garden
Bullfinches (dompap) again feeding on maple seeds, here right outside the kitchen window!
Goldies in the garden
What was in tonight’s dinner?
What are the ingredients we see in the first picture?
