Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: fermi de Sousa on October 01, 2013, 03:34:46 AM
-
Another month has gone by!
We're right into spring here having had a severe storm last night with wind gusts over 100kmh!
In the Sand Bed a lot of South African bulbs are in flower,
[attach=1]
especially lovely is Moraea aristata (which might be a hybrid)
[attach=2]
[attach=3]
cheers
fermi
-
Tropaeolum tricolor still struggles on in parts of the garden without any interference from us!
cheers
fermi
-
Found this irid - I'm presuming it's a moraea one which used to be Gynandriris setifolia - growing where I'd never planted it! But it is in other parts of the garden, so seed must have been relocated at some time!
cheers
fermi
-
Fermi, it is Moraea (G.) setifolia. Incredibly, also in flower at the same time with you and over here in Argentina. Another one in flower right now is Moraea (Gynandriris ) simulans so I imagine you must find it in flower in the garden.
-
A 38'C day has been forecast here today ( :P ) so I went out early with the hosepipe to give a few plants some respite from the heat and drought; whilst there I noticed one of my favorite South Americans in gorgeous bloom, Calydorea xiphioides:
A nearby pot of Cypella hauthalii opalina also promised to be spectacular with no less than six blooms today but some bug got in first and ate the lot!
I could not resist this tray of glory, one of my "just for fun" pots dazzling the eye with primary colour - it probably won't look so good later today after the high temperatures though!:
-
Here the two are together from last year:
-
Rogan,
nice stuff; disappointing about that bug >:( but there's always next year, I guess.
Some pics from the weekend:
Leschenaultia biloba from Western Australia and a Senna sp - not sure if it's an Aussie native or an introduced species;
Eremophila densiflora and a close up of the flower head
Aphyllanthes monspelsiensis
a tulip from Marcus as "aff sprengerii" - maybe a hybrid?
cheers
fermi
-
Calydorea xiphioides:
What a lovely combination of blue and yellow, Rogan ::) I presume it is a bulbous plant?
-
May I answer, Rogan. It is a tigridioid from Chile with bulbs, and difficult to maintain alive not to mention to flower to perfection as Rogan does. As most lowland Chilean bulbs it is very sensitive to humid air.
-
I love your picture of Leschenaultia biloba Fermi, one of those 'legendary' plants from Australia; I have never managed to germinate the seeds though - probably because I didn't use 'smoke water'.
Thank you Alberto,
Initially I made the mistake thinking that Calydorea xiphioides would enjoy full sun; it doesn't and grows and flowers much more readily with morning sun only. I have found that to be the case with the aforementioned Cypella species and Herbertia pulchella as well (which I really do find difficult to grow at the best of times).
I do grow a few more South / central American irids as well and find them all very interesting and rewarding plants to cultivate.
-
Rogan, the Calydorea, Cypella and Herbertia are all plants of open pastures in full sun, the Cypella growing in a really hot area. Perhaps your pots get too hot for them. Why not try growing them in the ground in a slightly raised bed?
Calydorea xiphioides comes from a perfectly Mediterranean climate. H. pulchella and the Cypella receive year round rainfall, only that in summer the rain is not enough to keep them green, therefore they are both summer dormant but never get dry bone soil around the year. The Cypella grows in Australia (in cultivation of course) to perfection in the hot regions in full sun.
-
May I answer, Rogan. It is a tigridioid from Chile with bulbs, and difficult to maintain alive not to mention to flower to perfection as Rogan does. As most lowland Chilean bulbs it is very sensitive to humid air.
Thank you Alberto!
No problems with humid air here near the coast ;D , but alas the temps will be too low to grow such beauties, I'm afraid :(
-
Luit, they suffer from humid air, that is why Leucocorynes are grown so well in Australia.
-
Oops, I understood it totally wrong then Alberto. I'll do my best to notice :)
-
This tuberous rooted Pelargonium anethifolium has a lovely fragrance in the evening. It's flowering for me for the first time.
The tall bearded iris came from a friend years ago. It's in a position that's been too shady for it to flower the last few years but this year it finally produced one. I moved it's offsets earlier this year into a sunny position but they haven't flowered yet.
Can anyone tell me what type of bee is on my Achillea argentea?
-
Jon,
I can tell you it isn't a bee - only one pair of wings and thus a hoverfly. What my Uni lecturer would have called an example of Batesian mimicry. Which hoverfly it is I can't tell you.
-
Thanks Rob. I was hesitant to call it a bee but didn't know how else to describe it. It looks like Melangyna damaster from a quick Google search but I'm no expert.
-
Hi Jon,
Is that the Pelargonium foliage in the back-ground? The flower looks similar to the P.triste I got from Roraima Nursery years ago; it's different to the one I grew from seed from Silverhills.
The TBI is an old French hybrid, I think; someone named them on the Forum a few years ago. Pat Toolan might have it written down - I always forget :-[
Here's a pic of MBI Jallab in the Rock garden,
cheers
fermi
-
Fermi - that is Pelargonium foliage in the back-ground. A Google image search shows that P.triste looks very similar to P.anethifolium. I purchased mine from Pat Marko last year. She grew it from seed. She wasn't sure if I'd get the same colouring. The purple blotches look black in person. Does P.triste have a fragrance? I'm seeing Pat Wednesday so I'll ask her about it.
-
Hi Jon,
here's a pic of Pelargonium triste from last month - but it's still flowering now - this is the form I grew from seed. It is incrediably scented in the evening and hardly scented at other times so is probably moth-pollinated.
cheers
fermi
-
I was hesitant
Mimicry did it's job then ;D.
-
Fermi - Going by the leaf, mine is probably P.triste. Geraniaceae.com describes the leaf of P.anethifolium as having "long narrow lobed leaves". Unfortunatley it doesn't have a photo of them, but it does have photos of the leaves of P.triste. Mind you it says P.triste has brownish blotches. Mine are dark purple like the P.anethifolium photo. Mimicry at work? ;)
P.anethifolium - http://geraniaceae.com/cgi-bin/detail.py?id=908 (http://geraniaceae.com/cgi-bin/detail.py?id=908)
P.triste - http://geraniaceae.com/cgi-bin/detail.py?id=871 (http://geraniaceae.com/cgi-bin/detail.py?id=871)
-
The TB Iris is definitely an oldie, QUITE old and what the Iris people now call "Historic." But they go too far and are calling TBs of only about 30 years old by that term even though they have a modern look to them. TBs from the 80s and 90s are among the finest still, in my opinion, but then I'm not keen of the ultra frillies, spoons, hooks, horns etc which are more and more evident on the latest cultivars.
-
Agree Lesley
-
Fermi - a query about my Pelargonium anethifolium has gone all the way to Cape Town, South Africa for clarification/ identification! Apparently it can have variable leaf forms and the way to tell the difference between P.triste and P.anethifolium is that the later has "...minute hairs on the stem and leaves which are not apparent on triste". So mine is correctly labelled. :D
-
Jon,
if I get a chance I'll bring a flower and some foliage to the meeting on Saturday!
I think this is Muscari weissii now in bloom in the rock garden,
cheers
fermi
-
After filling several pots with seed-raised bulbs of Watsonia aletroides and W. laccata, I planted the "excess" bulbs in a scruffy old tractor tyre in my back yard; low and behold the "excess" bulbs did famously and are giving me a fabulous show - the potted bulbs did not do nearly as well! On top of that, one of the W. laccata seedlings has turned out to be white-flowered, a real bonus... 8)
-
It's always nice to have a surprise like that, Rogan ;D
Here's the first flowering on Penstemon eatonii, which Palmiro, a member of our AGS Vic Group, grew from seed and brought to our plant swap last December,
cheers
fermi
-
Last year I purchase some Aquilegia seeds from Touchwood Plants in Wales. I like this upward facing pink double and this long-spurred yellow, blushed red.
-
Healthy looking plants for yearlings, Jon.
Some plants in the Shade-house this morning - all from our Plant swap last year and the year before:
Justicia pauciflora 'Firefly'
and two Lewisia cotyledon hybrids
cheers
fermi
-
Hi Everyone, last weekend was the NZ Trillium Club Field trip in Invercargill. The weekend was stunning and well organised by the Southland team, the weather cleared perfectly for us to enjoy some amazing gardens.
I have picked out a few to share of some of the plant and garden highlights.
Cheers.
-
Trillium weekend.
-
Trillium weekend
-
Trillium weekend
-
Trillium weekend
-
Trillium weekend
-
My word Doug, what a super selection of photos - with such a range of things to see and enjoy the Trillium weekend must indeed have been a huge success.
I do know quite a few dedicated trillium growers in NZ and your photos show just how well these plants can thrive there.
I was really not expecting to see a photo of a bright bulb field in full flower though! That was a great surprise!
-
Some wonderful trilliums Doug, and very interesting garden scenes; thanks.
I never did find out why so many of the streets in Bluff are named after Irish rivers ??? ;D
-
Wonderful images, Doug ... many thanks for posting.
-
Some very interesting looking gardens there, Doug!
The picture of the bulbfield could have been made near my place, around the corner ;D 8)
-
Doug,
Some nice bunch of gardens there.. Whats the very first Trillium? Looks like cuneatum but these can look so variable, nice colouration in the leaf....and do you know whos garden it belongs to?
cheers
-
Cheers everyone, appreciate the comments.
Stephen, the first 2 trillium shots are actually in my garden, grow from seed of T. chloropetalum, there is probably some hybridism in there somewhere. Here's another with strong markings.
Arisaema are beginning to flower, also a few Celmisia, and the North Island Leucogenes.
Can any one help me with a species name for the Primula?
-
Can any one help me with a species name for the Primula?
Hi Doug,
it looks like Primula japonica - possibly the form known as "Miller's Crimson"?
The Dwarf Bearded Iris a few posts back (reply #34, DSC 7378) looks like 'Buster',
cheers
fermi
-
Doug,
Well you have some nice chloropetalums. Very dark in the leaf and nothing like that here in Aus. I know some keen growers in the U.S are allways wanting Chloropetalums from NZ something in the water?? ;D .I can only think chloropetum would hybridise with albidum and you end up with paler forms in flowers like pinks and the leaves would have less markings.
That later pick has some nice dark red flowers and yes with some great camouflage.
Cheers
Stephen
-
Agreed it's a beauty.
-
No trillums here, but a nice little native plant, one of the "rice flowers" - Pimelea ... is in flower in a rock garden; it's spreading a little bit;
cheers
fermi
-
Lovely pictures Fermi. It is indeed a lovely little native. Why did I always think that they were huge shrubs??
I have posted anything for a long while so I thought I'd get a couple in before the end of the month. Maybe they should have gone in the Iris thread ....
Iris "Peresh"
One of Pat Toolan's arils for which I have lost the label.
Iris iberica ssp elegantissima
Iris paradoxa
All together too much wind here and a very poor flowering season.
Cheers, Marcus
-
I was thinking the dwarf bearded iris could be 'Hustle,' one I have here.
I wasn't at the trillium weekend which was just as well as within a few days I was in hospital, not for the surgery I'm waiting for but with a nasty but unidentified virus which has knocked me for 6 and left every bone, muscle and joint in my body aching. Even my skin hurts. My doc took me in himself and shouted in A and E until I was seen, as I had a temperature of 42C. I was sent home yesterday morning and today I am feeling a little better which is just as well as I'm told the Bookers will be calling in on Tuesday. I'm still a bit wobbly and this evening while covering plants from the predations of rabbits, overbalanced, fell and crashed my head on a railway sleeper, smashing several potted plants in the process. The rbbit problem is getting really serious now and short of fencing whole areas off, expensively, I don;t know what to do about them. Roger has shot a few and Marley is happy to eat them but he is gun shy and covered in a hiding place when he even sees the gun. I don't want to poison and hate traps so...? But they are really eating my best plants, more every night.
-
Hi Marcus,
Nice irises. Especially the oncos - nice to see them doing well for you.
-
Lesley, you just be careful.
-
Thanks Peter, I hope for better things next season. Though overall my plants look good.
Lesley, take it easy. Your health is more important than anything else.
I wouldnt muck around with the the rabbits. Get some pindone, get a permit, if necessary, and get rid of them. You simply cant control the situation and building a fence right now seems out of the question given your health problems. You can afford sentiment in the future when you have a fence up. How much would a contractor charge? Might be worth looking at? Your plants mean a lot to you and you possibly won't be able to replace them and that would be a tragedy.
Cheers, Marcus
-
Just a follow up to the use of pindone. The poison oats are colored a weird green so they are unattractive to most other animals except rats and mice. If your concern is the death of non-targeted species then cover the poison furrow during daylight hours or place in a pipe (after habituating rabbits to feeding on normal oats there).
M
-
Will probably go with Pindone tho' Roger is talking about a low, 2 strand electric fence round the nursery, turned on when Marley is in for the night and off again in the morning, early - but not TOO early. I went out at 8.30 for a 9am haircut appointment in Mosgiel and found 4 lined up along the new rock bed edging the drive, all nibbling away like crazy. I've never before thrown stones at an animal, in anger.
Cliff and Sue Booker arrive in the morning but I think it's just for a quick cuppa before driving north to Ashburton. I have plenty buttercups to show them, R. repens I think, half the lawn is made up of it! Another pest problem to be solved and soon.
-
Give the Bookeroos my best wishes, Lesley.
Please take care of your health - I know that the garden problems are pressing - but to cope properly you need to be fit!!
-
Best wishes passed along Maggi and a couple of small white dogs were mentioned. They will no doubt be admired fully when the Bookers are in the north soon. Ah, what a life they lead. ;D They too, are beautiful people, (along with Meg and Mollie). I wish they could have stayed longer but their going was slightly ameliorated by the arrival in the post right afterwards, of a parcel of primula seed from Barnhaven.