Desert Island Seeds

[peter hood]

Helen, Glad you liked the pictures , I'll add a few more; Eryngium Bourgatii grows a bit tall - about two foot tall.

Sue -I grow lots of seed too -about 150 batches this year. Seeds are like little miracles. Alpine growers are collectors. You may know Karel Capek's book The Gardener's World.
"The cultivator of a rock garden is not only a gardener, but a collector as well, and that puts him among the serious maniacs."
I admit it, the charge is true.


Peter

[Lesley Cox]

Eryngium bourgatii, how big does it get?
Have never seen it before.

I have a form of it called 'Picos Blue,' grown from seed and comes true. It is very beautiful, a brilliant yet metallic blue, very spiky and about 60cms tall but growing under my oak so gets very dry. The leaves are stunning too, Spiky green, heavily silvered. If I can retrieve some seed, I'll send it but harvesting it could kill me.

Oh golly, Roger has just walked in with a packet of seed from Pilous. Must leave this and open it.

[maggiepie]

I have a form of it called 'Picos Blue,' grown from seed and comes true. It is very beautiful, a brilliant yet metallic blue, very spiky and about 60cms tall but growing under my oak so gets very dry. The leaves are stunning too, Spiky green, heavily silvered. If I can retrieve some seed, I'll send it but harvesting it could kill me.
 

Lesley, much as I would love some I cannot take responsibility for killing you.
I would be driven out of the forum!!!
 

[Lesley Cox]

Maybe I could send it with the dog? He has already come into the house a few times covered with bidi-bids, the seeds of the native Acaena species of which we have a patch somewhere. Haven't been able to find it yet but Marley obviously has.

The Pilous seed is pure gold but they have held Iris brandzae as not on the Bio Index. Forgot that it is generally accepted now as a subsp of sintenisii. I'll give MAF Brian Mathew's "The Iris" as a reference and they should release it.

26 more packets of seed to sow!

Peter (Hood) - Plants are great and wonderful and quicker but seed holds the future and dreams and hopes and aspirations and the means to share with others and that buzz which only comes (presumably) from having one's addiction fed and nurtured. Seed is better even, than chocolate (YES Maggi) because you don't have a sore stomach when you've had too much of it and it lasts longer.

[fermi de Sousa]

I'll give MAF Brian Mathew's "The Iris" as a reference and they should release it.

That's awfully generous of you, Lesley! I just sent our AQIS chap an e-mail with a link to the name changes to allow my with-held AGS seed to be sent to me!
If I knew you had a spare copy of "The Iris" I would've asked for it!
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

And if I had a spare I would happily have sent it to you Fermi. MAF will have to make do with photocopies I'm afraid. Actually, this book was given to me by my Mt Tomah friend, DS (to whom I must write and at length, he's badly neglected recently.)

[Tim Ingram]

Helen - you should have no trouble with Eryngium bourgatii in a hot dry spot. For me it self-sows really too well... But oh I wish I could grow those beautiful primulas; they should be possible in nice wet South Wales for Sue!

[maggiepie]

Thanks for the info, Tim.
I won't mind if it seeds around a little.
The primulas are beautiful for sure.
Imagine if we grew everything we fell in lust with.
 

[peter hood]

Tim,

Primula bracteata does not want South Wales wet! More like Dionysia conditions, at very least Primula allionii conditions.If you are too dry for Primulas it is just the plant for you. Primula woollastonii dies for most people quite quickly wherever you grow it. I am growing bracteata and have grown woollastonii quite near the North East coast -which is pretty dry. That's why I don't grew Petiolarids for example very often. They should do well in South Wales.

[Tim Ingram]

Peter - thank you! Except for a short spell many years ago I haven't really grown any primulas (except for marginata) because so many are ill-suited to the south-east, and I grow most things out in the garden. I will be strongly tempted to try bracteata and learn more about them in general. David Sampson grew some very well (he had plants from Gerry Mundy?), along with shortias and celmisias, and I never knew how he managed it!

[Lesley Cox]

He certainly made good use of heavily shaded beds under shadecloth. I'll never forget the beds of Shortias, possively glowing with good health, and of course the white Dactylorhizas.

[peter hood]

Quote from: Tim Ingram on February 06, 2012, 02:14:12 PM
  I will be strongly tempted to try bracteata 

Tim; someone called Peter Hood usually sends seeds of Primula bracteata to the seed exchanges; I usually have a bit more spare because it only ripens about the end of October. Don't all rush, but I might be able to put you on my list for next year - if the plants survive; But I don't think you will get away with them in the open garden.