Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: kaydale on January 20, 2008, 11:06:38 PM

Title: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: kaydale on January 20, 2008, 11:06:38 PM
Hi all,
It's been a while, about two years or so, since I last posted here.  But I have been watching, and reading!, with great interest.  I got my SRGC seed yesterday and was so happy with what I got, and even better AQIS didn't pick it up!  It finally prodded me into posting.  Still as mad as ever on Frits, Trilliums, Erythroniums, Crocus, Colchicum, Dodecatheons . . . . the list is endless!
I will post a few photos of some Frits and Trilliums soon,
Lesley Crowden
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: Maggi Young on January 20, 2008, 11:12:37 PM
Hi, Lesley, really great to have you back out of the shadows!! Hope you and the rest of the Crowden Clan are all well?
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: kaydale on January 21, 2008, 12:07:10 AM
Hi Maggie,
Yes we are all well down here, gardening like mad as usual!!  The last few years has seen some major changes in the garden, one being the bulb rockery that was built to house all my 'little runty things' as my sister calls them.  The other is the Trillium Bed.  We dug up all the primroses and stuff that was in this patch and planted out the Trillium seedlings, they'd germinated in 1999 and were finally big enough.  Last spring they all finally flowered, I've attached a picture (hopefully!) below.  Plus a two the the prized Fritillaria's that finally got up and flowered last year for the first time.
Lesley
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: Paul T on January 21, 2008, 01:38:05 AM
Lesley,

Welcome back!!  The pics are absoultely wonderful!!  Wish I grew all of that (well at least that I had all of those things you showed pics of in my garden). Of course I DO have some Trillium, just not in those numbers or some of those colours!  The Frit persica is just glorious..... something I hope to grow successfully one day.
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: kaydale on January 21, 2008, 03:04:14 AM
Hi Paul,
Phew, I was hoping that the photos had uploaded.  Wasn't sure I was doing it right, thank goodness they were there!!
It all takes time, F Persica took 10 years to flower for me!!  Although I will admit that it survived my 'junior' years of growing seed which probably set it back a bit.  Basically I germinated everything well but didn't really know how to look after it.  Thankfully I learnt alot, and quickly!  Same with the Trilliums, I had tried and tried to germinate Trillium and finally I gave up, just throwing all the seed in a 1ft by 1ft tray and then they all decided to come up!!  All 700 of them, which was very tedious to prick them out.
I am really looking forward to the talk in September with Gay Henderson on Trilliums, also the one Marcus is doing.
I have attached another two photos.  One is F Davisii, only one variation in the whole bunch of seed.  Another is of an unknown Frit, grown as Crassifolia ssp Kurdica which it definately is not!
Lesley
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: Brian Ellis on January 21, 2008, 10:04:05 AM
Lesley what a super picture of your trillium bed.  I am green with envy :)
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: ChrisB on January 21, 2008, 10:46:02 AM
Lovely trilliums there.  Where abouts do you garden though?
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: mark smyth on January 21, 2008, 10:48:21 AM
wow thats one or two Trilliums
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: kaydale on January 21, 2008, 10:52:25 AM
Hi Brian,
Thanks, I was amazed at the different colours that came from either red and white parents.  I went through (like tinkerbell!!) and took 22 different colours/variations.  I have a few that even I couldn't belive, below is the best yellow with great leaf mottling.
Lesley
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: kaydale on January 21, 2008, 11:03:57 AM
Hi Chris,
Whoops, I supposed I should have done a proper introduction.  I live on the North West coast of Tasmania, Australia.  There are four keen gardners in our family, which means that the garden keeps growing.  It's now around 3 acres but in the next year or so we will have another acre to play with.  My sister and I are having a tussel into the layout and what is actually going to be planted there. 
I am a bulb fanatic.  It started with Frit Meleagris and then the harder species, then liliums, Erythroniums, Trilliums, Crocus etc.
Thankfully we were encouraged at a young age but our mother, she was the one that joined us up to the SRGC and AGS.  I love growing things from seed, I have told mum that all the bulbs are the closest things to grand kids that she's ever going to get, so she had better admire them when they flower!
We are at the moment building a new website about the garden, when it is finished I will put the address up.
Lesley
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: ChrisB on January 21, 2008, 12:53:32 PM
Sounds just wonderful Lesley.  I have a dear friend who lives in Penguin.  Is she very far from you?
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: Brian Ellis on January 21, 2008, 01:11:49 PM
What a lovely trillium the pink at the bottom of the 'throat' makes it look like raspberries and cream.
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: Lvandelft on January 21, 2008, 04:48:21 PM
Wow, that's a Trilliumfield I can only dream of, here with the bulbfields around. Just beautiful!
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: kaydale on January 21, 2008, 08:55:59 PM
Hi Chris,
Penguin is only about 45 min from me, not far at all!
I'm glad that you've all liked the pictures, here's a different one.  I thought that I might put up something that didn't flower last October!  It's flowering at the moment (took the photo yesterday), Gladi Flanaganii, one of my fav species gladies.
Lesley
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: ChrisB on January 22, 2008, 03:26:16 PM
Suicide plant I think they call it, Lesley.  Such a rich, throbbing red that is.  I have a few small bulbs planted that SueG gave me last year.  I wonder how long they will be before they flower for me?
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: kaydale on January 22, 2008, 11:16:32 PM
Hi Chris,
Yes that's right, I got the seed from Jim Almond about 6 years ago.  It was really quick and flowered in 5  years so that was good.  They actually don't take that long, and when they do finally get up and flower they really start to mulitply.  It has about 12 spikes this year, out of four bulbs.

I was wondering if anyone could name the unknown frit that I posted a few days ago?  If anyone can that would be fantastic. :)
Lesley
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: ChrisB on January 23, 2008, 09:48:40 PM
Guess its going to flower in my lifetime then Lesley  ;D, sorry I'm no good at frits, maybe if you post to the plant identification place you'll get more people responding?
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: Maggi Young on January 23, 2008, 10:01:50 PM
Lesley, you mean this frit:
[attach=1]


I just know I know it... cannot find a name in my head.... help, someone!
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: ChrisB on January 23, 2008, 10:18:56 PM
It is very pretty....
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: Rob on January 23, 2008, 10:38:41 PM
I've had a quick search on the net and Fritillaria bithynica looked closest.

Not having seen Fritillaria bithynica in real life, it is a complete guess!
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: Maggi Young on January 23, 2008, 11:02:42 PM
That could well be it, Rob ! There's a bit of brown in the flower that was hinting at F. assyriaca a bit ,but Lesley's plant looks very nice and short so bithynica is my guess.... this is where theBD pops up in NZ and says, stupid woman, how often must I tell you....... :-\
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: kaydale on January 24, 2008, 12:27:39 AM
Thanks for all the suggestions, I've searched my photo files high and low and found a photo of it closer.  This might help?  I now have to try Crassifolia ssp Kurdica again!
Lesley 
Title: Re: Lurker from the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: Maggi Young on January 24, 2008, 12:44:12 AM
The brown edges are what's confusing me...... I'm off to sleep on it!
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