Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere

[kaydale]

Hi all,
It's been a while, about two years or so, since I last posted here.  But I have been watching, and reading!, with great interest.  I got my SRGC seed yesterday and was so happy with what I got, and even better AQIS didn't pick it up!  It finally prodded me into posting.  Still as mad as ever on Frits, Trilliums, Erythroniums, Crocus, Colchicum, Dodecatheons . . . . the list is endless!
I will post a few photos of some Frits and Trilliums soon,
Lesley Crowden

[Maggi Young]

Hi, Lesley, really great to have you back out of the shadows!! Hope you and the rest of the Crowden Clan are all well?

[kaydale]

Hi Maggie,
Yes we are all well down here, gardening like mad as usual!!  The last few years has seen some major changes in the garden, one being the bulb rockery that was built to house all my 'little runty things' as my sister calls them.  The other is the Trillium Bed.  We dug up all the primroses and stuff that was in this patch and planted out the Trillium seedlings, they'd germinated in 1999 and were finally big enough.  Last spring they all finally flowered, I've attached a picture (hopefully!) below.  Plus a two the the prized Fritillaria's that finally got up and flowered last year for the first time.
Lesley

[Paul T]

Lesley,

Welcome back!!  The pics are absoultely wonderful!!  Wish I grew all of that (well at least that I had all of those things you showed pics of in my garden). Of course I DO have some Trillium, just not in those numbers or some of those colours!  The Frit persica is just glorious..... something I hope to grow successfully one day.

[kaydale]

Hi Paul,
Phew, I was hoping that the photos had uploaded.  Wasn't sure I was doing it right, thank goodness they were there!!
It all takes time, F Persica took 10 years to flower for me!!  Although I will admit that it survived my 'junior' years of growing seed which probably set it back a bit.  Basically I germinated everything well but didn't really know how to look after it.  Thankfully I learnt alot, and quickly!  Same with the Trilliums, I had tried and tried to germinate Trillium and finally I gave up, just throwing all the seed in a 1ft by 1ft tray and then they all decided to come up!!  All 700 of them, which was very tedious to prick them out.
I am really looking forward to the talk in September with Gay Henderson on Trilliums, also the one Marcus is doing.
I have attached another two photos.  One is F Davisii, only one variation in the whole bunch of seed.  Another is of an unknown Frit, grown as Crassifolia ssp Kurdica which it definately is not!
Lesley

[Brian Ellis]

Lesley what a super picture of your trillium bed.  I am green with envy

[ChrisB]

Lovely trilliums there.  Where abouts do you garden though?

[mark smyth]

wow thats one or two Trilliums

[kaydale]

Hi Brian,
Thanks, I was amazed at the different colours that came from either red and white parents.  I went through (like tinkerbell!!) and took 22 different colours/variations.  I have a few that even I couldn't belive, below is the best yellow with great leaf mottling.
Lesley

[kaydale]

Hi Chris,
Whoops, I supposed I should have done a proper introduction.  I live on the North West coast of Tasmania, Australia.  There are four keen gardners in our family, which means that the garden keeps growing.  It's now around 3 acres but in the next year or so we will have another acre to play with.  My sister and I are having a tussel into the layout and what is actually going to be planted there. 
I am a bulb fanatic.  It started with Frit Meleagris and then the harder species, then liliums, Erythroniums, Trilliums, Crocus etc.
Thankfully we were encouraged at a young age but our mother, she was the one that joined us up to the SRGC and AGS.  I love growing things from seed, I have told mum that all the bulbs are the closest things to grand kids that she's ever going to get, so she had better admire them when they flower!
We are at the moment building a new website about the garden, when it is finished I will put the address up.
Lesley

[ChrisB]

Sounds just wonderful Lesley.  I have a dear friend who lives in Penguin.  Is she very far from you?

[Brian Ellis]

What a lovely trillium the pink at the bottom of the 'throat' makes it look like raspberries and cream.

[Lvandelft]

Wow, that's a Trilliumfield I can only dream of, here with the bulbfields around. Just beautiful!

[kaydale]

Hi Chris,
Penguin is only about 45 min from me, not far at all!
I'm glad that you've all liked the pictures, here's a different one.  I thought that I might put up something that didn't flower last October!  It's flowering at the moment (took the photo yesterday), Gladi Flanaganii, one of my fav species gladies.
Lesley

[ChrisB]

Suicide plant I think they call it, Lesley.  Such a rich, throbbing red that is.  I have a few small bulbs planted that SueG gave me last year.  I wonder how long they will be before they flower for me?