Early February 2007

[Anthony Darby]

Wow. White out conditions! If anyone says they don't grow on trees.......

[Maggi Young]

Just super pictures, snowies looking genuinely snowy! That tree trunk is superb... proves that the seeds must be distributed by ants, how else might the plants have got there?
Welcome to the Forum, TC, you've started with a bang!

[mark smyth]

looks great but the snowdrops on the tree dont seem to be the same species as all others.

[Ian Y]

We have a slight problem in that our upload folder is full and we need to allocate more disc space to the forum at our server - you may not be able to post images in the meantime.
We will sort this out as soon as possible but being Sunday night it may not happen until monday morning.
Only posts with pictures are affected, you can post as much text as you wish.
Sorry for this temporary problem -  normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

[Ian Y]

Good news,
Mr Admin is working late tonight and has increased the disc allocation so normal service should now be resumed.
Thank you Fred.

[Anthony Darby]

It's OK Ian, a special reserve malt whisky calmed me down. Here's three pics of a hellebore grown in a raised sunless bed by the back door. The branches are part of a Wisteria.

[TC]

Hello from newbie - well not actually.  I occasionally contributed to the forum in the past under a different name.  Then for some reason I was disconnected. I presumed I had inadvertantly transgresed some protocol and I gave up looking at the forum until a couple of weeks back.  When I tried to log on I was told I did not exist.  Being 65, I quickly took my pulse, and although beating at 48 beats a minute, I discovered to my own satisfaction that I was still alive.  This was confirmed a few days later when I met Betty Ivie and Ian Christie at Cambo Gardens when my wife and I started out on the Snowdrop trail.  
For my sins, I am the Treasurer of the Ayr Group.  I reached this exalted position because I failed to turn up at the AGM and was voted in "in absentia"
I turned to rock garden plants 15 years ago  because my dream of planting of planting a Himalayan forest in my back garden measuring 55 x 35 feet was somewhat grandiose.  Hobbies are Bird watching, Gardening and trying to master the blues guitar.  Two more pictures attached

[Anthony Darby]

I'm sure Officer Dibble will forgive and forget TC
Here is Corydalis cheilanthifolia, a Chinese species that caught my eye in a garden centre on Saturday.

[johngennard]

That's the way to see snowdrops,I love all of your pics.I grow 150 varieties or should I say 'NAMES' and am very sceptical about all of  the new names let alone a lot of the older names.Even the intelligentsia can't tell me what some of them are where the label has been lost

[Maggi Young]

HI, Tom! I presume your previous posts were on the old forum?  That had to be changed to this new system when ALL our details went walkabout and we all had to re-register for the new forum.
These Fullarton woods are a treasure, I presume because they are a public park that they are safe from development? 

A friend  of ours had a cat which looked just like Benny the Ball, one of Top Cat's sidekicks. He didn't wear the cute little jackets, but apart from that he was a dead ringer!

Anthony, what a strange plant to find at a  garden centre. Not that the Corydalis cheilanthefolia is strange but that one doesn't normally see that sort of interesting plant in garden centres. Quite "fancy" for that kind of outlet, I'd have thought... perhaps this is a sign that this season these centres will stock more out of the ordinary plants. Hope costs nothing, after all.

[Lesley Cox]

How can you tell Mark, the ones on the ground are so thick it's impossible to say what they are. So stop complaining!

Anthony, your Corydalis will seed around a bit. I have to nip out quite a lot but they're not a problem, coming out quite easily. Individuals are perennial but maybe not long lived. The foliage is very pretty.

[johngennard]

A few pics taken on this glorious sunny day,inside and out.

     Edgeworthia chrysantha.jpg
    close-up.jpg
    Ashwood Yellow spotted.jpg
    Ashwood Double.jpg
    100mm.macro no 2 003.jpg
    Asphodelus acaulis.jpg
    Asarum splendens.jpg
    Daphne Jaqueline Postill.jpg
    Daphne jezoensis.jpg
    Alnus inana 'Aurea'.jpg

[Maggi Young]

Goodness, John G, I have just been enjoying those wonderful plants you have of Hepatica and now I open this thread and see that your garden is in full bloom, too!! Wonderful! It has been a wet, windy  and very cold day here, how nice to see others faring better! The Edgeworthia doesn't look real, does it? looks like it has been crafted out ofthat fuzzy felt that children play with. And such a crisp clean colour combination, too. Would that grow for us up here, do you think? I can't say I've ever seen it offered in Scotland.

[johngennard]

I doubt that it would be hardy for you Maggi.Until recently,that is since the advent of climate change,I would'nt have risked it here either.In fact I saw it for sale for the first time only 3yrs.ago which is when I planted it.It is related to the daphne family which is evident from the individual flowers and it also has a similar scent.
Below are a couple of pics.that I was'nt able to fit in on my previous post.Hope you like them.
Myosotidium hortensis and  Ranunculus calandriniodes

[Maggi Young]

Indeed I do, John, as will everyone, I know. The giant  Chatham Island forget-me-not, Myosotidium hortensis is extraordinary, isn't it? I first saw that in real life in Harold McBride's garden, couldn't believe the size of the leaves, and so shiny!  Good, clean Ranunculus, too.
I will edit your post to include the plant names in the text, John, so that the forum search facility can locate the pictures. Bit of a tip for future posts.... I know we can see the file names  underthe thumnails in your posts, but the search facility cannot find those for some reason!