Stephen Spitewinter
@spitewinter.bsky.social
1.2K followers 3.2K following 580 posts
🌱 #History, #Botany, #Plants, #Gardening, #Art, #Allotment, Economic & Social History, Small-scale food production, Cricket. Mending old things and restoring old houses. Location 🇬🇧 I reply to comments on my posts, but not often to DMs
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spitewinter.bsky.social
I'm sometimes in a hurry! All typos and spelling mistakes (particularly the Latin ones) are entirely my own! 🙂
spitewinter.bsky.social
#plants #gardening #vegetables #food 🍅

Books that are worth reading if you're new to gardening:

The Kitchen Gardener by Alan Titchmarsh. You can buy a good used copy on line for less than £5/$5 with free delivery.

Alan's philosophy - "Plants want to grow – it's up to us not to get in their way"
spitewinter.bsky.social
#plants #history #botany #art 🌱

It turns out that I have the New Improved Version of Covid. Oooooh... I may go back to bed soon. (Or after I've made a couple of posts.) Have a good day😷
spitewinter.bsky.social
#plants #botany #gardening #art 🌱

Dryopteris filix-mas syn. Aspidium - Male/Basket/Shield Fern.

I haven't paid much attention to ferns in the past. Here's a green, graceful example common to the N. Hemisphere. Likes the damp, shady places that need some life.

RHS:
www.rhs.org.uk/plants/11446...
spitewinter.bsky.social
I don't know it but quite possible. Take a look at the Kew Distribution Map (link) you'll see that Q. suber is strictly W. Mediterranean, centred on Iberian Peninsula, where it has adapted to the climate. If still there, seen any plantations in California?

powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:ls...
Quercus suber L. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science
The native range of this species is W. & Central Medit. It is a tree and grows primarily in the temperate biome.
powo.science.kew.org
spitewinter.bsky.social
You got the identity correct then.
spitewinter.bsky.social
Well, you certainly got some attention. Local authority or DEFRA?
spitewinter.bsky.social
#plants #history #botany #art 🌱

I hope that you've had a safe and refreshing weekend. I'm taking shelter in my study in the early hours - I have family visiting and I'm keeping my head down. 🙂

I may repost today's stuff later because I have no idea how it will cope with time zones.
spitewinter.bsky.social
#plants #trees #history #botany #art 🌳

Quercus suber - Cork Oak

Another talented plant, this time making a come-back after a lean spell. After corks were largely abandoned by the wine industry, cork has found new uses in biodegradable construction materials.

www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
spitewinter.bsky.social
#history #USA

For our American Friends...

This weekend the forgotten graves of two Englishmen who fought for the Union were marked with Arlington Headstones in Derby 🇬🇧.

Rest in Peace,
Samuel Hough, 2nd New Jersey Cavalry,
Henry McGuinness, 65th New York Infantry.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
spitewinter.bsky.social
#bees #hornets
Well done. Good observation. Let's keep on top the little bastards.
spitewinter.bsky.social
Thank you. I'm here to find interesting stuff.

If you have a quiet weekend open my profile and look through my posts. Not every plant known to man is as multi-talented as Flax but you can find some pretty good ones.
spitewinter.bsky.social
#plants #botany #history #art

The First Friday of October. Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Get out and about this weekend - but let's be careful out there. 🙂

I'll look for something interesting to post on Monday.

Josif Krachkovskii (1854-1914)
Autumn c1904
Oils on Canvas
spitewinter.bsky.social
Solanum lycopersicum - Cultivated Tomatoes.

I usually grow a variety called 'Roma'. They're small, good for cooking, open pollinated and not hard work.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_to...

They do need a cage or frame to hold them up. Make your own works for me:
getbusygardening.com/sturdy-tomat...
Roma tomato - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
spitewinter.bsky.social
#plants #history #botany #food #vegetables

Solanum lycopersicum - Cultivated Tomato

🧵/1
Tthinking about things to grow on the back yard next year. We have a bucket garden at the back wall and bush tomatoes can do well there.

A history of Tomatoes:
herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/plants40...

🧵/next
 Solanum lycopersicum, cultivated tomatoes, Grønne Florilegium, around 1650.
Reposted by Stephen Spitewinter
spitewinter.bsky.social
#plants #botany #history #art 🌱
Linum usitatissimum - Flax

🧵/1
An all-time super-useful plant. You can eat it (Flax seeds), waterproof with it (Linseed Oil), dress in it (Linen) and make a resilient floor covering from it (Linoleum).

My lino floors have survived children and dogs for 25 years.🙂
spitewinter.bsky.social
#plants #botany #history #art 🌱
Linum usitatissimum - Flax

🧵/1
An all-time super-useful plant. You can eat it (Flax seeds), waterproof with it (Linseed Oil), dress in it (Linen) and make a resilient floor covering from it (Linoleum).

My lino floors have survived children and dogs for 25 years.🙂
spitewinter.bsky.social
Let's be careful out there :)
spitewinter.bsky.social
This is interesting. Do you think that the leaf shape and spacing, and the petal array proportions, look like the original Helianthus giganteus? It grows right down the Eastern Seaboard from Canada to S.Carolina and down into the Plains through Minnesota & Mississippi. Is that your home range?
spitewinter.bsky.social
#plants #botany #history #art 🌼

Good morning all (or whatever time of day it is where you are). I hope you had a pleasant weekend.
spitewinter.bsky.social
#plants #history #botany #art 🌼

Nymphaea gigantea Hook - Giant or Blue Water Lily

Native to N. & W. #Australia, has been reported in #NewGuinea but I can't verify that. Range of colours but usually illustrated in its striking blue or purple habits.

This illustration Ellis Rowan c1870 - 1921
spitewinter.bsky.social
#Derby #DerbyCityCouncil #History

Vandalism.

🧵/2
So why has Derby City Council turned it into an empty Astro-turfed desert decorated with a few scatter cushions?

If you can't use it as a commercial centre why not turn it into a Winter Gardens to benefit the City?
spitewinter.bsky.social
#Derby #DerbyCityCouncil #History

Vandalism.

🧵/1
This is what Derby Market Hall 🇬🇧 used to be. A crowded, bustling arena of island stalls in a cast iron and glass Victorian palace.

🧵/Next
spitewinter.bsky.social
Have a good weekend! (I'll be busy trying to repair my house whilst there's still daylight.)