Appreciation: Out and About

Out in my garden : there was a time when I would take any seed that I could find. I've got Malus sylvestris, small yellow apples I picked in a nearby forest, and pink flowering apple-trees that I picked on grafted street trees. It must have been some 20 years ago. Now some of them are in a hedge that protects this part of the yard from the afternoon sun :

 

That's interesting Ron, as this one was purchased by our neighbour from a local nursery with that name on it. May have been mislabelled!!?
I will photograph it when i'ts in full bloom in a few days and re post.

 

OK, I said I would find another tree that was out in flower after my posting #399.
This is just around the corner and IMO it is Prunus cerasifera Cherry plum.

This is a lovely old tree that gives a lot of pleasure at this time of the year.
Now what I can see, it is different to my last posting, hence naming that one as Malus floribunda. But I am open to correction.

 

Isn't this a crab apple?
Prunus cerasifera finished blooming a month or so ago.

 

Thanks Wendy, I'm having an elderly moment here. This is blooming today. I will re look at the other tree in my posting #399 also that has not opened yet. Neither bear fruit btw. I still think the first one is a Malus.

 

Eating apples and crab apples are all Malus. It's likely everyone agrees that the one in #399 is a crab apple. I think Ron was saying that M. x floribunda has a particular look, and that this is likely some other species or a cultivar.

 

This is now going down as a Malus, but variety U/K.

 

Good afternoon, my posting # 399 the other day was highlighted that the variety of this Malus may have been different to what I thought, so as promised to Ron B, I took this a few minutes ago now the flowers have opened.

 

Different habit, leaves and flowers from floribunda.

 

Thankyou Ron, so this is Malus floribunda Crab apple. I will amend my records.

 

so this is Malus floribunda

No - the one you are showing here has different habit, leaves and flowers from floribunda.

 

Oh OK so what are you saying is the variety in #408?

 

There are hundreds of flowering crabapple cultivars including a number of these purple types. Often the fruits have to be seen in order to get a complete picture of an individual kind.

 

Understood Ron, at this time I will leave it as Malus Crab apple.

 

Went to "Arboretum des Barres" today.

26°C (Wow!)

Hard to take photos when you're with a friend, the dog pulling on the leash, and you stopping every ten metres to take aphoto of a whole tree, close-ups of leaves, and trying to remember all the names... ;°)

The arboretum was created in the late 19th century and there is a "Lycée agricole" there, with miodern buildings that I didn't take photos of, and several older buildings inside the park, like a house which is obviously inhabited, another building that is used for exhibits from what I can remember from a previous visit, and a house that must be rehabilitated. It's called "la maison du directeur". That's where the founder of the arboretum lived. It has a "winter garden", a greenhouse on the other side of the house.



There are several Sequoia sempervirens, one of them is the tallest in the region (46 metres). Another one is very typical of the species, with several trunks from the base.





Some of the dead trees have become sculptures, others are "natural sculptures" :



Some maple photos later.

 

What's very typical of coast redwood is a single massive and towering trunk - low forking into more than one main stem is something it does outside of its native area, where presumably there is an environmental factor such as cold injury that causes this to happen.

 

Probably so, yes : I should have written "typical of the specimens we can see here". Since it's one of the very few conifers to push new growth from the base after being cut down, it might even be the result of a careless gardener mowing the lawn. ;-)

 

There were some magnificent pictures of Rhododendrons posted earlier in the ‘Virtual Garden Tour’, I cannot contribute anything from our yard, but I decided to post here Azalea pictures from few years ago in Japan. When we stayed at the Park Hyatt Tokyo, they are right in front of the entrance. I was fascinated by the use of Azaleas as a hedging plant.
We also happened to stumble upon an Azalea Bonsai show..

 

The attention to correct trimming after flowering is very impressive to get such a neat Azalea hedge like that.

 

I managed to look at something other than rhododendrons for a change. Here are a few flowers at the West End Community Centre, starting with two Australians.
Convolvulus cneorum, Silverbush, in a meter-high concrete planter. Edited by wcutler Aug 29, 2021: I just read that this is from Europe, not Australia.


Pittosporum tobira. I came up with this name myself one year, am not sure how.


I think this is Wisteria floribunda 'Violacea Plena'.


A couple of blocks away is a lot that has been vacant for several years. The real Lost Lagoon is around three blocks away in Stanley Park. A lot of stuff is growing here, including a Robinia that's in bloom now.

 

American yellowwood, Cladrastis kentukea, in a park. Showing very good blooming this year. Very nice fragrance.

 

This tree was planted by our neighbours in 1970 and has always brightened up our road. Sadly only one of our two neighbours is now with us, but this morning she still was able to say, " Look at our tree".
So I took a couple of photos to post. It is a Laburnum alpinum. Known as the Scottish Laburnum.

 

These are ubiquitous here, on roadside, in gardens, etc. and even in my garden. Most people call them "valériane" but they're actually Centranthus, "centranthe" - easy to remember, it sounds like "cent-trente", 130. They're red, pink or white. It's originally a mediterranean plant, but it has colonized a lot of countries :



They flower in spring, then again in summer, especially if you trim them back.
Note : if you put them in a vase, after a couple of days, there's a smell of smelly feet floating around... ;0)

 

Oh nice!!!!

 

Zantedeschia aethiopica are back!


As are Bletilla striata, Chinese ground orchids, in a bed in front of Lord Stanley in his park.


I posted Prosanthera cuneata last year in August when there were not many flowers left. It looks really good now, on the grounds of the Park Board office.