All posts by Stephen Barstow

Alliums in the Gothenburg Botanical Gardens

Alliums in the botanical gardens in Gothenburg, Sweden on a visit on 16th June 2014. The first batch are from the under cover bulb garden, where watering regimes can be controlled. Not many species were flowering. This is one of the best bulb collections in the world with some 1,600 species!!
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Åfjord course day

A great day in the company of some wonderful people in Åfjord yesterday!
Thanks to Astrid Mathilde Petterson and husband Gunnar for arranging the course and for the hospitality at their farm, Rotnes Gård, in an amazing location at the mouth of not one but two salmon rivers, Stordals og Nordalselva! The couple are restoring the farm buildings and rent out rooms to fishermen and tourists: http://www.afjord.no/opplevelser/rotnes-gard/
The day started with my Around the World talk in the morning followed by a great lunch at the farm (spinach soup, sourdough bread, wild salmon wraps etc.). We then wandered along the shore and in the woods looking for wild edibles. Here are a few pictures! Thanks to Bjørn and wife for the lift home afterwards (and quick garden tour!)

Field trip near Vienna #2

The second nature reserve I visited just outside of Vienna was near Pfaffstätten, a dry partly wooded hill again on limestone and with an amazing diversity of plants and as many as 1,200 butterflies and moths. Among the birds, woodlark breeds here, although I didn’t see it! Thanks to Simon for finding the time to take me to this precious place which included the amazing Adriatic Lizard Orchid!

A promising start

A promising start to the day with no rain in sight for 4 days and temperature forecast to creep above 20C from Thursday to Saturday…couldn’t be better for working in the garden! The annual effort is ongoing to regain at least some sort of control of my legions of planted and unplanted veggies!
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Scape stir fry

Not garlic scapes as they’re not ready yet, but Chicago onion (Allium cernuum) scapes with Allium scorodoprasum scapes and Scorzonera scapes in tonight’s stir fry!