AGS show at Harlow Carr - 17th October 2015

[Maggi Young]

Not to be outdone. Some of the plants and a wander round the garden.
http://s703.photobucket.com/user/Owdboggy/slideshow/Harlow%20Carr
We looked at the prices in Betty's and decided we would rather go hungry!

What a  great selection of pix, Eric - thank you for sharing the link.  Some really super show plants there and a feel for the gardens as a whole.  Feel I've had a good walk with your and Cliff's pictures!

I got excited about  the flower sculpture on the wall - thought  it was a tribute to the Dryas octopetala - but then I counted the petals .... ah well, never mind! 

[Maggi Young]

can you tell me what picture 12 is? - I have a pot from seed and it seems to have lost the label along the way.........

Polyxena longituba?

[Palustris]

The first Polxena  in the slide show is labelled P. ensifolia which according to the Plant List is a synonym for Lachenalia ensifolia, as indeed many  other Polyxena are listed as Lachenalia, make of that what you will.

[Maggi Young]

The first Polxena  in the slide show is labelled P. ensifolia which according to the Plant List is a synonym for Lachenalia ensifolia, as indeed many  other Polyxena are listed as Lachenalia, make of that what you will.

Leaving aside the Polyxena /Lachenalia  point  -
 I think there would be a mistake in naming then, because  P. ensifolia has just a couple of  broad leaves,see this Pacific Bulb Society page : http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Polyxena


 And from the AGS site : where P. ensifolia is plant of the month - but the plant resembling the one in the Harlow Show  is named as P. longituba.....   http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/plant-portraits/Polyxena+ensifolia+plant+of+the+month+January+/102/

[Palustris]

I would not presume to argue, I have never managed to grow any of these, ever.

[Graeme]

thanks Palustris and Maggie

Yes mine I think is P. ensifolia (but I note the name change)- but I will post a picture when its stopped raining - the pot has a narcissus label in it and I suspect it is a seed from a long lost plant

I need to get the seed collected from last years flowers - they are still on the plant

[David Nicholson]

I would not presume to argue, I have never managed to grow any of these, ever.

I find Polyxena longituba very easy. I treat it in exactly the same way as all my Autumn/Spring bulbs, all watered for the first time in mid-September. My example is showing good leaf and will be in flower later next month. Easy from seed too. A nice potful of offset small bulbs will be delivered to Mike Quest tomorrow morning.

[Maggi Young]

I hope Eric will forgive me for showing his photo of the Polyxena from Harlow Carr  here

[David Nicholson]

I agree with Maggi, the plant that Eric pictured is Polyxena longituba and not, as labeled, P. ensifolia. The example pictured may have been short of a little light but here's mine from last year.

[Maggi Young]

That side shot shows the "long tube" nicely, David. I think it's pretty common to have the leaves that length.

[Jon Evans]

The plant we now know as Polyxena longituba (or as it should now be - Lachenalia longituba), was distributed around alpine circles for many years as either P. ensifolia or P. corymbosa, so it is no surprise that there are still pots appearing labelled incorrectly.  There was an excellent article by Terry Smale in the Alpine Gardener some ten years or so ago which discussed this naming error.  The true Lachenalia ensifolia is another martyr to autumn / winter wet (as L. maughanii, discussed recently on the AGS forum), whereas L. longituba is a fairly forgiving plant, and easy to grow, but still a great pleasure when a potful is in full flower.

[Graeme]

thanks Jon - mine will be longituba then as it has had no care whatsoever

[Maggi Young]

Autumn/winter wet -spring/ summer wet - we're just martyrs to wet!

[ranunculus]

Back to the gardens and the show ...

[ranunculus]

And more ...