Tel Aviv

Welcome to the city of Tel Aviv, which is only an hours ride away. Tel Aviv is home to alot of buildings that were built in the BauHaus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus) style, which is represented by the absence of ornamentation and by the harmony between the function of an object or a building and it's design. Bauhaus influenced art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, and typography. Some artists to have been influenced were Josef Albers, Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Piet Mondrian. But I didn't come here to just see architecture, I came to see plants. Being as Tel Aviv is on the coast, the temperature is considerably higher than that of Jerusalem, which means certain plants will be hardier here.Here on the streets, it wasn't uncommon to find Ficus trees growing large and luminous providing tons of shade for the mere mortals on the street. These definitely put the one you have in the corner of your office to shame....... Tsk. Tsk.

It is still fascinating to me that Palms are everywhere here, where as my only experience was at Joyce's Palm house at Longwood. There are Date farms here in Israel with these marvelous monocots planted in rows to harvest the fruits easily.

cheep cheep... There is a story here about the common sparrow, where the name that it is called is freedom. This is because while the birds in the world were all waiting to get their colors assigned to them, and with some giving very elaborate color schemes and details (we know who you are peacocks and toucans.....) , the sparrow was so impatient to get out of line that when it was their turn and they were asked what color they wanted, a quick reply of "Brown" was said so that they could take off flying again and get going on their business again.

It was a surprise to come across this tree on the street, Ceiba pentandra. Notice the large yellow flowers, which turn into this melon-like fruit once pollinated and then get dispersed my the fluffy cotton-like mass of seed? While it may be fun to look at how varied the flowers, fruit and seed can be from each other, once thing you would like to admire from a distance would be

it's non-inviting trunk. Could it be any more effective though if you don't want people hanging around outside your home?

There have been a few times now where sweet potatoes have been seen growing this way, with the tuber emerged in a glass of water and letting its delicate foliage clamber up some form of vertical support. Easy for the brown thumbed......ahem.

Here is the Schlomo Lahat Promenade on the Mediterranean Sea, which looks like the inspiration could have come from the Roberto Burle Marx designed Copacabana beach promenade in Brazil. Could it be?!

One can see the modern city rising up from the ancient port city of Jaffa, where I stayed.

Sometimes it's luck of the draw where you stay, either it's on your side or not. This hostel felt like being in an old movie with all it's intricate details and quirks.

A Joan Miro inspired lunch? No, I cannot get enough of hummus and vegetables.....

One hour and one GoldStar later......... into the book.
The decaying lock on the shutters to the balcony

The harbor in the morning, much quieter than the center of the city.....

The Jerusalem Botanical Garden

After a month of being here in Israel, and working in the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens, I am beginning to get into the routine of things in the gardens. Upon arriving the temperature was still very hot during the day but has since settled to the pleasant feeling of an Indian Summer.


One morning there was even a nice surprise to wake up and see all of the surrounding streets shrouded in a dense carpet of fog.

The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens are located in Western Jerusalem, which is a ten minute walk from the apartment where I am living. The garden itself is large, covering 45 acres and representing some 10,000 plant species. The garden is divided into six geographic sections consisting of Mediterranean, Asia, Europe, Australia, North America and South Africa. These areas are then sub-divided into subsections representing specific forms of vegetation, flora and climactic conditions. There is another 20 acres of the gardens that is not used which will be developed, once funding has been completed, into Sub-tropical South America and Eastern Temperate Asia (China and Japan).

This is the conservatory which houses many of the tropical plants in the gardens collection.

There are features of the garden that I would have never expected to encounter such as historic tombs from the 2nd Temple Period (over 2000 years old) , a Roman water cistern with an ancient dovecote in the conservatory , and a large amount of bird species that seem to pass through the garden. Israel is a major stopover point for many migrating birds and with all of the diverse plant species in the garden here they find plenty of food and shelter to take advantage of.

I am amazed too with the huge chameleons walking in the branches near my head, jackals quickly darting through the garden so as not to be seen, and the occasional sighting of scorpions.

I often find myself walking through the North American section to soak up whatever fall color I can.

Fall is one of the most romantic seasons of the year, as we too know that we are preparing for winter, getting ready to start nesting inside our warm homes.. Except, that is not happening this year for me, the cold at least.....

This is the first time I have worked in a Botanical Garden and am finding it to be very different from both Longwood and Great Dixter. The focus is on the collections themselves and the amount of plants they have can seem tremendously overwhelming. The gardens are also coming off of a 7 year practice called Shmitta in which every 7th year the soil is allowed to rest, so no planting or anything to do with disturbing the soil was allowed to take place in this past year (being the 7th year). There were a lot of empty spots in the garden beds due to this and to counteract not being able to plant, plastic sheets where laid over these areas for the whole year to suffocate any of the weeds and weed seedlings that were in the soil.

I spent the first few weeks helping to construct and build a large retaining wall and am now working on helping to get the nursery situated and sorted out. We are getting ready for a few large planting projects due to Shmitta being over now, which ended on the Jewish New Year Holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

The gardens coordinate a different trip once a month to see wildflowers and some of the many sights of Israel. Other planned trips include seeing the bulbs in their native habitat such asTulips, Narcissus and Anemones amongst many others. Bulbs are among some of my favorite plants and I am excited in seeing the desert come to life in this way which should start happening with the rains that come in November. See all the yellow blooms to the left of the tree?

These are the lovely yellow Sternbergia clusiana, which was collected in Jordan in an area called Little Petra.

Centranthes ruber and Callistemon

Here are some plantings seen around Jerusalem.... A large sweep of pink Gaura.

And here is a happy accident... A Cypress tree with both the blue Plumbago and a pink Bougainvillea growing up through it.......

hello

I apologize but the computer at the apartment is a bit tempermental and is not working and deleted half my photos. I am waiting for it to be fixed at the moment........

Welcome to Jerusalem

There couldn't be more of a contrast between being in England and coming to Israel. One is lush and green and the other is dry and many shades of brown and pink. Another contrast is going from living in a 15th Century house in the countryside to a 10 story building back in the city.

Right across from the apartment I now live in, yes that's the one under my finger, is a park called Valley of the Cross. This is where it is said that the wood was taken for building the cross of Christ.

The park has an old monastery in it, which you can see, and is filled with olive trees. The weather here is very hot and very dry, with tempatures dipping in the evening, but the plants are really tough here.

The plants are different from anything I have ever expected. There are Pomegranates everywhere too.

Here is an old olive tree in the park across the street from my apartment. The trunks are all twisted and have a sculptural quality to them, each being different from the next. Here is the olive itself, hanging all over the branches. This is the time of year that these are harvested to press them for olive oil.


Israel is full of many types of bulbs and right now the maritime squill, Urginea maritima, is in full bloom. There are native Cyclamen, narcissus, and tulips that I look forward to seeing in the next few months.

Here is a closeup of the maritime squill.
Even the street trees are different, with there being many palms and eucalyptus trees dotted throughout the city of Jerusalem. On the left is the date palm, the orange fruits you see on there are the dates, and the eucalyptus it at the top on the right. This is just one of the many types of Eucalyptus trees, with their ornamental bark. This is the Israeli version of the London plane tree. And Aurecarias of many shapes ,
and sizes.

The beautifully colored blue morning glory which is climbing a pine, seems to really enjoy the heat here.

The lovely Passionflower spills over the walls of houses here too.
Bougainvillea is a common sight here with a white flowered version and the pink version, with many other colors too.

Here is a combination of plants that never would have crossed my mind before. An olive tree, a Chameacyparis (I think), lavendar, Rosemary, and a huge sweep of Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum'.As you can see each thrives really well here in the heat. This is how you do Echeveria....
This is Lantana, unlike the summer annual it is at home, where in Israel it grows to become a full size woody shrub. This is not your grandmothers Lantana.... Here are some terraces planted up. Everyone has a terrace, it is just considered another room here. And the hedge on the bottom of the picture is Plumbago. The window boxes literally spill over the sides of this terrace and rooftop here creating a vertical garden against the walls. Pelargoniums are the most noticeable with this.
A front yard garden with some interesting architecture.
A courtyard garden with gourds and peppers. The shutters on the windows are used to keep out the heat during the day.
In the parks, water features are used to help combat effects of the heat. The fountain in the middle is unlike any I have seen before, very ornate.
This subtle detail of the lions couldn't help but put a smile on my face.

This is the local market called the Shuk. You can find all types of breads, fruits, vegetables and anything else you could imagine. The smell here is amazing with everyone yelling trying to get you to buy whatever it is they are selling.

The Old City is like taking a step back in time. It is a walled area of Jerusalem and was the original city before it became too crowded and people were forced to move outside the walls.

You can find anything in here, with it's maze like streets and corriders.

This was a small breadmaker that produced pita bread.
Some of the side alleys,

and arches. The colors in the Old City and at the markets are exciting to my eye. From all of the quilts,

and textiles,

to seedpods falling off the trees,

to the food. Even the street art is different,
with its messages,

layering,and colors.
This is the view from the top of the Austrian hospice where Einav took Mark and I.I met Einav at school while at Longwood, she was in the international program. On the right is the Dome of the Rock which was built in 688-691. I'll repeat that, 688-691. That is Mount Olives on the left in the background. The rooftops in view in the Old City. Einav took us to a special view of the mountains towards Jordan. If you loook under the wire you can see the pink capped mountains. The light here is incredible as the sun is setting and there is so much to see and explore.