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!
Monthly Archives: January 2018
Sea smoke
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!
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?
Crows and oats
Put out some oats in the garden and the crows are there in a few minutes! Hooded crow and magpies!
Tail Tits
Long-tailed tits (stjertmeis, meaning literally Tail Tits in Norwegian) forage on natural food far and wide in winter here and I see them only once a year…it’s always a joy to meet them, particularly when I see them from my home office desk! However, they had moved on in a few minutes!
Foraging wren
I hadn’t seen a wren (gjerdesmett) in the garden for a couple of weeks, so it was nice to see one today foraging outside the kitchen. Luckily there’s some snow-free patches near the fjord which will help them find food during the next 4 days of sub-zero temperatures, day and night!
House sparrows
House sparrows (gråspurv) are often ignored but apparently numbers have declined in Europe in recent years, estimated at 70% in the UK. A few years ago it was chosen as bird of the year here in Norway to draw attention to its plight. It is believed that modern day agriculture and perhaps lack of breeding spaces in modern houses…nice then to see a flock of 25 at the feeder the other day!