Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: Magnar on July 01, 2007, 10:28:29 PM
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(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/saussurea_obvallata_1_103.jpg)
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/saussurea_obvallata_684.jpg)
Saussurea obvallata
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(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/olsyniumpercent20biflorum1_696.jpg)
Olsynium biflorum
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Magnar, does this Olsynium have a strong scent?
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Here are some pictures of what is flowering with me at the moment.
Michauxia campanuloides has come into maybe full splendor by now, and I am surprised the flowers hold so well. The first flower which opened on June 25 looked just as fine on July 1. There are many buds waiting to open, and hopefully I will get some seed.
The wild form of Schizanthus grahamii ( from SeedHunt ) has grown like cress in the wet cool weather we have been having over the past weeks, and I've had to top it several times to keep it back. The flowers are exquisite !
Salvia praeclara ( also from SeedHunt ) is another nice annual which I haven't grown before, and it does well here even if it hails from Bolivia.
Delphinium viridescens
Centaurea cyanoides
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Magnar, does this Olsynium have a strong scent?
No, there is just a very weak scent from the flower.
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Here is my Lilium monadelphum today
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/lilium_monadelphum_113.jpg)
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Here is my Lilium monadelphum today
That is impressive - how long did it take to grow, reading your web site I presume you sometimes grow them from seed.
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Yes, I grew this from seeds several years ago, and as far as I can rememeber now, it took 5 years till I had the first flower
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What a glorious lily Magnar! I'm looking forward to my seedlings growing so well but they'll need a few more years yet. Well worth the wait though :D
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It is stunning Magnar and I am hoping that next year mine will flower. They have the substance and seem to be flowering height but no buds this year. :-\
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Yes, I grew this from seeds several years ago
Probably a question that betrays dimness on my part, on your web site you've got a huge database of seeds, are the germination times in days or weeks?
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Yes I like that lily very much,, I prefer the Lilium species, not so much interested in all the named hybrids. I also collect Fritillaria and Nomocharis.. and I'm so lucky to have no lily beetles up here :)
David: The germination times are in days. It is said in the Norwegian text, but I see it has fallen out of the English text when I rearranged the page.
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I have been photographing some wildflowers today which are flowering in southeastern Sweden now.
Starting out with some orchids:
Epipactis atrorubens, which grows in calcareous areas, both on stony screes and in more moist locations,
Gymnadenia conopsea
and Dactylorhiza maculata ssp fuchsii
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There were also some other nice species growing in the same area, and here are some pictures of Geranium sanguineum, where I have placed my thumb next to the flower in comparison.
There are also some pictures of Pyrola rotundifolia
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Beautiful images Paul...many thanks for posting.
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....Nice clean fingernail too.....congratulations! ;)
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Lovely pics, Paul. We have most of those plants in the wild also here up north.
From yuor first posting in this thread I especially like Centaurea cyanoides. Did you grow it from seeds?
Thanks for posting
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Thank you for your kind comments on the pictures. You both take some pretty amazing photographs yourself.
Regarding Centaurea cyanoides I have raised the plants from seed from Israel.
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After many years of waiting I have finally got bloom in my Lathyrus chilensis plant, which I raised from seed purchased through Chiltern back in or 2001 or 2002, so it has taken quite some time to build up a large enough root to flower.
Does anyone know if L. chilensis is a verified name. When I did some net searching I found it described under the synonym Lathyrus hookeri as well.
Lilium formosanum var pricei is also flowering in the 15 C , rainy weather we are experiencing here in SE Sweden now.
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Lilium martagon and martagon cattaniae.
Hans
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Yesterdays night my Echinopsis Hybrid opened its flowers and enjoyed my eyes.
Later the night there was heavy rainfall... :-[
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Not exactly a rock garden-size broom (unless you have an enormous rock garden) but I just love my Mount Etna broom (Genista aetnensis) at this time of year. Nice scent too, blowing in through the sitting room window, and the first floor bedroom window, and the second floor bedroom window! ;D Had it for about ten years and it just gets better and better. The last pic is taken from the bedroom window.
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A favourite of mine too Martin - that wonderful warm frargrance. Mine is also about 10 years old and rather leggy now, should have been pruned judiciously when young but I'm growing on some seedlings and will replace it in a year or so. Everyone should have it.
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Surely you haven't aged that much in 10 years Lesley? ::)
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Am I the only person who thinks the Genista smells of the stale beer on the kitchen floor after a student party :-X (those were the days)?
But then, my Trachelospermum asiaticum smells of Germolene too.
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I just found this self-sown geranium seedling in the garden, which I think is rather nice. I'll have to mark it so I don't weed it out.
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Nice clear whiteflower, Anne. What height is the plant? Looks what I would call middling!......about 15- 18 inches? ( 35 -45 cms?)
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Spot on, Maggi.
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Am I the only person who thinks the Genista smells of the stale beer on the kitchen floor after a student party :-X (those were the days)?
How well I remember that smell; and waking up licking that floor. ;D
Though I don't personally get that from the Genista aetnensis, Anne. More of a (as Lesley says) warm summery scent, difficult to pin down, but sort of dry hay or straw smell in there, just seems to evoke hot summer meadows for me. Mind you, it's especially difficult for me to evaluate clearly as it's mixed with the smell of the Hoheria 'Glory of Amlwch' flowers (the white-flowered shrub in my pics) which come out at the same time. They look good together, but the hoheria is much stronger scented. Most people say it's a honey scent, but to me and my wife it smells of stables and horses! Not exactly unpleasant, but definitely unusual.
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Personally, I try not to lick floors.... plates now.... that's a different matter! ::)
In another life I will research how smells are perceived so differently by people... and in different contexts etc... fascinating subject. ???
Still trying to comprehend HUGE size of Martin's Genista... wot a whopper! I don't think I've seen one so tall....are these giants common in Englandshire?
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Still trying to comprehend HUGE size of Martin's Genista... wot a whopper! I don't think I've seen one so tall....are these giants common in Englandshire?[/quote]
Maggi, my parents used to have one almost as tall. Mine must be 18 to 20 ft tall. Some people like to keep them bushier with early pruning, but I like them as a small tree. I love to see the flowers against the blue of the sky. Also, I planted it to hide the telephone and power poles and lines in the street without cutting out too much daylight (the v. narrow shoots and leaves cast little shade). I think I recall reading that E.A. Bowles had one on his rock garden, but it was a pretty massive rock garden. In a big enough rockery, I'm sure it'd look magnificent topping a crest and silhouetted against the sky. In winter I like that silhouette effect; the thin shoots dark against the sky.
Here's a quick snap taken out of the sitting room window that gives a better idea of the shape and height.
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A couple of nice Centaureas.
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/centaurea_bagadensis_p70945_362.jpg)
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/centaurea_bagadensis1_144.jpg)
Centaurea bagadensis
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/centuarea_triumfettii_p7034_174.jpg)
Centaurea triumfettii
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From the gravel bed:
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/delphinium_alpestre_185.jpg)
Miniateur Delphinium alpestre
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/phyllophyton_complanatum_p7_891.jpg)
Phyllophyton complanatum
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/eryophyton_wallichii_p70745_150.jpg)
Eriophyton wallichii
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Goodness me, Martin, it's even bigger than I realised! :-X Pretty thing, though, not too heavy, as you say, so good for your purpose of disguising the wires etc.
Magnar, Eriophyton wallichii is one of my favourites... so furry one could keep it as a pet. This year ours were rather floppy in growth and went over very quickly. I presume this was due to our strange weather ... it has not done that before and the plants are well established. Ours are grown in pots, in an unheated glass house, while yours seems to be enjoying life outside. Have you had it long?
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I like hoherias too but (and I can say this, they're ours) when in bloom they attract blowflies. Maybe they don't do that in the UK's ever-so-slightly cooler climate?
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As many of you will have found out already we suffered some problems with our server today and we were all denied access to the site.
Thank you to every one who emailed or telephoned us to report the problem as we are not always on line to find out.
Sorry if you thought you were being singled out and denied your daily fix on the forum but we were all excluded for the day.
It did do some good though as Maggi did some house cleaning!!!!!
I better go and tell her we are back on line again.
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Some more plants flowering at the time being here in Sweden.
Loasa triphylla, which as many members of the Loasaceae-family has stinging hairs. The flowers are pendant, but if you turn them upside down a little architectural wonder meets your eye. I got seeds of this as Loasa nana through the German plant society Gesellschaft der Staudenfreunde 06/07, but I am fairly confident this is not L. nana. The plants are about 20 cm tall, growing in a container.
Also flowering is Papaver fugax which I collected seeds of in Turkey in 2003. It is a biennial, which self-seeds in favourable sites, and blooms profusely the second year. The flowers open in the morning and have lost their petals by the afternoon, but there are new flowers coming along every day.
Phacelia viscida is also beginning to flower. It has been so wet here, so it has got a bit leggy, so I have cut it back several times to try to keep it fairly compact. Very nice blue color.
Another annual is Tinantia erecta, which opens its flowers shortly, but the purple styles sticking out from the flowers are charming in a subtle way, looking a bit like snakes tongues.
I finish with some pictures of a VERY wooly ( and fairly short )Verbascum sp collected in Turkey in 2004. The single flowers are in the leaf nodes and open early in the morning and fall off in the afternoon. It is in its third year with me now, and has flowered in 2006 as well, so it seems to be perennial.
Oh, yes I got seeds in the 2005/2006 SRGC seed exchange ( nr 529 ), which was supposed to be Asclepias rubra. It has grown very quickly already flowering its second year, and it has become evident that it is not A. rubra, but Vincetoxicum nigrum, which is also in the Apocynaceae-family, but a far shot from Asclepias rubra.
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Paul you very brave to take the loasa in your hand.
I can still feel the sting in my fingers :'(
Henk
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Magnar, Eriophyton wallichii is one of my favourites... so furry one could keep it as a pet. This year ours were rather floppy in growth and went over very quickly. I presume this was due to our strange weather ... it has not done that before and the plants are well established. Ours are grown in pots, in an unheated glass house, while yours seems to be enjoying life outside. Have you had it long?
Yes it grows in the open scree bed. All my plants grow in the open garden and I don't do anything to protect them. But most winters we have a snow cower, although it has not been so stable the later years as it used to be.
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The last of my Disa to flower,
Disa uniflora Fontein
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That's a beaytiful flower. Wish the plant would be hardy up here, but I don't think it is.
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It's not hardy here Magnar, where I get very little frost compared with Norway I should imagine. This year has been harder than the last 10, with frosts at my house to about -8C I've had a couple of losses already. I grow the Disa in a plastic tunnel house.
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Talking of hardy, remember this?
[attachthumb=1]
Here it is today
[attachthumb=2]
It has been in the tunnel house all this time and it never occurred to me that it would be too cold in there. I went in today to check on the cuttings Dave Toole gave me last October, of Asteranthera ovata. They're fine but I was horrified to see Oxalis peninsularis (or pedicularis) is a gonner. I don't think anything will regenerate.
Said to be tender but unscathed so far (also in the tunnel) is Nicotiana `Lime Green,' ostensibly an annual but I find the roots sprout away each year.
[attachthumb=3]
Disa uniflora still has a little green leaf on it and that looks OK too.
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Today's round with the camera:
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/sedum_dumulosum_p7124650_614.jpg)
Sedum dumulosum
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/physoplexis_comosa_p7124651_208.jpg)
Physoplexis comosa
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/dicentra_peregrina_p7124608_168.jpg)
Dicentra peregrina
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/lewisia_rediviva_p7124635_140.jpg)
Lewsia rediviva
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/dianthus_pavonius_p7124610_207.jpg)
Dianthus pavonius
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/dianthus_plumarius_v_735.jpg)
Dianthus plumarius
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What a lovely collection Magnar, especially that stunning Dicentra. Many thanks.
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I better do some catch up in this Flowering Now section - way too much swift watching over the last two months.
Annuals and Geraniums
a shrubby perennial daisy bush that is still without a name. In the winter it dies down to underground buds just below the surface. Masses of flowers from now to frosts
Corynephorus - A grass I wish I had. Photographed in Dublin Bots this week
Unknown Daphne suckering from the base of my 'Jacqueline Postill' - no scent
Dianthus 'Elizabethan' as it should be. The flowers shown last month were lacking the picotee edge
Dianthus 'Pudsey Prize- callizonus x alpinus - suddenly dead. Drowned most likley
Grindelia aka Gum Weed
Papaver corona-sancti stephani
Rhodohypoxis 'Kiwi Joy'
Unknown daisy in close up - same as the one above
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Here are some pics made yesterday in my garden - including some of the autumn flowering species
1. Scilla autumnalis
2. Cyclamen purpurascens
3. Acis rosea (syn. Leucojum roseum) - outside!
4. Alllium sikkimensis
5. Pulicaria dysenterica - common fleabane, seeds collected in Cornwall
6. Cardiandra alternifolia - Hydrangeaceae
7. Platycrater arguta - Hydrangeaceae
8. Desfountainia spinosa - Desfountainiaceae from Chile - not hardy here
9. Alstroemeria aurea - seeds collected at Vocan Llaima/Chile
10. Malvastrum lateritium - Malvaceae - not hardy here
Gerd Knoche, Solingen
Germany - 33 ° C this moment
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Here is the rest:
11. Geranium cinereum - white form from Gavarnie - Pyrenees
12. Lobelia species - from seeds collected in Tsitisikamma NP, South Africa - not hardy
13. Silene keiskei var. akaisialpina
Gerd Knoche, Solingen
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I too have Leucojum/Acis in flower. L/A autumnale
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Gerd and Mark, thanks for the pics both of you. It's fun to see all the different plants and flowers.
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Mark, the scentless white daphne suckering from the base of your D. bholua 'Jaqueline Postill' is probably D. longilobata, which is quite widely used as an understock for grafting daphnes. I'd pull it off if I were you.
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Martin it's not quite at the base the stems are coming but from 1, 3 and 6 inches up. The grafts must have been poorly positioned. The new growth this year is already 18 inches 46cm
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Then I'd prune the shoots off as close to the main trunk as possible, otherwise they'll sap energy from the D. bholua. And watch out for new buds shooting from around the same areas - rub them off with your thumb as soon as they start to break into growth.
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Here is a picture of Calochortus superbus making a brave effort to flower during all today's rain.
I have the label showing that it was sown in Nov 2001, it is growing along with every thing else in gritty open beds and was quite a surprise seeing it flowering, maybe last year's hot summer encouraged it.
I did grow a lot of different ones in the greenhouse at one time which did well but everything has now been chucked out into the open.
There is a new book going to be published about them in the summer and I have some seed waiting to be sown later on. Maybe there will be more interest these lovely plants.
susan
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That's a really nice species Susan, lovely markings. I have some seedlings so looking forward to flowers. I find many are best among lowish shrubby things, like verbascums, in order to be supported. Otherwise they flop about. C. palmeri is a delicious pink but so tall and skinny it's impossible to place without support from something.
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I said yesterday (over on the wildlife thread) that I would post some pictures from my recent visits to Lund and Copenhagen botanic gardens. Obviously with a visit in early July, many of the 'proper' alpines and woodland plants are over in these lowland gardens, but the following nearly qualify (all from Lund botanic garden, southern Sweden):
Morina longifolia - a tall plant of around 80-100cm, more suited for the herbaceous border and with leaves that look very similar to a thistle at first glance.
Acanthus mollis - similar size, softer leaves.
Agapanthus campanulatus group - they had clustered about 30 -40 large pots of this 1m tall bulb(?) in a group about 4m across, looked absolutely stunning
Two examples of what to do with your peat blocks. Those of us who were at the discussion weekend last year were shown various constructions with swedish peat blocks, none of which were used for bedding plants that I can recall.
Peter
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More from Lund Botanic garden:
The Agapanthus display
Begonia foliosa var miniata - this won't be hardy, but they had a massive 2m tall specimen in a huge tub outside the greenhouses.
A rather nice Trycyrtis sp which didn't seem to have a label an one that I'm not familiar with.
Allium, again, I don't know the species, but they were naturalised in an area of long grass.
Peter
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Thanks Peter. But it does seem like a terrible waste of peat blocks when I have cassiopes, phyllodaces, primulas and a hundred others BEGGING for such an environment - which I can't supply :'(
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They have acres of the stuff; easy come, easy go....
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And now some from Copenhagen Botanic garden:
Peat/Rhododendron bed - they don't seem to have a rock garden as such, although if I read the signs correctly at the entrance this was where it should be. It must have been magnificent in late May/early June.
Primula florindae to show the variation in colour.
Lilium candense.
Peter
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A final selection from Copenhagen, and we're wandering further away from rock garden plants I'm afraid.
Actaea rubra ssp arguta
Some Nymphaeas from the lily pond (unnamed varietes).
Peter
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Hi Peter,
the allium at Lund BG looks like it could be A. sphaerocephalum which is grown widely.
cheers
fermi
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Thanks for an interesting thread Peter. I grow Morina longifolia, could someone tell me how to distinguish it from Morina persica please?
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In spite of the tropical temperatures ( 38° C in shade and 47° C in sun) flower some plants marvellously. I am afraid, that not all my alpine plants will survive this heat. During this heat one cannot do anything in garden - only bacon with eggs roast at the flat stones in the rock-garden.
Talinum brevifolium
Talinum calycinum
Oxalis depressa
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Franz, I will trade you some rain for some of your sunshine. It appears that we shall not be having a Summer in England this year :(
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Re the photos from Lund BG.
Fermi, thanks for the i.d. I enjoy many of the alliums in passing, but never really pay that much attention to them in detail (such as the species name!), so as this wasn't labelled it's nice to have a name to go with the photos.
Brian, many apologies; the plant in the picture is Morina longifolia. On reviewing my notes taken at the time I see that I got the name right then, I can only plead tiredness, posting the pictures late at night is not good for accuracy! I 'googled' the two species, and came up with the impression that M. persica looks very similar to M. longifolia, perhaps with paler pink in the flowers. Closer examination of the picture son the web, however, shows that the flowers of M. persica give the impression of one upright petal and third 'falls' - to borrow a term from the Iris world. The flowers are also more outward facing than M. longifolia (see: http://www.stridvall.se/flowers/gallery/Familiae_variae_1/337_22). In terms of distribution, M. persica seems to be a Grecian/Turkish/Middle eastern to Pakistan species, while M.longifolia is found in the Himalaya.
I will now go back and change the name of the picture (I have double-checked the others, they are correct).
Peter
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It seems that I can change the text, but not the name of the picture without re-posting it. Oh well, I'm sure people will know the proper name after this.
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Thanks for the link re Morina persica Peter. It confirms that the plant I have bought (when it wasn't in flower) is in fact M.longifolia, no wonder I could see no difference to that which was in the garden. I will continue to look for a valid M.persica.
It took me several months to find the M.longifolia some years ago, eventually it was purchased at great expense and put in the garden. I turned my back for a couple of days only to find out that the other half had "weeded the thistle out of the border!" When I came across a plant labelled M.persica a few weeks ago I was delighted and pounced on that only to be perplexed when it flowered...now I know why!
The moral of this tale always escapes me as I never know when I might come across another plant again ::)
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I like your talinums Franz, much nicer than the tiny one I have, T. okanagonense, which grows to about 3cms across by 1cm high, has very small whiteish flowers then dies down for about 8 months. I don't know why I bother!
That lovely Lilium canadense. Such a graceful and elegant plant with long curving pedicels like those of Galanthus `Magnet.' The red form is even better I think.
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Ohhhhh, Lesley...
T. okanoganense is one of the BEST!
AND for those interested in nomenclatural issues, please see: http://spectre.nmsu.edu/dept/docs/rsh/20.PDF
many of our Talinums are actually Phemeranthus.
Carlo
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Ohhhhh, Lesley...
T. okanoganense is one of the BEST!
Carlo
Mine must have an extreme inferiority complex then ::)
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A weekend in the Jotunheimen Mts.
I just spent a weekend in these mountains and here are some pictures.
(if someone would like some fresh collected seeds of the Pulsatilla below, please send me a PM or mail)
Magnar
Long time no see. Nice pictures, I believe it is my turn to go up north and pay YOU a visit now. And one more thing, could you please support me with some seeds of Centaurea bagadensis if it`s possilbe (I think I get some spare seeds of Lilium souliei if you are interested). Say hello to Toril from us :D
So back to Jotunheimen:
1. Lake in the mountains
2. Cassiope hypnoides and Salix herbacea
3. Salix reticulata
4. Viscaria alpina syn. Lychnis alpina
5. Campanula latifolia
6. Pulsatilla vernalis (older flower in the corner)
7. Campanula latifolia (low form that can be found up on the peaks)
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WONDERFUL pics everyone. Some abolute treasures in this thread, at least from my point of view. A lot of things I've never heard of before too!! ;D
Too many to mention too many specifics...... the Dianthus 'Elisabethan' stood out, plus that Loasa (I think?.... the one with the nasty hairs) was just amazing.
THANK YOU everyone!! A real joy. I have a few things flowering here in the middle of our winter now, but these are all a real treat.
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Brian,
If your other half weeds out your M longifolia again, you could grow it cheaply from seed. If you want to increase your stocks I will probably have some seed on my plants (grown from SRGC seed many years ago and assiduously protected from the chief thistle remover/weeder and pruner in the house ;D), just let me know.
Peter
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gmoen wrote: Magnar
Long time no see. Nice pictures, I believe it is my turn to go up north and pay YOU a visit now. And one more thing, could you please support me with some seeds of Centaurea bagadensis if it`s possilbe (I think I get some spare seeds of Lilium souliei if you are interested). Say hello to Toril from us
Of course, Geir, you will get seeds when they are ready. And I would very much like the L. souliei seeds. You will always be welcome here :)
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Lesley and Carlo,
I like the Talinum okanagonense also very much.
Thanks for the nomenclatural issues.
Talinum okanagonense
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Thanks for the lovely Talinum pics. I had T. okanoganenese for some years, but it disappeared when we had a winter with poor snow cover. Will have to get some plants again.
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Blooming today:
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/silene_maritima_robin_white_135.jpg)
Silene maritima Robin Whitebreast
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/echium_amoenum_922.jpg)
Echium amoenum
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/delphinium_forrestii_coll_s_453.jpg)
Delphinium forrestii coll Sichuan
(http://www.lysthaven.dk/forum/files/perezia_recurvata_934.jpg)
Perezia recurvata
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Thanks for your kind offer Peter but the other half has been banned from weeding ever since! ;D
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THanks for the image of the little white Talinum Franz. Yes, it's very nice indeed and while mine seems to be true, I can only conclude that it's a poor form or perhaps I'm not growing it well. I'll move it to a sunny raised bed and see what happens.
The gorgeous Perezia recurvata obviously likes life in North Norway :)I no longer have it (who in NZ still does?) but I only ever had a few flowers at a time and they had a white centre, rather than that all over, limpid, lovely blue.
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Brian,
As Peter intimitated, Morina longifolia is one of those plants which can be unreasonably expensive as they can be raised very easily from seed and the seed is produced freely.
Let me know if I should save some from you - you could develop a thistly meadow.
Paddy
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Re Peter's Tricyrtis from Lund.
It is the only Tricyrtis I have tried that survives here. It even sows itself occasionally. Probably it does that in Lund also and probably that is the reason for the lack of label.
I have had it from seed from RHS for at least thirty years but i have lost the name.
Can anybody please identify it for me
Thanks
Göte
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Thankyou Paddy,
I have got Morina longifolia in the garden now and have grown it from seed for plant sales etc. I would really like a Morina persica - hence my disappointment to find that I had yet another M.longifolia. Should you have seeds of M.persica you could have a friend for life ;)
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As with you, Brian,
I have found Morina persica elusive; have tried seed several times only to germinate M. longifolia. No doubt, it will come along at some time.
Paddy
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Well Paddy I think we will just have to keep our fingers crossed! Presumably the seed problem is because of crossing with longifolia. :-\
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I had the true M. persica back in the mid nineties, from a few seeds collected in Greece. Alas, I no longer have it.
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Raining all day today here, so a couple of flowers from the greenhouse today.
First is Cyclamen hederifolium. One of the plants I got for 50p earlier this year, obviously confused about flowering time?
Second is Tulbagghia violacea pallida, been two winters outside. Put in a pot 2 months ago to see if worth entering in a show.
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A little quiet on the 'FLOWERING NOW' pages, so I shall gingerly (they ARE NOT alpines unfortunately), contribute a few images captured at a local garden (Vicarage Gardens at Carrington) and in my own front garden over the past couple of days. My dear wife took me shopping (arm forced gently up my back) to The Trafford Centre in Manchester and my treat for enduring this torture was a brief visit to the lovely Vicarage G'dns on the way home.
Probably more than one posting so I shall continue until my finger drops dead with fatigue.....
Still raining (though the sun did shine during the afternoon)...
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....Some may be a tad 'arty', but I think they work....
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....Last batch....finger in cold water....
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My apologies! After reviewing some of the images it seems that I have overdone the 'save at reduced quality' a little.....
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My apologies! After reviewing some of the images it seems that I have overdone the 'save at reduced quality' a little.....
They're looking good on my screen, Cliff, never fear.
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They look fine to me too, thanks Cliff. Maybe not alpine but wonderfully colourful and I can use some of that as our hard frosts continue. That no 2 in the third posting reminds me strongly of something I had 10 or 12 years ago as ? `Rustic Dwarfs.' They were big, sunflower-type flowers on shortish sturdy stems and all in amazing shades of coffee, cocoa, mahogany, anything brown you can imagine. I loved them dearly but where are they now? :-\
Our overseas news is showing yet more dreadful flooding in parts of the UK. I do truly feel for you and hope things improve very soon.
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Lesley,
Sadly the Rudbeckia hirta "Rustic Dwarf' series are half hardy annuals. They are spectacular but that could explain why they have gone the way of all flesh!
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A few flowers from the garden, thankfully we have not been subject to the floods that are still affecting other parts of the country. How those poor people feel who have been flooded three times in as many weeks I cannot envisage.
Alstroemeria psittacina
Astrantia - one of many seedlings
Berkeya purpurea and close up
Bulbinella hookeri and close up
Bupleurum bronze form
Dicentra torulosa
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I rather like Dierama so here are a few, the igneum is a short form which is particularly nice.
Dierama igneum
Dierama Blackbird
Dierama Lancelot
I think the flower form of this lathyrus is beautiful
Lathyrus belinensis
Leonotis leonurus flowering quite late for us this year
Linnaeus's marigold
Morina longifolia the one that was bought as persica!!
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lastly today
Scutellaria hubrechtii
Stylidium Little Sapphire - you can just see the triggers on the flower which give it it's common name
Zigadenus elegans, slowly clumping up
and two I was knocked over by at East Ruston Old Vicarage a couple of weeks ago
Puya alpestris an extraordinary coloured flower
and lastly is this a Watsonia? It has bulbils up the stem, it wasn't labelled and the closest thing I could see in flower at the time was a Watsonia.
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Brian,
A great selection of photographs. Many thanks.
Like yourself, I like dieramas very much though they can become very weedy, especially when planted in gravel I find. Have you tried Silverhill Seeds for dierama and all other South African bulbs - great selection of wild collected seed available by mail order.
Your last photographs certainly looks like a watsonis cultivar, in a very nice salmon colour, very desirable. However, I have never noticed any bulbils on the stems of watsonias. I wonder if by any chance you were noticing the seed pods?
That lathyrus above is certainly a very special bloom, lovely veining on the petals. The Berkeya purpurea is another fabulous plant.
I really must get the camera out and take a few photographs. After being away for a while I have been in the garden dawn(well, early in the morning) till dusk and haven't taken the time for photography.
By the way, what camera are you using? The photograph from yesterday, a damselfly was it?, had great clarity and detail. Excellently shot.
Paddy
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Thanks for your comments Paddy and I'll certainly investigate Silverhill seeds...I also am very fond of Eucomis! As to the Watsonia ??? they were small bulblets (just like mini onions with a brown coat) at the junction of the stem and the leaf as I remember. I thought it was about time I put something else on the site and I got the camera out to get the battery charged so diverted round the garden ;D
Sorry not my photo of a damselfly and I wasn't too happy with the photos as the wind was not helpful - for example the Albuca shawii in the garden refused to stay still to be photographed! The camera I do use is a Canon Ixus 700 no longer available as they are up to the Ixus 950. It's a "press here dummy" camera but with the ability to manage the settings manually. It's also a nice weight and comfortable to hold - two of the most important factors with a non SLR I think. Comparing the photos with the Canon EOS SLR (other half) is embarassing but I just about hold my own!
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Many thanks, Brian.
Sorry about the mix-up re photograph of damsel fly - late at night now after a long day's slog in the garden. The people of Silverhills Seeds, can't recall the names at present, are coming to talk in Cork in September or October.
The Canon - well, I can dream!
Paddy
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A great selection Brian as Paddy says. Yes, it IS a Watsonia and some species DO make bulbils on their stems. Beware of them as they spread widely and quickly. Maybe your winters would keep them in check. Those species (and I can't name them) are prohibited plants in NZ.
I found some of my `Rustic Dwarfs' lasted a second and even third year, depending, I suppose, on severity of the winter but yes, they were certainly short-lived. I had a bit of seed too but usually on the yellower forms rather than the best browns.
Is the pea perennial? The yellows are usually annual.
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Lesley,
Didn't know that the prohibition extended to speech. Your quarantine is waaay stricter than ours.
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One up to you Rob. I am UNABLE (not MAY NOT) to name them ;D
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I'm sure that one of the Watsonias which dare not speak their names would be W. bulbifera
cheers
fermi
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Brian,
Fantastic photos!!! Is that Bulbinella as orange as in the photo? I'm only familiar with the yellow ones (B. nutans?) which I just adore here even if they do seed around a little too healthily at times, and the pale pink cauda-fellis (from memory) which I lost one year. An orange one sounds delightful. I must look up Puya too, as I love black flowers. Rather interesting pic to put it mildly. Great to see so many other things you're growing that I have here in my garden too..... many months from now!! <grin> So strange to see you with your summer flowering stuff now while I have Galanthus and Eranthis flowering!! :o
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"The Silverhills Seeds people" are Rod and Rachel Saunders, Paddy. Charming folk and interesting speakers, we had the pleasure of some talks in Scotland a year or two ago.
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Yes Lesley the sweet pea is an annual, I think it one of the best but only a little one! We saw it at Sylvia Norton's (National Collection of Lathyrus) and it was about two foot tall. Mine has reached the dizzy heights of 16" I think in a better year - mine got off to a bad start - it can reach four foot, but what a belter!!
Thanks to both Lesley and Fermi, the Watsonia will, I am sure be kept in check by the weather - especially at the moment.
Paul it is as orange as it looks, I keep it going in the cold greenhouse over the winter and plant it out for the summer. This year I decided to put a couple of plants together in a pot and am very pleased with the result. It was difficult to get the colour right for the puya, the descriptions we gave it ranged from kingfisher to petrol blue ... and I would be more than happy to have Galanthus flowering now ::)
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Brian,
Love that pea! Where'd you find your seed? (L. belinensis)
Carlo
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I had two sources of the seed - Sylvia Norton the National Collection Holder has limited amounts, and John & Brenda Foster. I hope to have a few seed this year and will bulk up for next.
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Roger Parsons Sweet Peas is a source for Lathyrus belinensis
http://www.rpsweetpeas.co.uk/OtherLaths.htm
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Here are some current pictures from Sweden
Onopordum messeniacum with a very limited distribution in southern Greece, flowering the second year from seed obtained from the Gothenburg Botanic Garden.
It has very spiny stems and the leaves are rather narow and spiny as well. It has a slender shape and doesn't take up as much room as many of the other species.
Salvia staminea, which is a trustworthy perennial, collected in Cappadocia in 2003
Antirrhinum nuttallianum ssp nuttallianum from California
and last pictures show the first flower of Azorina vidalii, which is from a plant raised from seed in 2005
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Some photos from the garden today
I have retouched the water lily to make it a slightly darker yellow than it is in real life.
The cyclamen is one I got last year which lives in a raised bed and is meant to be hardy. Cyclamen hederifolium is also starting to flower in the same raised bed.
The tricyrtis hirta is in a pot on the patio, but the one in the garden has loads of buds and will open in the next day or two
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I've still got Cowslips flowering like mad, I'm sure they think it's March. ???
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Hi folks
Not so many plants in flower in the garden at the moment, but I took a few pictures to day:
1 Erodium chrysanthum
2 Zauschneria garrettii
3 Zigadenus elegans
4 Gentiana tibetica
5 Cremanthodium sp. From Szechuan, China.....any ideas???
6 Close up of Cremanthodium sp.
7 And finally, I have built a new "spot" in the garden from limestone. Mostly for Primulas..... (Yes, the uggly labels will be gone soon.....ha ha)
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Geir that's a great looking rockery except for the white labels. Would you like a packet of black ones?
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No thanks Mark, I've got hundreds of them just have to write the names.... :-\
Did you get the Pulsatilla seeds yet ??
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no seeds yet. I need to shift up a gear and get all my promises in to the post
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Some photos from the weekend
Epipactis helleborine
Cyp. calceolus - damages / hail
Gentiana ?
Gentiana farreri? (seed from China)
Gentiana ?
Cyclamen eur.
Hans
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Geir, lovely cremanthodium, don't know what it is though.
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Re that lovely, feathery Cremanthodium:
I thought at first it might be C. brunneopilosum, but I think the leaves are too thin and small in Geir's plant for it to be this species.
See the AGS Bullletin, China Special, Volume 70 September 2002, pages 318- 320 for notes on Cremanthodium and Ligularia from China, by Hilary and John Birks.
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Cremanthodium lineare is another possibility, you could try keying it (http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/mss/volume21/Asteraceae-AGH-Senecioneae-part1_coauthoring.htm). It's a really nice plant!
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I tried to get a honey bee in the photo visiting this passion flower, but it was too quick and had moved to the next flower by the time I pressed the shutter.
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I'm glad you missed the bumble bee as it would have blocked some of the view of your exquisitly beautiful passion fruit flower. The only species I am growing here in the frigid north is Passiflora lutea, which has survived several winters, but still hasn't been able to build up the strength to flower.
Azorina vidalii is in full splendor now, and this will be my last post for July. It is a tender perennial, which is very frost sensitive, and it has to be taken indoors in the fall, but works well as a house plant too, with its glossy green leaves.
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It is the waxy surface of the flowers of the Azorina that I find as lovely as the shiny leaves...I love flowers of substance like this!
Plus the interior is like a Codonopsis, or even the passion flower! It is not a very long-lived plant, I thought, though preennial... is it so with you, Paul?
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Here are some pics taken this morning
1. Viola spathulata - from the Elburs Mountains, Iran - flowering nearly
from April to November
2. Viola aetolica - more or less monocarp
3. Viola albanica - from Northern Greece, growing on serpentine there
4. and 5. Scilla scilloides - just opening
6. Bellis rotundifolia from Morocco - selfseeding here since 1995
7. Another 'blue' flower - Nymphaea capensis 'King of the Blues'
- rather disappointing
8. Cyclamen ponticum - better than C. purpurascens when grown in
a pot, although hardy outside
9. Cyclamen hederifolium, the first flower
10. Gentiana asclepiadea - of Turkish origin ?
Gerd Knoche, Solingen
Germany
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All Violas are charming but the colouring and neat habit of V. spathulata rank it very high in my esteem. It is looking very healthy and happy for you Gerd, you are lucky to have such a plant.
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Thank you Maggi,
In my opinion Viola spathulata is one of the best recent introductions and it really deserves further distribution. It is easy when potgrown or in a trough with a cover against rain.
Unfortunately it does not build seeds cleistogamously in the way of a lot of the other violets. I tried to handpollinate the flowers - but no success.
So far, the only way of propagation was to root cuttings from side shoots.
Gerd Knoche, Solingen
Germany
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Gerd,
That V. spathulata certainly is something isn't it!!?? It has very similar flowers by the look of it to the mauve forms of our native V. hederaceae but a compact non-spreading habit to it that is just delightful. Definitely a treasure to have in your collection.
Great pics everyone. Thanks.
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Gerd could your Bellis rotundifolia be the same as my Bellis caerulea? Tall wirey stems above spoon shaped leaves
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I am sooo behind with my photos caused by idleness, swifts and bat survey reports. Maggi I might be at the weekend after all. I got a good payer today.
Annuals in the garden
Agapanthus in the wrong place but doing great - no sun until after 3.30pm
A tiny Hypericum
Leucojum autumnale
two limestone troughs
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Campanula tommasinianus
Primula
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Just found this on the bellis but mine are blue and have 17cm stems
BELLIS ROTUNDIFOLIA 'CAERULESCENS'
Delicate pale (horticultural) pink, daisy flowers Apr-Jul and later, 10cm
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Just realised I put all my stuff in the wrong month but it'll be OK here anyway
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Mark, I don't grow many annuals at all but I do like your arrangement where they are mixed and apparently randomly planted. So much more attractive than lined out or one kind massed.
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Mark,
Assumed the flowers of your Bellis are 'caerulescens' which means bluish, I think you cultivate the same species like I do. Leaves and stems are just the same.
Gerd Knoche, Solingen
Germany
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Gerd I will rename my plants this morning. One difference is mine doesnt self sow. In the three years I have had it I've only got two seedlings.
Lesley, the bed with all the yellow Nemesia was supposed to be only Nemesia but when our drought came thay suffered badly and looked like they would die. I then planted some Arctotis, bedding geraniums (oh I hate the word) Pelargoniums and Argyranthemums. The rain came, never went away and the overall look is great. The blue leaves ferny plant at the bottom of annuals2 is Argyranthemum 'Royal Haze'
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Hello,
Beautiful pics!! Gerd, very nice violas!
Here Cypella coelestis
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Thank you Rafa, the same for your Cypella.
Gerd