Malus - urban foraging

This tree is one of the new group planted last spring when the street, round the corner where I live, was renovated.  To my surprise they were full of beatutiful white blossoms by mid spring and later in the sumer they started to grow some sort of little berries, I thought.  But some weeks later when fruits grew I learned the trees were crabapples, I am not sure what variety.

So, in the very spirit of urban forager we have been collecting some of the little fruits and try different uses at the kitchen.  Here is the latest: crabapples and raisins (little spicy) liquor, aromatized wih cinnamon. After some weeks it tastes fantastic and it will perfect for the long cold nights to have after dinner, now that winter is approaching.

Anyone can help in identifying from the images, what variety of malus could this tree be?

Fucsia magellanica

Pistaccia lentiscus

Documenting gardens at Verveke Foundation (Stekene)

Blogging on Wednesdays is for selpfpotraits, so here is me documenting gardens at Verbeke Foundation, in Stekene, near Antwerp.  A post with some images, will follow in the next days.

Euonymus hamiltonianus

Fall's best colors - National Botanic Garden of Belgium (Meise, Brussels)

Fall in many regions is the season to enjoy colors in forests, gardens, and even streets of cities, vegetation does the best to show off greens turning yellows and reds in the most impressive tones.

One of the fantastic places to enjoy at full the season, are the botanical gardens.  The images in the post are from a recent visit to the National Botanic Garden of Belgium in Meise, outside of Brussels, general views of the grounds and one of the sections dedicated to a grasses.

Reception area

Bookshop and cafeteria

grounds

Gingko biloba

Main Greenhouse and some magnolios   

Euonymus hamiltonianus

Metasequoia glyptostroboides

Grasses area

Typha angustifolia

Cortaderia selloana

Vitex agnus-castus, second part

In previous post Donna's blog gardenwalkgardentalk.com has left a comment that make me decided to do a second  second post with more images for vitex agnus-castus in situ, and include some information.

Vitex is cultivated in subtropical regions and is a native to the Mediterranean area, has beautiful lavender flowers thru late summer and a smooth aroma.

It can be often find naturalized as tall shrubs in mountains or cultivated as ornamental in gardens, like this matching color combination with lavandula dentata, in this open air terrace in a mountain lodge in in Northern of Mallorca, a place very much visited for its scenery and trails from the mountains to the coast.