AUGUST IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE 2020

[Hoy]

.....

Early yesterday morning there was a heavy mist in the garden, but by the time (10 minutes) I got out, it was already clearing. Morning mist makes always everything so pretty in autumn.

Your garden looks very pretty Leena!

[hamparstum]

Thanks Arturo.

I did see a lot of Escallonia when I visited Patagonia a couple years ago. Some were very nicelooking! It's strange you can't grow them, your climate can't be "worse" than mine? What's your minimum winter temperature?

Trond Yes, it is strange, that I can't grow Fuchsia magellanica here and only a few km west it is found growing in gardens. I suspect it is due to the type of winter hard frost we get. Out here we get the drying winter winter winds that blow from the Atlantic. When they reached our valley, all the moisture was gone in the higher plateaus of the open patagonian steppe. So apart from being cold it is very drying. About 10 years ago we lost a beautiful full grown snow gum ( Eucalyptus viminalis) to -20ºC . What killed it was the dryness not the low temperatures. Further west the temperatures were as cold but the overall cover of the forest and proximity to the large Nahuel Huapi lake provided enough air moisture and there the native trees and bushes survived. Another example is our native luma (Myrceugenia apiculata) that I also can't grow here. My only natural tree species that grows here is Maytenus boaria, small leaved evergreen. They did suffer the frost and dropped off about half of their small leaves, but then in spring the recovered.  However I've not given up hope. If my evergreen conifers grow large enough then I might generate the necessary microclimate for those native species to survive my easterly dessicating winds.
Visiting the paso Tromen, in Lanin national park there were a few other species of Escallonia similar to your picture, just after a stately stand of Araucaria araucana (monkey puzzles). That place is really cold in winter and gets standing snow. So perhaps getting material of those species one could develop broadleaf evergreens that withstand severe frost.
Arturo

[Hoy]

Arturo,

Maytenus boaria looks very nice! I like evergreens that are not conifers. Also Myrceugenia apiculata looks nice. I have never tried it though. Monkey puzzle is commonly planted around here and it is some big trees around.

I remember Tromen, a very interesting area with lots of flowers also.

Here are Fuchsia magellanic and an Escallonia sp from the Puerto Natales area in Chile. They seemed to take cold winters but maybe it is moister as it is closer to the fjords. Pictures taken there a couple years ago.

[ashley]

Yes these enjoy and maybe need fairly humid conditions.  Fuchsia magellanica grows profusely in SW Ireland while Escallonia rubra does best in coastal areas. 
The other plant in the first photo looks like Acaena ovalifolia which is becoming established here too but may prove invasive. 

[Hoy]

Yes these enjoy and maybe need fairly humid conditions.  Fuchsia magellanica grows profusely in SW Ireland while Escallonia rubra does best in coastal areas. 
The other plant in the first photo looks like Acaena ovalifolia which is becoming established here too but may prove invasive.

Agree Ashley.

They both grow best along the S and W coast here in Norway.
I remember we found many Acaena species. We didn't name them all!

[Leena]

Thank you all for comments on my garden pictures.  You know I'm very good at taking pictures which don't show all the weeds around the garden.   But the pictures show how I see the garden, so in that sense they are true.

( I'm hurrying to sow Heleniums... )

I have been wondering if the Helenium cultivars which I have are hybrids and not very fertile? I don't know about Heleniums enough.  There seem to be seeds, but only one or two from a potful germinate. I have tried sowing in warm, or sowing in the autumn outside, and no better luck. Of course I don't need any more Heleniums, there isn't enough room.
One of the best Heleniums is 'Sahin's Early Flowerer', it started to flower a month ago and is still full of flowers.
In the second picture a redder 'Indianer Sommer' (Indian Summer) is only now starting to flower, and the third picture is a plant I grew from 'Indianer Sommer' seeds. Only one seed germinated and it's flowers are yellow, not like the mother plant. It is nice  anyway, and all bees and such like Heleniums so they are good in the garden, besides being beautiful.
Helenium in the last picture is also a seedling (from my friend), a nice and tall plant. A blueish plant on the left is also seed grown,  Aster amellus starting to flower now.

[Robert]

This is a typical specimen of Tithonia rotundifolia ‘Torch’.



This is an interesting somatic mutation of Tithonia rotundifolia ‘Torch’. Each season I find a number of somatic and/or meiotic mutations in the garden. Accidental crosses are also frequent occurrences. It might not be practical for me to collect and grow rare and exotic plants from around the world, however I frequently discover unique, one-of-a-kind, plants in my own garden. Sometimes very interesting mutations arise in the most common plant species. My own garden is frequently the site of new discoveries.

[Leena]

I frequently discover unique, one-of-a-kind, plants in my own garden. Sometimes very interesting mutations arise in the most common plant species. My own garden is frequently the site of new discoveries.

That is so good for you! I don't have self sown findings like that, but I like to grow from seeds because that there are always surprises, and even though there may turn up plants not so special, but sometimes I get even better plants from seeds than if I bought them. I have some of my best peonies or irises grown like that.

[Gabriela]

Thanks Gabriela. Maybe the climate change makes it easier to grow them?

I doubt that the climate change will be THAT significant Trond, at least not during my life span 

[Gabriela]

I have been wondering if the Helenium cultivars which I have are hybrids and not very fertile? I don't know about Heleniums enough.  There seem to be seeds, but only one or two from a potful germinate. I have tried sowing in warm, or sowing in the autumn outside, and no better luck. Of course I don't need any more Heleniums, there isn't enough room.
One of the best Heleniums is 'Sahin's Early Flowerer', it started to flower a month ago and is still full of flowers.
In the second picture a redder 'Indianer Sommer' (Indian Summer) is only now starting to flower, and the third picture is a plant I grew from 'Indianer Sommer' seeds. Only one seed germinated and it's flowers are yellow, not like the mother plant. It is nice  anyway, and all bees and such like Heleniums so they are good in the garden, besides being beautiful.
Helenium in the last picture is also a seedling (from my friend), a nice and tall plant. A blueish plant on the left is also seed grown,  Aster amellus starting to flower now.

I have a red one and some yellow Heleniums Leena; I didn't keep track of the names. I think most of them are hybrids, I collected one year seeds from the red one and looked closely at them and they were 'empty'.  From a large seeds quantity few should be OK but like you mention, they won't come true to the cultivar.
But they are very nice plants for sunny locations anyway.

[David Nicholson]

Blerdy weather I only want two dry days so I can get my lawn cut, it's nearly up to my knees now. Colchicums are battered!

[Hoy]

I doubt that the climate change will be THAT significant Trond, at least not during my life span 

I certainly hope not!

But the climate has changed a lot already. We can grow plants now that my grandma couldn't do (she even hadn't the possibility as they were impossible to get unless you got them sent to you from abroad).

[Hoy]

Blerdy weather I only want two dry days so I can get my lawn cut, it's nearly up to my knees now. Colchicums are battered!

Seems your weather is worse than mine, David! Although July was cool and wetter than normal I don't complain!

[Gabriela]

I certainly hope not!

But the climate has changed a lot already. We can grow plants now that my grandma couldn't do (she even hadn't the possibility as they were impossible to get unless you got them sent to you from abroad).

True Trond, there are many noticeable changes in any particular climate types; but when our grandmas use to do gardening, like you mention, many plants weren't available to begin with or/and people were having other more life stringent problems than to try growing other plants than the native ones (at least in Eastern Europe).
Except the Botanical Gardens, personal small gardens were filled entirely with native species, be it perennials or annuals. And they were plenty enjoyable

[Robert]

Leena,

The Tithonia rotundifolia with the somatic mutation is only a potential starting point. It might turn out to be a dead end or, with some good fortune, it can be turned into something very nice.

Years ago I grew Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’ and another clone. They preformed well in the garden, however they seem to need division and added soil amendments every few years. Currently, I am growing our California native Helenium bigelovii. I was hoping to gather seed from this year’s crop, however much of the seed seems of questionable viability. I deadheaded the first crop of flowers and the second wave of flowers was blooming during a heat wave. Maybe this was not to their liking.

Now on to other things….



I am continuing to clean up and revitalize some of our borders. Until recently, I was unhappy with the performance of our California native, Solidago elongata. However, I have now changed my mind. Mixed with dwarf blue-violet Asters and Origanum laevigatum seedlings it looks pretty good. This photograph was taken a few days ago before the Aster flowers started to open. I will try again with a photo a little later.

There was another happy surprise in this border. Under the weedy violets I found a specimen of Penstemon rydbergii var oreocharis that I had planted several years ago. I thought that it had died-out, however here it was healthy and happy. I will be growing more of this species in average garden soil in the future.



This is a F2 grow out of Zinnia elegans hybrids (cactus types x small flowered dwarfs). Some nice cactus type flowers on semi-dwarf plants are showing up in the second generation.



Another Cactus type from this F2 generation grow-out.