December 2007 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Lesley Cox]

My ixia isn't `Amethystina' Fermi, which I also have but that one is shorter and a much paler colour. The one in the pic is a man-made hybrid from a north of Auckland garden and has stronger, more positive colour. It grows to a full metre in height, `Amethystina' only half that here, in my dry conditions.

[Paddy Tobin]

Fermi,

Oenothera missourensis is one of my favourite plants, giving years of unfailing service and flowering though, disappointingly no seeds. Does yours set seed?

Paddy

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Paddy,
not a one! I wonder if it's a sterile clone that's been propagated vegetatively for ages and we need another clone to be able to set seed?
I saw a wonderful form of this in the US which had silver foliage! It may have been a form of O. macrocarpum, but I can't remember now!
Cheers
fermi

[Paddy Tobin]

Fermi,

I grew my plant from seed and so would have expected it to set seed at least occasionally.

Paddy

[Carlo]

Fermi,

Would that have been Oenothera fremontii 'Lemon Silver'?

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Carlo,
quite possibly. We saw it in Colorado at the Gardens near Littleton.....er.. little grey cells not working well this late ona Friday afternoon!
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

Fermi,

Would that have been Oenothera fremontii 'Lemon Silver'?

This sounds nice.

[Carlo]

Lesley,

It's got silvery foliage and  a kind of pale mid-yellow flower. A good doer in "rock garden" soil and good sun.

[Lesley Cox]

I doubt if the cultivar is here so I'll keep a lookout for seed which may give a good approximation.

Can anyone remember which topic contained the ribbing of the stoic Martin Baxendale, about his hair - or lack thereof?

[Maggi Young]

Lesley, you were ribbing Martin in "Moan moan moan etc ! see here:

http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=918.msg23367#msg23367

[Lesley Cox]

Thank you Maggi. I don't want to continue ribbing poor Martin but in fact I have something really positive for him.

Goodness, this is post number 2000. I feel a cake coming on.

[Maggi Young]

OOH, congratulations, Lesley.Weather here is so awful I feel the need for warm muffins, actually

[fermi de Sousa]

Congrats, lesley,
perhaps you could make one of those cakes you serve hot with a heated sauce to warm up our Northern Hemisphere chums?
Here are a few floral offerings from the garden and Shadehouse!
First, another dwarf Alstroemeria in the rock garden, A.angustifolia


the foliage has already burned off but it still manages to bloom.
The next is growing in the SHadehouse as I haven't been successful with it in the garden; A.presliana(? ssp. australis?)


The powerfully scented, silver-foliaged Salvia cryptantha.


And now a bit of a mystery plant and not what I expected; Delosperma kofleri, apologies for the poor quality pics.




I got seed of it from NARGS Seedex in 2000; didn't get to sow it till 2001 (!) and it didn't germinate till this year! It looks like it would be best in a trough as it so tiny, but I wonder if it'll spread in time? Does anyone else have experience with this one? I think the seed was donated by Panayoti Kelaidis at the Denver Botanic Garden, probably collected by him in South Africa.
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

That is a super salvia Fermi. You know the question coming up now, don't you?

[fermi de Sousa]

And the reply question:Is it on MAF?!
Last Saturday was our local AGS group's "Bunfight", our annual plant exchange! A good day was had by all who could attend and as usual we came back with more than we took, though we did take a few dry bulbs which didn't take up much room!
We also won the second prize in the raffle which was a Cynorkis ridleyii! And before you say "A What?" I'd better post a pic of it:






Looking at the internet, this isn't apparently C. ridleyi but more likely C. uncinata, but I'm no orchid expert and can say that I've killed more than I've gotten to grow and flower! Bad news for Tim as he's been promised the first offset! Hopefully with some help from the Forum we may get it to survive long enough to produce a viable offspring to give Tim.
So, who's got some advice on how to keep this going?
cheers
fermi
The Orc(hid)-Killer!