December 2016 in the Southern Hemisphere

[johnw]

Yikes, that's cold.  Oddly that Cedrus does not do well around milder Yarmouth, whether it detests the eternal damp air or the persistent wind and cool I can't tell but the needles tend to rot off in the autumn.  The Atlas can burn here in Halifax and I have seen it toasted on occasion in Annapolis too.  The one in Bear River must have had a good stretch of summer-ripening years to get to that size.  There was also one down the road from Jill's nursery, around Clemetnsport.


Seems C. deodora 'Shalimar' is a much better bet though Dave V. has a lot of promising hardy German selectionsof deodora, libani and atlantica for sale. Iain picked up a few when we visited Dave last summer.


john

[Jupiter]

The little Sax. oppositifolia seedlings are really growing strongly now so I've moved them into the new crevice pot. The weather man says we are in for some nasty hot weather so I will need to find a cool place.

[fermi de Sousa]

Do either of you grow Digitalis obscura? If not, I may have some seeds to send you (if they are able to make it through Australian quarantine clearance).

Hi Gordon,
If you send some to Jamus, I'm sure he'll share
I tried it once before but didn't get a second generation, maybe because I only had a single plant in flower.
Seed is allowed into Australia - see this link https://bicon.agriculture.gov.au/BiconWeb4.0/ViewElement/Element/CaseScientificNames?caseElementPk=240501
In flower today are two plants of Gilia capitata raised from seed from 2 distinct populations sent by our good friend Robert B
cheers
fermi

[Robert]

Fermi,

I am glad to see that you have had success with the seed! 

I have a batch of F2 seedlings that have sprouted. We will see how they preform.

[vanozzi]

Merry Christmas all.

This is my first flowering of Arisaema fargessii and it is all that I had hoped for.

[Jupiter]

Reminds me I should feed mine.

[fermi de Sousa]

Reminds me I should feed mine.

You haven't named it "Audrey II" have you?
 
We're enjoying a brief respite from the heat with a few mm of rain falling after 2 days of mid 30s (^oC) - it's going to be a long summer
I've posted these to the Iris Thread: Iris Kinboshi in the rain
cheers
fermi

[Jupiter]

I KNEW it was a little shop of horrors reference Fermi! A quick google confirmed it. LOL   

Kaempferia rotunda popped out a flower and surprised me. Happens every year.

[GordonT]

That is a new one to me. Had to look up Kaempferia rotunda after seeing the photo..... maybe a candidate for the sunroom during our winters?

[Jupiter]

No idea Gordon if you'd succeed with it inside, but definitely not frost tolerant. It barely makes it through each winter here, perilously close to rotting, because its dormancy is supposed to coincide with cooler and dryer, then growth in the monsoon season with the combination of rain and heat, which is the exact opposite of our climate. I'm being treated to a succession of flowers. Second one opened today and there are more buds emerging. Previously they've all come more or less at once..

[Jupiter]

Just some regale lilies, but worth sharing I think.

[Mini bulb lover]

Salvia przewalskii is still looking okay in this humid heat. I wish I could say the same for me!

[Parsla]

The arisaema is gorgeous vanozzi, how tall does it grow?
Fermi, I thought exactly the same thing when Jamus said he must feed his. I did laugh

My little sky-blue sony pocket camera has finally had it. 
the autofocus is gone and it has no manual override.
shall miss it as so easy to use and had quite nice focal depth for such a 'littlie'.

Apologies in advance for the iphone photos - can't seem to focus in close up but these shall have to do for now.

1. A rhodohypoxis from the AGS bunfight last year is flowering now.
2. The Silene uniflora makes a nice ground cover, although already exhibiting thuggish tendencies
3. Gentiana triflora. Very pale. Colouring like campanula 'chettle charm' but peppered with green - no they aren't aphids.

Wishing all of you a happy and rewarding 2017.

jacqui.

[Lesley Cox]

There is still time I hope, to wish everyone who looks at this thread and indeed ALL FORUMISTS, a very happy New Year in 2017. Each year I hope that this one will be better than the one just finished yet it never is. I dread to think what will come of the posturing between Putin and Trump and government in the USA, it seems, will be conducted by tweet for God's sake! The ongoing catastrophe that is Syria shames us all and the Middle East generally is a powder keg. Famines and wars, droughts and floods, terrorism and intolerance are now the "norm" of life on earth and it is only the small, almost invisible and random acts of love and kindness which keep humanity from sinking into a pit from which we may never emerge.

Yet for all that I don't feel totally depressed and without hope. Individually we can only carry on our lives decently and with care for our neighbors and those who may still be strange to us. The sun still rises each day even if it is behind the clouds. Gardens are still full of flowers and our children and grandchildren may yet find the solutions to the world's woes. But may they do so, soon.

So, a happy New Year to all Forumists. May your seeds germinate, your plants grow well, the rain fall when you need it and the sun shine between times.

Best wishes to all.

[Jupiter]

Happy New Year to you too Lesley and all other Forumists; Fermi and Will, Otto, Jacqui, Lesley II (Kaydale) and all my other friends here. Thank you all for your continued education and support.

Jacqui thanks for sharing images of your Gentiana triflora. I LOVE Gentians and am determined to see flowers here some day. No luck yet! We are having a very mild summer so far, so maybe that will allow them to grow enough to flower next year? Let's hope.