Morning walk

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John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #30 on: March 04, 2016, 05:21:35 AM »
Tragopogon sinuatus.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

Joanna Savage

  • Sr. Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #31 on: March 04, 2016, 08:15:26 AM »
Hello John, Your photos of the local plants are a treat to see. I really like this Tragopogon, it looks as though it would attract a lot of visitors.

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John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #32 on: March 04, 2016, 09:35:48 AM »
Thank you, Joanna. This particular salsify is very attractive although the flower is quite short lived. They pop up all over our property every year.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

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John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #33 on: March 05, 2016, 09:05:30 AM »
Fumaria judaica.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

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John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #34 on: March 08, 2016, 02:18:17 PM »
Today's was not a morning walk but more of a post-prandial stroll. It took place in the area between the Temple of Apollo Hylates (Apollo of the Woodland) and the ancient Stadium at Kourion.

We start with Sarcopoterium spinosum (Spiny/Prickly Burnet) the stuff that looks dead in the summer, catches at clothing and scratches bare legs as people walk the hillsides.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

Joanna Savage

  • Sr. Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #35 on: March 08, 2016, 08:01:01 PM »
John, this Sarcopoterium is currently a favourite of mine in this garden. It looks good with white flowering Cistus and giant fennel and Asphodel too. Are those seeds on the plant in your photo? Mine have never set seed and live for only a couple of years. It must be way out of its preferred environment, especially today when it has had a coating of snow after a month of rain.

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John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #36 on: March 09, 2016, 05:36:52 AM »
Joanna, you are pretty well describing the environment that this plant grows in, what is generally thought of as 'impoverished' areas. In many parts it is the dominant species making walking the hills a somewhat tricky and often quite painful business. Those are the fruit which I think are appearing rather earlier than usual, perhaps due to the spells of unseasonably hot weather we've had this winter.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

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John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #37 on: March 09, 2016, 05:41:18 AM »
As Joanna mentioned in her post the Spiny Burnet was accompanied by the white-flowered Cistus salviifolius. While we literally found just a single flower of Cistus creticus the rest having already gone over.
« Last Edit: March 09, 2016, 05:45:04 AM by John J »
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

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Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #38 on: March 09, 2016, 12:27:21 PM »
That's incredibly early for Cistus creticus to go over, isn't it? We're going out to Greece later this month and had been hoping to see our cistuses at their peak - should we cancel our trip ???
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

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John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #39 on: March 09, 2016, 04:15:18 PM »
Alisdair, I can only speak for that particular area but when we were there at the end of Feb it was all C. creticus and not a sign of C. salviifolius. Now it's the other way around. I can only blame it on the ridiculous weather pattern we've been experiencing. Normally Feb is the coldest, wettest month of the winter but this year we've had temps in the mid 20s and virtually no rain to speak of. The plants are all confused and are behaving completely out of character. This lunchtime we collected granddaughter from nursery school and drove her home and the external temp gauge in my car was registering 26 degreesC.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

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Fleur Pavlidis

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  • Hero Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #40 on: March 10, 2016, 09:27:59 AM »
The fallen petals look very pretty on the ground! in my garden the Cistus monspeliensis is in full flower, the C. creticus just coming out, but up on Hymettos they are all still in bud.
MGS member, Greece. I garden in Attica, Greece and Mt Goulinas (450m) Central Greece

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John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #41 on: March 10, 2016, 12:34:21 PM »
Phagnalon rupestre subsp graecum.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

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John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #42 on: March 11, 2016, 05:32:45 AM »
Helichrysum conglobatum
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

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John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #43 on: March 12, 2016, 05:37:58 AM »
Pallenis spinosa
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

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John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Morning walk
« Reply #44 on: April 24, 2016, 04:33:24 PM »
Our morning walks have taken a back seat recently for one reason and another so today we decided to make up for lost distance, as it were, and do a long one.
We chose one of the Forestry Department Nature Trails that is around 7 kms long. The Artemis Trail (named after the ancient Goddess of Forests) is a circular route round the peak of Chionistra (the highest point on Cyprus at 1,952 metres) and has an average altitude of 1,850 metres.
We were lucky enough to find a few endemics and I will post them here over the coming days.
The first one is Alyssum troodi that is restricted to the Chionistra area (1,200 to 1,950 m), growing on serpentinised ultrabasic rocks.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)