January 2008 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

Taken this morning (more to come shortly).... a rather lovely picotee edged tuberous begonia.

Enjoy!!

[Paul T]

And some more beauties.....

The two Liliums are Oriental x Trumpet (OT) varieties.  Both just beautiful!!

And the Eucomis vandermerwei is a first flowering for me, quite small and rather intricate.  The markings and the lovely ripples to the leaf edges are great.

[Lesley Cox]

A great start to the year Paul. Too hot here at present for much new to be out. And I'm too lazy today anyway.

[Paul T]

Forecast 33 here today, but the mornings are sort of OK.  Was intending to do mulching this morning, but sun was already too much so will wait until this afternoon when that area is in the shade.

There's actually a lot out at the moment..... Liliums, Dahlias, Salvias, Buddlejas, Agapanthus, Echinops, Roses, Gazanias, Wisterias spot flowering, Clematis (limited types), Scaevola, waterlilies, Cactus, Begonias, Eucomis of all sorts (most still in bud, but a few already out), Verbena, Abutilons, Crepe Myrtle, Beaugainvillea, Tulbaghias, Cyclamen (purpurascens predominantly, plus first of the hederifoliums and intaminatums), Arisaema, Nemesias, and more that I can't put a name to right now.

And this morning as I was watering etc I saw and heard lots of birds....... Cockatoos, fairy wrens, silvereyes, wattle birds, blackbirds and crimson rosellas.  Haven't seen as yet today the Easter Spinebills that are here so regularly, but they'll be through later.  Nice start to the year bird-wise this morning.

[fermi de Sousa]

the downpours of rain that we got a week before Christmas resulted in a fabulous display of rainlilies.
Here is a clump of Habrantus tubispathus


and the pink form, "Roseus"


More spectacular were the forms or hybrids of H. robustus, first, the one I got as "Russell Manning"




and then a row of the seedling I raised from it:


Next, the hybrid between H. robustus and martinezii


which has the colouring of H.robustus but the size and shape of H. martinezii, which was also in flower:




This has been the first time that I've seen all these in flower at the same time so I was able to compare and, of course, do some x-pollinating!
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Also in flower were a couple of Zephyranthes,
One which I got as Z.rosea and as Z."Grandjax" which I believe is "Grandjax"


Then one which I raised from seed as Z. fosteri, but which I think maybe Z. rosea!




The rain also inspired an Acis autumnalis to put forth a flower-stem:

but the heat undid it and the third and final flower never opened.
This morning these paperdaisies were relishing the hot weather! They came as "Helichrysum sp. ex Catberg Mts"; perhaps Rogan might be able to shed some light on it?




cheers
fermi

[Paul T]

Having had a cooler December (until the last week) that usual our Acis roseum aren't above ground yet.  Normally they surface around Crhistmas.  I got a few flowers on the rainlilies, but mine are in pots and not in the ground.  Wish I had the space for them in the ground as would be easier!! 

[David Nicholson]

Lovely show folks, keep 'em coming.

[fermi de Sousa]

An "herb" that does well in the Rock Garden at this time of the year is Satureja spicigera, a relative of "Summer Savoury" but with purply blue flowers.




cheers
fermi

[Paul T]

Fermi,

Unusual little thing.  How big actually is it?  Sort of looks like a small version of rosemary, although flower not quite right.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi paul,
the plant is currently about 18" to 2' tall but tends to sprawl abit. It would probably stay smaller with a "Haircut"!
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

Lower, (to about 20cms) is Satureia montana which has white flowers. In flower at the moment and covered with bees, but I can't photograph it because it has sorrel through it. I'm doing a massive retrieval job at the moment, pulling the sorrel and painting it with Roundup as it reappears but it's taking for ever to have much effect.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Lesley,
yes, Satureja montana is neater and we grow it in another Rock Garden (in the herb garden it's called "Summer savoury").
Last year I posted a pic of a Ledebouria with spotted leaves; it's now in flower:




And another topic we discussed, Lesley, was Seedlings of Dianthus "Whatfield Wisp"; I also had one which was similar to yours but it's now produced a couple of different flowers with basal markings!

Unless this is a sister seedling which had been overlooked until now?
One happy thing which occurred after the apparent ravages of the drought (which is still with us) was the re-emergence of a Verbascum "Letitia" from the root!

You can see the stump of the original plant which was 5 years old and had made a considerable sread but simply wilted away, one branch at a time, at the start of the flowering season in spring. My fault for posting a pic of it the previous year!
cheers
fermi

[Paul T]

Fermi,

Nice Ledebouria and love that Verbascum!!

Here's some more stuff flowering today.....

The Dietes bicolor always flowers well every year.  This genus is just such a good do-er!! 

The Salvia 'Mulberry Gem' I picked up at a local nursery a couple of years ago and had never seen it before or since then.  No idea whether it is correctly named or not, but it is a brilliant one.  The flowers are at nearly face height (topping at 5 1/2 feet or so at the moment) on long straight stems with some leaves down at the base.  This seems to be it's standard flowering mode, which is great as you actually get to see the flowers without having to get down to them.  I haven't tried cutting them for a vase, but they certainly do have the perfect stem for it.  One of these days I really must do some propogation of it just in case something happens to the one plant I have.  Glorious colour, and furry flowers as well!! 

And lastly I have a couple of Wisteria spot flowering at the moment.  This is a purple seedling from a W. floribunda and I also have a couple of racemes on W. sinensis as well.  Nice to have a little more colour "up high" in the garden (all my Wisterias are standardised onto rose wheels, or onto the edge of the Pergola, so all growth is at least 6 feet off the ground).

Enjoy!!

[Lvandelft]

The Salvia 'Mulberry Gem' I picked up at a local nursery a couple of years ago and had never seen it before or since then.  No idea whether it is correctly named or not, but it is a brilliant one. 

It should be Mulberry Jam!