Your garden plants in my chosen country

Posted on 17 Sep, 2008 9 comments

Hi GOYers! As most gardeners know, the plants they cherish in their own gardens mostly, in their original “format”, grow wild in other countries. Just by the next village on this mountain is a cattle corral, empty of cattle now as they are all loose on the mountain for summer, but the corral is FULL of white Datura (Angel’s Trumpets) or Thornapple as it is known here. I know the plant is poisonous and it will be eredicated before the cattle are let back in for the winter but, having once owned one Datura, seeing an area heaving with them is a wonderful sight.

We often go for mountain walks and climbs and, in Spring, discover lovely plants, one of which is the Hellebore with its bunches of nodding green flowers – another cherished garden plant. A little later in the year on the higher and drier mountains we find pillows of saxifrage in colours ranging from white, through pink, to deepest mauve.

In the higher, wetter meadows we suddenly come across swathes of Alpine daffodils, much shorter than garden varieties and a delicate pale yellow. Streams have Aquilegia growing along their banks and the fields and lanes surrounding my village are awash with Primroses and Violets in April, later showing little patches of white Alyssum.

I am amazed by the diversity of wild flowers here and often remember how much I paid for the priviledge of having these plants in my garden in Britain. Now I hardly need a flower garden – I just have to go for a stroll on the mountain.

Comments

Chrispook

17 Sep, 2008

A wonderful place to live. It's always interesting in other climes to see what grows wild. When my sister camt to Hungary she was exclaiming about the different wild flowers that she grows in her garden. I've been here so long I've forgotten.

Spritzhenry

17 Sep, 2008

What lovely pictures you conjure up in my mind, Nariz. On your next walk, would it be possible to take photos so that we can enjoy looking at the flowers in their natural habitat? Chris - same message to you!

Terratoonie

17 Sep, 2008

Yes, some photos to enhance your beautiful descriptions would be wonderful, please.

Nariz

17 Sep, 2008

Thanks for your lovely comments. I don't have any photos at the moment of the wild flowers I have mentioned but I will bear it in mind as a project for next Spring and, hopefully, after several walks/climbs, will be able to post photos on the GOY site. Keep watching!

Terratoonie

17 Sep, 2008

Thanks, Nariz.
Don't fall down the rocks trying to get the photos!

Andrewr

17 Sep, 2008

I enjoy seeing plants growing in their native habitats too. Over the past few years, I have done some botanising holidays in South Africa (twice), Crete and Kazakhstan. Trying to decide where to go next year.

Daff

17 Sep, 2008

I too enjoy seeing plant growing in their natie habitats, there are to many buildings going up and we are losing wildplant/wildlife.... I'll stop now before i get on my box.

Gail

Tussiemussie

19 Sep, 2008

Yes we are losing too many native wild flowers, why not turn some lawn into a wildflower garden and enjoy while doing the wild plants a favour.

Janey

4 Dec, 2008

Hello Nariz....beautiful blog...great to be in an area where the wildflowers have chance to grow and seed....do you have the snakes-head lilly too? Lets hope the humans don't ruin this like everything else!