Not 'alpine' in any sense of the word, but these images may (hopefully) banish someone's winter woes? Some image files from a brief visit to the island of Mallorca in October 2010 featuring a visit to an excellent cactus/botanical garden, etc.
I didn't know where to post this image until I saw this particular topic!
A travel image in every sense of the word, it was taken of a hot air balloon in flight from the rear window of a speeding car that was hurtling back down the motorway from a Scottish Rock Garden Club Discussion Weekend - and the image has now crossed the pond to be transmitted around the globe! Phew!
As an aside - John Dower, the miniature garden specialist, was driving the car ... possibly within the motorway speed limit ... just! :D
I was really too early for the big show, so these are just the earliest of the spring bloomers. The really low alpines were from the top of the mountains while the bulbs were from lower down.
Anemone fanniniae
Asclepias stellifera
Erica cerinthoides
Eriosema kraussianum
Haplocarpha nervosa
Some flowers seen while travelling in the Lesotho mountains. I’m going to post the photos in installments starting with plants seen on the Mafika Lisiu Pass, 3090 m, and in the adjoining Bokong Nature Reserve, between 2500 and 3000 m. The underlying rock is basalt covered with a thin layer of fertile soil, seldom deeper than 50 cm.
(I have shown some of these pictures before)
Two years ago a friend of me and I decided to explore eastern Turkey and ascend Mt Ararat if possible. We met our guide in the city of Van at the shore of the lake and set out by car for the crater, lake and ridge of the name of Nemrut ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemrut_(volcano) ) at the other side of the lake to start the acclimatisation process.
On October 12, I took a day trip to a few of Minnesota's Scientific and Natural Areas (SNA) in the western part of the state. Western Minnesota is prairie land, and topographically speaking, quite boring. We in the Midwest U.S. can get excited at the smallest things, as mountains, picturesque lakes or oceans, etc. are just not outside our back doors.
First stop: Gneiss Outcrops SNA (241 acres).
Along the Minnesota river (which was gigantic in ancient times), rock out crops are many due to the removal of earth by what was then the Glacial River Warren.
tunnel!
When you travel from west to east or vice versa in Norway you have to cross the mountain range unless you go along the coast - and that's a long drive.
The newest roads have lots of tunnels, faster but boring. The longest (actually the World's longest road tunnel) is 25km/15.5miles long. Some of the tunnels cross fjords too, the deepest is 287m/942ft below sea level. Anyway, inside the mountain you will not see many plants. Therefore, choose the old roads!
The fall is upon us, at least in the mountains. Last weekend we had a fantastic weather and almost summer temperatures. Not much in flower in the mountains but the color of fall deepens.
1) Betula nana
2) Gymnocarpium dryopteris
3) Geranium sylvaticum leaf
4 & 5) Arctous alpina
6) View
September 2nd was one of the very few perfectly clear days we've had this summer, and it made for fabulous panoramic viewing from the top of Prairie Mountain in Kananaskis Country, Alberta. The bloom was largely done on this south-facing slope, as one would expect, the most notable exception being Gentianella amarella, an annual or biennial with a circumpolar distribution.
Just a few pix:
1) First teaser of the view to come.
2) Orchid on dry slope.
Another visit to this area was in order, given that even the August 10th visit did not show the high country in full flower yet... it's incredibly late up there this year!
(See earlier accounts here:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=348.0
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=384.0 )