[Hilary]

Sciurus vulgaris, Red Squirrel
Yet another stamp from the series WOODLAND ANIMALS issued by the Royal Mail in 2004

The photo is of a tiny Wade squirrel which lives on our spice rack. I had entirely forgotten about these small pottery animals until I needed some cinnamon or nutmeg.
They were the little gifts in some Christmas crackers sent to us many years ago. It seems that I must have “saved” all the tiny animals

Squirrels are mentioned in passing in many issues of
THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN.
I am always pleased to be able to recommend an article not mentioned in this thread before and re read it myself.
So go to TMG no.27, January 2002 and read
THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN:
IMAGE, STYLE OR CULTURALEXPRESSION?  PART 2
 By Russell A. Beatty

[Hilary]

A cleaner scan of the Squirrel

[Alisdair]

Amazing quality printing, that you can blow up the little stamp and still see so much detail!

[Hilary]

Dianthus caryophyllus, Carnation.

A stamp issued by Lebanon in 1973 in a series named
 FLOWERS AND FRUITS

The photo was taken one May when, together with four friends,  I visited a friend of ours who lives in a village outside Corinth.
This carnation must have been growing in a pot on her balcony

As you can imagine carnations are mentioned many times in
 THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN. Today I recommend that you read
  GARDENING WITHOUT WATER  by Clive Blazey
 in  number 8, Spring 1997

[Hilary]

Yes Alisdair,
I love seeing the tiny stamps on the screen, what my father-in-law used to look at through a magnifying glass   is so much easier to see on the screen.
By the way I have been meaning to say how much i like the new format of the Forum where the photos come up at once without that extra click

[Alisdair]

What a lovely photo of the carnation, Hilary, so subtly framed by the soft-focus blue-grey foliage that it looks three-dimensional yet quite other-worldly!

[Hilary]

Thankyou.
 I must have had a steady hand that day!

[Hilary]

Vitis vinifera, grape vine

This stamp was issued by New Zealand in 1983 in a 5 stamp series named Fruits

Since grapes are now out of season I looked round the house for something depicting a grape vine. I found two jugs so here is a photo of one of them

I could only find one article in
 THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN about New Zealand and although it is interesting there is no mention of grape vines
In the end I decided on
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CLIMATE RAMBLINGS by Stroma Buttrose in TMG, number 24, April 2001, for you to read today

There are some posts on this Forum about New Zealand plants and even a recipe. You can read them here
http://www.mgsforum.org/smf/index.php?action=search2

[Hilary]

Armeria maritima, Sea pink ,Thrift

This stamp is from a Royal Mail series issued in 1961 to celebrate the centenary of
THE POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK 1861-1961

 The stamp depicts the Sea pink, Thrift
For information about this plant look here
https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/1597/Armeria-maritima/Details

I don’t have any photos of  a Thrift plant but do have a photo of a near relative, Armeria pseudarmeria, growing at Cabo da Roca,  Portugal and the useful notice board with information about the plant

Armeria maritima is mentioned quite a few times in
  THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN.
I chose A LIVING GIFT TO SPAROZA PART 2:
ΠΕΡΙ ΦΥΤΩΝ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΙΟΥ by Sally Razelou
 in number 73, July 2013

[Fermi]

Hi Hilary,
here's a pic of Armeria maritima we took in Ballyvaughan, Ireland last May,
cheers
fermi

[Hilary]

Many thanks,
I see it is growing in the rocks, I seem to remember it growing on the coast of Northumberland .
Just found this link with a photo of Thrift on Lindisfarne

http://www.northumberlandcoastaonb.org/wildflowers/

[Hilary]

KYRGYZSTAN
As Alisdair pointed out on the Forum in the thread
PLANT IDENTIFICATION, FLOWER ON A STAMP FROM KYRGYZSTAN
Robin Lane- Fox gave a talk at the MGS AGM in Athens in 2016.
The talk was illustrated by breathtaking photos of wild flowers and scenery photographed by Harriet Rix
I you search the Internet for Robin Lane- Fox Kyrgyzstan you will find the talk and some of the photos

When I saw that there was a stamp series issued by the above country depicting wild flowers of the high mountains I gave way to temptation and acquired the stamps. Most of the plants were named in a catalogue I use and the anonymous one identified by Oron, of this Forum. Jorun and Fermi, of this Forum also, tried their best to identify the plant and I consulted a Russian lady but she told me that they speak a different language in Kyrgyzstan.

Most of the plants have no common names and, as you would expect, they are not mentioned, with the exception of one, in
THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN
So without any more ado here they are
1 Gagea salis now known as Gagea bulbifera [Pall.]Salisb.
2 Chrysanthemum leontopodium
accepted name
 Richteria leontopodium
3 Tulipa gregeigii mentioned in TMG number 80 on page 55 in the  review of
 FLORA OF THE SILK ROAD : AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE
4 Anemone protracta
5 Paeonia intermedia
6 Leontopodium leontopodioides
And last but not least
7 Saussurea involucrata, The Snow lotus of the Himalayas
identified by Oron on thes Forum

[Hilary]

Gentiana, Gentian
Timbre Tax, France
A stamp issued in 1965 in a series named Fleurs des Champs.
From what I understand this was a stamp affixed to an envelope to show how much more postage  still had to be paid

The photo is from a journal I wrote after a trip to Switzerland in 1964. Apparently I had visited the Alpine garden at Schynige Platte and even eaten my lunch at the hotel.
I remember the garden very well but not the view nor the lunch, omelette, the cheapest thing on the menu

Although not a plant you would associate with Mediterranean gardens, the Gentian is mentioned several times in
THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN the journal of
THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN SOCIETY. Today I have chosen issue number 11 Winter 1997/8 for you to read
A SMALL GARDEN IN MELBOURNE by Caroline Davies

[Umbrian]

Fascinating post re stamps from Kyrgyzstan Hilary. I have just completed an online course about the European ' discovery' of China and of course the Silk Road featured strongly. The course was very intense and it didn't occur to me at the time to consider the diverse flora that would also have been discovered. Now I shall look up the article you mentioned in the Journal. Nothing but rain here so a welcome diversion. Thank you

[John J]

If you can get hold of a copy of the book by Chris and Basak Gardner it's well worth it. An amazing book with some fantastic photos, highly recommended.
In a complete change of subject, we need some of your rain, please, Carole. We have had very little over the winter and the water situation for this summer is looking bleak. Our cats, like this one, Κουρεμα by name, might be enjoying the warmth of the sun but we desperately need rain.