Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: Paul T on December 05, 2006, 10:23:28 AM
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Howdy All,
My first attempt at posting a pic in this new forum setup, so hopefully this works OK?
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This is an asiatic lilium 'Tinos' which I have flowering at the moment. The blending and shading in the flower is really beautiful, even if it doesn't show up as well here as I would have liked. This is the first time I have grown this variety and I hope it will do well for me as I would love to see it in my garden every year from now on! <grin>
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Howdy again All,
Here are a couple of other things flowering around now....
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Clematis viticella 'Purpurea Plena Elegans' is such a stunning flower!!
or should I be putting these attachments in as
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This is Dierama pauciflora which, unlike it's other brethren I have seen, has the flower pointing upwards. At the moment I have the more traditional species in white, pink, "red", and purple in flower as well. Beautiful!!
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This is a yellow form of Ornithogalum dubium. This flowers prolifically for quite some time during spring/summer and seeds quite happily. Seed takes about 3 years to flower but is identical to the parent. A definite bright splash in pots or in the garden!!
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Here's an Echinocereus cactus I have in flower at the moment. The flowers are a handspan across, making a rather stunning display.
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The plant is about 6 feet tall and I have included a picture of it to give you an idea of it's size. I end up with between 20 and 30 flowers each season, spread over a couple of weeks.
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Ah, Paul, now you are REALLY back with us... we're getting pictures!! Love that cactus, so hollywood !
BUT: where is your ID photo and a protrait of Elf? We need to know these things, or John F. and I will sulk... and you wouldn't want that to happen, would you?
We're waiting......
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and me :'(
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HA! I have a cunning plan........I will post images of Paul and elf, and he will be annoyed and will post his own photos to right the wrong!
So, here they are: Paul, an ozzie gardener and Elf, a maltese terrier!
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Maggie,
Oh puhleeeeze! I do not have a beer gut thank you very much!! :o Elf isn't quite that furry, but close enough. LOL
So, should I stick with the larger format or put my pics in as thumbnails? What do people think? At least with the 10 per page it makes loading SO mcu heasier!! ;D
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Tee hee! Well known fact all aussie gardeners look like that, Paul. After all, witness Sir Les Paterson the esteemed Aussie cultural attache and close friend of Dame Edna Everage !! Not that he does much gardening!
As to the pic size, it is up to you, you are finding your way you around just fine but, to make life easier for those on dialup then the thumbnails are best. You get those by typing :
attachthumb=1 (put this in square brackets) *** see below
where you want the first image to go and so on.
*** That is [xxxxx] - can't enclose the commands in this example because it starts looking for images that are not there!
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Maggi,
Yeah, I know how to do the thumbs (I actually did 2 of them in my previous messages). One question though..... why do both your thumbnails have the name, size and number of accesses beneath them while mine don't? Or is it just because I am looking at my own pics? All other thumbnails have this information, it is just that the 2 thumbnails I put up don't (or do everyone else see that info on mine as well?) ???
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Hi, Paul, the reason he some thumbnails have the file names and stats underneath are because they are ones that have been uploaded without the attach thumb process.... these will be shown at the end of a post. You are using the method to upload your pix INTO the body of the text and so they appear differently, without the "viewed x times" addition.
Hope this helps! NOW, where are those photos for your profile and the Intro page? We're all waiting to see them... and why not one of Yvonne, too, for that matter?
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Lovely pics Paul, and ain't it all easy, once you know how? But how did you get yours at full size? No matter what method I use to load them, either Attachthumb or just browsing and uploading, they always come as thumbnails. Click on to enlarge, but we don't have to do that with yours. So what did you do?
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Lesley,
I probably shouldn't say, given Maggi has just suggested that I keep them as thumbnails. She has given the key to inserting them into the message itself as thumbnails (i.e putting the [] around attachthumb=1 for the first pic and so on), but if you put [] around attach=1 (obviously I can't write it properly or it will look for an attachment) and attach=2 and so on for each attachment you'll get the pic in there full sized instead of in a thumbnail. It is mentioned in a thread elsewhere and I noted at the time so I could use it when I had pics to upload. I figure as well that given we now have only 10 messages per page it shouldn't be as difficult for dialup users, because you go straight to where you were in the thread instead of having to load the whole thing. So are my instructions clear as mud? If not, I'll email it to you so that you can see it properly.
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Hi Paul, very fine specimen that Thricoceresu sp. (not Echinocereus)!
Ciao
Alberto
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Alberto,
We've never been entirely sure what that Cactus is. Even some members of the Cactus club weren't even sure. Apparently there is something "odd" about it that makes it a bit unusual, but I am not sure exactly what. Maybe they told me the name you gave and I remembered it as the other. I really am not sure. Whatever it is, it is a big and beautiful!! :D
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Beautiful photography, Paul. I personally like the impact of a big picture suddenly appearing!
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Hi Paul,
Just a thought.
Given the huge interest Maggi seems to have in seeing your photo appear... Do you look like Clarke Gable or Robert Redford ?? Or would Brad Pitt be more like it ??? ;D
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Hmmm... maybe more like Toquemada (I think that is the spelling)..... the Hunchback of Notredame!! :o
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Well.... did you not see the wonderful photos of Martin B? He is like a film star... I was hoping Paul was the same! After all, hope costs nothing!!
Cheers,
Maggi
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Hi Paul
Love the pictures - a real touch of colour and sunshine on a dark and chilly night here. The cactus flowers are amazing.
Sue
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Hi Paul, as a friend of mine, Hans, told me I mispelled the name. The correct is Trichocereus, now lumped in Echinopsis.
Ciao
Alberto
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Just 3 today as the weather is unsympathetic to the taking of pictures. More strong, gusty winds and rain threatening.
I'm going to try Paul's method of attaching big pics as they really are nicer but I promise to revert to thumbnails in future, except perhaps for something special.
Daphne oleoides grows in a trough with no feeding and no water except for a little rain. It still flowers well and the fruit which follow are bright orange.
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Another pic of Weldenia candida, a victim of the weather
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This gorgeous flower is the first on a small batch of seedlings of Nomocharis forrestii, grown from Marcus Harvey's seed and sown in mid 2003. Needless-to-say, all that pollen has been transferred to the stigma
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Lesley,
Beautiful!! I prefer to large pics myself.... more like we used to have!! :D
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Great pix Lesley !
I love your Weldenia - not very common out here.
Thanks
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Hi, Everyone, great to see all the happy activity in the forum and wonderful photos from around the world.... do you feel a "but" in the offing? Well, you're right! I am going to ask you to keep your picture posts as the thumbnail versions, to be kind to those on dial-up interent connections. Remember, the actual photos can be clicked on to open full size, which is very quick AND, since file sizes can be bigger in the new forum, them you can show us larger pix if you wish. I have to say that I still think that a photo about 800 x 600 pixels is an ample size for viewing on the average screen... but it's up to you. The point with the thumbnails is that it makes things simpler for everyone... I will just remind everyone again that the small pictures can be clicked on to see them in all their glory : unless, of course, they were submitted as tiny ones in the first place!! Exception to this is our ID photos, they stay small... perhaps that's a blessing!
Cheers,
Maggi
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Just a line to support what Maggi said about the problems Members with dial-up connections have with large pictures. I have recently moved to a Broadband connection and I can't tell you how much this has added to my enjoyment of the Forum. With my old dial-up connection I had to give up viewing those busy threads with lots of pictures as they simply took an age to download. So please do have some sympathy with those who don't have access, for whatever reason, to a speedy connection.
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Fair enough. The big difference now of course is that the old threads used to have to load every picture in that thread..... now you only have to load a page at a time, and it starts on the page you were up to last time you visited, so you would NEVER have to load as much now as you used to do. That is why I thought it didn't matter as much now as before. E.g. if you had 50 pics in the old thread you would have to load every one of them, now just the ones on the current page.
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Yes Maggi, I'll do thumbnails in future, as promised. Oddly though - and I only have dial-up - I find downloading the bigger pics very quick while clicking to enlarge the thumbs is quite slow. This isn't a complaint, just an observation but then, some weird things are happening here on my box. See "Let me introduce myself..." Life's rich tapestry and all that.
Yup, lesley, I know what you mean! M
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I repotted my Dicentra peregrina earlier in the year*.This has resulted of course in a healthier looking plant with plenty of blooms to come although it still tends to elongate a bit.I was pleasantly surprised at that time *to see a seedling ,(cotyledon leaf),appear near the rim of the pot.
I'm also growing Rupicapnos africana in a pot beside the dicentra.
As they are both from the family papaveraceae there are some similarities.
A couple of Lilium sps. L.szovitsianum --L. pyrenaicum,followed by a plant which is endemic to an area about 80 ks. north of here.Celmisia spedenii.
Finally my wife and i spent most of last week up at the frost free top end of the West Coast of NZ visiting our youngest daughter.No individual plant pics --mainly scenery shots if anyone is interested ?.
Cheers Dave
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Dave I'm sure I don't only speak for myself if I say:
Please show us all your scenery shots from the Westcoast!!!!
Yes, indeed, please, Dave. Maggi
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Only just caught up with this thread. Nice to see Paul posting pictures of his great plants but he's being very stubborn about showing himself and pooch. I'm sure the stereotype one posted by Maggi must be right, just like hers, wearing the old kilt and sporren under the kag.You can use a soft filter to avoid scaring us or is it to prevent the ladies swooning. ;) Lovely pics also from Dave and Lesley.
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Thanks John.
A few more taken yesterday.
The first two received as gifts over the last couple years ,flowering for the first time here --A Watsonia sps. which i think is W. coccinea followed by Thalictrum sps.joe elliott.Anyone know it's full name please?.
Four i 've raised by seed--
Anemone rivularis.I find seed germinates more readily in a near by gravel path rather than the garden proper.
Ononis rotundifolia
Arisaema ciliatum which i've kept in a poly.box as i was warned it tended to take over if conditions suited down here.It's not taken long to bulk up so i guess in the box it will stay.
A white Watsonia sps.
Finally--
A cross between rhodohypoxis and hypoxis I believe ???Pink in the bud opening to white with a pink eye..
A sisyrinchium sps. purchased a long time ago from the cake maker in chief.Does it have a name yet Lesley?.
Cheers Dave.
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That Thalictrum looks lovely - how tall is it, and how big are the flowers?
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Dave. Looks like Thalictrum diffusiflorum to me, didn't know there were named forms of it. They are really nice plants and although come readily from seed take a while to bulk up.
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Dave,
I have to comment on your watsonias - they are simply excellent, a great strong red, not all that common and a good white.
Many thanks, lovely photographs. Liked the other plants too but these really caught my eye.
Paddy
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Nice pics Dave, you're doing a great job to keep our southern end up- if you know what I mean.
The Thalictrum probably IS diffusiflorum as Susan says, but the name came about this way. In the first place, it was never Joe Elliott, but Roy Elliott, late long time Editor of the AGS Bulletin. Roy sent seed to Bob Barnett in Timaru, way back in the 70s just as Thalictrum species and Bob eventually sold some as Thalictrum sp, Roy Elliott, meaning simply that it came from Roy, not as a named clone. I'm thrilled to see you have it growing as everyone else lost it years ago and not knowing what species it was, didn't know what to get seed of, to replace. So you know who will be begging for a little seed ASAP. Ta.
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Dave can talk about size, height but as I remember it at Bob's house, the flowers were maybe 3-4 cms across on plants about 30-35 cms high.
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Wow! That's big for a Thalictrum flower isn't it? Beggar no 2 signing in, should there be any seed to spare please.
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The only problem is that Thalictrum seed should be sown fresh, although I have had old seed germinate new is best.
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That's OK for me then isn't it? Dave? Yes Dave? Dear Dave?
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According to my Inbox, Doreen has posted some pics here but they aren't appearing in the actual thread. Alice, where art thou?
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Lesley, still grappling with square brackets and attached thumbs, but didn't get it to work at the last sitting so I deleted my post. Trouble is you don't know it hasn't worked till you post it and it's not there! Just ignore what your Inbox tells you till I get the hang of it!
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I'll try a trio of wildlife shots from my recent holiday touring round North Island.
We saw the Dotterel on a Coromandel beach, where the Department of Conservation had gone to a great deal of trouble to fence off a sizeable expanse of beach to protect the nesting sites. Apparently only the breeding adults have the chestnut chest.
The white-faced grey heron sauntered along the cliff footpath in front of us for quite some distance on Waiheke Island (a short ferry ride out of Auckland), as tame as you like.
And lastly, I was lucky enough to see a whole roost of Monarch butterflies in Christchurch recently, but didn't have the camera to hand, so here's one from the Bay of Islands in the very north of North Island.
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Ha, making progress, at least I now have pictures, even if I also have messages I don't understand!
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Doreen you have to type the following:
(attachthumb=1)
(attachthumb=2)
(attachthumb=3)
And change () with []
Only the number of the photo, not the name!
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Thanks for the advice, Thomas. I'll try that with some flower pictures at the next sitting.
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Susan -- Thanks for the identification on the Thalictrum and comments on raising from seed.I'll google the species name when time allows over the next few days to see if the plant i have is similar and/or a better form.
Lesley you are spot on in your height measurements with flowers just over 3cm wide.
I just had to go out and check the label which accompanied the plant as i thought i'd made a blue ::). It shows Joe Elliott so it had a name change before it arrived here.I'll pass your comments on about the correct details .
My diary is noted Lesley and Anne regarding seed and any others?.(Anne --I'm sending you the Daffy. bulb i promised after xmas.)
Hello Doreen--Nice pics.Great to have you on board again.
Finally --First flowering from Otago alpine garden club seed 7/2002 The monocarpic Notholirion bulbuliferum.
That's it from my garden for a while as i'm hitting the road completing field trips this and the next following few weekends over the next couple of months.Hope to visit some areas i haven't posted about previously.
Cheers Dave
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Lovely images everyone....many thanks to you all.
Kindest regards,
Cliff
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These will definitely be the last pictures from me this year as following two mild and windless days on Christmas and Boxing days, this morning is heavy driving rain and every flower is turning to mush. It's welcome though as the ground is still very dry deeper than about 6cms but this is the time of year when NZers take to tents and caravans and commune with the great outdoors. Poor fools!
Our friends across the ditch in Victoria, after weeks of temps in the 30s and devastating bushfires which burned out over a million hectares, had, wait for it, a white Christmas with good snowfalls!
First up, Physoplexis comosa which though flowering well, looks sad in its foliage. I hope it's not on the way to that great -and ever expanding - rock garden in the sky.
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Felecia ulignosa is South African but apparently quite hardy, here at least. It has never flowered so well as this year. It likes a peaty soil in sun. I had a few seeds last autumn too but otherwise is easy from cuttings.
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This little pink is a seedling from the local hybrid of Dianthus pavonius called `Jack Scott.' JS is smaller and tighter and a lolly pink colour but I like this one very much. It has no scent. Madly trying to think of a suitable name because it is quite distinct.
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Androsace lanuginosa is pink flowered, the centred reddening as the flowers age. I prefer the pure white flowers of A. l. var leichtlinii.
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The hard green mat of Bolax gemmifera (syn. Azorella trifurata) is equally good with (here) or without its little green flowers.
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And finally for 2006, one of my favourite things at this time of year, the black-striped seed pod of Lilium nanum.
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Great pix, Leslie. It sounds like the climate is very confused over there, or is it something to do with all the smoke?
Thanks for the offer of seed, Dave, I'll cross my fingers you have enough to share.
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Lesley,
It is surely one of the joys of this site that we can see such beautiful plants when they are not available to us in our own gardens.
Physoplexis comosa is always a delight to see and your's is obviously growing very well, despite your protestations.
Bolax gemmifera (syn. Azorella trifurata) is one I haven't grown and find it very attractive, a most interesting plant, beautiful.
Many thanks, really enjoyed seeing the photographs. Paddy
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I thought you might enjoy this picture of a part of our Azorella/Bolax, whatever you want to call it...it is a most attractive plant in many situations, forming an interesting little self-contained landscape as it grows, full of rolling hills, deep valleys and the occasional peak but for the last few days ours has been looking more like a triumph of the cake-makers' art, (sorry Lesley, unfortunate choice of words there !) appearing to be formed from thousands of sugar icicles as the frost has coated it all over and built up in layers. Charming, isn't it?
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Nice pics Lesley, shame about the weather. Just one word for ours here over Christmas, Dank!
We haven't had a frost here this winter and there are still a few flowers on some of the bedding plants that have been left and quite a lot on the Pelargoniums in pots on the patio.
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Thanks everyone, for compliments and weather commiserations. Today's not so bad and I'm sowing AGS seeds which arrived a week ago. Some very fine things among them but disappointing (not for the first time) that there is no FERTILE!!! seed in packets of Ranunculus pyrenaeus or Clematis columbiana tenuifolia `Ylva.' Oh well, one day perhaps.
Maggi, you've obviously had some frost even if John hasn't. I think the Azorella is a wonderful plant and not seen here as often as it should be.
Having said no more pics for the year, I'll recant and show the little lady who visited us yesterday. We learned later that she belongs to a neighbour but had decided on a social round for New Year. She is utterly charming and delightful, welcome to visit any time at all, though perhaps it's fortunate that she stayed in a wild part of the garden, not yet developed. She is tame as can be and likes to have her back and ears scratched.
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Our dog showed much more interest in the lady than he ever does in another dog
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As we walked Miss Piggy home, I was thrilled to see in the long grass along our road, this dactylorhiza, growing as nature intended. It must be wind blown seed from my own garden ones as there isn't another within 20 kilometres at least.
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Nice pics and pig.
I especially like to see dactylorhiza pics.
That is a "imported plant" or do You have dactylorhizas naturally in the southern hemisphere?
Maybe some have escaped captivity and are starting to invade the islands? Maybe a nice invader :)
Take care
Joakim
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We have about 4 or 5 Dactylorhiza species in New Zealand Joachim, all imported, and growing in gardens only. There are no native species here or anywhere, I think, in the southern hemisphere. But they grow well in my garden and most set seed. I get seedlings in the lawn and in the cracks in the paths and in other plants. I'm happy for them to be anywhere, but it was especially nice to see one "in the wild" at the side of the road.
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Lesley
Will the fact that they set seed make it harder to get more sorts of them to NZ? Them being a possible invader?
I would also be happy to see plants going from the garden to the wild. We have spread some crocus and primula and there are a lot of galanthus growing beside the roads that came from gardens in the summer house.
Thanks for the info
Joakim
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Lesley, Now your Dactylorhizza has jumped the fence I hope it does not join Allium triquetrum, Sedum acre, Hieracium lepidulum, Hieracium aurantiacum, Hieracium pilosella,Tropaeolum speciosum, Rosa rubiginosa, Berberis darwinii, Bomarea multiflora, Clematis vitalba, Leycesteria formosa, Tradescantia fluminensis, Crocosmia x crocosmiiiflora and their ilk to mention only a few plants that have escaped from gardens and are now causing havoc in our natural ecosystems. Seriously Lesley you need to make sure plants do not escape from your garden and become naturalised. The New Zealand flora is unique and we are fighting enough conservation battles already to protect what still remains without having to tackle additional problems.
Now having hopefully made my point here are a few natives flowering in my garden at present. First Olearia semidentata from the Chatham Islands given to me by a botanist friend. It has mauve flowers that were a bit more intense when it first came out but has faded. These tree daisies are notoriously difficult to keep as they are subject to root rot fungi and tend to collapse without warning.
Next the little prostrate broom Carmichealia nana formerly Carmichealia enysii originally purchased from Hokonui Alpines.
Two Helichrysums, Helichrysum intermedium from the Waitaki Valley and a hybrid, Helichrysum plumeum x depressum from a garden store.
Myosotis capitata from the Auckland Islands very happy at the moment with wet summer.
Last, a non native, Primula alpicola flowering profuselyin my garden at the moment. I think this ranks as my favourite Primula though it is a hard call to make.
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I see I have posted Carmichealia twice. Here is the Olearia semidentata I intended to post
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very nice piggie. What sort is it? Lesley how do you get your Felicia to be so florific? The number of flowers on your plant is what I would get in a season. I have flowers on my plant now
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Is it a wee pot bellied pig? Let's hope it also doesn't 'go wild' and start grubbing up the wild plants. ;D
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David
Dachtylorhiza is not known in Europe to be a mass invader and after what I know from Sweden we are fighting to keep it.
Many of the other plants You meansioned are known already from Europe to be invassive and in Seden we are fighting to get rid of Rosa rubiginosa from the coast. I have not heard of any place where dactylorhiza have managed to push other plants away.
Kind regards
Joakim
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I was so taken by the charms of Miss Piggy that I went searching..... I discovered that :
"The Turopolje pig is without doubt the oldest in Croatia and can therefore be considered one of the oldest in Europe"... and looks very like Miss Piggy !
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Then I found out about this race of New Zealand pigs, admittedly bigger than Miss Piggy and, allegedly, very fierce, which miss Piggy is not... but there could be a connection, don't you think?
"The exact origin of the feral pigs of Arapawa Island in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand, is not known, and has given rise to much speculation. It has been suggested that they are descendants of animals released in the Marlborough Sounds area by James Cook in 1773 and 1777. A far more likely explanation is that they were introduced by whalers and early farmers on Arapawa Island during the middle of the nineteenth century, as no feral livestock was seen on Arapawa Island by visitors who described the island in some detail in the late 1830s. The breed has remained pure and roamed parts of the island every since. The wild pigs have stories of ferocity, but first hand encounters reveal they have more or a "leave us alone and we'll leave you alone" attiude to humans. They are similar to the original Oxford Sandy-and-Black or the unimproved Berkshires and Tamworths.
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Several attempts were made over the years to catch some of the pigs, but until the late 1990s there were only a few adults on the mainland of New Zealand, and they were critically endangered on Arapawa Island itself. Then in 1998 four healthy piglets were recovered from the Island and these have been successfully bred from, although numbers over-all are still critical. Arapawa pigs are somewhat larger than some other New Zealand feral pigs and many are an attractive tan with black patches. However, other colours also occur, including pure black. "
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David you have indeed made your point and of course I'm mindful of the problems we have with many exotic plants. However, since the single orchid is slugging it out with long grasses - various - clover and the abominable field buttercup, I doubt if it is likely to establish and colonise. If it will make you happier I'll remove any seed head before it ripens. I perhaps gave a wrong impression that the little orchids are apprearing in great numbers in my lawn etc. They're not. Just the occasional one every year or so.
Joakim, introducing exotic plants into NZ is an exercise in frustration nowadays. We have a long list of plants that we may import and they are all plants that are deemed to have been here already prior to 1998. For any plant we can't PROVE was here then, we may not import it at all except following a long and extremely expensive assessment process. We don't go down this road because of the costs. So in theory at least, if we haven't already got it, we can never have it.
Re Miss Piggy. I suspect she is the piggy equivilent of a mongrel dog. Probably a bit of kuni kuni (which I'm about to research) but Maggi your note is also probably relevant.
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I see it should be spelt kunekune. The kunekune pig is believed to have a somewhat similar history to the one described above by Maggi, possibly deriving from the so-called Captain Cooker and also from the whalers' pigs brought here in the early 1800s. They are very placid in nature, always having been domesticated and don't roam far from their homes. Their colouring is largely blackish but some are tan with black markings or other patterns and colours too. They are not of interest commercially, but are popular household (small farm) pets nowadays.
However, the kunekune has a very fat face and upturned, squashed nose. Miss Piggy had a little of this but was more refined I think than pure (!) kunekune so I imagine she's a bitsa.
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Mark I meant to mention that the Felecia is better than ever before. I usually get a sprinkling of flowers, 2 or 3 or 4 at a time. I don't know what's different this year except that it did get a bit frosted in the centre in the winter - the one -9 we had which killed Pratia angulata `Tim Rees' and Geranium papuanum - but it recovered well from that. It has been really wet for the last month and not very warm, we've had such a miserable summer so far (14C predicted for today). I know it does like a moist, peaty soil in sun so perhaps that's what is helping this year. After last summer I got a very few seeds and two have germinated.
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Lesley,
Most important: Does this pig taste good on the plate?
Paddy
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Joakim,
Dachtylorhiza is a very attractive plant more so than the little native Microtis orchid that seeds itself so prolifically through my pots. I certainly hope it continues to flourish in Sweden.
New Zealand has approximately species 2200 of native flowering plants 84% of which are endemic as they occur nowhere else in the world. Compare to this Britain apparently has only one species of endemic plant though I may stand to be corrected.
Around our urban areas ther is very little to be seen in the way of natural vegetation. Generally areas that are not farmed have been taken over by exotic weeds. We have a sorry history of mis-management and neglect of our countryside. Most plants that you would see day to day in parks and gardens are exotics.
Focusing on our own gardening concerns and enthusiasms we sometimes do not see the larger picture which is the loss of biodiversity and degradation of the natural environment.
Lesley
I am pleased you are going to remove the seedhead of the Dactylorhiza - it would certainly be a prudent thing to do. As the NZ plant import regulations are probably the most draconian regulations anywhere it will be difficult persuading the men from ERMA that they need changed when they come up for review if more garden plants become naturalised. It was never the intention of the legislation that the importation of new plant be totally banned though I agree with you that in practice it is virtually impossible to legitimately obtain new plants from overseas.
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Well Paddy, when Roger said "There's a pig in the garden" I immediately thought of New Year's Day dinner but having met the little one I couldn't possibly go down that track. There is a supplier of superb free-range pork at my local Farmers' Market and I'll go there instead.
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I have found this :"Kunekune pigs cannot be compared to any other breed. These pigs are very gentle, small, easy to keep, fabulously colorful and extremely friendly. Kunes are larger than other small breeds, but still a very small pig. Usually, they range from 90 to 120 pounds, but some boars can get close to 200 pounds. No other pig breed is as friendly or easy on the environment. They can be fattened on grass alone and are known for their unusual ability to graze. They do not root like other pigs. The sweet disposition of the kunekune and their small size make them great for children. I have taken my pigs to church and school for special events. They trailer like a dream and will walk right in their very first time. Colors can be anything including
black, white, ginger (red), brown, and gold-tipped. I have even seen tri-color. Spotted, striped, marbled, and solid, curly, smooth, rough, long and short can all be found in the variety of coats. Characteristic tassels hang from their lower jaw adding to their unique appearance. These guys are also well balanced in conformation with a pleasingly round body. A short, up-turned snout and curly tail make the kunekune quite the charming little pig." This text included some pictures of the cutest variety of coloured pigs... I agree with Lesley, even for a professional eater like myself, it would be hard to dine on such a sweet little friend ! I was most intereseted to read that the kune kune pig GRAZES, and does not root... so Lesleys' garden was safe enough, the pig only wanted the grass... but bad news if you WANT a pig to root up an old bit of ground for you!
I can see that pigs descended from breeds used by the sailors of old would need to be of a docile nature.. after all, you wouldn't want to have a rampaging pig aboard ship!
I reckon Miss Piggy is most likely to be exceeding tender and tasty, even if I would prefer not to have to bump her off myself...it's a difficult call, this one!!
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Thanks Lesley and David for the inforamtion about the dact and NZ.
NZ is in Sweden talked about as our "antipol" (or something else that I have forgot) being directly opposite us on the other side of the world and more or less similar in size and population I think. (450 000 square kilometer and 9 milion inhabitants in Sweden.)
It is important to save the native flora but maybe a weed is still a weed even if it is only growing on 1 (2) island, but needs to be protected for biodeveritivity.
I presume that a lot of the problem is that people wanted to have the same in their new home (but better) as in their old so they brought their favorit plants and animals to new places. Some of the biodeversity might be saved in areas to protect it. That is how Europe have tried to solve things. I think we are getting better at it but with the change in agricultural methods it might be even more problem. I understand You want to do the opposite, keep nature in the nature and the new invironment in "protected areas" = gardens.
Once again thanks for the info and nice Pig hope it survived Christmas. (Ham is the main dish in Sweden)
Kind regards
Joakim
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I was trying to think what was different about the kunekune and your note Maggi, reminded me of the tassle thingies they have hanging on each side of the lower jaw. I think they are actual flesh covered with hair rather than just hair. Miss Piggy didn't have them but she is quite a young lady I think. she's certainly not full kunekune but maybe a little bit. A shortish and slightly squashed snout but not really turned up like the kunekune. And yes, she grazes, eating quite a succulent patch of grass and clover when she was here.
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My so called conservatory is nothing more than a handymans semi covered in porch in partial shade,(open at one end).As i haven't yet provided a window, once the sun shines on it the temps. quickly rise to the early 30s C.
The heat can be controlled somewhat when we are at home by opening a sliding door at the covered end to allow warmth into the house.
The following are a few plants that enjoy the environment .
Yes i know it's January not December (sigh--another year gone):'( However i took these shots a week ago.
That's it from me tonight as i'm heading away very early tomorrow on another 'road trip' to an area i've never botanised --so hopefully some different pics to come.
Cheers Dave.