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.

Cycling Liminalities - Eşiktelik Döngüsü

liminal  adj.

Of, relating to, or being an intermediate state, phase, or condition. In-between, transitional.

Nothing like an extended absence to let you know people are reading! Thanks to everyone who wrote and asked. Actually I've been wanting to write for almost two weeks, but the powers that be (actually, one power in this particular instance) made a quick decision that resulted in Blogger being blocked until yesterday. 

To be honest, I've hardly touched my garden, pulled a weed, potted up a cutting or done much of anything horticultural for several months. When things are in a state of change (it could be anything really; relationships, life goals, priorities), sometimes you need to turn inward rather than broadcasting to the world. In my case, some of the above apply, and in addition to that, the landlord popped by in November and had evidently decided that he wasn't getting enough money out of this apartment. So he wanted to raise our rent by 50%. Undoable as that is way beyond our budget, and also illegal, as rent increases may be made according to the annual inflation rate, which was 10% last year. As soon as we said we couldn't pay it, he immediately resorted to threats of calling the police, declaring an illegal occupation, changing locks, etc. He accused me of getting rid of his shed without his permission (absurd), called my garden a garbage dump, bla bla bla. He can't actually do anything for a variety of reasons, but it was so uncomfortable that I was seriously considering moving elsewhere, It was hard to stay focused on a garden I might very well be moving (again!). 


But now things seemed to have calmed down (including myself), and it looks like I'll at least be here for this summer, so I may as well enjoy it. And the fact that I neglected things doesn't mean that nothing was actually happening in the garden!


This has been a very strange winter. We didn't get a single hard freeze this year; the coldest day we've had so far was 4 days ago, where it hovered just around freezing for a couple days; yesterday and today were in the 60s. My Brugmansias have survived, and barring any more surprises, I should have double-high Brugs this year! 


For that matter, winter didn't even truly arrive until well into January. We had October and early November days so warm that it gave a whole new meaning to "Indian summer." A day or two after Christmas, missing the 75-degree days in Bahrain where I'd just been for ten days, I walked out to get some wood for the stove and noticed a flash of purple to my left. The earlier variety of I. germanica had been fooled and was in full bloom! I snapped this photo a few days late after it had been buffeted a little but it was still hanging in there. An odd sensation to smell iris in December...sort of like eating those Chilean grapes that hit the shelves in mid-winter. Right smell, but the context is all wrong.

Now the weather is warming, the garden is calling, and the weeds are snickering. Were snickering; last time I was back in the US, I splurged and got myself a nice Hori Hori. If you've never used this wonderful Japanese garden tool, you should definitely try it. Sturdy as all get-out, pointy enough to get between stones, and narrow to allow you to dig in deeply and selectively. I won't say it makes weeding fun, but it does make it satisfying!

Have a happy spring!

Blogculara bir tavsiye: Halkın blogunuzu takip edip etmediğini tespit etmek isterseniz, birkaç hafta eksik olun! Tüm yazıp soranlar sağolsun. Aslında yaklaşık iki hafta önce yazmak istiyordum fakat bilindiği gibi Blogger engellenmişti, eninde sonunda daha mantıklı zihinler hakim olmuş çok şükür. Neden yoktun diye sorasanız, bu kış (yaşadığımız mevsime gerçekten kış diyebilirsek eğer) kararsızlık/"eşiktelik" içinde geçti. Değişen ilişkiler, öncelikler, v.s...öyle zamanlarda en iyi şey biraz içe dönmektir. Bunlar yetmezse, aynı zamanda ev sahibimiz, daireden yeterli para almadığını algılayıp, %50lik bir zam yapmaya kalkmaz mı? Öyle birşey söz konusu değil tabii fakat öyle bir miktar veremediğimizi söyler söylemez adam hemen çıkarma, izinsiz işgal ihbarı, polis, kilitler değiştirme gibi tehditler etmeye başladı. Bahçeme de "çöplük" dedi... Bilinen sebeplerden kanunen birşey yapamıyor fakat sonuçta yaşadığım yerde kendimi rahat hissedebilmeye çok önem veriyorum, ev sahibiyle dostluk olmasa da hiç olmasa karşılıklı bir saygı istemek çok mu mantıksız? (Gerçi ben yokken ev arkadaşıma "o Amerikalı daha çok para versin" diyen birinden ne beklenebilir ki...) Ve başka bir yere taşınmayı ciddi bir şekilde düşünüyordum. Şimdi sanki fırtına geçmiş, zamanın neler getireceğine bakarız ama...

Tabi ki ben bahçemi ne kadar ihmal etsem de, yine hareket var. Aralık ayında Bahreyn'e gittim, dönünce hava hala çok soğumamıştı. Hatta Noel'den birkaç gün sonra odun almaya gelirken mor birşey gözüme çarptı...baktım ki irislerin (mezarlık zambaklar) erken açan cinsi uzun süren pastırma yazından kandırılıp çiçek açmıştı! O mis kokuyu kışın ortasında hissetmek çok tuhaf birşey gerçekten, Şubat'ta tropikal bölgelerden getirilen üzüm yemek gibi. Koku var fakat bağlam yok.

Şimdi hava ısınmaya başlamış, bahçe çağırıyor, otlar da kıkırdıyor. Kıkırdıyorlardı daha doğrusu, çünkü memlekete son gittiğimde biraz hovardalık yapıp, kendime güzel bir Hori Hori aldım. Bu harika Japon bahçe malzemesini hiç kullanmadıysanız, denemenizi mutlaka tavsiye ediyorum! Çok dayanıklı Hori Hori'nin sivri ucu, taşların arasına kolay girmesini, dar boyutları ise çok seçici olup derin köklü otları kolaylıkla çıkarabilmenizi  sağlıyor. Ot yolmayı eğlenceli kıldığını demeyeceğim fakat en azından tatmin edici oluyor!

Herkese mutlu baharlar dilerim!