January 2007 Downunder

[Lesley Cox]

Fermi, I think your deadheading comment was very much tongue-in-cheek because why would you deadhead? `Letitia' is sterile so no seed. A quick trim over with shears or heavy scissors is all that's needed to keep her tidy.

[fermi de Sousa]

Thanks, Lesley, yes, "dead-heading" is prehaps not the right term. I use secateurs rather than shears to trim her and that's why it's tedious. I've been told I could get a second flowering by trimming early in the summer rather than waiting for autumn.
Joakim, the reason for trimming back is not to prevent seeding, but to clear the tangle of spiny, dead flower spikes from interfering with the new growth.
The conditions here make it easy to grow "Letitia" outdoors but if we get a really wet winter I might have to think about some cover.
Luc, glad to hear that you can grow her outside.
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Here are a couple of plants flowering for the first time from seed.
Campanula troegerae from NARGS 2005 Seedex.
And Aquilegis scopulorum, just a single bloom but so lovely.
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Some of the Salvias do well for us in the open Rock garden though we consistently lose tender ones like S. leucantha in the borders; maybe I should try it in a drier environment?
Here's S. cryptantha which has wonderfully silver foliage and doesn't need to flower to earn a place in the rock garden, staying around 30cm high and 40 cm wide.
S. dolomitica is a bit taller but does well at the back of the Rock garden.
And Salvia candidissima (grown from MESE seed) flowered profusely then collapsed without setting seed!
Hopefully a sibling seedling will eventually flower and set seed. It is definitely for the back of the rock garden because of its height but enjoys the conditions...I mean "enjoyed".
cheers
fermi

[Geebo]

Hi Fermides,
when seen your pics i could not help to call for a please,any seeds to spare of the plants you are showing,Im very interested in aquilegias,salvias,campagnula.
have a good collection of Salvia`s to share.
Cheers Geebo

[John Forrest]

Hi Fermi
I like your Aquilegia scopulorum, one of my favourite plants. I wonder if your campanula is C. chorhuensis,which is a half way house between C.troegerae and C. betulifolia. Attached is a picture of C.troegerae, seed collected by Jim Archibald. As you can see it is more upright, whereas C. betulifolia is always pendant. Yours is still a nice plant though, with large flowers.

[mark smyth]

Fermi you have the best Geranium harveyi I have ever seen

[Lesley Cox]

John, I have the hydrid you mention, bought recently just as C. trogerae x betulaelia, but without the hybrid name. I'll give it that. However, the flowers are much more like those of the latter plant than like trogerae. Fermi's seem to be like trogerae in shape, the hybrid's having a deep barrel shape behind the lobes. I'll nip out in a minute and get a pic if there's a decent one on it.

[Lesley Cox]

This beautiful clematis species is a 1981 import from the UK. I believe it should be Clematis vernayi now but it came to me as C. orientalis L and S 13342, the collectors' number still usually being attached to it, even now. It is sometimes called the "orange peel" clematis but I think lemon peel is much closer, the flowers having this thick texture and bright yellow colour. I just love it. Very rampant and needing to be cut hard every year (to about 12" here) it has never given me a seedling though the large silky heads seem to have fertile seed.

[Lesley Cox]

Here's my Campanula trogerae x betulaefolia hybrid. Although the habit and flower shape are similar to the latter, the foliage is quite grey and like that of trogerae. I had to take the pics indoors as we have a very strong nor'west gale today. I could hardly stand up out there. I think Fermi's plant looks like trogerae, especially with the stigma poking forward the way it does. A plant of the hybrid as I have it, will go to Australia in early April. It's not the same as betulaefolia.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Lesley
thanks for the photo of your Camp. hybrid. I got a similar plant from SRGC seedex seed about 5years ago.
I made a mistake when I said that this one was from NARGS seed; it was the Aquilegia that was from NARGS, the Campanula troegerae was from SRGC seedex! I have 3 other seedlings that are yet to flower and there maybe a degree of hybridism as the foliage varies between velvet and glossy! Hopefully they'll come back again next year and flower.
I've ordered some C. choruhensis seed so may be able to compare them in the future.
Geebo, I'll see what seed is available this year and let you know.

Here's an Australian native plant than enjoys Rock garden conditions: Ptilotus exulatatus, commonly called "Pussy-tails"!
cheers
fermi

[Geebo]

Hi Fermi,
That is very nice of you,im sure there is something here I could do in exchange for you,I keep you informed also.
Cheers,
Geebo.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Geebo
the pic you showed is one of the Salvias we grow: Mexican Sage, Salvia leucantha, but it needs protection from the frost here!
Here are a few pics of the rainlilies re-appearing after a weekend of drizzle starting on Friday and amounting to a whole 15mm only! So it doesn't take much to get them to re-bloom! Any takers for seed?
This is a sequence over 25hours! And the rain only fell on Jan 19-21.
cheers
fermi

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Astonishing plant Fermi and very attractive at that !
I'd be glad to get some seeds from them - would they be hardy out here
(Belgium - in a normal winter -8 or 10°C or even less .. but what is normal nowadays ?  )

[Maggi Young]

Spectacular sequence, Fermi, great to see.  Makes me think fondly of the "desert blooms" I saw in Africa in my youth...good grief, that makes me sound even older than I am! It was fantastic to see the ground come alive with flowers in such a short time after rain, these magical things stay in your mind forever, thank goodness.