May 2006 Photo Competition DISCUSSION thread

Cracking pic. to start off the May comp W/Flower,
Very you..............

 

well the dandelion is wonderfull..will have to think hard for my next two entrys..i suppose some one could post a picture of someone with a frightfull hairstyle..that would be wild and wonderfull..at least its a good topic with lots of scope..will have to go for a walk over the field and see if i can find something worth entering..I have loads of squirells in my garden which would make a nice photo but my camera skills are limited...by the time i got it sorted they would be back tucked up in their tree...

 

Hornbeam, that mountain pansy knocks spots off the cultivated ones!
Fantastic photos so far.

 

Yes - the wild pansies are glorious but quite tiny. See how big it is compared with the moss in the photo. I really do wonder what some plant breeders are up to when I see the fat and floppy giant pansies in garden centres. These tiny Teesdale plants grow in the poorest of soils and would doubtless blow up like balloons if planted in a rich garden environment.

 

Hornbeam:
We 'do' mountain pansies round here, but that Spring Gentian is absolutely superb.

 

Yes - the gentians are truly stunning and it was a real thrill to see them. They are found only in one small part of Upper Teesdale now. Yet a hundred years ago, local children gathered them freely and displayed them in special china gentian bowls. The area was devastated when the Cow Green reservoir flooded the upper reaches of the dale. A few years later they decided that they didn't need the reservoir after all.

Here is another shot showing how they grow. In flower from April - May.

 

Hornbeam ... you mean the 10,000 fat and floppy pansies I have to grow every year! I prefer viola to pansies although the parks want large gaudy colours, not subtlty, unfortunately.
Panola... a pansy/viola cross, a pointless production. I have to grow them as well but I don't have to like them. :D :D

 

You have my condolences, Strogylodon (btw there is a gorgeous one (Jade Vine) in Cambridge botanic gardens)

As regard fat and floppy pansies - I kind of hope that one day the fashion will change and people will see the clear beauty of the violas.

 

Dave W:

Re. your sphagnum moss - nice pic! I didn't realise untill a couple of days ago that there were speciality growers of mosses - seems they are used for 'vegetation' on bonsi. :D

 

Must tell our son who is seriously into bonsai growing. Much to the detriment of MY GH during the winter months!
I've come across sphagnum in all sorts of colours from green to pink and red, to yellow to almost white. I suspect the colour is due to minerals in the soil.

 

the colour of hornbeams.. gentians is stunning!! its like a spiritual blue colour..man couldnt make a blue as good..

 

the pictures so far this month are just beautiful