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Addict
| | Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 04:38 am EST : |   
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Our next journey was South in Croatia and later South East into Bosnia to look at H. torquatus as the sites in the Velebit and Plitivice were under 2 ft of snow cover.
The journey was through stunning countryside as we neared Bosnia into Bihac where UN troops are still stationed and we stopped by the river to take some photos of the scenery like all good tourists!
The first site in Croatia was under snow and we found footprints of what was probably a wolf or a VERY large dog. There were no human prints anywhere in the snow and no other animal tracks.
The Site looked unpromising as it was under 6” of snow but as the sun warmed up we saw the heads of torquatus pushing through the snow. To see how well they cope with snow and still flower and get pollinated was impressive. It certainly suggests an advantage for dark coloured foliage, bracts and flowers as they heat up and melt the snow around. The site was fairly open with scrub woodland including Turkey oaks.
This was taken just outside Samobor and shows and exquisite companion plant Daphne mezureum delightfully scented despite the snow!
The second site was open “meadow” with large sink holes and mainly limestone rock with a little soil trapped between the rocks and the H. torquatus were deeply rooted into this. Roots and rhizomes regularly ran beneath the rocks again showing how well adapted they are to survive in such little soil and free surface moisture. There were many ”dolines” or sink holes (from the Slovenian for valley) and they contained more soil with scrub oaks and other trees with crocus and H. torquatus in large numbers.
The range of colour, picotee, veining and spotting was inspiring. The silence and tranquillity was even more inspiring to me as it is virtually impossible now to get absolute silence other than nature in the UK – even in our remote areas constant aircraft noise intrudes.
Stunning Bosnia!
note the open tubed nectaries also in the earlier plants
The site
Their delicate beauty belies the sheer toughness and superb adaptation of these plants to their Balkan climes.
addict Staffordshire zone 8(just) UK |
Terryk
 Supporting Member
My Weather
My Garden
My Time
| | Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 05:05 am EST : |
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Thanks Mike for this post.
Although the snow was not welcome by you and Tim as it did hamper your touring, it gives us here at gb the opportunity to see some familiar sites in a different light. Hopefully you and Tim were prepared for the weather.
It is beautiful to see the hellebores against the snow. It also gives me inspiration as I too can deal with snow more than you can in the UK. Each of those hellebores would be such a wonderful addition to the garden, all are so beautiful.
Terryk
- NY,
Zone "6"
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Gabycher
| | Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 12:30 pm EST : |
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Thank you, Mike, for sharing these wonderful pictures and for the once again lively description of this part of your trip.
The more I see of it, the more H. torquatus is becoming my 'dream hellebore'. I just love the picotee and veined ones!
While I would most probably need to overwinter torquatus inside, I hope that I'll be able to get a few seeds from one of these wonderful plants at one point. Maybe Tim will have a seed list again this year (due to a very intense phase at work last spring I missed to follow up with him, after he had initially put me on the list for people to receive his seed list).
I have overwintered a few plants of H. argutifolius inside for the first time this winter, because I was unsure of their hardiness in my area. Against my expectations they are doing beautifully under the lights in my nursery area, and will very likely be much ahead in size of their batch partners who wintered outside.
Gaby
Gabycher
- Quebec,
Zone "5a / 4b"
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Galanthophile
Supporting Member
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 12:37 pm EST : |
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Did you have snow the whole time you were there?
Galanthophile
- Ann (Northern England),
Zone "8"
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Jeffnz
| | Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 01:52 pm EST : |
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Mike
An interesting suggestion as to the value of dark coloured bracts and new foliage in a snow covered location. Dark coloured flower bracts and new foliage seem to only be associated with species that reside in countries with winter snow cover so you suggestion does provide a plausible explanation as to why nature has decided upon this clever adaptation. However snow will reflect almost all of the incident infra red radiation (incoming heat from the sun rays) but if bracts are near to the surface then IR absorption can occur with the resulting increase in surface temperature.
Jeffnz
- Wellington,
Zone "?"
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Matthias
Supporting Member
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 01:14 am EST : |
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... in principle yes, but there are vast populations in very large areas where flower colour is predominantly or even exclusively green in spite of regular snow covers.
The decisive climatic differences between areas with predominantly green flowers and predominantly dark coloured flowers are temperature amplitudes and irradiation levels at different altitudes COMBINED with snow covers.
Let's follow this idea for a moment: Bosnia has a strictly continental climate with its typical large daily and seasonal temperature differences (day - night, summer - winter). If dark flowers and dark leaves break through a surrounding snow cover why would/should that be a selective advantage for those types? We all know that night temperatures at ground level over a snow cover get extremely low in cloudless nights, especially in open fields in valleys or shallow delles. Wouldn't it be a selective advantage if the flowers remained well protected UNDER these temporary late snow covers instead of being exposed to very harsh temperatures and temperature differences combined with very high light levels at high altitudes?
In the more westerly regions with a stronger Mediterranean climate influence and comparable late snow covers the vast majority of flowers is more or less green with some occasional red edges.
My long term observation is that anthocyanin (the red pigment) combined with a wax layer on the sepal surface can reduce frost damage in young developing sepal and leaf tissue and that these tissues are also much less prone to fungal diseases, maybe mainly because the tissue does not, or not to a large extent suffer so much from frost damage.
That would indeed be a selective advantage in environments with harsh climates and subsequent damages to the flower tissues.
Green flowers are better in deciduous plants because the green tissue can add to photosynthesis but "red" flowers in deciduous plants are better in extreme climates because rather than being destroyed by frost and fungus it is the third (!) best choice to be a little more frost/disease resistant at the expense of optimal early photosynthesis.
Survival is more important than the small luxury of early photosynthesis.
Matthias
- South Germany,
Zone "7"
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Jgwoodard
My Garden
| | Posted on Monday, April 21, 2008 - 06:17 am EST : |
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Wow! Breathtaking shots and conditions Mike. It looks as if the road wasn't too bad, at least in that area. If nothing else, it made for some interesting photos. When Tim and I were there, the only snow we saw were a few patches at a very high elevation and shaded location where we also happened to see some H. niger while lost.
Jgwoodard
- TN,
Zone "7"
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