Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: fermi de Sousa on January 03, 2007, 11:41:45 PM
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We only had about 10mm of rain over the last week but it was enough to start the "Rainlilies" off again! The best flowering yet on Habranthus tubispathus (syn andersonii, syn texanus) and forma Roseus...and I can't show you as the software for downloading pics isn't working! Nevermind here's a pic of H. t. Roseus from a good flowering last March!
cheers
fermi
in hot and dry central Victoria, rain expected on the weekend
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very nice, like a nest full of chicks
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I got home yesterday to find a few more flowers out including some on a seedling of Habranthus "Russell Manning" which is an H. robustus hybrid. This second generation hybrid appears to me to be closer to H. robustus and one stem actually had two blooms! Unfortunately I still can't download pics but here's one I prepared earlier! March 2006 to be precise.
When I dead-headed the H. tubispathus I got 2 dozen from H. t. "Roseus" and 3 dozen from the type! I only dead-head these because they already come up elsewhere in the Rock garden from uncollected seedpods a few years ago! If anyone is desperate for seed please e-mail me privately and I'll spare a few heads the chop!
cheers
fermi
who'll be away from the computer till Tuesday!
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Everything here looking a bit sad for the moment. But a few things have been performing well as always. Below, Helianthemum tuberaria, unlike the usual run of rock roses, and haplopappus coronopifolius, a South American daisy.
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This lovely bulb is Calochortus palmeri, a delicious colour but the flower sits on top of a very skinny stem, almost 40cms high and otherwise, no substance to it at all.
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Good news! The download problem is solved and I have a few more pics to share!
Firstly the rain-lilies (Habranthus tubispathus)which bloomed heavily awhile back.
The second is the seedling of H."Russel Manning" with the double-header!
cheers
fermi
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Now for some non-bulbs (sorry, B-D).
A few South Africans: Relhania pungens, Geranium harveyi and Kniphofia poryphyta.
All do well in full sun and little water, though they do appreciate a drink to flower better.
cheers
fermi
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I've mentioned elsewhere that Origanums do well for us and here's a couple that are exceptional: O. "Kent Beauty" and an unnamed hybrid with O.rotundifolium that I call "Redesdale Rasta".
More later!
cheers
fermi
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I'll finish with a couple of bulbs, though the Brodiaea jolonensis finished flowering a month ago and the Conanthera campanulata a week or more ago. The Brodiaea is still in a pot but the Conathera does alright in the Rock Garden. I may risk the Brodiaea outside but as this was its first flwoering from seed I wanted to make sure it was worth putting into the garden; it has a great texture to its blooms and will warrant a place though somewhere accessible as it looks like it has "seed potential"!
cheers
fermi
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Fermi,
The Habranthus tubispathus is the one which really caught my eye, a lovely plant. Your conditions seem very arid, stony etc. Is this so?
Paddy
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Hi Paddy
Habranthus tubispathus is one of the easiest Rain-lilies to flower in my experience, it just takes a drop in barometric pressure and a bit of rain ( we only had 10mm before the clump above came into bloom - erupted really!) to get them to do their stuff. They increase readily from bulb and too readily from seed, which is why I now dead-head them unless someone asks for seed.
Our garden is in Central Victoria which is not the most arid part of Australia but we have been officially "in drought" for about 10 years! Our annual average rainfall is about 500mm but last year it was only 320mm. This suits a lot of bulbs as long as there's a decent rainfall during winter/early spring and not too much summer rain. The maximum temperature in summer can get into the 40s (Celsius!) but usually only for a day or two. The ground looks very stoney as we use a coarse gravel mulch for the bulb areas.
cheers
fermi
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Making up for lost time, here's a few more pics from the Rock garden in late December, early January.
Digitalis obscura, not really a rock garden plant and this one is still in a pot but the colour is stunning.
Geranium "Victor Reiter Jnr." has lovely foliage but it's taken over a year to flower!
Verbascum "Lettitia" blooming marvelous in full flower but a b****r to dead-head!
cheers
fermi
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Nice pictures and really nice colour on the digitalis. I like that name obscura I think it fits well. 8)
I bet dead heading the verbascum is hard work but I bet it is even harder not to dead head and pull out the seedlings from every where.
Kind regards
Joakim
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Fermi,
Again, lovely photographs.
The Verbascum letitia has me drooling. This is a most difficult plant to grow outdoors here as it so dislikes the winter wet, rot sets in so easily and when spring arrives one can only visit the in spring with hope rather than faith in it survival. I cover my miserably small plant for the winter in hopes that it may survive. It generally does but I have never grown one to the size of yours.
Great to see one so well grown.
Paddy
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Hi Fermi,
I grow a Verbascum Laetitia half the size of yours and I do sympathise with you on deadheading ;D !!
Paddy, I grow mine here in Belgium (so quite wet as well) against an east facing wall where it gets quite little rain since most of our rains come from the West. It seems to like it quite well !
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Luc,
Rather foolishly, on consideration, I grow mine out in the open where every drop of rain that falls hits it. I must search for a better position.
Paddy
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Fermi, I think your deadheading comment was very much tongue-in-cheek because why would you deadhead? `Letitia' is sterile so no seed. A quick trim over with shears or heavy scissors is all that's needed to keep her tidy.
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Thanks, Lesley, yes, "dead-heading" is prehaps not the right term. I use secateurs rather than shears to trim her and that's why it's tedious. I've been told I could get a second flowering by trimming early in the summer rather than waiting for autumn.
Joakim, the reason for trimming back is not to prevent seeding, but to clear the tangle of spiny, dead flower spikes from interfering with the new growth.
The conditions here make it easy to grow "Letitia" outdoors but if we get a really wet winter I might have to think about some cover.
Luc, glad to hear that you can grow her outside.
cheers
fermi
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Here are a couple of plants flowering for the first time from seed.
Campanula troegerae from NARGS 2005 Seedex.
And Aquilegis scopulorum, just a single bloom but so lovely.
cheers
fermi
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Some of the Salvias do well for us in the open Rock garden though we consistently lose tender ones like S. leucantha in the borders; maybe I should try it in a drier environment?
Here's S. cryptantha which has wonderfully silver foliage and doesn't need to flower to earn a place in the rock garden, staying around 30cm high and 40 cm wide.
S. dolomitica is a bit taller but does well at the back of the Rock garden.
And Salvia candidissima (grown from MESE seed) flowered profusely then collapsed without setting seed!
Hopefully a sibling seedling will eventually flower and set seed. It is definitely for the back of the rock garden because of its height but enjoys the conditions...I mean "enjoyed".
cheers
fermi
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Hi Fermides,
when seen your pics i could not help to call for a please,any seeds to spare of the plants you are showing,Im very interested in aquilegias,salvias,campagnula.
have a good collection of Salvia`s to share. ::)
Cheers Geebo
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Hi Fermi
I like your Aquilegia scopulorum, one of my favourite plants. I wonder if your campanula is C. chorhuensis,which is a half way house between C.troegerae and C. betulifolia. Attached is a picture of C.troegerae, seed collected by Jim Archibald. As you can see it is more upright, whereas C. betulifolia is always pendant. Yours is still a nice plant though, with large flowers.
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Fermi you have the best Geranium harveyi I have ever seen
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John, I have the hydrid you mention, bought recently just as C. trogerae x betulaelia, but without the hybrid name. I'll give it that. However, the flowers are much more like those of the latter plant than like trogerae. Fermi's seem to be like trogerae in shape, the hybrid's having a deep barrel shape behind the lobes. I'll nip out in a minute and get a pic if there's a decent one on it.
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This beautiful clematis species is a 1981 import from the UK. I believe it should be Clematis vernayi now but it came to me as C. orientalis L and S 13342, the collectors' number still usually being attached to it, even now. It is sometimes called the "orange peel" clematis but I think lemon peel is much closer, the flowers having this thick texture and bright yellow colour. I just love it. Very rampant and needing to be cut hard every year (to about 12" here) it has never given me a seedling though the large silky heads seem to have fertile seed.
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Here's my Campanula trogerae x betulaefolia hybrid. Although the habit and flower shape are similar to the latter, the foliage is quite grey and like that of trogerae. I had to take the pics indoors as we have a very strong nor'west gale today. I could hardly stand up out there. I think Fermi's plant looks like trogerae, especially with the stigma poking forward the way it does. A plant of the hybrid as I have it, will go to Australia in early April. It's not the same as betulaefolia.
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Hi Lesley
thanks for the photo of your Camp. hybrid. I got a similar plant from SRGC seedex seed about 5years ago.
I made a mistake when I said that this one was from NARGS seed; it was the Aquilegia that was from NARGS, the Campanula troegerae was from SRGC seedex! I have 3 other seedlings that are yet to flower and there maybe a degree of hybridism as the foliage varies between velvet and glossy! Hopefully they'll come back again next year and flower.
I've ordered some C. choruhensis seed so may be able to compare them in the future.
Geebo, I'll see what seed is available this year and let you know.
Here's an Australian native plant than enjoys Rock garden conditions: Ptilotus exulatatus, commonly called "Pussy-tails"!
cheers
fermi
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Hi Fermi,
That is very nice of you,im sure there is something here I could do in exchange for you,I keep you informed also. ;)
Cheers,
Geebo.
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Hi Geebo
the pic you showed is one of the Salvias we grow: Mexican Sage, Salvia leucantha, but it needs protection from the frost here!
Here are a few pics of the rainlilies re-appearing after a weekend of drizzle starting on Friday and amounting to a whole 15mm only! So it doesn't take much to get them to re-bloom! Any takers for seed?
This is a sequence over 25hours! And the rain only fell on Jan 19-21.
cheers
fermi
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Astonishing plant Fermi and very attractive at that !
I'd be glad to get some seeds from them - would they be hardy out here ???
(Belgium - in a normal winter -8 or 10°C or even less .. but what is normal nowadays ? ???)
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Spectacular sequence, Fermi, great to see. Makes me think fondly of the "desert blooms" I saw in Africa in my youth...good grief, that makes me sound even older than I am! It was fantastic to see the ground come alive with flowers in such a short time after rain, these magical things stay in your mind forever, thank goodness.
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Hi Fermi,
Yep thats the one,Ilove that plant flowered for nearly tree months,the picture is not great,hope the are improved lately,got the hang of the new camera bit better,I send you a list of the Salvias I grow here.some are not that hardy but I take no chances and take a few cuttings to be on the safe site.
Hi Lesley,
Looking at the Clematis,is this also sold as the Tangutica "Orange Peel" ?Flowers from the end of summer wel in to autumn.
There is a wholesale Nurserie in Dublin supply them under that name.
Gheers Geebo.
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Geebo, Clematis tangutica is another yellow species and yes, is often known as the "orange peel" clematis. The flowers are very large in the best forms and the tepals are curled or slightly reflexed outwards. I guess the two species are related though. Because of the colour, I think lemons are more appropriate than oranges. Tangutica makes a million seedlings as does akebioides.
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Four pics today. The garden generally is looking a little shabby as it usualy does before we get good(!) autumn rain and some new growth. The weldenias are putting on new stems however and if Geebo is out there reading this, I'll get one sent away beginning of next week.
First, Lysimachia punctata `Alexander' which I regret buying and may heave out. I don't like the combination of variegation and bright yellow, especially as the new growth is pink as well. Truly horrible.
Then comes my favourite Roscoea R. purpurea v. procera. Dave replaced this for me after I lost my originals long time ago. The first ones, I grew from Joe Elliott's Broadwell Alpines seed, back before I was married so pre 1965.
This I grew from AGS or SRGC seed as Rodophiala species ex BCW but no collection number. It is basically another of Fermi's rainlilies (a name we don't use here) and I think the soft lemon colour is beautiful. This is the first flower, taken in strong wind so a bit blurry.
And finally, the pretty fruit on Daphne oleoides, some ripe and some coming. Would anyone like a few?
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If Rob Krejzl is out there lurking, would he email me please? I have some seed for him, promised last year but there wasn't any available (foul weather.) Plenty this year of Lilium nanum, oxypetalum v. insigne and lophophorum v. linarioides). I need a postal address. Thanks Rob.