Iceland in late September- Stunning

I had two nights in Iceland thanks to Iceland Air. It was the end of September and I signed up for a tour north and west of Reykjavik, to the Snaefellsnes Penninsula. It was spectacular. 

The daytime highs (and lows) in Iceland were in the middle 40s (^oF). When it rained, it felt a whole lot colder. The first two days I was there had passing rain showers. Sometimes the rain came down very hard, but only for a few minutes. From those steadily moving little storms, we got terrific rainbows.

Coming back from the beach, rainbows over the parking lot

As far as I could tell, there had not yet been a frost. This outdoor basket of flowers was in Reykjavik, where there must be lots of city heat-escape, but both the petunias (Petunia, left) and nasturtiums (Trophaeolum, front) are very easily damaged by frost. 

Out in the countryside, plants had turned color. I am not sure that a frost was required; leaf color change is the result of removing and storing the chlorophyll in the leaves, leaving other pigments behind. The cooling highs in the fall cue preparing for winter in many plants and other species use the changes in daylength to determine when to go dormant. Across the landscape, though there were no trees and few shrubs, some plants were still green, some had turned yellow, others had turned red. They were low to the ground but often spread over substantial areas. I longed to paint what I saw: red here, gold here, pale yellow there...

Here is the effect on a small scale. The red leaves are probably bilberries (Vaccinium, Iceland has five species with various common names), one 5-lobed lupine leaf (Lupinus) is still fully green, as is an herb with tiny leaves on the right side of the photo. Some of the mosses are olive green while others have yellow tips. Bright and diverse fall colors. 

And, Iceland has spectacular vistas, any time of year: 

Bordering all of it was the ocean, sometimes visible, sometimes not. Here, I hiked a few hundred yards to beaches

Another beach

Despite being late in the season, some plants were still flowering, mainly weedy species. Here is one, red clover, Trifolium pratense. Red clover is not native to Iceland and this patch looked like it had been planted some years ago, but the red clover was certainly still flowering, despite the cool temperatures at the end of September. 

red clover, Trifolium pratense

More about what else was flowering in a future post.

Comments and corrections welcome.

Reference:

Kristinsson, H. 1987. A guide to the flowering plants and ferns of Iceland. Orn og Orlygur Publishing House.

Kathy Keeler, A Wandering Botanist
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