Gardening in a summer-dry climate isn’t all bad. Fun fact, around a fifth of all the world’s terrestrial flora comes from Mediterranean climates.
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Could you learn to love Brunsvigia josephinae? I got this one from @tonkinsbulbs about fifteen years ago as a seedling. This floral splendour was worth the wait.
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Grammar nerds: I know; *’including me’. Don’t @ me. 😅
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#brunsvigiajosephinae #brunsvigia #amaryllidaceae #kandelaarblom #autumnbulbs #fallbulbs #geophyte #flowersofinstagram #mygarden #gardensofinstagram #xeriscaping #drygarden #bloembollen #bulbs
It’s undeniably a #firstworldproblem , but is anybody else fed up with being coerced, and surveilled 24/7, by an app that used to be just a bit of fun? 🫤
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#whathappenedtoinstagram #metafail #instagramfail #algorithmfail #evilalgorithm #sadedits #sadposts #sad #photooftheday #instagram #nature #selfie #me #instagood #instalike #firstworldproblems #love
For all its faults and irritations, Instagram has allowed me to meet some truly wonderful new friends around the world, over many years. Yesterday I got to meet two of them; regenerative farmer @mangalitzafarmernl and celebrity botanist @rogiervanvugt (unfortunately not shown, as I’m half his height, and there is no selfie stick long enough to fit us both in the same frame). It was so interesting to see their important conservation work at the venerable @hortusleiden .
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This pic is taken in the Siebold garden, which contains original plant collections from Japan by Philipp Franz von Siebold; the first specimens of their kind in Europe.
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#hortusbotanicusleiden #gardenersofinstagram #instabuddies #gingerblonds #beardedmen
I’ve been growing tree peonies for 35 years, but I still can’t quite believe they are real.
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This is at Yuushien on Daikonjima in Matsue, Japan, famous for its peonies.
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#paeonia #treepeony #牡丹 #由志園 #peonies
Kawachi Fuji-en (wisteria garden) in Kyūshū last week. An absolutely magical experience. There were many different cultivars of Wisteria floribunda, sinensis, and brachybotrys in flower. The perfume, and the quality of the light filtered through the flowers, was sublime.
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#wisteria #kawachiwisteriagarden #kawachifujien #河内藤園 #kawachifujigarden
On my last day in Japan, it’s probably time I shared some pics.
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I enjoyed my first visit to Kawachi wisteria garden on the island of Kyūshū. The rich perfume and gentle spring sunshine coming through the wisteria bloom is magical… for three weeks of the year. For the other 49 weeks I can only imagine what a Sisyphean task it must be to keep these monsters under control!
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#kawachifujien #kawachiwisteriagarden #wisteria #wisteriatunnel #wisteriafloribunda
Somebody told me I should post more pics of the food plants I grow. Here are a sample of the apples and pears I I have been harvesting from my garden over the last month. IDs in the second image.
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#heritagefruit #heritageapples #heritagepears #heirloomapples #heirloompears
A surfeit of Colchicums. Fourteen varieties in one handful. I love the way colchicums appear rose pink in sun, and bluish mauve in shadow. Magic.
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#colchicum #autumnbulbs #fallbulbs #autumnflowers #fallflowers
A Colchicum family portrait. On the left, zhoozhy ‘Waterlily’, with its white parents C. speciosum ‘Album’, and C. autumnale ‘Alboplenum’, and its ancestors, C. speciosum, and C. autumnale, and C. autumnale ‘Album’.
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The big white single and small white double were crossed by Dutch breeders in the early 20th century, in an attempt to produce a big, white double flower. Instead they got an enormous double flower in the same mauve colour as the wild species. One out of two ain’t bad.
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#colchicumwaterlily #colchicumspeciosum #colchicumspeciosumalbum #colchicumautumnale #colchicumautumnalealboplenum
X Amarygia ‘Ameliae’ in my garden. Who else remembers Schiaparelli pink from the 90s?
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#amarygiaameliae #amarygia #autumnbulbs #fallbulbs #climateappropriateplants
