Plants of the world on postage stamps

  • 1641 Replies
  • 306504 Views

Hilary

  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #825 on: December 23, 2018, 06:48:03 AM »
Holly, Ilex

This ‘Pictorial Faststamps’ series named BRITISH FLORA, WINTER GREENERY was issued in 2014 BY THE Royal Mail .

 Apparently these stamps are obtained from a self-service machine in the UK thus missing out on the Greek experience of sitting in an overheated Greek Post Office waiting for your number to turn up. An opportunity to meet long lost friends and acquaintances and catch up on the news, usually how many grandchildren they have and if their children are lucky enough to have a job.

The photo was taken at Tsepelovo, Epirus in November 2017. I have never seen such a large Holly bush and so many berries. I wonder if there are no Holly berry eating birds in Epirus 

To read the account of the AGM of THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN SOCIETY, PALERMO SICILY go to THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 23, January 2001 by Yvette Varvaressou. Holly is mentioned

I hope you all enjoy the holiday season and that the weather is good enough to enjoy your  gardens or get out into the countryside
MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care

*

Charithea

  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #826 on: December 23, 2018, 01:13:10 PM »
Hilary your description of life in a Greek Post Office is very similar to ours. I have to go to town to post cards/letters in the main post office where  the Citizens Advice Bureue is also housed. The two times I paid a visit this month  to send my cards, I acted as an interpreter/translator for foreign workers sending parcels home.  Most of them know basic Greek and English but can not cope with the written word.  The postal workers are too busy to assist so I was the scribe for them.  In this fashion the waiting didn't seem long. I also got stamps which depicted the Cyprus flora. Merry Christmas to all the Forum Readers.
I garden in Cyprus, in a flat old farming field, alt. approx. 30 m asl.

Hilary

  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #827 on: January 04, 2019, 08:48:57 AM »
Anigozanthos manglesii

This stamp was issued in 1962 by Australia to commemorate the
 7th Anniversary of the Commonwealth Games.

This time I have a photo of an Anigozanthos taken one September in the RHS Garden Hyde Hall. This plant, a native of Australia, was growing in the Dry Garden 

Anigozanthos manglesii
is mentioned in passing in
GOOD SERVANT: BAD MASTER by Alec Cobb
THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 58, October 2009

There is a photo of this plant, which only grows naturally in Western Australia, in
 THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN SOCIETY website Branches/ Western Australia
MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care

Hilary

  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #828 on: January 05, 2019, 07:33:37 AM »
Eryngium pinnatifidum, Blue Devil

One more stamp from Australia issued in 2015
Again no photo. There are some photos and information here

https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/6219

I have noted that there are 44 issues of THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN  containing  articles about Australia but I can't tell which ones are about West Australia. As I suspect there is only one about this area and  which I have already used I  am pointing you to number 23 January 2001  to read

A MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATE GARDEN FOR THE ADELAIDE BOTANIC GARDEN by John Sandham
MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care

Hilary

  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #829 on: January 06, 2019, 06:55:47 AM »
Swainsona formosa, Sturt’s Desert Pea

A stamp issued in a six stamp series by Australia in 1968

You can read about this plant and see some photos here
https://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2011/swainsona-formosa.html

For you lucky members of THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN SOCIETY you can read PROPAGATING AUSTRALIAN PLANTS by Jeff Irons in number 2 of  THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN
MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care

*

John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #830 on: January 06, 2019, 08:43:05 AM »
The nearest I've come to this amazing plant is via a bookmark that was given to me by an Australian lady who was visiting her friend here in Cyprus. Her visit coincided with a Branch trip that I had arranged to Greece, and Sparoza, and she joined us on that. The bookmark uses the synonym Clianthus formosus.
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)

*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #831 on: January 06, 2019, 09:51:02 AM »
John, we saw this one in the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne, during the 2012 MGS meeting in South Australia. I got seeds and tried to grow them under glass in the UK, giving them appropriate heat, but though they reached a decent size there simple wasn't enough light to bring them into flower, and the heat (we heated to 10 deg C) wasn't enough to keep them going through the winter in the hope of getting this annual to flower in the following May. I think in the Med there would be hope of flowering them outdoors in Israel and perhaps at low altitudes in Cyprus, but probably not even in Greece, let alone Italy or France or Spain.
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

Hilary

  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #832 on: January 06, 2019, 10:18:05 AM »
Great photo Alisdair.
 John I like the way you could find the book mark!
I have several flowery bookmarks, but where are they?
MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care

*

John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #833 on: January 06, 2019, 03:45:21 PM »
Second nature, Hilary, ex-Admin by training and occupation, 'a place for everything and everything in its place'. Although I must confess that things have begun to get a bit lax as I've grown older, my desk is slowly disappearing under a pile of paperwork!  :-[
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)

Hilary

  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #834 on: January 08, 2019, 08:35:29 AM »
Haemanthus magnificus

A stamp issued by Swaziland in 1980

There are seven stamps in the series of which I have this one
Here is a link to the Kruger National Park for you to read about this plant
http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_blood-lily.html

Read about close relatives to this interesting plant in THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN 
Number 85 July 2016
THE HAEMANTHUS/SCADOXUS CLAN by Caroline Davies
MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care

Hilary

  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #835 on: January 09, 2019, 08:36:41 AM »
WHITE GARDEN LILY, LIS BLANCHE DE JARDIN

Canada issued a series of thirteen stamps in 1964 depicting, together with the coat of arms, the official floral emblem of each province. I have nine of these stamps

I quote from this interesting website
https://www.canadianpostagestamps.ca/series/1258/floral-emblems

“Stamps bearing the provincial armorial bearings and floral emblems of all ten provinces plus the Yukon and Northwest Territories were issued in the order in which they entered the Confederation”

This is the third in the series, represents Quebec and depicts a white lily but there is no information about its Latin name.

To read about Lilium candidum go to THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 84, April 2016 and read
 A JOURNEY NORTH: LOOKING FOR PLANTS IN ISRAEL by Jack Clutterbuck   


MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care

*

Charithea

  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #836 on: January 10, 2019, 01:59:34 PM »
Thank you again Hilary for the stamps and all the information that goes with them. I am always learning something new.
I garden in Cyprus, in a flat old farming field, alt. approx. 30 m asl.

Hilary

  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #837 on: January 10, 2019, 02:35:28 PM »
Aloe africana

The Republique Rwandaise issued an eight stamp series in 1969 with the title 
AFRICAN MEDICINAL HERBS AND AFRICAN PLANTS
At the top of the stamp it writes
SECHERESSE SOLIDARITE AFRICAINE
Which seems to mean African Solidarity against Drought
 
There is a section in the plant galleries of THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN SOCIETY website devoted to Aloes which Andrew Sloan grows and has photographed. Aloe africana is one of the plants in the gallery.

There is also a link to an article which is in THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 86, October 2016
GROWING ALOES IN OUR SUCCULENT GARDEN by Andrew Sloan
MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care

Hilary

  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #838 on: January 13, 2019, 07:58:21 AM »
Viola cucullata, PURPLE VIOLET, VIOLETTE CUCULLEE

Canada issued a series of thirteen stamps in 1964 depicting, together with the coat of arms, the official floral emblem of each province. I have nine of these stamps

I quote from this interesting website
https://www.canadianpostagestamps.ca/stamps/15733/purple-violet-new-brunswick-1965-canada-postage-stamp-floral-emblems

“Stamps bearing the provincial armorial bearings and floral emblems of all ten provinces plus the Yukon and Northwest Territories were issued in the order in which they entered the Confederation”

This is the fifth in the series and represents New Brunswick. 

There are many references to Violets in THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN, not this one in particular, but violets which do well in the Mediterranean climate under trees and bushes
Read A NATIVE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN by HEIDI Gildemeister in THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 94, October 2018.
MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care

Hilary

  • Hero Member
Re: Plants of the world on postage stamps
« Reply #839 on: January 14, 2019, 08:26:06 AM »
Ipomoea Morning Glory

Anguilla issued a four stamp series of stamps in 1970 named
FLOWERS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES 
All the stamps depicted are grown in Mediterranean gardens

There are many Morning Glory plants in Corinth covering untidy fences and broken down walls. Here are a couple of photos.

I discovered a reference to Ipomoea in THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 90, October 2017 [an issue I need to read again].
THUNBERGIA  ALATA by Peter Dinning
 
MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care