#vitalbini

[reddirttown]

Language of Flowers: Traveler's Joy

The flower for today, October 7, (in the language of flowers) is Traveler’s Joy, which signifies safety. Image above from Wikipedia. Clematis vitalba, also commonly called Old Man’s Beard, is sensitive to contact, meaning it can tightly twist around suitable objects like trees, shrubs, and fences. Its vines can rapidly grow to over 100 feet long and six inches in diameter. Image above from…

[kevinscottgardens]

27 December 2017 to 1 January 2018

I enjoyed the long Christmas weekend, spending it with Ann and her family, indulging non-stop in delicious food. I also finally upgraded my phone; it’s amazing to see what has changed in mobiles over the past five years!

It was a quiet week at work. I was alone Wednesday then Ruari was in Thursday and Friday. I am working this weekend too, so it will be a quiet New Year’s Eve for me. This week it snowed, sleeted, rained, was blustery and yesterday was the perfect cold, crystal-clear winter’s day.

Ruari and I installed one more small raised bed around a lone plumbago.

Friday we fixed wheels on wheelbarrows and cleaned the fernery glasshouse. It was a good job to keep us out of the cold rain. It is filthy, so it is quite rewarding to see it clean; however, I don’t like the water running down my arm and ending up with two soaking wet sleeves by lunch. It was going really well until I stuck my ladder through a pane of glass in the ceiling. Later, a different ladder’s little platform-thing, came down on my nose, drawing blood. That’s when I decided that was enough with ladders for the day.

Over the weekend I learned to use a speed scale angle measure to determine all the angles of the raised beds in the edible garden. We will be building those raised beds first thing in the New Year. I also completed an audit of all the Galanthus sp. for our annual snowdrop week at the end of January.

Plant of the week

Ranunculaceae Clematis vitalba L.

common name(s) - “old man's beard”, “traveller's joy”, “beggar's plant”, “bind-with”, “biting clematis”, “devil’s twine”, “hedge vine”, “lady’s bower”, “love”, “maiden’s hair”, “maiden’s honesty”, “old man”, “smoke weed”, “smoking cane”, “virgin’s bower”, “white vine” synonym(s) - Anemone vitalba (L.) K.Krause; Clematis bannatica Schur; C. bellojocensis Gand.; C. crenata Jord.; C. dumosa Salisb.; C. dumosa Gand.; C. odontophylla Gand.; C. pilosa Dulac; C. scandens Borkh.; C. sepium Lam.; C. taurica Besser ex Nyman; C. transiens Gand.; C. vitalba var. angustiloba Schur; C. v. var. angustisecta Gremli; C. v. var. bannatica Wierzb. ex Rchb.; C. v. var. cordata Schur; C. v. var. integra DC.; C. v. var. simplicifolia Godet; C. v. var. syriaca Boiss.; C. v. var. timbali Drabble; C. vitalba (L.) Moench; Viorna clematitis Garsault [Invalid] conservation rating - none native to - Europe, North Africa, Southwest Asia location - accession 2013-0009, arch over south end of dicotyledon order beds leaves - deciduous, pinnately compound, with three to five leaflets which are elliptical in shape with rough toothed margins, grow in an opposite arrangement flowers - scented greeny-white, with fluffy underlying sepals, July to September; fruits formed in each inflorescence have long silky appendages habit - branched, grooved stems; will reach a height of 15m and a spread of 15m after 2-5 Years habitat - moist climate with warm summers pests - aphids , caterpillars , earwigs disease - slime flux hardiness - to -10ºC (H4) soil - preference for base rich alkaline soils; moist and well-drained, well-drained sun - part shade to full sun propagation - Layering, Seed, Semi-hardwood cuttings nomenclature - Ranunculaceae - ranunculus - little frog, diminutive of rana, (the amphibious habit of many); Clematis - the Greek name, κληματις, for several climbing plants, diminutive of, κλημα, a vine shoot; vitalba - vine-of-white, vitis-alba (old generic name for the appearance of fruiting Clematis vitalba) NB - eaten by the larvae of a wide range of moths, including many species which are reliant on it as their sole foodplant; including small emerald, small waved umber and Haworth's pug; was used to make rope during the Stone Age in Switzerland; in Slovenia, the stems of the plant were used for weaving baskets for onions and also for binding crops; it was particularly useful for binding sheaves of grain because mice do not gnaw on it; in Italy, the sprouts are harvested to make omelettes (called vitalbini in Tuscany; visoni in Veneto); it is also widely considered in the medical community to be an effective cure for stress and nerves; contains protoanemonin. Ingestion leads to severe abdominal pain, gastrointestinal irritation and has caused death in cattle though it is not usually eaten because it has an acrid taste and contact can cause skin irritation