Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: fermi de Sousa on August 02, 2015, 04:45:39 AM
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One month closer to Spring!
First blooms opening on Anemone coronaria grown from Goteborg seed (originally from Iraq) sown in 2008,
cheers
fermi
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Wicked weather here with more to come.
Amazing how these bright and dainty things brave out the most bitter weather. Although admittedly I did bring the Romulea sabulosa inside out of the worst of it!
R. komsbergensis
R. sabulosa
M
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Hi Marcus,
lovely to see - I'd not seen R. kombergensis before - it looks good!
We still have snowdrops flowering, and this one appears to be Galanthus plicatus,
cheers
fermi
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Is it?
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Anthony,
I've re-posted it on the Galanthus Thread so maybe someone who knows better than me can set me straight about its identity,
cheers
fermi
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Marcus, lovely Romulea. Some time ago I placed a seed order with an online seller and received with my order a FREE GIFT packet! Romulea rosea. Unfortunately the paddock behind my house is a sea of R. rosea, and so is most of the Adelaide foothills. Oh well, you win some you lose some. :)
Fermi you should take a closeup of you Galanthus from straight down above. Might help with identification, re the arrangement of the leaf bases.
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Thanks guys ..... Fermi I think your snowdrop is elwesii monostictus or a hybrid between it and plicatus.
It has a very distinct "hooded" apex to the leaf which is VERY elwesii (ish). Also the leaves are very grey (ish). Most plicatus have a dull greenish look with a slight metallic sheen.
Cheers, Marcus
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Wondered if any one could identify this plant for me please we found it growing up in Sierra Nevada in a lime stone out crop near a small village called Zubia, I did not think it was Vitaliana primuliflora which we found growing up at Nuria I have included a photo of that for comparison, I hope some one can help me please as I have a few frits for identification also just have to resize them.
Just wanted to thank Margaret and Henry Taylor for their wonderful book on the Mountain flower walks, we used it all the time although it is a bit dog eared by now, we would have been lost with out it.
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The 4 petals put me in mind of Asperula... ?
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Vitaliana primuliflora?
Did you get seed? ;D
cheers
fermi
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Hi guys,
Snow down to sea level today.
I took this picture yesterday. It's a chance seedling collected as seed just outside the gates of Ulu Dag National Park some 10 years ago. Its a random cross between C. chrysanthus and Crocus biflorus ssp pulchricolor (well it was then).
Crocus bornmuelleri
Cheers, Marcus
PS Fermi, re your snowdrop, I forgot to say the most definitive difference between elwesii and plicatus is that the former has convolute leaf emergence and the latter is applanate.
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Hi guys,
Snow down to sea level today.
We had sunny and 19oC here today.
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I'm so jealous Anthony. >:( Adelaide is trapped in the same frigid airstream as Hobart. Straight off the South pole.
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Hey Anthony! Don't rub it in. .... But the snowdrops look happy enough. M
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.... most definitive difference between elwesii and plicatus is that the former has convolute leaf emergence and the latter is applanate.
I was afraid the answer would be convoluted! ;D
Too dark now to get a pic (and I'm still at the office) so if it's not too wet tomorrow morning I'll get a pic to confirm which it is. I can't even remember where this one came from - possibly dry bulbs from the Bunfight a few years ago,
cheers
fermi
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Wondered if any one could identify this plant for me please we found it growing up in Sierra Nevada in a lime stone out crop near a small village called Zubia, I did not think it was Vitaliana primuliflora which we found growing up at Nuria I have included a photo of that for comparison, I hope some one can help me please as I have a few frits for identification also just have to resize them.
Just wanted to thank Margaret and Henry Taylor for their wonderful book on the Mountain flower walks, we used it all the time although it is a bit dog eared by now, we would have been lost with out it.
No no seed Fermi, I did have a good look for some though
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Super to hear of folks taking Margaret and Henry's book with them and enjoying very much the information it gives them on their own trips, Viv- I'll need to pass on your comments to the Taylors :)
I'll be very interested to learn what the opinions are from forumists about your mystery plant - the four petals and long tube "should" make it easier you'd think, wouldn't you?!! :-\
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I think it may be Macrosyringion longiflorum or Odontites longiflorus just found a Spainish site but not being an expert I am not sure about it. Please do pass our thanks to Margaret and Henry Taylor, we had lunch with them when we did the Garden tours what a gorgeous garden. Thanks Maggi
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Had a better look at your picture , Viv and I now see the proper shape of the flowers, which is not the simple four petalled shape I first thought.
Macrosyringion longiflorum is a synonym of Euphrasia longiflora which is a synonym of Odontites longiflorus - none of which , it seems from the Kew plantlist, is a fully accepted name ::)
in this paper :
Neotypification of Odontitella virgata (Link) Rothm. and Lectotypification of Macrosyringion longiflorum (Lam.) Rothm. (Scrophulariaceae s.l.) (http://www.jstor.org/stable/27756786?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents)
Enrique Rico , Luis Delgado , María Santos-Vicente and Alberto Herrero
Taxon
Vol. 57, No. 4 (Nov., 2008), pp. 1347-1350
Published by: International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) ......
it appears that the plant may now have the name Odontitella virgata (Link) Rothm. - although this is still marked as "unresolved" by Kew - but it's as close as we may get!
This is the Abstract of that paper:
Original material for the endemic Iberian species Odontitella virgata, initially described as Euphrasia linifolia sensu Brot., non L., does not exist. A specimen from Valorado's herbarium (LISU) is chosen here as neotype for the name of the species now placed in the monotypic genus Odontitella. The same specimen is selected as neotype for Euphrasia tenuifolia Pers., basionym of Odontites tenuifolia (Pers.) G. Don, the correct name for these plants in Odontites. In addition, a lectotype is selected for the synonym Odontites aragonensis Willk. Macrosyringion longiflorum, the type of the generic name Macrosyringion, is lectotypified here by a specimen deposited in the Lamarck collections in Paris (P-LA), since that French botanist was the author of the basionym Euphrasia longiflora and not Vahl, to whom authorship has hitherto been generally attributed.
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If it's a Euphrasia it's probably at least semi parasitic and so ungrowable. All our native species are. I know, I've tried until it seemed wicked to separate them from their homes. Looks lovely though.
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I can't leave go of the Gal. 'Emerald Hughes' but why should I? It's been so good for so long and showing no sign of fading. Two here, in helicopter mode and hopefully showing the markings, inside, and striped on the outer tips.
Two crocuses, minimus albus and sieberi 'Bowles' White' both from Marcus in the first place.Then Rafa's Narcissus bulbocodium nivalis, shorter stemmed but larger flowered than my other and much earlier (at least 6 weeks). Seed from Fermi this time.
And a non bulb, Diapensida lapponica which has fantastic winter colour but so far hasn't flowered. Maybe not cold enough here? We've had 4 frosts on -9C and numerous in the -8s but not consistently, frost day then none and so it goes on.
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Here is Cr sieberi 'Bowles' White' and a few more, mostly from Marcus. C. biflorus ssp alexandri. I wish it showed the glorious outside colour, light and deep blue. Then C. chrysanthus 'Cream Beauty' and 2 of the lovely x Bornmuelleri, in and out.
The first 'Chocolate Soldier' (Cr olivieri ssp balansae 'Chocolate Soldier') came out a couple of days ago but I'm saving that one as I have about 18 corms now and they should be quite a good show when the sun comes out again.
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Diapensia lapponica which has fantastic winter colour but so far hasn't flowered. Maybe not cold enough here? We've had 4 frosts on -9C and numerous in the -8s but not consistently, frost day then none and so it goes on.
A slightly different problem here Lesley, but otherwise I think you're spot on. It needs to be plunged into unabated cold for 3-4 months, the more snow over frozen ground the better. Even here the cold is not consistent enough and so we get erratic flowering with a few buds opening throughout the growing season. On a very few occasions over the past 30 years of growing the Hawk Hills, Newfoundland form of D. lapponica we've had single flower every month of the year. Surely a hybrid of the easier Japanese f. of lapponica with the D. purpurea would produce something a bit less cranky. ???
john - +20c at 22:35, 95% humidity, a misty evening with dense fog threatening.
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Hi John, I believe someone in Christchurch - from whom I bought mine years ago - had some flowers on hers once but not many and I don't think they've been repeated. When we get snow which isn't often, it's just a few centimetres near the coast and is usually gone in a day or three at most. This winter is the hardest for many years and I've never in my life previously felt -9C so if it doesn't flower this coming spring/summer, I'll stop hoping. Might give it a dose of potassium sulphate in a week or so along with the bulby things. Working a treat for those. I wouldn't normally complain about too mild a winter but in this instance..... ???
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Great to see all those crocus Lesley.
Been out and braved the nasties.
Few snowies. Pretty crappy pictures but here she goes ...
Lady Beatrix Stanley
Ophelia
Titania
Heffalump
Cheers, Marcus
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Fermi , I just came across your Galanthus plicatus photo , so went down my hillside garden and found a few G.elwesii and plicatus still in bloom . Cold here ,only 3C maximum and still patches of yesterday's snow lying about . I think my 2 snowdrops are correctly labelled .
Lesley and Marcus : nice Crocus and snowdrops in your gardens , specially Crocus x bornmuelleri .Would love to have this one and C . olivierii ssp.balansae "Chocolate Soldier ' .
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Hi Otto,
Your 3rd picture gives the most definitive difference between the two species. G. elwesii on the left has typical "wrap around the leaf" convolute leaves, while G. plicatus's leaves are applanate or opposite.
The hooded leaf apex is not very apparent on the G. elwesii but to my eyes it is there.
Cheers, Marcus
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Some nice plants on show with you guys. It's great to see them whilst we are experiencing the most winter-like "summer" ever! Keep the pics of your floral treasures coming.
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Thank you Maggi, I will look into it as much as I can what worries me is my plant that I photo graphed was right on the ground and only about 8cm high. Where as the pics on the Spanish site look a lot taller and there were no goats, sheep or cattle that I could tell that had been in that area to chomp it back to ground level. Oh well see how I go.
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Wonderful photos all. My one and only Galanthus (may I call it a patch) has three lovely round seed heads. I must say that this early adventure into Galanthus has taught me much. They flower for ages and seed pods take forever to ripen.
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I loved that Galanthus elwesii 'Emerald Hughes' Lesley what a lovely shape who said Galanthus all look the same
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I concur Viv. The photos you took Lesley are really beautiful, and so is the specimen.
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I loved that Galanthus elwesii 'Emerald Hughes' Lesley what a lovely shape who said Galanthus all look the same
Well, I probably did! along with many others. I was looking at a tray of small pots today, 9 different Galanthus in flower and until I read the labels couldn't tell which was which in most cases. 'Viridipicis' yes, 'Magnet' yes but not the others. ;D
I'd get 'Emerald Hughes' to you if possible Viv. Are you able to bring in any bulbs without quarantine etc?
Thanks Jamus. All praise gratefully accepted :)
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I tried, and failed, to send an order, then sent Blue Mountain an email, regarding Emerald Hughes a week ago. No response as yet.
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Hermodactylus tuberosus is such a lovely name... so much more descriptive and colourful than Iris tuberosa. ::)
[attach=1]
[attach=2]
See the colour? Special. ;)
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Jamus, Wow! Wow and Wow!
Did I remember you saying this came originally from me? Or is this Blue Jade?
Few lesser subjects:
Crocus "Advance"
Crocus "Jeannine"
Crocus "Zwanenburg Bronze"
Crocus tomm. "Pictus"
Cheers, Marcus
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Few more:
Crocus "Sulphur" Ray Cobb
Crocus candidus
Crocus paschei
Crocus biflorus ssp pulchricolor
Marcus
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Hi again,
I thought some people might like to see how far the colour range can stretch in some plants.
The first is a "normal" coloured Fritillaria messanensis
The second is the darkest form I have ever seen.
Both are to be found a stone's throw from the road next to the Kedros Plain in Crete.
Cheers, Marcus
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Hermodactylus tuberosus is such a lovely name... so much more descriptive and colourful than Iris tuberosa. ::)
See the colour? Special. ;)
I have some seedlings coming along. Don't expect them to be as spectacular as yours though. Do you get seed? They are bee and wasp pollinated.
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Anthony you'd be very welcome to seed if any set. If it stopped raining for a moment there might be a chance of a bee or a wasp finding it.
Marcus it did come from you. December 2012. Beats me how it's a different colour from your stock plants... but i'm not complaining! ;D
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Thank you so much for your generous offer Lesley but I have no way of getting that lovely Galanthus into this country.
Wow loved that dark Fritillaria messanensis Marcus.
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You could try putting it in a post pack and posting it... just a thought.
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Hermodactylus tuberosus is such a lovely name... so much more descriptive and colourful than Iris tuberosa. ::)
(Attachment Link)
(Attachment Link)
See the colour? Special. ;)
Of course you know it's now back to Iris tuberosa (according to Tony Hall at Kew). Ahead to the past rather than back to the future!
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You could try putting it in a post pack and posting it... just a thought.
If it weren't for those darned dogs!
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Had a better look at your picture , Viv and I now see the proper shape of the flowers, which is not the simple four petalled shape I first thought.
Macrosyringion longiflorum is a synonym of Euphrasia longiflora which is a synonym of Odontites longiflorus - none of which , it seems from the Kew plantlist, is a fully accepted name ::)
in this paper :
Neotypification of Odontitella virgata (Link) Rothm. and Lectotypification of Macrosyringion longiflorum (Lam.) Rothm. (Scrophulariaceae s.l.) (http://www.jstor.org/stable/27756786?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents)
Enrique Rico , Luis Delgado , María Santos-Vicente and Alberto Herrero
Taxon
Vol. 57, No. 4 (Nov., 2008), pp. 1347-1350
Published by: International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) ......
it appears that the plant may now have the name Odontitella virgata (Link) Rothm. - although this is still marked as "unresolved" by Kew - but it's as close as we may get!
This is the Abstract of that paper:
Original material for the endemic Iberian species Odontitella virgata, initially described as Euphrasia linifolia sensu Brot., non L., does not exist. A specimen from Valorado's herbarium (LISU) is chosen here as neotype for the name of the species now placed in the monotypic genus Odontitella. The same specimen is selected as neotype for Euphrasia tenuifolia Pers., basionym of Odontites tenuifolia (Pers.) G. Don, the correct name for these plants in Odontites. In addition, a lectotype is selected for the synonym Odontites aragonensis Willk. Macrosyringion longiflorum, the type of the generic name Macrosyringion, is lectotypified here by a specimen deposited in the Lamarck collections in Paris (P-LA), since that French botanist was the author of the basionym Euphrasia longiflora and not Vahl, to whom authorship has hitherto been generally attributed.
Maggi, it's not a very clearly written abstract, to say the least! But I think the paper deals with two different plant species.
Odontitella virgata (Link) Rothm. (syn Euphrasia virgata) looka like this:
http://www.flora-on.pt/index.php?q=Odontitella+virgata (http://www.flora-on.pt/index.php?q=Odontitella+virgata)
and Macrosyringion longiflorum (Vahl) Rothm. (syn. Euphrasia longiflora looks like this (and the plant photographed up-thread)
http://www.biodiversidadvirtual.org/herbarium/Macrosyringion-longiflorum-%28Lam.%29-Rothm.-cat3913.html (http://www.biodiversidadvirtual.org/herbarium/Macrosyringion-longiflorum-%28Lam.%29-Rothm.-cat3913.html)
Odontites longiflora is not listed on The Plant List, though it sounds familiar to me and a number of photos on the web are listed as this species.
Funnily enough I misread the original post that showed a pic of Vitaliana and nearly posted that the photos were of two different plants...
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Maggi, it's not a very clearly written abstract, to say the least! But I think the paper deals with two different plant species.
Odontites longiflora is not listed on The Plant List, though it sounds familiar to me and a number of photos on the web are listed as this species
Quite , Tristan, that was my point.
I also mentioned that "Macrosyringion longiflorum is a synonym of Euphrasia longiflora which is a synonym of Odontites longiflorus - none of which , it seems from the Kew plantlist, is a fully accepted name " which lead me to the conclusion that the plant was Macrosyringion longiflorum - but could equally well be called either of the other two synonyms! ( to save cluttering up the post too much, I left out all the authorities!)
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You could try putting it in a post pack and posting it... just a thought.
Please Don't! They are a very unforgiving lot ....
Hi Viv, I did put up a thorn fence around the fritillaria and went back 5 weeks later to see if i could collect seed. The bloody goats had pushed it all aside and devoured whatever was there. Surprisingly plants that I didn't try to protect had set seed and came through unscathed.
Cheers, Marcus
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I was kidding. I have a weird sense of humour and a typical Australian disdain for authority. I work with Quarantine people and know them personally. Sometimes after a stressful day at work I get a bit narky.
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I nearly had my Spanish seed confiscated at the airport Jamis as they said it all had to be commercially packaged. I said I thought it just had be in a new clean envelope with its Latin name on the packet. He checked on AQIS web and found that, that was the case then checked the names of the seed I had bought in and all were permitted. You don't want to get the backs up of the authorities coming through customs and I know you work for them, but I find them a bit scary.
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Yes I know Vivienne, bad idea. I've had seed orders confiscated in the past and destroyed and received the notification that unless I make a claim and pay for proper testing they will incinerate them and that's the end of it. Luckily they weren't expensive purchases.
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Marcus wondered if you could have a look at my Fritillaria pictures do you think they are all Fritillaria lusitanica, I thought that Fritillaria ? 2 was Pyrenaica. Fritillaria ?6 and 7 are the same Fritillaria just different angles. Thanks Marcus or anyone else who knows Fritillaria's I would be grateful for your opinions
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and the last 3 Fritillaria's ?
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This delightful little hoop petticoat is flowering for the first time. I have it labelled as Narcissus blancoi, Huertezuelas (Granada, Spain) (sown) July 2011. It is very white.
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What a little gem Anthony. Sparkling white! Did you use Persil? :) In spite of many so called "white" forms of hoops, I've never yet had a truly white seedling, always with a little bit of creamy colour. Annoying.
Viv, of course I am often wrong but I don't see anything there that looks like pyrenaica. But I wouldn't have said any were lusitanica either, if - as I'm frequently told - lusitanica is a synonym of hispanica (or the other way about). Time for Marcus to enter, stage left. Your frits are early. Nne in bud for me yet and very few even up though liliacea is going to flower. This is incredibly tough. I rescued it from long grass before I moved in Feb 2013 and it had been struggling there for at last 10 years but still survived and gave the occasional flower. Amazing.
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Flowering in my garden at present are 2 groups of galanthus I have raised from seed. I would appreciate somebody setting me straight as to whether they are elwesii or plicantus please. The lovely G. jaquenetta is just beginning to open & G. dionysus is still putting on a good show.
Edna
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Also flowering: the first of my arums - Arum orientale sintenisii - [facing the wall!]. Hepatica pink form.
And another plant I need help with please - I have long lost the label to this "Alpine Lily?" with lovely delicate pink flowers.
Thank you.
Edna
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The first pic shows elwesii; the second plicatus.
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Thanks Anthony much appreciated.
Edna
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And another plant I need help with please - I have long lost the label to this "Alpine Lily?" with lovely delicate pink flowers.
Thank you.
Edna
I think it is Asphodelus acaulis, a native of Morocco and the Atlas Mountains.
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Oh I should have said Lesley the Fritillaria were all photographed in the Pyrenees, all photographed on Castellar de n'Hug if only they were in my garden.
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Yes. Thank you again Anthony. That has also been confirmed off line. Pleased to put a label on it again. Edna
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Hi Jamus, both you and Viv should report these breaches to the Director of the Airports Program. No officer has the right to deviate from the prescribed conditions of entry as outlined in ICON UNLESS they have VERY COMPELLING grounds to do so.
Viv, all your frits look like hispanica/lusitanica. Pyrenaicea flowers usually is slate to chestnut brown with a gold interior and rolled tips.
I am sure there is some difference with the leaves and one has linear nectaries but I can't remember this stuff and would need to look it up. Hispanica/lusitanica is a large and difficult complex and needs revision. Get the crocus blokes on to it!
Cheers, M
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Thanks so much Marcus that is what Otto said too, but he said to put them on the forum just to make sure they were Fritillaria lusitanica
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I tried again to get good pictures of the Iris tuberosa today as we had dry weather and good light. They are looking their best right now.
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Hi Jamus,
Well done with these. They look gorgeous. None of mine are out yet. We must be 3 weeks behind here. Another SA friend tells me his Cyclamen libanoticum and pseudibericum are flowering already. Mine don't even have buds showing.
As a postscript to your lovely herms (ok, iris): I believe I may have collected the seed on Poros. Just over on the hill looking down on the little port. They have many bulbs for company including, both Crocus boryi and cancellatus mazziaricus, Fritillaria argolica, Cyclamen graecum, feral Iris germanica and romulea.
Viv, ID always seems easier in one's own garden! Hats off to those earlier taxonomists who must have spent many a puzzling hour with what Farrer called, a bunch of green and brown stinking bells! A tad unkind but after endlessly sifting through them I'm sure those taxonomists would have tended to agree
Cheers, M
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Marcus I have Cyclamen libanoticum flowering here too, actually it came out a couple of weeks ago! It's newly planted in the rock garden so it wasn't looking very photogenic, but here's a snap anyway.
[attach=1]
Edna, your clumps of snowdrops are drop dead gorgeous! I keep going back to look at them.
Vivienne, did you take a digital SLR camera on your trip to the Pyrenees or are those photos taken with a compact camera? They are nice shots.
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Here are the weekends photos in the garden. Sunday was nice and warm and I got quite a bit of gardening done.
[attachimg=1]
Ipheion "Rolf Fiedler was a gift from Trevor Nottle.
[attachimg=2]
I grew Lobelia tupa from seed 3 years ago and have a couple of good sized plants in the garden now. The newly expanding leaves have lovely texture.
[attachimg=3]
Otto gave me this wonderful Narcissus cyclamineus selection from his garden which he called "hint of green".
[attachimg=4]
Another reticulated iris flowering, this one I bought as "Springtime".
[attachimg=5]
Salvia africana var. lutea is absolutely as tough as boots in our climate. I neglected it all summer through the drought and it's going gang-busters.
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And a couple more...
[attachimg=1]
A bit of a thug but I love Veronica peduncularis. This one goes by a few names so I'm not sure of the cultivar; georgia blue?
[attachimg=2]
I raised this Sparaxis from South African imported seed 2 seasons ago and have the first flowers now. Very rewarding.
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Beautiful photos Jamus. Mine can't get up there to your level but here are a couple of interesting customers:
Galanthus "Spindlestone Surprise"
Fritillaria carica - came to me from Pilous as F. kittaniae
Cheers, Marcus
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Does anyone grow yellows in New Zealand?
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A couple of favourite crocus
Bowles' mystery crocus, Crocus jessoppiae
and good old Crocus corsicus
Cheers, Marcus
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And a couple of early fritillaria:
Fritillaria ehrhartii from the hot slopes dropping to the sea near Karystos.
Fritillaria davisii from the equally hot Porto Kagio. Looks a little like F. argolica but the leaves are bright green.
Cheers, M
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The Veronica must be 'Georgia Blue' with that penetrating colour - it was introduced by Roy Lancaster. I don't suppose any other forms of it are grown - such a good plant! There is a picture of this in 'the Caucasus and its Flowers' by Vojtěch Holubec and Pavel Křivka (wonderful book) of very pale lilac.
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Thank you Jamus, it is a Nikkon SLR but my shots never seem to be as good as yours, more to the point I don't know how to put them on the Forum like you do either. Its difficult to take pictures in the wild as there is always so much wind and the plants never stay still for me. You should see me struggling with our local Alpine plant blog that we are trying to get up and running whew!! Oh to be Savey with the computer.
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Marcus, sensational plants. I love that Crocus corsicus, very elegant. One for the wish list for sure. I'm loving seeing these Fritillarias too.
Vivienne, if only I lived closer I'd come over and give you some tips! You're dead right though, so much of it is the treatment of the files once you'd downloaded them from the camera. I have the advantage that I was introduced to computers at about the age of 10 or 11. My kids have lived with them since birth, so imagine what they'll be doing with them as adults.
Thanks for the ID on the Veronica Tim. Is there one called Oxford Blue, or is that a misnomer?
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'Oxford Blue' is a misnomer for 'Georgia Blue' Jamus. I remember when I first grew this I had it listed as V. pedunculata and Roy Lancaster sent me a note to correct it to peduncularis, and now it seems to have become umbrosa! There is a kind of legalistic complexity in plant naming which can be of no help at all until you realise that the plant came originally from Georgia, was introduced by Roy Lancaster, and is a super plant! (The RHS Plantfinder is the best source reference for horticultural names and has a lot of useful information on synonymy, even if this does become at times a frustration for the humble nurseryman and gardener :( ).
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Hi Anthony, the yellow galanthus are virtually non existent in NZ so far as I know but we have a couple of people who don't care to share information so who knows what they have? I have been told by another person that she knows someone who has yellows but she refuses to name THAT person so again, who knows. I have no patience with people who think they alone are entitled to information. In this era when we can so easily lose what little we have of a plant, it seems like madness to hug material or information about sources to oneself.
I have half a dozen seedlings, just in their second year, from Anne Wright, from yellows but too soon to tell yet. Marcus's 'Spindlestone Surprise' is really super.
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Yes Lesley, and it's not just information. If I have two, one's got your name on it is my motto. I can name a few people who seem to be the only ones with a particular plant, and they have potfuls of them! Waiting for them to bulk up, no doubt? ::)
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I have half a dozen seedlings, just in their second year, from Anne Wright, from yellows but too soon to tell yet. Marcus's 'Spindlestone Surprise' is really super.
Another of the handful of Dryad Gold series galanthus, bred by Anne Wright has just been sold - for £226 oops. jumpedth gun, got the time wrong - still got a few minutes to go! ..... .if you get some as good as Anne's babies it'll be a triumph, Lesley!
edit by M - Galanthus 'Dryad Gold Bullion' just soled for £326.99 !!
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I look forward (through this morning's deep, deep fog) with great anticipation Maggi.
Edit by Maggi - fog is about the only weather type we're not getting much of here this "summer", Lesley.
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Hi guys,
I get occasional seeds from my range of yellows. If I get some this next season I send you some Anthony. I have another NZ friend who asked me only a week ago if I had any so if I find a few I'll let you know.
A few more from Hill View:
Crocus tomm. Taplow Ruby - is this extinct in Europe?
Galanthus "Trymlet" - much better doer than its parent.
Galanthus "Ketton" - Good old tried and true one.
Cheers, Marcus
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Wow Marcus, Galanthus Trymlet is wonderful. Ketton is lovely too. I'm waiting patiently for my spring crocuses... They are a bit behind yours, bizarrely. Other things I have flowering here ahead of you.
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Hi Jamus,
Yeah, "Trymlet" is a lot better increaser than "Trym" or "Megan". I haven't got "Trumps", should have brought it in to this country when I had the chance.
A couple more yellows:
Wendy's Gold - my favourite (out of focus, dirt splashed and all!)
Savill Gold - a beautiful but fairly weak individual.
Cheers, M
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How lovely they are Marcus all of them.
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Hi guys,
A few more from Hill View:
Crocus tomm. Taplow Ruby - is this extinct in Europe?
Cheers, Marcus
It seems to be very seldom mentioned, Marcus, so I fear it may well be, if not extinct, then barely hanging on.
I think they still have it on North America ( Carolyn Walker in Pennsylvania, for instance, mentions it) - so it appears that it is up to you folks in Australasia and North America to keep it going ! It would be lovely to hear if there are still people growing it in Europe.
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Hi Maggi,
I don't know if I am the only one here in Australia. Otto might have it because he lives quite close to the Tonkin family who distributed it many years ago.
I bought it from Brian Tonkin at least 20 years ago now. I have a few other forms including Bowles' famous selections, Bobbo and Pictus, both gifts from Alan Edwards, as well as Claret, which Ray Cobb sent out in the days when biosecurity was a startup venture. Its big business now with a strangle hold on everything.
I don't know if we sleep in our beds any more easily.
Cheers, Marcus
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I doubt if we do Marcus. We had a nice batch of black widow spiders and something else poisonous come in a week or two ago, in Mexican grapes. We are assured that what we're now offered in the supermarkets have been fumigated. Does that mean we are dosing ourselves with methyl bromide or similar when we add grapes to the fruit salad or cheese boards?
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I found black widow spiders when I went exploring in the hotel grounds in Riviera Maya, mexico back in 2007. 8)
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Hi Lesley (and Anthony), Kurt Vickery has seeds from Galanthus Spindlestone Surprise for sale.
Regards biosecurity - I say bah and humbug!
M
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Mmmmm.
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Kurt Vickery seed list : [attachurl=1]
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Thanks to the efforts of Marcus Harvey we now grow several of the yellow Snowdrops in Australian gardens and by far the most prolific in my garden is 'Spindlestone Surprise '. the other is a seedling flowering for the first time of G. 'Corinn' , the seed kindly given to me by Rannveig Wallis .
a cold and wet day today -so no sun to warm and open any Crocus flowers - therefore only 2 clumps of buds .
Edit by maggi : I believe the correct spelling of the Wallis Galanthus is 'Corrin'
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Wow! What a lovely range of mouth-watering bulbs from the doyen! I love those little printy marks on the crocus and then what a surprise when they open to the sun.
Great to see another Trym-like seedling.
Looks like you have had some rain Otto? We are just plain cold, no rain to speak of.
I will keep the ball rolling with a few more from the day.
Galanthus "Primrose Warburg" - named after that formidable lady and I think found in her garden?
Narcissus "Olumbo" - I think that's the correct spelling? Another of Tasmanian Rod Barwick's Detective Series.
Crocus olivieri ssp balansae - Little seen taxon. Varies in the intensity of external flower colouring.
Cheers, Marcus
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Sure that's not 'Columbo' Marcus? He was an American television detective.
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Beautiful plants Otto and Marcus. I hope to have some crocus open tomorrow or the next day... they are getting close. I love that tommasianus 'Pictus'. Otto's crocus look as wet as we are here. We've had a LOT of rain lately and we're sick to death of it.
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Sure that's not 'Columbo' Marcus? He was an American television detective.
Hi David,
Rod named his "little detectives" so that they weren't exactly the same, thusly 'Smarple' (misS MARPLE), 'Kholmes' (sherlocK HOLMES), 'Olumbo'(cOLUMBO), 'Orcluse' (inspectOR CLUSEau)
There are others that are even more obscure!
cheers
fermi
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Ah! I see.
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Tricky little so and so tis our Rod .... I think the only one true to form is Kojak?
Cheers, M
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Hi again,
I'll swap over to cyclamen coum today:
Cyclamen coum Silver Leaf - original strain from Kath Dryden many moons ago.
The white form of it - originally named by Kath for her husband, Maurice Dryden.
Cyclamen coum - nice pink with plain leaves. Originally from Essie Huxley
Cyclamen coum - ice white with plain leaves. Originally from Essie Huxley
Cheers, Marcus
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Few more snowies:
Sibbertoft White - a gift from Otto Fauser.
x allenii - another gift from Otto and an interesting plant.
Ginns imperatii - long ago purchase from John Morley.
Cheers, Marcus
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Hi Marcus,
nice stuff! :)
At the risk of causing snow-blindness, here's a Galanthus without a label and for once not an elwesii!
Could it be 'S.Arnott'? The flower looks a bit like x'Allenii' but the foliage may not be,
cheers
fermi
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Certainly looks the goods. It ain't allenii.
Cheers, Marcus
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The only other named contenders I know of are Galatea but that has a flatter inverted heart shape with little scrolly bits on the ends.
Magnet has also has a flatter heart shape as well and an obviously longer pedical.
Brenda Troyle, well what is it? It's very similar to Sam Arnott. Scented, same heart-shaped mark, same leaves, same height, same sized flower ..... mmmm. It is said to flower 2 weeks earlier than Sam but I have not found this to be consistent. The only difference I can perceive is that BT has slightly longer petals (if that is the correct term) and they flare up and outwards more than Sam.
I'd be interested to hear other growers opinions on this topic.
I still think there are to many names and sometimes muse that we would be able to identify half of them without a label!
Cheers, Marcus
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It looks very much like my Sam Arnott, not that that's conclusive, but the details match.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/382/19714860481_5c5cd92406_z.jpg)
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Very lovely photo Jamus. You are a hot shot with a camera.
Cheers, M
PS Been out for a walk amongst the snowie beds but my camera is elsewhere!
PPS One thing I was delighted to find was a single flowering plant of G. alpinus var bortkewitschianus (what a mouthful - those Russians!). I thought I had lost it but there it was ... a long, long way from home.
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Thanks, Marcus and Jamus,
I'm sure I got 'S. Arnott' from Otto at some time in the past. (Being a pedant I believe it should only be called 'S. Arnott' or "[Sam] Arnott's seedling" as it was originally named.)
I don't think that I ever got 'Brenda Troyle'.
In our garden plain Galanthus nivalis really struggle whereas G.elwesii seem to thrive and self seed,
cheers
fermi
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S. Arnott. Thanks for the correction Fermi, I'd rather get it right too.
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Galanthus to my eye are so alike that I will leave it to the experts if I every grow many.
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Pat! wash your mouth out! ;D
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;D ;D ;D
Here's a little cutie I love and wish more were available!
Gagea fibrosa from seed many years ago,
cheers
fermi
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That's beautiful Fermi. I love the touch of green on the tips. I'm hoping for some more sun today to open the crocuses.
[attachimg=1]
Common old Ipheion uniflorum
[attachimg=2]
Euphorbia with raindrops. Can't remember the species.
[attachimg=3]
A very dark red Tropaeolum majus which I like.
[attachimg=4]
Cut some dead wood out of my Laburnum tree... infected with this fungi.
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I think you could photograph a stick and make it look interesting Jamus. Great images.
Fermi, I concur re Gagea fibrosa. It's a beauty. I originally received seed of it from Rannveg Wallis and sold quite a lot on succeeding catalogues. I only have a few plants left now as I struggle to get them back to their former glory. Did I see seed on Kurt's list?
Cheers, M
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I did ..... item 305.
M
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Finally some crocuses opening. We had a nice sunny day here today for a change.
[attachimg=1]
C. tommasianus 'Ruby Giant'
[attachimg=2]
C. tommasianus 'Yalta'
[attachimg=3]
Helleborus
[attachimg=4]
C. vernus 'Pickwick'
[attachimg=5]
Ruby Giant again
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Anyone else having problems with red legged earthmite as I seem to be forever spraying the arils and they ruin Narcissus flowers? With Confidor. Is there an alternative 'natural' spray?
Beautiful photos Jamus.
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Thanks Pat.
You could try ordering some predatory mites to eat your mites... If you're lucky they would breed up and settle into a balanced situation with less earth mites.
http://www.biologicalservices.com.au/predatory-mites.html (http://www.biologicalservices.com.au/predatory-mites.html)
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Hi Pat, I think Fermi has a problem with those little critters, what about a predator do you know what eats them? I know you can treat most things with out using a poisonous spray. White fly with lace wings. Red spider mite. There is all kinds of help out there with out sprays. One of our members uses a company in QLD for small quantities of predator help. If you can't find them on line I will ask him where he gets his lace wings from.
A few flowers out in our garden today,
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Hi Pat,
as Viv says, we have a problem with RLEM because we are surrounded by pasture.
I've found they are susceptible to pyrethrum so I've been known to walk around spraying every single daffodil cup with it!
I've not found anyone with a predator for RLEM...yet!
The best advice I had from one grower was that as they are EARTH mites, grow susceptible plants in pots and keep them off the earth! Not much help for iris in beds, though :-\
cheers
fermi
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When we bought our garden we had no idea how many different Crocus tommasinianum in fact I did not know it had any Crocus, so it was a lovely surprise when they all came up, and they have improved enormously since removing all the weeds and giving them some sun shine. Crocus Tom. dark tips is from Otto. Tulipa and Muscari are from Marcus
Crocus tommasinianus dark form
Cyclamen coum ex Cyclamen coum Turkey expedition Gordons
Narcissus 'Lilliput'
Muscari 'Rose Beauty'
Tulipa cretica
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The last one: Narcissus moschatus
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Vivienne, you crocus are mind blowing! Amazing to see them in drifts like that. Your photo of cyclamen coum is just lovely.. They look fabulous en masse like that. Gives me something to aim for. Inspirational. Aspodelus is nice, I'll be doing some reading about that later.
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Hi Lesley (and Anthony), Kurt Vickery has seeds from Galanthus Spindlestone Surprise for sale.
Regards biosecurity - I say bah and humbug!
M
A very mild comment Marcus. :D
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Thanks Janus for the link - I have sent an enquiry. Just up the road at Loxton!
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Pat as Fermi pointed out they might not be able to help you. The earth mites might not be prey for the predators... It's interesting that Isabel and I were looking at red legged earth mites in the paddock yesterday. I hope they don't invade the garden.
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Thank you Jamus the Aphodelphus acaulis we imported from New Zealand, when I could use the Quarentine house at work.
Fermi we saw Gagea growing in the Mountains in Spain
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Lovely to see Narcissus moschatus in flower. Mine seem to have dwindled to a few leaves :-[
Cheers, M
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A very mild comment Marcus. :D
You got me on a bad day ;D
Cheers, M
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I still have the N. moschatus from your lot Marcus but it's not flowering this year, too long in a pot without due care and attention I think. However, due to the kindness of Ashley in Co. Cork, I have 8 seedlings germinating now of what is labelled N. alpestris. Are these the same as moschatus or very similar? Some oddments in this chilly part of the Deep South.
Iris ret 'Harmony' and forms of Cyclamen coum where I hope they'll out-compete with each other as
the irises increase.
Crocus cvijicii, one of my most favourites for its glowing orangey/gold, egg yolk flowers
A very old double primrose, called (I think) Primula vulgaris 'Lilacina Flore Pleno'
Iris reticulata 'Cantab'
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Galanthus are still hanging on and some are doing really well in pots though I do want to get them into the garden ASAP.
Here is my 'Sam Arnott' which came from you Marcus, so probably is the same as your pictures. It isn't increaing as quickly as some but is a lovely one, all the same.
The the very-easy-to-identify 'Magnet' with its lovely arching pedicels. Can't be mistaken for anything else.
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A few hellebores. I have heaps of undistinguished seedlings under trees, here when we arrived but very few "special ones. Here are three.
A gorgeous yellow from a local nursery who breed and select
A black seedling. The closest to black that I have. The foliage is quite thin and fine so maybe has H.
torquatus in it
One called 'Anna's Red.' I think this may be a NZ raised form, first offered last winter as I remember, in all the garden centres. The colour is wonderful and the plant seems to be growing maybe to at least 80cms tall. It will take up quite a bit of space when I get it unpotted. (The egg is one I found in the garden a couple of minutes before the photo. We knew the chook had been laying out of her box but couldn't find where. Now we have :))
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To finish, some little Narcissus forms.
Narcissus 'Pirouette' is an Australian, mine from Marcus
A seedling of my own, from 'Gambas.' The pot is a 90mm square, which gives a good idea of the daff
size. I love these little chubby ones. This is the first flowering, and 3 flowers on a bulb already
increasing well!
In this pot, seedlings from Rafa, courtesy Anthony. Labelled cf bulbocodium, and again, very tiny.
These are perfect for troughs and I have a dozen or so to set up over the spring.
One of my Hokonui troughs with crocuses pallasii, x Bornmuelleri and the precious 'Chocolate
Soldier, but flowering a bit at a time instead of in a good group ready for a picture. Also Ox.
laciniata and half a dozen perennials, all of which are in miserable winter mode; a saponaria,
Draba longisiliqua, Veronica bombycina, Androsace barbulata, Acaulimalva weberbaueri and
Myosotis 'Hokonui (capitata x uniflora).
This trough has just undergone a major refurbishment, especially removal of moss on the edges and these painted carefully with neat vinegar to kill the remaining bits. Then it was fertilized and a little new compost added, then a thick topdressing of pea gravel, harvested from the shore of Lake Waihola, at high tide.
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Lastly, this little Narcissus from Betty Clark about 3 years ago. This is the first flower for me. The foliage (on the right) is quite wide and at first I thought it was Ipheion 'Alberto Castillo.' Only yesterday morning when it opened that I remembered what it was, the label having been attacked by our local birds, many months ago. It is Narcissus tazetta ssp patulus (or patula?) a real honey.
A better picture of 'Pirouette'
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Lesley, fabulous photos. Very nicely done. I love those Galanthus pictures. Isn't S. Arnott the best? Snowdrops are SO much easier to photograph in pots, but you're right they are better in the ground. I have Magnet but it didn't flower this year. Like others it's a new addition to the garden and still sulking at being uprooted and moved. I am feeding and I hope I'll have more flowers next year.
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Lesley,
Some articles say they are the same but in my opinion for what it is worth I don't agree, Narcissus moschatus is much taller than Narcissus alpestris. N. moschatus flowers are larger and it flowers later, may be in the wild they can't see the difference but the forms I have are very different.
Pat,
the nematode people we use at work are at www.ecogrow.com.au (http://www.ecogrow.com.au)
Viv
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Helleborus 'Anna's Red
If it's the same one Lesley, and it looks very much like it, Anna's Red was bred by Rodney Davey in deepest East Devon. Rodney is a Hellebore specialist and this is one plant from a series called RD Marbled Group and I think there is another called 'Penny's Pink'. He named the former after plantswoman and author Anna Pavord.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/9113922/Hellebore-heaven.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/9113922/Hellebore-heaven.html)
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Hi guys,
I get occasional seeds from my range of yellows. If I get some this next season I send you some Anthony. I have another NZ friend who asked me only a week ago if I had any so if I find a few I'll let you know.
A few more from Hill View:
Crocus tomm. Taplow Ruby - is this extinct in Europe?
Galanthus "Trymlet" - much better doer than its parent.
Galanthus "Ketton" - Good old tried and true one.
Cheers, Marcus
is that me you talking about Marcus, I promise I will share with Anthony when and if I get some yellow grow
Mel
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Finally some crocuses opening. We had a nice sunny day here today for a change.
(Attachment Link)
C. tommasianus 'Ruby Giant'
(Attachment Link)
C. tommasianus 'Yalta'
(Attachment Link)
Helleborus
(Attachment Link)
C. vernus 'Pickwick'
(Attachment Link)
Ruby Giant again
Great photos Jamus
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it was great reading all the past few pages from all us southern hems, I will have to start putting up some photos as well, once I get a handle on how to do it.
Mel
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Some articles say they are the same but in my opinion for what it is worth I don't agree, Narcissus moschatus is much taller than Narcissus alpestris. N. moschatus flowers are larger and it flowers later, may be in the wild they can't see the difference but the forms I have are very different.
I'd agree Viv. N. moschatus - at least as I have it - is taller, later and fairly distinct from N. alpestris under garden conditions. Foliage is more upright and its flowers open cream/primrose bicolour then fade to soft white, while N. alpestris forms (two Tony Willis collections & JJA 0.693.701) are all whiter from the start with tube strong green & streaked into the back of the petals. My N. moschatus clone seems to be self-incompatible whereas N. alpestris is not.
Both very lovely though.
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Helleborus 'Anna's Red
If it's the same one Lesley, and it looks very much like it, Anna's Red was bred by Rodney Davey in deepest East Devon. Rodney is a Hellebore specialist and this is one plant from a series called RD Marbled Group and I think there is another called 'Penny's Pink'. He named the former after plantswoman and author Anna Pavord.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/9113922/Hellebore-heaven.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/9113922/Hellebore-heaven.html)
Was just about to post when I saw David had beaten me to it!
We've also discussed this in the forum - it is an English raised plant, named forth Anna Pavord by Mr Davey - here http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=10137.msg269185#msg269185 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=10137.msg269185#msg269185) and http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=12613.msg328049#msg328049 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=12613.msg328049#msg328049)
Jamus has a great pic of the foliage here : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=12327.msg314130#msg314130 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=12327.msg314130#msg314130)
Ralph had a pic here : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=11215.msg294516#msg294516 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=11215.msg294516#msg294516)
and David here http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=10138.msg268295#msg268295 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=10138.msg268295#msg268295)
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May I weigh in on the earth mite topic?
Californicus prey on the eggs of a range of spider mites, so could be worth a try. Another company that supplies by post to both domestic and agricultural customers is bugsforbugs.com.au; which is polite-speak for bug-eating bugs. I've tried a range of their predators over 3 or 4 years, from gall wasp parasites through to lacewings, and found them very effective.
Alternatively, spraying leaves with neem oil (from Azadiracta indica) debilitates sucking or chewing insects but doesn't harm others - bees and ladybirds for instance. I would think this includes spider mites.
That's my first post over and done with. :D
Jacqui.
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Hello Jacqui, welcome the the posting side! ;D 8)
Re Red legged earth mites ( first mention here on page 8) - I had to 'google' this!
Halotydeus destructor http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/pests-diseases-and-weeds/pest-insects-and-mites/redlegged-earth-mite (http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/pests-diseases-and-weeds/pest-insects-and-mites/redlegged-earth-mite) :P
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Hello Jacqui, and welcome to the Forum - the friendliest site on the internet!
Re. spraying neem oil, is it effective only through contact with the critters (direct spraying or residue on leaves) or is there a systemic effect?
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::)
Hi
A few photos of cyclamen from our shade house.
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Hi Matt,
Thank you for the welcome.
Neem has a systemic effect, although I imagine that as an oil it would also smother the eggs. So it doesn't work immediately like pyrethrum. It inhibits feeding and egg laying. Slowly but surely...
Jacqui.
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::)
Hi
A few more photos from our garden.
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Hi Maggie, that's a very helpful link you found.
Seems an egg predator could be just the thing!
And thank you for saying hello.
Helped me get over the posting nerves.
Jacqui.
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Thanks Jacqui, it sounds as though neem oil could be a useful tool for the conscientious gardener.
Three posts already - you're already at home here with us.
M
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Hi Maggie, that's a very helpful link you found.
Seems an egg predator could be just the thing!
And thank you for saying hello.
Helped me get over the posting nerves.
Jacqui.
No need for nerves here, Jacqui, you're among friends. :)
This red legged wotsit sounds like a very determined pest of agriculture and horticulture- needs work on every front to control, I'm sure. :(
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Hi Jacqui,
Welcome to the Forum.
Are you the recent new member of the AGS Vic Group? ;D
cheers
fermi
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Hi Fermi, Yes it is - and very much looking forward to the upcoming garden visit to Redesdale :)
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Thanks for that information David, re H. 'Anna's Red.' I'm sure you're absolutely right. It has been introduced here from an import then. No attribution has been given to the ACTUAL breeder, which is rude and all the publicity about it doesn't actually say but still gives the impression that it's local. so sorry about that. A couple of people have asked me so I'll be careful to get it right in future. It's a stunning plant. From the foliage it looks as if there may be some H. niger in there somewhere?
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And thanks too, to Maggi and Gail and the link with the Hellebore thread which I hadn't caught up with this year. It seems Mary Keen isn't a fan of the "new and different." Fair enough. Love your 'Tinkerbell' Tim. ;)
Maddening that some are able to import while the little people can't. I guess 'Anna's Red' came in as sterile, in vitro stuff.
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Mel, uploading pictures is very easy. When you go to the Reply box, there's a line underneath the box saying Attachments and other options. Click on that and Attach comes up with Choose file - No file chosen. Click Choose file and you'll get My Pictures. (Well, I do anyway) Choose the one you want and click Open. The file must be not larger than 200 kbs so you may need to downsize them first. Then you can add further pictures up to 5 if you want to, then click Post. Works for me. :)
Maggi could have explained this succinctly in 5 words! ;D
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Hi Jacqui great to see you posting. When's the first picture coming?
I have a few scillas for the day:
Scilla ingridae - I think this is from Rannweg Wallis and maybe it came as S. bifolia ssp taurica or S. siberica ssp taurica.
Scilla tubergeniana - good old commercial stock.
Scilla siberica Zanegur Strain - from Janis
Cheers, Marcus
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Jamus , you are an artist with your camera - I hesitate to post any of my inferior photos in future .
Lesley ,great photos of your Snowdrops in pots . I have been growing 'S. Arnott' for the last 50 0dd years and it increases with great speed . Here it is three times as tall here -must be the temperate rain forest climate . Here both Helleborus 'Anna's Red and 'Penny's Pink' are available - great plants . My Iris ret. 'Cantab' is slightly different to yours , so who has got the correct one ? mine have just finished flowering .
Viv , love your Asphodelus acaulis . Here Crocus tommasinianus has multiplied to thousands in so many different shades of pink/mauve/purple , it has become a weed but a nice one . shown is a much darker form than yours .
Crocus tommasinianus. dark
Garden view
Crocus tommasinianus
Colchicum diampolis
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Otto don't be silly! We all want to see what you have happening in your garden. Absolutely nothing wrong with the last lot, I love the view across your snowdrop beds.
Crocus Colchicum diampolis is stunning even when closed. Such a pure white. I have LOTS of interesting seed germinating at the moment. I'll take pictures later and put them on the germinating now thread.
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I have to show you guys this.. Fritillaria acmopetala seed collected from my own plants and sown fresh, germinating now 17 months later!
[attachimg=1]
And how about this, Fritillaria conica seed from Marcus.
[attachimg=2]
And most exciting of all, Fritillaria recurva!
[attachimg=3]
It's a great time of year.
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Mel, uploading pictures is very easy. When you go to the Reply box, there's a line underneath the box saying Attachments and other options. Click on that and Attach comes up with Choose file - No file chosen. Click Choose file and you'll get My Pictures. (Well, I do anyway) Choose the one you want and click Open. The file must be not larger than 200 kbs so you may need to downsize them first. Then you can add further pictures up to 5 if you want to, then click Post. Works for me. :)
Maggi could have explained this succinctly in 5 words! ;D
You've done a great job there, Lesley! With the new automatic resizing feature it is even easier but if the original files are VERYlarge they may slow your progress down a bit, or gum up your connection! All this is explained in the appropriate section, Mel : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=65.0 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=65.0)
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Jamus, well done! Nothing beats a few trays of seedlings.
Otto I think Colchicum diampolis has sadly been made a synonym of C. szovitsii. I don't think the Bulgarians would be impressed with one of their endemics disappearing from their national flora.
Cheers, M
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Welcome Jacqui to the forum.
Ashley thank you for agreeing with me I have often thought that they were not the same but had never voiced it before.
Otto have you not got Aspodelus acaulis I will dig mine in the garden when it finishes flowering, it likes being divided it is one of those plants that goes backwards when left alone. I have not forgotten the Cyclamen coum (Gordons) either.
Isn't it a joy to grow plants from seed Jamus, it is so rewarding.
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Hi Marcus,
Your scilla siberica really is the business. Such a clear azure.
and Viv, thank you for being so welcoming.
I'll try to upload some photos taken last few days (some of dubious quality).
The first is of the very first bud on the hepatica japonica you kindly entrusted to my care (Marcus).
Then, fritillaria thunbergii 'neath the mulberry, allium neapolitanum and next a rather dilapidated onixotis. The gorgeous finale is narcissus cyclaminus "hint of green" very kindly gifted by Otto.
Lets see if i can attach them… (the preview option seems to do nothing so fingers crossed…)
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Well done Jacquie! The preview doesn't show the images, so don't worry!
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Jamus,
Fritillaria recurva is a beauty! It looks like you are off to a great start. Somewhere I have a photograph of thousands of this species blooming in Plumas County, California. There had been a fire the previous year that had thinned the forest canopy and brought in more light to the forest floor. They certainly liked that.
Fantastic plants, everyone. 8) I wish we had such variety around here.
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Robert, I hope I get Frit. recurva to flower. I've only seen it in pictures thus far and I'm already smitten.
Parsla (Jacqui?), welcome to the forum. New to this place but not new to gardening I take it? Nice plants you're growing In your garden. It's great to have more Australians about, pity not more from Adelaide tho!
Marcus I think this is Scilla hyacinthoides. Whatdayareckon?
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Hi Jamus,
Thank you for saying hello - I have been greatly admiring your photos.
I am still relatively new to gardening (although my mother was a lifelong devotee). About 5 years I should think, since I settled into Eltham.
A potted history is that it all started with trying to rescue a magnificently weeping but dying English oak (10 year drought, possums, neglect) on an overgrown block "the wild wood" that had been more or less untouched since the 70s. Once started, couldn't leave the garden alone. Despite loads of mistakes and little disasters along the way the oak canopy has filled out, and almost makes for a woodland garden all by itself! Have been blessed with enthusiastic mentors in Marcus and, latterly, Otto.
this is such a wonderfully welcoming community. Jacqui.
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Hi Jamus,
It looks more like Scilla hohenackeri. There is another very similar species, S. greilhuberi, but I am not expert enough to tell you off the top of my head the differences.
Cheers, Marcus
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Hmmm.. I was suspicious of the name Trevor gave it... pictures on the web of greilhuberi look a very close fit to my plant. Here's a close up.
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3823/20138199395_0c31462ac3_z.jpg)
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Eco grow does not have a predator for red legged earthmite.
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Bob Brown at Cotswold Gardens says "Synonym Fessia hohenackeri. Broad foliage appears in spring unlike S.greilhuberi which is narrower and autumnal". I dunno :-\
Otto might know more.
Great photo - the flowers remind me little blue trout lilies.
M
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Otto, all my current 'Cantab' bulbs are from recent (last 3 years) garden centre imports (well, from wholesalers to garden centres). When the first of them flowered and also looking at some from Fermi or someone, I was quite sure they were not quite true. I can't quite place what is wrong. I think the petals on my originals were slightly paler and also slightly narrower but I'm not certain. Anyway, if you have a picture of yours, please post it. I may have an old one somewhere. I think what we NOW are getting as 'Cantab" is another variety and the true one is perhaps gone forever. :(
I bought 3 bulbs of a named Frit imperialis, in the autumn. They were called 'Beethoven.' One is up and in bud, the other two seem to have rotted, only a few mis-shapen and blackish leaves visible. NOT HAPPY about this, considering the price!
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Hello Lesley , just picked the very last flower from my clump of Iris ret .'Cantab', so not perfect . Comparing it with images on the net I think mine is correctly labelled .
We do not grow Frit . imperialis 'Beethoven' in Australia- it seems to have a shorter stem and the usual colour . sad about yours .
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Hi Leslie
I got two of the frit beethoven bulbs and they are doing well, one is in full flower and fantastic, will put a picture up next week and the other is going to flower any day
Mel
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That's good Mel. As Otto says above, they're supposed to be shorter than regular imperialis. Pleased yours are OK.
Otto I think this one may be my original. I took the photo in 2007. Looking at the August Vic AGS newsletter from Fermi, what I have in flower now looks very like what he has labelled as 'Alida.' This has never been offered here, under that name anyway. wonder if the suppliers (in Holland) are sending the wrong one as 'Cantab?'
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Comparing my two pics, I dunno. Much of a muchness. I do remember that the true 'Cantab' has a very strongly orange signal stripe, maybe deeper than on mine.
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Hi Jamus,
It looks more like Scilla hohenackeri. There is another very similar species, S. greilhuberi, but I am not expert enough to tell you off the top of my head the differences.
Cheers, Marcus
:D :D We've discussed this so often - never come to any great conclusion, though! I think "they" are calling them both Fessia now.
Here : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=1469.msg36893#msg36893 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=1469.msg36893#msg36893) there are a couple of good shots of what I think is correct Scilla/Fessia greilhuberi ;)
and here for S. hohenackeri http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=1315.msg193524#msg193524 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=1315.msg193524#msg193524)
- I think there main differences seemsto be in the amount of foliage present at flowering.
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...wonder if the suppliers (in Holland) are sending the wrong one as 'Cantab?'
Surely not, Lesley! I'm SHOCKED! (Why is there not a tongue-in-cheek smiley?)
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Thanks Maggi, I believe it's one of those, but can't tell from the images which. S. greilhuberi Looks closer to me for the advanced foliage ahead of the blooms. Mine never sends up flower spikes with the first leaves and is a good clump before the first spikes emerge in late winter. I'll ask Trevor. Maybe his memory will be jogged by these names.
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Sorry Pat,
it was just a thought about Eco grow I will ask Jon at our meeting Saturday see who he uses for his predators
Viv
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Dear All, it was such a lovely sunny afternoon - first in ages - some pictures from the garden
Acis tingitana growing happily in dappled shade
Cyclamen (label has gone and i'm not confident to identify the species)
(both the above came from Otto's garden)
The beguiling Hepatica japonica (from Marcus's collection)
Muscari chalusicum (from Marcus)
Primula x marginata (from Sue W)
Note from maggi: the photos are added in pdf form, just click on the file name to enable opening in a new window
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Jacqui, Acis tingitana is a nice thing isn't it? I haven't seen that one. One to look out for for sure. Primula marginata is gorgeous isn't it? I'd like to grow that one too. Adding it to my wish list. Are you able to upload photos as jpegs? Easier for most people to view.
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Hi Jamus,
thank you for your wise words.
I'll reload them now. The pdf was an experiment to see if I could get better visuals.
As prev: Acis tingitana growing happily in dappled shade
Cyclamen (label has gone and i'm not confident to identify the species)
(both the above came from Otto's garden)
The beguiling Hepatica japonica (from Marcus's collection)
Muscari chalusicum (from Marcus)
Primula x marginata (from Sue W)
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Hi Jacqui,
Great picture of Acis tingitana. One of my favourites. Have you seem tricophylla or valentina?
The cyclamen is either repandum or rhodium ssp pelopponesiacum f. vividum but would need to see the leaves. Yikes these things get complicated!
Cheers, M
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This is the largest of my Oncocyclus irises, a complex arilbred hybrid created by Pat. If this doesn't flower next spring I'll be surprised.
[attachimg=1]
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Hi Guys,
Just a follow up to Jacqui's muscari and her cyclamen.
Clump of Muscari chalusicum (originally from Harry Hay) - that's probably had a name change :-\
Cyclamen repandum (Sicily)
Cyclamen rhodium ssp peloponnesiacum forma vividum - from the eastern Peloponnese. Not the most shrieking pink I have seen.
Cheers, Marcus
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Marcus , I think the one leaf with Jacqui's Cyclamen tells us it is repandum .For years I successfully grew Dionysia aretioides in the open rock garden but the unusually heavy rainfall this winter killed most of the them . Fortunately I had a few plants under cover as shown . Also a few shades of blue .from today .
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Hi Marcus and Otto, Thanks for your help with the cyclamen. I'll label it as repandum.
I am unfamiliar with acis Valentina. I searched the name and it looks like a real sweetie.
Otto, what a winning combination of broad sculpted leaves and sky blue florets in the hyacinthella ieucophaeus! The Dionysia is delightful.
Jamus, love your neatly organized potting bench.
Jacqui.
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Hi Jacqui,
I'll give you A. valentina when you come over.
I love the Hyacinthella I wish I had more of them.
Lovely day here and so I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures (not very good ones!)
Crocus veluchensis - from Mt Kaimaktsalan in northern Greece. It is such a ubiquitous plant up there.
Fritillaria graeca - used to be called variation gucciardii but don't know if this is still maintained. It comes from Mt Parnitha or Parnis to the foreigners.
Fritillaria kittaniae - a controversial species from ranges inland from Kas and Kalkan in SW Turkey.
Cheers, Marcus
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Jacqui, that's my winter nursery! I have two benched areas in the garden for potted plants, one picks up the sun in winter, but is too hot and exposed in summer. The other is too shady in winter, but nice and protected from harsh sun in summer. Hence I called them the winter and summer nurseries respectively.
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Marcus, while the crocus veluchensis may be common in Greece, what a lovely graceful form it has. Such a treat to see your flowers.
Jamus, love the boronia - that particular one has a wonderful fragrance but can be quite temperamental.
I like your summer winter system. Great idea. I have a niggling concern about where to site things in summer. It is almost a choice of too much light of nome at all. Unless I move everything indoors into the bath!
Jacqui.
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Hi,
Fritillaria are now making a bit of a bolt.
Three more:
Fritillaria obliqua - Rare Greek endemic. It's imminent departure from the wild brought about by habitat destruction and NOT over-exploitation by the horticultural industry.
Fritillaria davisii - collected as seed just north of Areopolis in the Mani. Weirdly coloured in comparison to its more dusky brethren.
Fritillaria pinardii - a very boring form of this variable Turkish species.
Cheers, Marcus
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:(
Hi
Marcus, nice fritillaria. We have a few things from you but I get a bad case of the wants when I see photos of ones we don't have. I have also enjoyed seeing Otto's and Jupiter's plants.
I have attached a few photos of our cyclamen. While they are mostly in pots we have a few in our house garden as well.
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Hi Graham,
Your kniphofia is actually a Bulbinella (maybe B. robusta) and looking very good, too!
cheers
fermi
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::)
Hi
Fermi, while I may know my narcissus I obviously don't know my bulbinellas or kniphofias all that well!! I had a recollection of having purchased a kniphofia. Not sure about having purchased a bulbinella.
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I'm loving everyone's posts here as spring approaches. This is a magic time of year.
My little pan of Pickwick blew me away today with seven flowers open at once.
[attachimg=1]
I picked up this Lewisia from a farmers market on our way up to Pat's place on Saturday. A nice surprise! Definitely didn't expect to find anything to spend my money on on the plant stalls.
[attachimg=2]
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Thanks Maggi, I believe it's one of those, but can't tell from the images which. S. greilhuberi Looks closer to me for the advanced foliage ahead of the blooms. Mine never sends up flower spikes with the first leaves and is a good clump before the first spikes emerge in late winter.
Hi Jamus,
I originally got it from Otto as Scilla hohenackeri but he later told that it was Scilla greilhuberi (as the leaves emerge in autumn) so it's now Fessia greilhuberi,
here's 2 pics - the second shows the blasted RLEM!
cheers
fermi
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Thanks Fermi, now I can update its name in my plant list. It's nice to have things right.
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It's lovely to see these beautiful spring things and I have a few to post myself but just feel I can't right now. Such sad news from Maggi this morning and I keep seeing that delightful wee furry face whenever I glance at my screen.
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Lesley,
I had that probelem till I got a non-reflective screen :-X
;D ;D ;D
Here are some pics of the bench exhibits at the August AGS Vic Group meeting:
The Bench
Viv's Scilla mischtschenkoana 'Tubergeniana'
Some of Otto's flowers, including Dionysia aretioides
The man himself!
cheers
fermi
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And BTW,
Good luck to all Kiwis in choosing a new flag! 8) https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/ (https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/)
You guys are so far ahead of Oz in these social changes :-[
cheers
fermi
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This is an unusual hellebore double - just the one bloom like this.
;)
jacqui.
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Lesley,
I had that problem till I got a non-reflective screen :-X
;D ;D ;D
cheers
fermi
That has raised a much needed giggle, fermi, thank you .
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Fermi I absolutely agree with your statement about NZ's progressiveness. I'd love Australia to have a new flag. I love that the fern frond features in many of the suggestions. We should have a Swansonia or Eucalyptus or something. After all Canada has its maple leaf.
Also thank you for posting the pictures from the AGS meeting. Nice to see some of the plants on show and Otto. :)
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Can't see what's wrong with the current one meself? ;D
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Nor can most of us David, especially us "older" people who have grown up with and respected our national flag for eons, and especially those many men and women who went to war and fought under and for it. As one man said on TV last night, "I buried my mates under that flag. I don't want any other." The "new" flag is a diversion introduced by the current clueless Prime Minister, in order to direct attention away from the stupid and hideously expensive mistakes (many marginally or totally corrupt) the govt is making over recent months and years. We are to have a referendum in November to decide on the top 4 or 6 designs chosen by a panel of "experts" (oh puleeze) and then another to decide between that winner and the current version. Cost of this little exercise is $26million while our health system fails many, the prison system is being farmed out to private enterprise for profit as is the education system and housing for the poor going the same way. (The name Serco ring any bells?)
The argument for a new one - or part of the argument - is that people can't distinguish between our fewer red stars and Australia's more white stars. So what? Even in this day and age, many of us can still count and are able to tell red from white!
OK, rant over - for now!
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(I had the distinct impression Fermi that your comment re our possible new flag was tongue-in-cheek.) Funny, when spoken to on the street, almost all older people want to retain the present one while only about one third to a half of young people wish to change. Go figure.
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Much the same feeling here in the 1960's when they ditched the Canadian Ensign. Years later I've gotten used to it but still see the corporate logo of Maple Leaf Foods - suppliers of bacon - flying over Parliament Hill! Perhaps more appropriate over the Senate.......
johnw - pleasant day until it rained and the humidity went through the roof again.
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Flags, anthems, preambles - bread and circuses.
I agree with Lesley. Devices to distract and "entertain" the masses. Let 'em feel they have some say in what's going on.
Cheers, (from a cynical) Marcus
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Hi Everyone,
Another lovely day. Will snap and post a few in between doing my tax!
Galanthus transcaucasicus - I bought this as seed from a Czech nursery. I am now not sure it is what it's supposed to be and I have nothing to compare it to (in the flesh).
Galanthus alpinus - this is correct!
Cheers, Marcus
PS I'll see if I can get a half decent pic of G. krasnovii later
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And BTW,
Good luck to all Kiwis in choosing a new flag! 8) https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/ (https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/)
You guys are so far ahead of Oz in these social changes :-[
cheers
fermi
I seem to remember having a referendum on "new flag or present flag". People voted to keep the present flag, so they then spend millions designing a new flag that most people didn't want. How does that work? ::)
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Hi Anthony,
These things have a life of their own. Once one of these behemoth gets up a head of steam, no matter what the public thinks, there's usually no stopping it.
Do you get the Australian produced tv series, Utopia, over there? Viewing one episode of that will explain all!!
Cheers, Marcus
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Utopia, not seen that one Marcus. Doesn't mean it isn't broadcast here. Those are two lovely snowdrops, by the way. Just received some "Emerald Hughes" from Blue Mountain Nurseries. 8)
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I don't think "Utopia" came our way Marcus though I remember reading somewhere, the Listener maybe, that we were missing something good. If our Govt is crap, TV, especially our so-called "public" broadcaster, is even crappier, ghastly reality, and the usual garbage, almost nothing of quality drama or a decent documentary. News tonight spent all of 15 seconds relating latest developments in ISIL's predations in Iraq and Syria. I rarely watch anything except Al Jazeera now though that does tend to leave one deeply depressed.
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My goodness this posting caper can be fraught. One attachment too big and everything disappears!
I have been anxiously awaiting the leafing of Melbourne, especially the golden elms along Royal Parade - sadly, not yet. A kaleidoscope of photos on these pages provides welcome consolation.
Jamus’s Lewisia is such a sweetie – I have never seen one in the flesh, so to speak.
Marcus – your snowdrop photos are sheer perfection. The colour of the G. alpinus seems to border on chartreuse.
I have attached a few photos, not of rock garden plants, but other harbingers of Spring.
1&2 are of the Western Australian flame pea – Chorizema cordatum – which flowers for months and scrambles over the fence and neighbouring shrubs without damage.
3. Clematis armandii “apple blossom” – bursting out all over..
4. The glorious red stems of Saxifraga fortunei.
Jacqui.
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Hi All,
I was always doing that Jacqui. Pays to copy text if it is complex and paste back in. Lovely clematis, don't seem to see it around Tassie anymore despite Clematis Cottage Nursery being stationed here.
Few crocus to start with, a crocus conundrum you could call it!
Crocus ? - labelled as Crocus olivierii seed collected on Chios but .... anthers wrong. This species' seed is VERY distinct. Flower too globular for C. flavus and seed would be such a give away and I don't think this is recorded from any of the Aegean Islands. Crocus chrysanthus?? Probably, dig up a corm and I would have an answer. Anyone has a suggestion?
Crocus ? Macedonian Ivory - is this a white form of chrysanthus? I think it is more likely to be C. biflorus ssp weldenii
Crocus etruscus - this is straightforward ;D from the Crocus Group.
Cheers, Marcus
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Marcus this came to me from you via my Mum. Can you put a name to it please? Mum isn't as fastidious with recording names as I am. :)
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Hi Jamus,
It's a seedling from a line we called Japanese Woodcut. The parent had all the spots joined up to make a solid block with a ribbon of lighter colouring around the edge. I obtained the original plant from Lynn McGough.
In the form where the ribbon is very narrow these plants are generally called reverse picotees.
Cheers, Marcus
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Thanks Marcus, I like it a lot. Couldn't even wait for it to open fully before snapping it with my camera.
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Tropaeolum polyphyllum is up again and I'm hoping for flowers this year. I was hopeful last year until some vermin nipped off the biggest shoots... don't know if it was possum, rat, bird or what. >:( Those with keen eyes will see six shoots.
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Exciting Times Jamus!
Few more for the day:
Galanthus Blonde Inge - very vigorous and easy.
Galanthus Bertram Anderson - bought this from John Morley. Can't seem to find it listed widely in the UK.
Fritillaria crassifolia ssp crassifolia - a very difficult plant to raise and to keep.
Cheers, Marcus
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OOooOooo.. blonde Inge is one to look out for. I like my wo... I mean, snowdrops vigorous and easy. :o
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OOooOooo.. I like my wo... I mean, snowdrops vigorous and easy. :o
Tread carefully, Jamus, Maggi has been known to exact penalties for inappropriate comments! :o
;D
cheers
fermi
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Woops. :P
I have several large pots of Tropaeolum tricolor and every year amongst it there is a spattering of Trop. azureum. I think originally it must have been a seedling from an adjacent pot. The tubers are almost identical, so I can't separate it out. I have to be content with it as is.
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Gosh they are all breathtaking Marcus.
The fritillary is like a wee reptilian egg (or perhaps handbag). :D
Jamus - love the blue one.
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Woops. :P
I have several large pots of Tropaeolum tricolor and every year amongst it there is a spattering of Trop. azureum. I think originally it must have been a seedling from an adjacent pot. The tubers are almost identical, so I can't separate it out. I have to be content with it as is.
But a really exciting combination Jamus. I wouldn't be minding their mingling. :)
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The fritillary is like a wee reptilian egg (or perhaps handbag). :D
Mmmm, I like the handbag option. :D
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Hello Leslie – I’m glad we are in agreement!
The garden in Eltham is quite bedraggled after a downpour yesterday. Nonetheless, some offerings from this morning,
1. A glorious double Helleborus niger form bred by the inimitable Peter Leigh of Post Office Nursery.
2. Ripe catkins of Corylus avellana contorta – the corkscrew hazel.
3. Eomecon chionantha – yes it IS a garden thug, but contained by arid surrounds atop the hill (well, seems to be)
4. A very wet Erythronium tuolumnense – from the delightful Tonkin girls.
5. The red stems of Cornus siberica alba brightening up the winter.
I hope of some interest, Jacqui.
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Parsia,
What a lovely Erythronium tuolumnense!
I am used to seeing them in the canyon of the Stanislaus River, California growing out of the steep clay banks in the north facing oak - pine woodland.
Thank you far sharing the photograph, our season is 6 months away!
All the photograph are very nice.
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I like the bag analogy re fritillary. It would have to be a Croc skin bag seeing it's living in Oz.
Lovely to see the little blue face in amongst the tricolor crowd. Jacqui, great to see the yellow trout lily. It has smallish flowers for such big tubers but at least it is reliable.
Robert how lucky are you to see them in the wild!
I was going to photograph some fritillaries today, and do some pollinating, but the weather is seriously appalling. Hail, snow, sleet and temps not yet above 4 degrees. Probably a good day to sit inside and do some writing.
Cheers, M
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Just posted a few photos in the Galanthus thread but thought the following might be a bit too bright to belong there . ;D Galanthus and company .
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Hi Robert,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments.
There are some lovely wooded areas over your way with lush undergrowth. There is a beautiful book on the American woodland by Rick Darke, with photographs of scenes time-lapsed across the four seasons. It's quite an eye opener and something of a favourite.
To echo Marcus, you are lucky to see the erythronium so in their habitat. I have only a tiny clump of the E. tuolumnense,. It is painfully slow to multiply here - but such a dear little wild creature easily pays its way.
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Hi
Some photos from our garden.
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Just posted a few photos in the Galanthus thread but thought the following might be a bit too bright to belong there . ;D Galanthus and company .
Good idea not to over-excite the 'drop fiends with colour, t00lie - they're easily over- heated!
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Good idea not to over-excite the 'drop fiends with colour, t00lie - they're easily over- heated!
;D ;D
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Pleased to see the your Trillium pic Graham ,mine are just starting to bloom with 'Mr Reliable' one of the first to flower each season ..
T.kurabayashii originally from seed .
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Jaqui I seriously like your double Hell. niger plant, not TOO double, enough to be classy, not enough to be vulgar. :D
Marcus/Dave, your weather is much like mine, everything wet, wet, wet and so cold. We just can't seem to shake off winter this year. When I went to Hokonui Alpines the other day while there were odd things coming along, the only real "show" was Louise's collection of porophyllum saxifragas, all grouped together in good big potfuls and looking amazing. Of course I hadn't taken my camera. But I brought home lots of little plants. ;D
Had a call from NZ Gardener magazine this morning. They're in Dunedin photographing for an article about local gardens. Wanted to do mine so I told caller about the empty beds of battered soil and surface water lying about. She agreed that maybe next year would be better! However, we chatted about this and that and MAYBE (only maybe) a future of fame and fortune awaits me as a new correspondent on South Island gardens, especially alpines/ min bulbs. She'll email when back in her office. ;D ;D ;D
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I just put in a hellebores Niger like that too. Not usually into double either but this one caught my eye. Jacqui, beautiful plants, Erythronium tuolumnense is gorgeous. You're lucky to like in close proximity to all those wonderful nurseries... Slim pickings over here, I have to be content with mail order.
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Yes I saw part of your order at Hokonui last week Lesley ;D .Lou, always the sales person, suggested I purchase another couple of plants to top your order however I was already at my max :'( ....... Superannuation must pay well !. ;)
It would be terrific if an article/s on alpines/small bulbs appeared in the NZ Gardener especially with a mention within of the local alpine garden clubs around.
Here's a potful of Iris winogradowii , 8 blooms with 1 yet to open. Rescued from the garden a few years back where it had declined, if I remember correctly, to a couple of bulbs .Enough in numbers now to try it again elsewhere in the garden proper.
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What a cheery sight that potful of iris is Dave. Trilliums are barely out of the ground here.
Lesley, I was looking back over the July thread, as you do, and I came across your two crocus that you wanted ID for. The first one is, l think, candidus, and the second is gargaricus. Did gargaricus come from me? It came from Gok Tepe near Denizli in SW Turkey.
Cats and dogs here. Rivers where there were none, ducks holding up the traffic, great sloshy sprays wiith every footfall.
Hope it's better for Otto and Fermi today - both have garden openings.
Cheers, Marcus
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Hi Lesley, thank you for noticing - yes it's a beautiful yet understated hellebore, in a patch growing happily under a senkaki maple. Also, congratulations on your potential fame and fortune as a garden correspondent.
Jamus - did you get yours from Peter Leigh as well? He also has some with patterned leaves, which are quite spectacular even if one isn't a variegation junkie. The erythroniums only come here by post too - but yes, I am lucky to be in proximity to a few wonderful plant nurseries.
Marcus, how did your more exotic fritillaria blooms cope with the storm? Did any survive for photographs?
Jacqui.
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I am posting these for comments; Primula vulgaris a white and coloured form naturalised on the site of an old farmhouse. I am curious to know if these are true P. vulgaris or something different.
Selaginella kraussiana also naturalised and not wanted. A legacy from the garden of the Hon. Wm Larnach.
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Hi Jacqui,
I haven't looked. Spent most of the day fiddling down at Susan's with the snowdrops and hepaticas and taking the dog for walks. Did complete the intro to my new seed catalogue, which I will probably change, and adding to a blog article on fritillaries.
Hope Fermi got a few in the door?
Cheers, M
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Hi Marcus,
Fermi had quite a few - about 20 I should think.
They have expended much effort and not a little devotion into creating a rock garden in harmony with the surrounds, artfully designed as a panorama from the verandah.
I hope fermi doesn't mind - I have attached one photo of a very small section, just to give an idea.
In Spring - only a couple of weeks away - it will explode into a riot of colour.
I look forward to your fritillaria blog M, after looking with awe on your species photos (especially the handbag frit) :)
Jacqui.
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Hi David,
They certainly have all the hallmarks of the species but so much tinkering has been done with them.
I have never seen a wild plant the color of your dark one but I am no expert. I have seem pale blue.
They are close enough.
Cheers, Marcus
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Hi David,
I feel a bit of a pipsqueak making comment after Marcus, but had just popped out into the garden to photograph a couple of primula vulgaris for comparison - so am posting it anyway.
These originally came from two sources, and there is a marked difference in the leaves but both still within the P. vulgaris remit. Both seem perkily upright as far as the flowers are concerned.
Of any help? Jacqui.
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Yes I saw part of your order at Hokonui last week Lesley ;D .Lou, always the sales person, suggested I purchase another couple of plants to top your order however I was already at my max :'( ....... Superannuation must pay well !. ;)
It would be terrific if an article/s on alpines/small bulbs appeared in the NZ Gardener especially with a mention within of the local alpine garden clubs around.
Here's a potful of Iris winogradowii , 8 blooms with 1 yet to open. Rescued from the garden a few years back where it had declined, if I remember correctly, to a couple of bulbs .Enough in numbers now to try it again elsewhere in the garden proper.
No Dave, superannuation (as provided by Her Majesty's NZ government) does NOT pay well. You can live on it if you have no debt, like rent or a mortgage or hire purchase and if you don't take a holiday or go to a concert or buy books/plants etc. let alone a bottle of wine. If it were not for a few plants sold, life would be miserable.
Thanks Marcus. Otto had suggested candidus and I did have it of course. The problem with the crocuses this year is that there are so many different and the chooks have played merry hell with the labels. If they're still present, they've faded. I've gone back to an old lead pencil for labelling. I don't remember having C. gargaricus from you but quite likely. Actually I DO remember now, because earlier I always mixed its name with that of Campanula gargaNicus. :) So that's two more I can label correctly. Now I have so many pots of seedlings and all seem to have a mixed bag in them so hybrids are busting out all over, this June-August.
Remember when you're planting out your Iris Dave that I. winogradowii doesn't like summer dry. It comes from damp meadows around the Georgian capital of Tblisi, not the Iranian/Iraqui steppe, like the other reticulatas (or the forms we grow so easily). Same applies to its children 'Sheila Ann Germany' and 'Katharine Hodgkin. My own winogradowii gradually declined and was lost altogether maybe 3 or 4 years ago and I was able to get one from Louise year before last. It bloomed and set a pod, nine seeds and these are germinating now around the bulb which is only now (yesterday) poking its nose through. There should be some rice grain babies too.
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No Dave, superannuation (as provided by Her Majesty's NZ government) does NOT pay well.
Superannuation must pay better than what has replaced it for teachers, as teachers here seem to go on for ever. No one I know teaches beyond 60 in Scotland! Your pension would be 1/80th of your final salary (it's now changing to average salary) for each year you taught plus a lump sum of 3/80ths X number of years taught. Teaching 40 years (I know of one person in Scotland who clocked up this) would give you a pension of 1/2 final salary plus a lump sum of 1.5 X your last year's pay. You can retire at 60 on your SA pension, but won't get your old age pension until what ever age that now is.
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What a cheery sight that potful of iris is Dave. Trilliums are barely out of the ground here.
Cheers, Marcus
Thanks Marcus --Found T. nivale and also some different forms of T. rivale in bud today only needing a bit of warmth.
Here's some more cherry sights from around the garden . .A few repeat Narcissus but so welcome at this early part of the season ..........
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More.
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No Dave, superannuation (as provided by Her Majesty's NZ government) does NOT pay well. You can live on it if you have no debt, like rent or a mortgage or hire purchase and if you don't take a holiday or go to a concert or buy books/plants etc. let alone a bottle of wine. If it were not for a few plants sold, life would be miserable.
Remember when you're planting out your Iris Dave that I. winogradowii doesn't like summer dry.
I was just winding you up with my superannuation comment Lesley...... ;D ;D
The Iris won't need to worry about summer dry in this climate and garden ;).The experts are forecasting a 15% increase in moisture levels this spring /summer.... :'( I think my previous problems were of a fungal nature ......
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Hi Dave,
I don't have many species here and I figure it's too late to start!
Here is my contribution to the primula discussion:
Wild seed collected in the Taygetos Mountains in the Peloponnese above Mystras in the Lagada Pass.
Also Muscari macrocarpum
and an out of focus Cyclamen balearicum.
Cheers, Marcus
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And to make it a lay down misere on the Fritillaria crassifolia front:
Fritillaria crass. ssp kurdica
Fritillaria crass. ssp poluninii
Fritillaria crass. hakkariensis (very bedraggled from snail attack and downpours but I couldn't resist giving Otto a thrill!)
Cheers, Marcus
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I know you were Dave. That's OK ;D
Anthony I think the way pensions are calculated here are quite different from the UK and of course women don't get them until 65 while I believe it's 60 in Britain. Like all the elderly (Oh God, that's me now) I probably moan and groan at whatever the govt does but believe me I'm very well aware that I'm well off compared with many. Without the plants or some other source for a top-up I don't see how many can cope at all, never mind the millions in third world countries whose lives are so vastly different. I count myself fortunate in many, many ways.
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I've never seen a fritillaria like the crassifolium ssp poluninii Marcus.
Are all members of the crassifolium group particularly hard to grow?
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Anthony I think the way pensions are calculated here are quite different from the UK and of course women don't get them until 65 while I believe it's 60 in Britain. Like all the elderly (Oh God, that's me now) I probably moan and groan at whatever the govt does but believe me I'm very well aware that I'm well off compared with many. Without the plants or some other source for a top-up I don't see how many can cope at all, never mind the millions in third world countries whose lives are so vastly different. I count myself fortunate in many, many ways.
For women, the pensionable age (for state pension) has increased from 60 (it's currently 63, I think) and for both men and women it will be 65 by November 2018; 66 in 2020 and 68 after that. It is currently £115.95 a week.
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Thanks for posting a nice pic of the garden, Jacqui!
Here's a close-up of the bed in the foreground - mostly daffodils from Canberra ;D
We had 29 visitors to the garden yesterday - not a huge number, but considering some had travelled 3 hours we were quite pleased to see so many.
The weather was kind to us, not too cold and not wet - though we could do with the rain!
cheers
fermi
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For women, the pensionable age (for state pension) has increased from 60 (it's currently 63, I think) and for both men and women it will be 65 by November 2018; 66 in 2020 and 68 after that. It is currently £115.95 a week.
I'm 62 years old - the pension age in the UK has, as Anthony said, been being stretched out for some time now - I will get my pension in November 2017, when I will be past 64. #sigh#
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;D ;D
Hi
Fermi, we have lots of things that are more than suitable for rock gardens here in Canberra that would greatly appreciate a trip south! You could also have a special split cup and double section for Lesley!! ::)
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Yes I saw part of your order at Hokonui last week Lesley ;D .Lou, always the sales person, suggested I purchase another couple of plants to top your order however I was already at my max :'( ....... Superannuation must pay well !. ;)
It would be terrific if an article/s on alpines/small bulbs appeared in the NZ Gardener especially with a mention within of the local alpine garden clubs around.
Here's a potful of Iris winogradowii , 8 blooms with 1 yet to open. Rescued from the garden a few years back where it had declined, if I remember correctly, to a couple of bulbs .Enough in numbers now to try it again elsewhere in the garden proper.
Stunning iris Dave, have not had tgat for years, one of the many stunners I gave away when not well, but fun to start again collecting, I did a biggish order as well frkm Hokanui and away tgere in a few weeks to add to it hopfully
Had a fantastic time at Leslies getting some super wee treasures
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For women, the pensionable age (for state pension) has increased from 60 (it's currently 63, I think) and for both men and women it will be 65 by November 2018; 66 in 2020 and 68 after that. It is currently £115.95 a week.
At present exchange rates Anthony, it's about that amount per fortnight, a bit more if living alone. A couple doesn't get twice what a solo person gets.
While our largest opposition party is talking about extending eligibility for state pensions to 67 (for both sexes) our current PM (ever mindful of next election's votes) is against that. What would make a real difference to better government in this country is a four or even five year term of office. Three years leaves all politicians afraid to make hard decisions no matter how right they would be for the country.
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Fermi, thanks for your PM, a quick reply sent off. Could you split your trip and be here also for Oct 3/4 for OAGG SHOW!!! then again for the 15th ?
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Thanks Marcus and Jaqui for your comments and pictures. Interesting to see the white-flowered form of Primula vulgaris grown from wild collected seed. I was under the impression that most wild primroses were cream or yellow.
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I loved seeing your Iris winogradowii Dave seldom seen here in Australia now.
Marcus Crocus olivieri ssp balansae from 2010 lovely wide striped leaves and seems a strong grower, I think this is one of your collections from Greece?
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Also, congratulations on your potential fame and fortune as a garden correspondent.
Well we can all claim we knew and appreciated her before the elevation 8)
All the best with it Lesley - just don't do a Miley Cyrus on us will you? :-X ;) ;D
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Well we can all claim we knew and appreciated her before the elevation 8)
All the best with it Lesley - just don't do a Miley Cyrus on us will you? :-X ;) ;D
Winter going out with a blast. Driving rain tonight. First day of spring tomorrow. Oaks already in leaf. Anyone around the Med able to collect me some Kermes acorns?
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My Tropaeolum tricolor(tricolorum) are starting to get going here with the warmer spring weather we've been having. It was 19°C yesterday and they are forecasting 20°C for today, ahead of a stormy change tomorrow.
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The garden is changing so fast now. Every night I come home from work and it place looks different. The speed of change is quite amazing.
Jacqui I picked up Helleborus niger locally at a nursery here called Tupello grove. Ian Powell, the nurseryman there has a good selection of hellebores and other interesting woodlanders. He carries a good selection of Epimedium too... but I've had mixed success with those so far. I'm learning how to grow them.
Here are some pictures of the new limestone beds for oncocyclus irises! I've worked on the area over the past couple of weekends and it's coming along well I think...
[attachimg=2][attachimg=3][attachimg=4][attachimg=5]
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Thanks so much Ashley. May turn out to be a fizzer. The Editor lady was going to email me when back in her office Monday. No word yet though. Fingers crossed. :)
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Gosh, Jamus, is your back aching? Looks great though.
For the uninitiated (me), how far down do the pebbles go and what is the composition beneath?
Jacqui.
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Hi Viv, yes the crocus comes from Greece. The Aegean Islands top be more precise and I think it might be found on the Turkisk coast. If it's from me then it will be from Samos
David,, my camera work might have misled you. My primula is in fact a pale cream. I did find a colony of pale blue ones up near the Bulgarian border once but I can't locate them again. John Richsrds, in book, Flowery Walks on the Greek Mainland writes of pink flowers around Mt Vermion and Tria Pigada but all the plants I have grown from there have been stock standard cream and pale yellow.
Jamus, what a marvellous effort. And all those oncos, wow! Can't wait to see the flowers.
No warm weather here, just the same old icebox conditions. Did I mention it's officially the coldest winter for fifty years?
Cheers, M
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Jacqui - the pebble mulch is quite deep, an inch to a couple of inches. Beneath is a mix of my own invention. 3 parts fine quartz gravel, 2 parts sharp sand, 2 parts crushed limestone rock, 1 part sandy loam and one part fine dolomite rock. Added a little FCRD (Fisher creek rock dust, and builders lime). The pH is around 7.5 and its water holding capacity is only 10%. Sounds a bit technical, I'm sorry but that's my style I guess.
Back isn't sore. I am quite physical and quite used to this kind of work. Shoveled probably a ton of gravel and sand on the weekend. I feel great! (I'm only 41, still a young pup).
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Back isn't sore. I am quite physical and quite used to this kind of work. Shoveled probably a ton of gravel and sand on the weekend. I feel great! (I'm only 41, still a young pup).
Ah, those were the days ::)
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Shoveled probably a ton of gravel and sand on the weekend. I feel great! (I'm only 41, still a young pup).
Horrible man!......................................................................... ;D