Visiting Finland--Looking to Summer

early summer,  southern Finland

It is early spring here on the Front Range of Colorado: warm days interspersed with snow showers. The lawns are turning green. We watch warily for big snow storms.

One of the marvels of our modern world is the ability to communicate around the world. I still cherish the first time I exchanged email observations of the weather with Finland, within minutes, across half the globe. We take that for granted now. But it is amazing. In northern Colorado, I'm enjoying the beginning of spring, but in northern Europe, it is still winter. I have webcams that I watch in Finland, and today they show snow cover.

Plant Story--Bananas, Everybody's Fruit

Bananas! They dominate the world fresh fruit trade.

Banana plants cannot survive a touch of frost, and yet banana fruits are found in markets all over the world, in the depths of winter. More bananas are traded internationally than any other fruit, selling 30% more tons than then next fruit, apples.

Plant Story--Bananas, in China

What plant should no garden be without?

Banana plants, through the window of a
Chinese garden

A banana plant. For a traditional Chinese garden, they're a must.

As far north as they will survive in China, every garden has one.

But not for the fruit

Visiting China--Yangshuo and the Li River

The karst hills of southern China have such an odd shape, it is hard to believe they are real.

But they are.

Really.

I recommend you see them for yourself.

Third Anniversary

Today, February 4, 2016, is the third anniversary of this blog. It amazes--and delights--me that I've been posting weekly for 3 years, for 156 posts, plus one or two.