A trip to Israel

[dbonsaiw]

Spent the end of December in Jerusalem and looks like I dodged the cold front that hit the US. Thought I'd share some of my (not so great) photos. The trip was fantastic, especially for someone interested in trees. Since 1948, the State of Israel has planted over 250,000,000 trees and counting - a breathtaking number of trees. There is the expected cast of characters - such as olive, cypress and acacia trees - but the variety of trees I saw in Jerusalem was far greater than I expected. I was most surprised by the seemingly endless pines - I always associated pines with cold and seeing them against a background of sand and rock was definitely different. Pinus halepensis seems to be the pine of choice. Kermes oak and junipers are also ubiquitous. Jerusalem is otherwise filled with trees from every corner of the globe - tropicals and maples living side by side in the more temperate conditions of Jerusalem (climate changes just a little bit south). Some trees I could not identify, but others were from Europe, Africa, Australia and the Americas. There are those growing bonsai in the Holy Land, but it seems everyone has a jade plant in a pot - many had trunks thicker than my wrist with all manner of snail living in them. It was also citrus season, so the streets were lined with oranges, tangerines, pomelos, cumquats and lemons in full bloom.

I came across a stunning acacia (I believe) and took some seed casings home with me. USDA wasn't an issue - in fact, it was such a mess at JFK that they just waived us through. I could have taken the whole acacia as a yamadori! Not 100% what I'm doing as far as growing from seed, but I prepped and planted a bunch and they are in a grow tent under lights. More than happy to share some of the casings if anyone wants to give growing these from seed a go.

I'll follow up with some pics.

 

[dbonsaiw]

In no real order:

1- a bottle tree
2- edge of a pine forest
3 - Banksia marginata

 

[dbonsaiw]

4 - Pistancia Chinesis
5 - Acer Monpellier (never heard of this Acer before)
6 - Acer Montpelier leaf - bigger than my hand
7 - Acer Campestre

It was interesting to see the acers still in leaf. The acer rubrums I saw, as well as the sycamores, were dormant.

 

[dbonsaiw]

8 - An old olive tree
9-11 - trees on the Temple Mount

 

[Crazy Diamond]

8 - An old olive tree
9-11 - trees on the Temple Mount

Cool old Cupressus sempervirens

 

[dbonsaiw]

And the variety continues

12 - European hornbeam
13 - Random fruit
14 - Portulacaria afra
15 - Pappea capensis ???? (cool movement)

 

[Crazy Diamond]

4 - Pistancia Chinesis
5 - Acer Monpellier (never heard of this Acer before)
6 - Acer Montpelier leaf - bigger than my hand
7 - Acer Campestre

It was interesting to see the acers still in leaf. The acer rubrums I saw, as well as the sycamores, were dormant.

That one is not Montpellier maple, is probably a Platanus (Sycamore) species not related to maples

 

[dbonsaiw]

16 - Acacia Robusta (I believe that's the seeds I took)

And some of the species that were totally new to me:

17 - Peltophorum Africanum ????
18 - Euclea Crispa
19 - one of many different species of aloe - I believe this one is arborescnes
20 - Chlorophytum Saundersaiae
21 - Spiked Cabbage tree

 

[dbonsaiw]

22 - A cool grouping I saw while driving - not sure what these are
23 - An attempt at bonsai? Apartment living is the norm in Jerusalem and folks do love growing their plants off their balconies.
24 - Interesting "grow box" in the old city
25 - foliage grows out of the walls of the old city
26 - a set of palms

 

[dbonsaiw]

That one is not Montpellier maple, is probably a Platanus (Sycamore) species not related to maples

Looks like my identification app got it wrong. You are likely correct. I looked up Montpellier maples and the leaves seem much smaller. The leaves on this tree were enormous.

 

[SWfloirda]

22 - A cool grouping I saw while driving - not sure what these are

Agave in bloom.

 

[dbonsaiw]

Agave in bloom.

Would have never guessed that

 

[SWfloirda]

They look oddly surreal when they bloom. This picture is from about a year and a half ago. I have seen some types get 2-3X as tall as mine got.