three of a kind

But three different ones! Three different viola species:

lobau

march river spring flood

ice!

sun and snow

last of september

no rockroses!

I thought about posting some rockroses (genus Helianthemum) but I guess you must be fed up with them from last year; anyway, the ones which are flowering now (again, yet!) are completely different from those I posted here already, taken from different plants, and even different species in some cases!

But alas, I'll try and post something completely different for a change, alluvial forests! Those of March/Morava river though, not the usual Danube river ones, so indeed something entirely different:
This region by the way is projected to become Austrias next national park (there's already a name - March-Thaya-Auen; politicians as well as local population however, unfortunately, are sceptical (see report here - in German).

My hopes are still high that this region once will be a national park, and that its unique nature (what is still left of it) will be preserved.

bratislava

Only from distance, and you need to know where it is to see it. (Or you follow my notes in the photo - just click and read.)

egypt

Well, the association are dunes:

(Well okay yes, difficult to recognise this hill as a dune - but rest assured, it is one!)

And the association with Egypt, of course the latest news. True, I didn't comment on Tunisia, but this is a blog and not a news show.

I don't know anybody from the latter country, but I do know somebody from Egypt - and if you scroll down my blog you will find that I've actually got three Egyptian readers (I don't know the other two).

So anyway, to all Egyptian and potential Tunisian readers, and this really comes from the heart - I only hope that you will have a smooth transition to a more liberal regime. That is: as smooth as is possible at all, as so far things haven't been too peaceful. Take care, and don't give up hope!

happy sunday morning

march

March marshes - the river's also called Morava, in Slovak and English. This is on the Austrian side but I guess the Slovak one is just as beautiful - please remind me some time to cross over to the other side of the border.

lobau

Well - actually not Lobau, not quite, but still Danube National Park: as this shot was taken just beyond the city limits of Vienna. Beautiful nevertheless, right?

late summer

The flowering of Solidago canadensis has begun, which indicates that the height of summer is past: it is the prelude of fall.

mud

Yesterday we got very close to having the first day in ages when it didn't rain at all, but then in the evening a few drops fell - nothing worth mentioning, but rain it was still. The flood is over, water levels have dropped already to almost normal again, and most of the Hot Lands of Lower Lobau are already dry.

Today I've had a closer look at the mud lines of Upper and Lower Lobau; in general, in Upper Lobau there was only slight flooding while in Lower Lobau great areas were flooded, due to water seeping into the national park through the Schönau bayou which isn't dammed off of the Danube river. It is a little bit eerie to know that you drive just below water level:

as it was just a few days ago: you can clearly see the mud line here, just about at shoulder level, and a few metres further the mud line clearly rose above my head (in metric units that's about two metres). Nevertheless, Sedum sexangulare isn't too impressed and starts flowering again as soon as the flood's gone:

This Verbascum here (V. thapsus ? - Kleinblüten-Königskerze, Common Mullein) survived even though its lower parts were flooded; in the background you can easily make out the floodline in the Schönau region (already in Lower Austria); Schönau ford still is impassable while most of the other roads already are free again:

So the worst is over (not that it ever was as bad in 2009 as it was in 2002 when there were sever floodings all over the country).

Only that it did rain again today, and if the warm and wet and sultry weather should continue the next flooding might not be far away. For once I only hope that some hot and very dry weather will come ... but a cold front is predicted, so probably no such luck.

snippets

Bales everywhere: the grain harvest is finished, and these bales of straw now are awaiting happy buyers, or alternatively, if none could be found, they will be allowed to rot. I could have shown you a half-rotten bale tower from last year but I guess this one in the district of Gänserndorf is prettier.

At first sight I though well, now that's a golf plant for you: a plant for golf courses which some day may yield golfers paying for the pleasure of being allowed to drive a small white ball across the green with a short stick. Not so, as I found out: this simply is a lawn plant, where lawn is grown to be sold to people who do not know that a simple meadow could be grown by simply mowing the weeds growing on rough soil regularly.

The oil port just outside Lobau is something I know ad nauseam, literally: the smell of oil is not a pleasant one, especially if you have to breathe rather deep because you're doing sports. Nevertheless the oil port also has some nice things to show, like this sample of colours.

Always and ever, Lobau Danube National Park. Still green like it were spring, which really really is something special at this time in the year, here in the dry Pannonian climate of Vienna (even though not much appreciated by me, as already said several times; so much green is so boring really).

But I'm okay with that as long as I too can find plants like these. Pretty, isn't it?