[JTh]

You are lucky if you have relatively few mosquitoes in the summer, and maybe the number of bats has helped to some extent. There are lots of myths about bats, however, some of them are saying that bats can eat up to 1000 mosquitoes per hour, which is not true; these figures seem to be based on wild extrapolations from short term experiments under rather abnormal circumstances.

Be careful, though, when handling bats,  you  should always wear gloves; lyssaviruses causing rabies are quite common in European bats. The risk of exposure to humans is low, but three cases of human rabies caused by bat lyssavirus have beenreported since 1977, see https://www.who-rabies-bulletin.org/site-page/general-information.

[Hilary]

Oh dear,
Well I don't expect to be handling bats in the near future
My husband was bitten by a dog a couple of years ago which was an anxiety filled time  involving vets, the police, the authorities in charge of such events and the owner of the dog.

[Hilary]

Tulipa

A stamp issued by The Netherlands in 2014.

I think I have posted many stamps depicting tulips so today I decided to let the tulip co star with a blue and white plate from The Netherlands

Tulips, especially wild tulips, are mentioned many times in
 THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN but I was looking for a reference to Dutch tulips, the ones now, end of January beginning of February, for sale in the shops.
Eventually I came across a reference in the account  of the activities of the Greek branch in 2011. What a lot of excursions they went on and I seem to have missed all of them. Go here to read about  the excursions and trips they made and scroll down to April 20011 to find the reference to Dutch tulips
http://www.mediterraneangardensociety.org/greece-2011.html

[Hilary]

Citrus sinensis, orange

This stamp, issued in 1940 by the Pitcairn Islands, depicts  oranges.

I would never have associated the Pitcairn Islands with oranges but after a quick look at information about the islands I see that the valleys are very fertile.
The same goes for tourism but there you are,  Pitcairn is  on the tourist map
 Go here to read all about the island
http://www.visitpitcairn.pn/

The photo is from an orange grove in Ancient Corinth. Many of the local groves are abandoned as the selling price for oranges is very low. In fact all the oranges we have had this winter have been gifts.

To read about oranges in Spain read
WATER WISDOM: IRRIGATON ANCIENT AND MODERN IN SOUTH -EAST SPAIN by Alan Hawes in THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN, number 67, January 2012.

See the MGS website for photographs
http://www.mediterraneangardensociety.org/67-wisdom.html

[Hilary]

Rosa, Rose

A carmine rose coloured stamp issued by Bulgaria in 1938

The stamp depicts a rose and a flask of the famous rose oil produced from roses grown in Bulgaria. Unfortunately I don’t have a photo of the tiny bottles we brought back from our trip to Bulgaria which  were all  distributed as gifts long ago . The small wooden doll, another souvenir from Sofia, comes out at Christmas to hang on the tree. I like that he has a rose behind his ear

To read about roses go to THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 42, October 2005 and read
THE WAR OF THE ROSES
AN AUSTRALIAN PERSPECTIVE by Trevor Nottle

I will be taking a break to prepare more postage stamp posts

[Hilary]

A stamp issued by Turkey in 1985

Narcissus tazetta, Μανουσάκι, Rose of Sharon

These flowers are currently being sold in the market at 1 E a bunch.
There must be swathes of them growing in the wild somewhere in Greece but I have never seen them.
A friend brought me some   a week or so ago, hence the photos.

Then we went to a New Year’s do in January where there was Greek dancing.
I was thrilled to hear this song again which reminded me of the Manousakia.
A part of the lyrics for those who read Greek

“Εμένα η μάνα μ' μ' έστειλε να μασώ μανουσάκια
Μανουσάκια, μανουσάκια, μόσχος και γαριφαλάκια
Σαν πήγα και τα μάζεψα και τα 'κανα ματσάκια
Μανουσάκια στο ποτήρι, να σε φίληγα στα χείλη
Στην αγορά τα πούλησα και πήρα παραδάκια
Μανουσάκια, μανουσάκια, μόσχος και γαριφαλάκια
Μωρή, τι τον έχεις τον παπά που κάθεσαι κοντά του;
Μανουσάκια στο ποτήρι, να σε φίληγα στα χείλη
Τον έχει η μάνα μ ' αδερφό κι εγώ τον έχω μπάρμπα
Μανουσάκια, μανουσάκια, μόσχος και γαριφαλάκια”

You can hear a rendition of the song here
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weThW-PWoJI

Read about this flower, in Greek, and see photos of it growing in the wild here
http://www.greekflora.gr/el/flowers/0370/Narcissus-tazetta

Last but not least, where you can read about Narcissus tazetta in
THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN.  The journal of the MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN SOCIETY. There are many references to this plant, I have chosen
 SPRINGTIME IN WINTER AT THE UC BOTANICAL GARDEN
By Bridget Lamp

A rather long post today, I hope you enjoy it.

[Hilary]

The article SPRINGTIME IN WINTER AT THE UC BOTANICAL GARDEN mentioned above can be found in issue number 32, April 2003 of THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN

[Charithea]

Hi Hilary.  I have never heard the song before although I know Glygeria.  We certainly saw a lot of them in Northen Greece a few years ago.  They smelled heavenly.  Here in Cyprus we don't see as many as we used to in my younger years and the double variety which grew in wheat fields also seemed to have disappeared in our area. Not much rain to water the wheat or to encourage the 'mitzikorida' their Cypriot name to grow.

[Hilary]

When the latest issue, 91, of THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN turned up in our PO Box I was so enthusiastic about some of the articles and the possibility of using some of my stamps, long waiting in the offing, to accompany them that I decided to devote the next ten “ Plants of the world on postage stamps” thread  to this, the lastest, Journal.
Not as easy as you think nor I thought.
If I had an unlimited supply of stamps depicting olive, pine, and pomegranate trees there would be no problem.
However, by bending my self made rules and using a bit of imagination I think I have done it
Enjoy

Rosa, red
A stamp issued by the USA in 1999

I saw this brave red rose blooming in January in Xylokeriza, Korinthia.

As you can imagine nearly every article in THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN mentions roses in passing.
Today I am pointing you to the latest issue number 91 to read
SUMMER IN UMBRIA by Christine Margerum

[Hilary]

Persea americana, Avocado
Barbados issued a stamp series of sixteen stamps in 2011 named
FLORA, LOCAL FRUITS.

Unfortunately I only have this one stamp from the series.

The photo is of two Avocado pears which have now been consumed.

I have used this stamp and photo on this thread before but am using them again as they go so well with the article by Michael Athen
ANOTHER WAY TO GROW AN AVOCADO,
THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN issue 91, January 2018

[John J]

Our avocado tree, grown from a stone.

[Hilary]

How old is it?

[John J]

I can't remember exactly, Hilary, but from stone to shade tree must be around 17/18 years.

[Hilary]

 Timber Industry, Nigeria

This stamp was issued in 1936 by Nigeria in a series named King George V and local motifs.
The stamp depicts a very tall tree being cut down by two workers.

Apparently there are still some forests left in Nigeria, if rather depleted
Here is a very long article with interesting information and statistics about the current state of Foresty in Nigeria
http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/ab592e/ab592e03.htm

Now to tie this in with an article in THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN.
As luck would have it Stelios Deverakis wrote about his afforestation effort in Crete in issue number 91.
You can read about his experiences in
GROWING A FOREST ON A GREEK HILLSIDE:
A SMALL PROJECT IN CRETE

 I can hardly imagine the amount of paperwork he would have had to do before planting his first tree

[Hilary]

Billbergia nutans
A stamp issued by Hungary in 1971 in a series named
 THE 200th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOTANICAL GARDEN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUDA
I read that the plant on the left is Nidularium fulgens and the one on the right is Billbergia nutans although the catalogue just says Bromeliaceae.
Here is some information about this plant for you
https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/2301/i-Billbergia-nutans-i/Details

In THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN, number 91, Christina Lambert writes about
DEALING WITH BILLBERGIA NUTANS  AT SPAROZA