November 2024 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Vinny 123]

2) An unnamed cactus - maybe a rebutia?

For sure a Rebutia.
Numerous hybrids are available today, but the usual guess at species would be something like muscula, but it would be a brave individual to attach any identity to any Rebutia beyond what they receive it as.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Robert,
After reading Graham Ware's article on Brodieas in the latest IRG, I checked BICON for seed allowed and found a huge number of the species he mentioned (some I'd not heard of before) are ALLOWED! I'm hoping that the donors for NARGS had a good harvesting season and more will be on this year's Seedex. The Gilia in flower is descended from some I grew from seed from you which I was not able to establish in the open garden but which has persisted (for now) among the potted plants.

Hi Vinny,
thank you for confirming the ID of the Rebutia - I'm sure it was picked up at a market or from a nursery labelled as "cactus" only.

Last few for November:
Last weekend we had a "rain event" and so by mid-week we had a response from the rain-lilies - sadly in the weediest parts of the garden so no amount of cropping can exclude them!
1 & 2 ) Habranthus tubispathus var roseus
3) Habranthus tubispathus
4) A Cooperia, I think
cheers
fermi

[Robert]

Hi Robert,
After reading Graham Ware's article on Brodieas in the latest IRG, I checked BICON for seed allowed and found a huge number of the species he mentioned (some I'd not heard of before) are ALLOWED! I'm hoping that the donors for NARGS had a good harvesting season and more will be on this year's Seedex.

Hi Fermi,

This is great news! Your experiences with a wide array of Themidaeae species will likely be of interest to many gardeners. My intent is to start an open ended thread on Themidaeae on this Forum. Hopefully you can share your ongoing experiences with these species in this thread.

I approach Themidaeae (and many other plant species) from a completely different perspective. I enjoy exploring the vast diversity found within each species from the perspective of environmental plant physiology and genetics. For example, how transcription factors respond to environmental cues to regulate gene expression is a topic I plan to discuss as it applies to each Themidaeae species. Environmental forcing influences epigenetic expression, the creation of ecotypes, and rapid adaptive evolution in ways that can have horticultural significance. Somatic mutations, meiotic mutations, as well as unexpected hybrids frequently occur in nature. These too can have horticultural significance.

It is hard to believe that 2025 will mark the 50th year since I embarked on this journey with California native plants. During 1975, I remember taking an introductory college class on Native Plant Identification. One field trip was to the Sweetwater Creek region. Years before my girl friend and I spent a great deal of time in this area. I knew very little about native plants at this time. I am so indebted to the many mentors I encountered along this path. It has been a very tackful (as in sailing) journey with many setbacks and discouragement. I am so grateful that Mr. Tri Thong Dang accepted me as a student. When I felt I was not making any progress he would always encourage me by telling me, “It is when you feel that you are not progressing, this is the time when the greatest progress is being made. Keep persisting.”

Hopefully the views and experiences of plant collectors and other perspectives can be discussed on the Themidaceae thread. This is my hope.