Arkansas: Wild Persimmons / Yaban Hurması

The American South has lots of beautiful places and interesting plant life as well. Northern Arkansas might be on the edge of what's normally considered "The South" but there are plenty of things that place it firmly there. A conversation with an Ozark local will leave no doubt as to where you are culturally, and besides that, there are wild persimmons there.

Amerika'nın güney bölgesi, hem çok sayıda güzel yere, hem de ilginç bitki örtüsüne sahip. Kuzey Arkansas belki normalde "Güney" sayılan coğrafyasının kuzey ucunda bulunsa da, yerel biriyle biraz konuşursanız hem şivesi hem de kültürü, hangi bölgede bulunduğunuza dair herhangi bir şüphe kalmayacaktır. Ayrıca yaban 

 hurması var!

 Actually, we have wild persimmons in Turkey as well; our local species is Diospyros lotus, which naturally occurs in the Black Sea region and is known locally as the "Trabzon persimmon." The fruits are about the size of a very small grape. The flavor is similar to that of the large Japanese persimmon (D. kaki), but they are generally a little more watery, with lots of seeds, and seem to hold onto their astringency until the very last possible minute. I can'τ count the times I've had my mouth puckered even by fruits I was sure were ripe enough.

Aslinda yaban hurması Türkiye'de de var, fakat ayrı bir tür. Yerel türümüz, halk dilinde "Trabzon hurması" olarak bilinen Diospyros lotus'tur. Meyveleri küçük bir üzüm büyüklüğünde, tadı bildiğimiz büyük hurmannın (Japon hurması, D. kaki) tadına benziyor fakat daha sulu ve bol çekirdekli. Hem de mayhoşluğunu son ana kadar koruyormuş gibime geliyor...ne kadar beklersem bekleyim yine de ağzımı bürüştürüyor!

 

The American persimmon (D. virginiana) is somewhere in the middle with fruits about the size of a plum. That's variable though, as are their shape, texture and astringency. The fruits above are flat, and ripened to a rather grainy consistency, before which they were inedible. A small stand I found nearer my mother's home had much larger, rounder fruits that were fine as soon as they softened (L).

Amerika hurması (D. virginiana) erik büyüklüğündeki meyveleriyle ikisinin ortasında kalıyor. Büyüklüğü değişken aslında, hatta şekli, kıvamı ve kekremsiliği de öyle. Mesela yukarıdaki fotoğraftaki meyveler hafif basık şeklinde, yenebilmesi için hemen hemen şekerlenmiş bir kıvama gelmesi gerekiyordu. Annemin evinin daha yakınında bulduğum bir grup ağaçlar ise, yuumuşur yumuşamaz çok lezzetli olan, daha büyük, yuvarlak meyveler veriyordu (Solda).İkisinden de bol tohum topladım, denemek isteyen varsa paylaşırım!

But for me what sets the Amerıcan persimmon apart is its flavor. There is a fragrance and depth of flavor that I haven't found in any other species. Actually, the genus Diospyros is quite large but most of them live in the tropics. Some resemble the American persimmon, while others are more exotıc, like the famous black sapote (D. digyna) has smooth black pulp that is said to taste like chocolate pudding.

Fakat benim için Amerika hurmasını farklı kılan, tadıdır. Başka türlerde bulamadığım bir koku ve derinlik var. Diospyros cinsi aslında oldukça büyük bir cins olmasına rağmen mensuplarının çoğuna sadece tropikal bölgerde rastlanır. Bazılarının tatı bildiğimiz hurmalara yakınken, diğerleri daha egzotik sayılabilir. Mesela ünlü siyah sapote'nin (D. digyna) meyvelerinin içi simsiyah, tadı ise çikolatalı pudinge benziyormuş.

Arkansas

If you've followed this blog, you know Arkansas comes up from time to time. My mother moved there back in the late 1980s and has become a local wild plant expert. She also has become fascinated with frost flowers, about which I'll do a post soon.

Blogumu izliyorsanız zaman zaman Arkansas eylatinin gündeme geldiğini biliyorsunuz. Annem 1980'li yıllarda oraya taşındığından beri bir yerel yaban bitkileri uzmanı olmuş. Aynı zamanda daha sonra yazacağım buz çiçeklerine de ilgi sardı.

Mostly we think of chrysanthemums and turning leaves in the autumn, and there were plenty of those. It was a bit early for peak color, but the winged sumac was putting on a spectacular show this year.

Sonbahar denince en çok kasımpatı ve rengi dönen yapraklar aklımıza geliyor, onlardan bol vardı tabii. Sonbahar renklerinin doruk noktasına daha birkaç hafta vardı fakat yerli bir tür olan "kanatlı sumak" güzel bir gösteri yapıyordu.

Still there were some fall blossoms to be found as well, especially goldenrod,
Yine de birkaç sonbahar çiçekleri vardı, özellikle Amerika'daki alerji hastaların haksız olarak kahrettiği Solidago türleri,

and several species of asters.
hem de birçok Aster türü.

 

I especially love these pale purple ones, which I remember from my childhood.
Çocukluğundan hatırladığım bu hafif mor olanları çok seviyorum.

There were less showy ones as well, but that didn't deter a hungry wasp!
Daha az gösterişli olanlar da vardı fakat aç bir eşekarısı caydırılmadı!

Bahçehastası Gets a Macro! Bahçehastası, Macro Lensi Aldı!

I was back in the US for most of November, and because I don't do well with jet lag, I like to break it up. This means 5 days or so in New York (-7 hours from Istanbul), a visit to my mother in Arkansas (-1 hour) an then the final stint in Seattle (-2 more hours). Actually coming east is harder, so I should probably go to Seattle first, but for some reason the ticket comes out half again as expensive. It's all a racket...

I mentioned before that I'd finally gotten myself an SLR, and one thing I'd really wanted to do was macro photography. This requires the right lens, and a decent macro lens doesn't come cheap. So having a few days in New York, I hightailed it down to B&H Cameras' second-hand department, and lo and behold, a 100mm Canon macro had just come in that day at a good 30% off. Of course if you've ever been to B&H, you can probably guess that I spent almost as much on necessary accoutrements as I saved on the lens...

So of course the first thing I had to do was take it out for a spin. Now one might not think of New York streets as a paradise of botanic photography, but there were plenty of small gardens in Jackson Heights. I also didn't have a tripod with me, but luckily it was a bright morning and the air was very still. There was a log of white Ageratum around and I did shoot some photos of it, but none of them really did anything for me. However as I was focusing on plants, I noticed this cranefly on a leaf. It seems a lot of this sort of photography involves choosing what part of the subject will be in focus and what you're willing to compromise on for the best effect, because actual depth of field is quite narrow.

I also found that closer-up is not always better!  This Penstemon was beautiful, and close-up it's fascinating, but somehow it reminds me a little too much of this.

 Kasım ayının çoğunu ABD'de geçirdim. Beni genelde fazlasıyla etkileyen jetlag'ı kademe kademe aşmak için ilk önce New York'a, sonra Arkansas'ya ve en son Seattle'a gittim. Dönüşü? Sormayın.

Tabi ki New York'tayken fogoğrafçıların cenneti (veya cehennemi) olan B&Η Camera'ya uğramadan edemedim. Birkaç ay önce ilk SLR'imi almıştım, fakat yapmak istediğim macrophotografçılık için macro lensi lazım, hem de ucuz değil. Çok şükür iyi durumda olan bir ikinci el 100mm Canon lensi bulabildim, o gün gelmişti. B&Η'te sağladığım herhangi bir tasarrufu diğer "gerekliler" alarak iptal ettim tabii. Türkiye'de çok daha pahalı diye avutuyorum kendimi.

Neyse ertesi sabah çıkıp denemek lazımdı. Tripod yoktu fakat güneşli ve rüzgarsız bir sabah olduğu için il denemelerim tamamen başarısız olmadı. Botanik fotoğrafçılığı denince akla gelen ilk yer New York olmayabilir de, aslında mahallelerin sokaklarında çok sayıda küçük bahçe var, kısaca bol madde vardı. Hatta böcekler de boy gösterdi...

A Moving Post - Hareketli bir Giriş

I do love the new instant YouTube link capability in Blogger!

A couple years ago I did a post (Lost and Found II) about a plant that was a favorite in our family garden for years. But since half the fun is the flower's time-lapse-like speed in opening, I decided that I'd try to film it. Now I just need to find a way to transmit the smell!

May - Mayıs

Really expert gardeners, the ones who write books instead of blogs (though some of them write blogs too), stress the importance of a careful choice of plants to provide interest and harmony in the garden throughout the summer. Their gardens are always lush, with expertly-designed contrasts of color, structure, and texture. They practice certain strategies like grouping plants for more punch, thinking carefully about what plant will provide a good foliar backup for whatever will be in bloom at any particular period; and they keep diaries, making notes to move plants to a better location next year for a more effective show.

There is, however, another kind of gardener: The plant freak. These gardeners pick something up from the garden center because it was wonderful, and wander through the garden, searching for some place that doesn't either have something occupying the space, or (if they can remember), have some dormant precious bulb just under the surface waiting the hard edge of the spade. I'm mostly this kind of gardener, though I think I've gotten marginally better. I actually did plant a group of three Monardas last year. Only one of them really took off, completely subsuming the other two, but next year, they'll be fantastic. Really. Or not.

In any case, the plants that really attract me tend too often to be those that bloom in spring and early summer. Or have great leaves during those months. It's okay, I tend to be kind of bad about watering in the summer and so there is a de facto xeriscaping happening out there. If you survive, you're in for next season! Of course really special or rare things might get a little more attention...

There was one highlight this May - I bought my first SLR, something I'd been shying away from for a long time because of a bit of technophobia. And of course after just a couple days, with lots to learn still, I don't know how I ever did without. So this will be another mainly photographic post with a few explanations.

Epimedium leaves

The Judas tree, a local species of redbud, which is practically the symbol of Istanbul.

Iris xyphium, a bulbous iris.

Geranium macrorrhizum, a very hardy and drought-tolerant hardy geranium, known for its medicinal qualities.

A Pacific Coast Iris in its second year. It only send up one bloom spike this year but has spread now, so better luck next spring. I'm happy to have any PCIs surviving here!

Another PCI, "Pacific Warrior," probably an I. douglasii hybrid. It grows in an area that's perfectly swampy through the winter and spring, and then gets quite dry in high summer. It's grown like a house afire!

Iris graminea, a plum-scented iris with flowers that open well below the tops of the leaves. This got seriously snail-chewed this year and probably needs to be moved. I'll probably move it...

Cappadocia / Kapadokya

After Antakya, my plan was to return to Istanbul making several stops in different areas along the way, and photograph the spring flora. But the night my friends and I arrived in Ürgüp, the main town of Cappadocia, I started feeling a suspicious tickle in the back of my throat...and by the next day I had the worst cold I'd had in years. I did manage to get out that day, but the next day was so miserable that I didn't even leave the hotel. Which was, by the way, a really wonderful place.

Cappadocia is truly amazing, and no picture can quite capture it. The towers of soft volcanic tuff rise up everywhere, and anywhere there is tuff, there are ancient dwellings. The rock is constantly eroding, so some former homes are now fully open; in some cases only a depression in the stone remains; the back wall of what was once an entire living space.

The soil around the "fairy chimneys" is very light and fast-draining, so the plants that grow in it are well-adapted to drought, either through succulent tissues as in some of the thick-stemmed Euphorbias, or as ephemerals, which grow in the rains of fall, establish themselves further through the winter, then rush to grow, flower and set seed in the spring before they're dessicated by the parching summer heat.

A sample fairy-chimney landscape.

Some random flora among the chimneys

Graveyard and orchards where fields meet tufa

An anemone in a fallow field. In Turkey, many plant families are represented by red flowers with black centers.

More fields and orchards. What a place to live!

An unexpected green spot among ancient rock dwellings in the Göreme open-air museum.

Alkanna sp. (orientalis?)

Can't have a wildflower post without at least one Verbascum!

An Anchusa species very common in much of Turkey, which can range from blue through purple shades. I adore it.

The remains of a once enclosed home.

Ranunculus (buttercups) growing above a valley near Göreme.

A peaceful valley near Göreme that we accidentally drove into while looking for another site.

A short video shot in that same valley

More Anchusa, showing the range of color.

What looks to be a truly lovely clover species

More spring ephemerals. In another month, they'll all be dry straw.

A non-botanical shot which I couldn't help but add. I saw two stern parents disowning their pregnant and unmarried daughter...

Anchusa and an aromatic mint family-member in the spring grass

Anchusa in the field. The white mound of gravel behind is all that remains of what was once a fairy-chimney that has eroded away.

Some chamomile growing among old building stone

Another truly lovely Euphorbia. It was almost entirely made up of flowers!

Antakya in April. Nisan'da Antakya

Yes I'm aware that it's not April, but I can explain, really!

Once again you're probably given up on me. It's been a full summer; not so much an extremely busy one, but there have been lots of things vying for priority. But that doesn't mean that the garden hasn't been growing, it just means that I've neglected it here and there. Most notably during the winter, when I'd normally have a big patch of fava beans, garlic, peas and other winter vegetables coming on. I was growing frustrated with the incredible growth of bindweed in that patch, so I've decided to cover it with black plastic for a season. They don't call it "devil's guts" for nothing.

The garden was growing, but I took a nice trip out of town (the first in way too long) to visit friends from the town of Antakya (aka Antioch) in Turkey's easternmost Mediterranean province, Hatay. It was cold and miserable in Istanbul, but Hatay was at the height of spring, which meant that I got two springs this year. So without running on too much, here are some of the botanical highlights of the trip. I'd love to be able to say I tromped around the mountains and explored habitats, but my friends are not such botanical types, so these were all taken within the immediate surroundings of the city.

Campanula sp.

Phlomis sp.

A DYC and Verbascum. I do love me a Verbascum!

Another Verbascum!

The ubiquitous P. rhoeas

A truly beautiful Euphorbia

A typically spiny garrigue/maquis shrub

Looks like a Linum (flax) species. The blue-topped plant (which was actually a bit more purple than my camera could render) is a salvia; the actual flowers are small and white, with the bracts doing all the advertising work.

Naturally-tasteful planting of Linum and Salvia

Not a wild iris; this was planted en mass outside a city building. But seeing any bearded iris other than the dark purple I. germanica is always a treat. They smelled delicious.

A bit more Verbascum. This species grew almost exclusively on near-vertical rock faces.

The colorful Euphorbia on another outing, the hills rising immediately behind the city.

A lovely little ground-hugging clover.

No idea what this is, but it is almost certainly in the Borage family. I searched and searched but could find only this single specimen on the entire hill, and it was growing on an outrcop right at the summit. How did it get there?!

A great little spreading clover with curious balloon-like sepals. I kept thinking of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

A general view of the area. The rocks, slopes and flatlands below all had very different mixes of plants.