December in the Southern Hemisphere

[t00lie]

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

 

[ranunculus]

Lovely images everyone....many thanks to you all.
Kindest regards,
Cliff

[Lesley Cox]

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.



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.





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.





Androsace lanuginosa is pink flowered, the centred reddening as the flowers age. I prefer the pure white flowers of A. l. var leichtlinii.





The hard green mat of Bolax gemmifera (syn. Azorella trifurata) is equally good with (here) or without its little green flowers.



And finally for 2006, one of my favourite things at this time of year, the black-striped seed pod of Lilium nanum.

[annew]

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.

[Paddy Tobin]

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

[Maggi Young]

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?

[John Forrest]

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.

[Lesley Cox]

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.







Our dog showed much more interest in the lady than he ever does in another dog



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.

[Joakim B]

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

[Lesley Cox]

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.

[Joakim B]

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

[David Lyttle]

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.

[David Lyttle]

I see I have posted Carmichealia twice. Here is the Olearia semidentata I intended to post

[mark smyth]

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

[John Forrest]

Is it a wee pot bellied pig? Let's hope it also doesn't 'go wild' and start grubbing up the wild plants.