Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: fermi de Sousa on January 01, 2016, 01:44:12 AM
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Happy 2016!
It's already a hot day but mercifully less than sweltering!
Here are a few flowers in the garden:
Lilium 'Silk Road' is usually much taller and more floriferous but we're gratefully for any blooms this year;
Lilium 'Mr Cas';
Limonium roseum
an overview of part of the rock garden - it's going to be a dry summer!
cheers
fermi
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Lesley and Maggie, what a dear little narcissus. I can see why Susan would be proud to wear it. Quite a thrill I should imagine.
Fermi, you seem to have made some excellent garden choices for your dry environs.
I have selected a few things to show - of the little flowering now.
1. Aster laterifolius "Prince". Ridiculous name, but I'm so surprised at the growth on these daisy bushes over just a year. I love purple foliage, and have quite a bit, but these are the only ones that haven't collapsed in the heat and wind. With the dark foliage and such tiny flowers (less than a cm I should say) they could be said to resemble some forms of our ti-tree, but less straggly and right at home in a perennial border.
2. Past its best, this white flowered thalictrum is still looking good in a marginally shaded position.
3. Oreganum - one of my favourites for its ability to colonise a dry bed under citrus trees the diminutive "Dingle Fairy" keeps the bed looking green.
4. It is also a bee magnet. If you look closely you can see tiny flowers amongst the bracts.
5. Origanum "Bellissimo" has unusual pagoda-shaped bracts - far more pronounced than Kent beauty to my eye, and superbly colouring up in the heat.
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;D
Hi
Fermi I have found time to take a few photos even though lifting bulbs is the name of the game at the moment.
Our lilium looks like yours. It is a towering giant in our garden.
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Hi Graham,
I think that your Lilium is more likely Lilium Leslie Woodriff,
Cheers John.
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Just a quick post.
I was delighted to see this terribly confused cyclamen hederifolium emerge with 3 blooms and two buds.
It is very sheltered under a Michaelia, so should survive the ordeal.
A gift from Otto, has lovely silver leaves in season. I can only imagine that being rudely disinterred from a comfortable existence in the mountains and sent to the dry environs of Eltham has upset it.
Also, the first globeflower of the season. I think Trollius europaeus, but may be mistaken. Two views - the first is a better photo but the other shows a little of the surrounds.
Oh, and a happy new year to you all.
jacqui.
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Our thread seems much quieter than usual - perhaps many of you are away on holidays.
Something a little different today. The view downhill through my rather dusty bathroom window taken yesterday at dusk. Possibly a little dark...
You can see clematis viticella luxuriant alba in the foreground, and rosa 'souvenir de la malmaison' at rear.
Also scorched magnolia (michaelia) and daphne odora, etc
Jacqui.
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Jacqui,
Do you remember the name of the Michelia species in your photograph?
I have grown M. doltsopa for years. It always burns and has never bloomed for me. :( Maybe I should remove it? but I keep hoping for flowers. 35 years is getting a bit long to wait! ::) Some of the other Michelias do just fine for us. M. figo never burns and is always loaded with flowers. For us, it can get big, but I keep cutting it back. This does not seem to stop it from blooming well. :) The M. x foggii types are in a forgotten corner. They do not seem to burn either. They bloom okay considering that they are forgotten. :'(
I must say that all of our Michelias get shade from the hot afternoon sun. Full morning sun - so lots of flowers if they are well tended.
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Hi Robert,
35 years! You are far more patient than i am. I am getting very cranky with a Cornus capitata that hasn't bloomed in 7!
It is a Jury bred Michaelia hybrid sold under the moniker of "Magnolia Cream Fairy". I was lucky enough to buy one of very few larger specimens in the country 3 years ago before the official release.
Silly name but absolute winner. Gorgeous, Fragrant, evergreen and living in full sun in the hottest part of the day. While it does scorch who wouldn't at those temperatures. Very floriferous if one fertilises twice annually. Similar size flowers to Michaelia scented pearl.
Next to it is a 'Mixed-up-miss' dolotopsa-figo hybrid, but hard to see.
I have attached a couple of photos - out of season - to show you the blooms. I hope its okay to do that.
Thank you for commenting,
Jacqui.
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Jacqui,
I am very pleased you posted the "out-of-season" photographs. :)
I have to agree 100%, 'Cream Fairy' seems an absolute winner. Very 8)
In our neighborhood in Sacramento there is an ancient Magnolia campbellii. It suffers die-back, leaf burn, and who knows what else. Despite the problems it buds every year and blooms with huge fragrant pink flowers - late January - early February.
It is so strange having this species in our area. Sacramento, California is definitely not a horticultural hot spot!
About 25 years ago I sold Magnolia 'Star Wars' and 'Vulcan' to Daisy Mah, at that time head gardener at the Sacramento WPA Rock Garden. They have survived the plant thieves and the hacker and are beautiful specimens now. I wish that we had more variety in our area but we just do not.
I am so impressed with the variety of plants you have available in your area.... and such keen gardeners. I will stay tuned. It is most enlightening to see what you (all) grow with your hot dry climatic conditions.
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Some plants to follow soon but in the meantime, a Call to Arms! :)
Susan's tattoo but a poor picture I'm afraid, bright sun and the day conspiring to hurry the process.
I have a nice new cast, blue fibreglass. The worse break is set (other mending on its own) and in traction. The finger was pulled by hand by a very charming (but secretly sadistical) young Chinese man who kept saying "Poor Lady, Poor Lady" as I swore at him and made horrible noises. (The lidocaine anaesthetic pumped in through an enormous needle was much worse than the pulling actually.) Then a previously measured steel splint was bent to fit the angle the surgeon wanted, bound to my finger and the excess binding formed into a tube and pulled more, over the end of the steel and bound in place, so keeping the two parts of bone meeting each other but not overlapping as they had been. It doesn't hurt much but is a real nuisance and will be in place most likely for 6 weeks. Appt in two weeks to view progress. Of course I can't drive so am relying on Roger for transport, always at HIS convenience, not mine. I'm not a happy bunny. Talking of which, here's on e of the black ones. Again not a good picture, taken on a dull evening, though double glazing. He'd be in the sitting room if the door were open!
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I'm not a happy bunny. Talking of which, here's on e of the black ones. Again not a good picture, taken on a dull evening, though double glazing. He'd be in the sitting room if the door were open!
Not quite the Black Rabbit of Inle then?
http://watershipdown.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Rabbit_of_Inl%C3%A9 (http://watershipdown.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Rabbit_of_Inl%C3%A9)
cheers
fermi
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We have hares round us, even in the grassy areas next to the footpaths. I was going to get rabbits tattooed on my head. They look like hares from a distance. ;)
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I think I showed a pic of this Seseli (?.S.gummiferum) a year or so ago and I think Tim suggested that it might be monocarpic but it didn't set any seeds and it is looking very perennial!
2 Flower heads this year!
cheers
fermi
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Hi Fermi, I LOVE your Sesseli gummiferum. I germinated several, gave some away and then killed mine; re-germinated some more, and now have a couple in the garden. One in particular looks to be established now. It's lovely to see pictures of it flowering, and in the Southern Hemisphere too. What a stunning creature it is and good news to hear that you're finding it to be perennial. I have a penchant for Apiaceae, just can't resist them.
Please excuse my lack of activity on the forum guys and girls. I'm still here, just not a lot to show at the moment. We've been hit pretty hard by the early and severe start to summer. I'm enjoying your posts, Jacqui you have some magnificent shrubs and small trees; that Michaeliea is very desirable, but a bit tender for here.
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We have hares round us, even in the grassy areas next to the footpaths. I was going to get rabbits tattooed on my head. They look like hares from a distance. ;)
;D ::) ::)
A number of different Veratrums are in bud with this V.viride well ahead of the pack......
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Anthony, do you not think you would be better to get hair tattooed on your head? ;D
Jamus how could we forget you now you have a calendar to your name? :) Well done!
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:) Thanks Lesley, I am trying to stay positive through this drought. I'm glad I've got the oncos to play with. My next round of embryo culture is scheduled for next week! Some exciting species waiting for me in the fridge.
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Hi Robert, the vulcan and star wars are beautiful magnolias. hard to believe there are people out there who hack and thieve trees, although i know it happens.
In my long distant past i was friendly with a landscape gardener for an outer suburb and still recall his anger and distress when after just finishing planting a parkland (as something nice for the locals), he arrived at work on the Monday to find someone had taken to the trees with a chainsaw.
So it happens...
Jamus, I'm glad to know you are not too despondent. Its easy to get that way. The main reason I show so many shrubs here is because i have very few of the alpines and bulbs to show at this time of year.
Two offerings.
1. A lovely blue geranium I bought from Dan Magnus at Woodbridge some years ago. I'm just not sure which one it is now. It has always multiplied well, even if its thoroughly scorched.
2. Like others, the autumn snowflakes, Acis autumnalis, are popping up early all over.
Jacqui.
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Acis autumnalis flowering now?! :o I have a potful I have been meaning to plonk into the garden somewhere. I'd better keep an eye on it.
Lesley following on from your tattoo posts... my little sister has just had one done, which our Mum designed in her usual botanical style. I don't usually go in for tattoos, so it's not really my thing but I have to say I like the design and the execution.
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Jacqui,
no sign of the acis here yet!
Over a week ago I posted a pic of the first flowers on Lobelia triconocaulis - they still look fresh today and have been joined by a third,
cheers
fermi
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Very pretty lobelia, fermi.
A couple from the dry garden
1. Possibly my favourite of the common garden salvias is the cultivar African skies, for the clouds of lavender blue all summer long. A perfect foil for roses.
2. Eryngium bourgatii, statuesque silvery blooms
3. although i have already shown this lovely cyclamen from Otto, it is continuing to send up buds despite being months early. perhaps the temperature drop from 40s to 20s in a week did it.
jacqui
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Jacqui I'm wondering if your Geranium in G. ibericum. I have what seems to be the same as yours and have not known the name either. It was here when we arrived and is in bloom now. (no it's not. I went out to take a picture and found every flower finished except this really grotty one, almost over. The colour is more purple, less blue than yours so perhaps it's not ibericum after all). And perhaps mine is not anyway. I saw one in the Dunedin Bot Garden a couple of weeks ago and thought it was the same as mine. It was labelled as G. ibericum but they have been known to have the occasional wrongly named plant. Went to look in the Rix and Phillips Perennials book, Vol 11 but Geraniums are in Vol 1 and Vol 11 is currently elsewhere. Life is a total frustration at the moment. Still 5 weeks of plaster to go!
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Hi Lesley,
That was very helpful. Thank you. It does look like geranium ibericum except, as you say, mine is closer to a true blue. The hairy leaves have quite rounded lobes and I now wonder it mayn't be the G. ibericum G. platypetalum cross called G. x magnificum
We had a little rain overnight here. Such a relief after the unspeakable furnace of yesterday. 46 deg in Parkville where I work. Close to the record I would think. I imagine similarly hot here because when I arrived home at dusk it looked awful. Scorching everywhere. Really beyond the pale and one questions the futility of gardening in such an unforgiving climate.
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The garden is currently a ridiculous combination of frizzled, fried and lush growth spurred by the heat. A total mess! A lone gladiolus has flowered, cheering my morning. Looks like G. papilio, except the flowers seem more erect than i had thought. It is a tad frayed, but posting it anyway...
jacqui.
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Here's Pelargonium sidoides I grew from seed sown May 2015. The only one that germinated.
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Beautiful Anthony. The flower colour is very light compared with mine. Do you think it's the species or maybe a hybrid? I was told that mine might be a hybrid, but I think it just looked light coloured because it was back lit in the photo I took.
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It's the species. I've seen quite a range of colours at the Auckland Botanic Gardens yesterday. I only photographed the darker one, then my camera battery died.
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Mine is flowering well at the moment. I've been slack with photography because the garden is looking very drab and less than inspiring.
There is this, Ceropegia stapeliiformis, flowering in the bathroom at the moment.
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Hi Jupiter,
that's an amazing critter you have in your bathroom.
my garden too, has little to tempt at present. For some reason i have never been good with indoor plants.
just a couple.
1&2. A charming little scilla that came my way from Otto has sent up a spike. The anthers are very pretty against the petals.
3. an interesting polygonatum that came from Lynn Mc Gough.
4. The beautifully marked foliage of Cyclamen persicum, kindly gifted by Marcus.
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Hi Jupiter,
that's an amazing critter you have in your bathroom.
That's what I thought - looked a bit dangerous to me!!
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HA! only if you slip in the bath trying to get a better look. Here's another shot.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1585/24479886716_7189c7b02c_b.jpg)
Parsla your garden looks quite green and lush compared with mine! We had a big storm last night and 12mm of lovely rain! I was prepared...
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Since buying a smart phone before Christmas, I seem to have developed a really bad habit of looking at emails there and not answering them because the screen is so small compared with my PC and thinking I'll get back to that later and contribute the odd comment or picture, then not doing it. So here at last are some pictures of things that have been really good over recent weeks.
First, two pics of my neighbours, really friendly and happy to come for their noses to be scratched. They have a pleasant milky scent, as well as that other scent of course.
Lobelia linnaeoides is a tiny native lobelia (I think it's called something else now >:() and I love its tiny apron flowers over foliage that it is small and with no height at all that it's almost invisible. On the right is one of the seedlings from Wim B's Pinguicula grandiflora
Lewisias have been very good this year, now for the second batch of flowers and I've been able to get a lot of seed too, more than ever before. In fact the whole seed thing is almost overwhelming and I have seeds over every table and bench in the house, in ever cup, saucer and almost coming out my ears!
More seed in this and 4 more fat pods of Podophyllum hexandrum. Just half ready yet, they'll go tomato red when fully ripe. I've never before had more than a single pod.
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Misfired there and put up the wrong pic. The Podophyllum in flower here. Then the fruit.
Two excellent Dianthus for a biggish trough are D. erinaceus (syn webbianus?) and D. haematocalyx v. pindicola. Again, both are making some seed. I've had the parent of erinaceus since 1966 and the ACW collection in Turkey that year. The parent came to Dunedin with me, lifted from the garden and sitting on the front seat of my car, about 60cms in diameter. Incredibly it survived but died about 5 years later after giving some seeds. The other, I grew from seed from the nice man whose name I forget at the moment, at a nursery near Pershore in the UK, not far from the AGS centre. As I admired it, he said, "lots of seed there, help yourself." So I did. :)
I have some lovely Androsaces at present. They are doing so well in the washtub troughs, very compact and enjoying good drainage and high grit content. The first of these I had from Tabor as A. mariae but it isn't, having much larger rosettes but very compact and tight. The flowers are not white as in mariae but on short stems, pink and not unlike those of sarmentosa but the plant is so much smaller and tighter. It is very nice indeed. Nearby is A. jacquemontii another tight, woolly cushion.
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Hi everyone,
I'm new to the club, thought I'd post something to break the ice.
I live in Mount Macedon in Victoria and have a ever growing passion for rare bulbs. I've much to learn from you all, reading recent posts has been a great help.
That's it for now!
Brock.
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Misfired there and put up the wrong pic. The Podophyllum in flower here. Then the fruit.
Two excellent Dianthus for a biggish trough are D. erinaceus (syn webbianus?) and D. haematocalyx v. pindicola. Again, both are making some seed. I've had the parent of erinaceus since 1966 and the ACW collection in Turkey that year. The parent came to Dunedin with me, lifted from the garden and sitting on the front seat of my car, about 60cms in diameter. Incredibly it survived but died about 5 years .
You are so ahead compared to here Lesley as my D.erinaceus is still in bud.
The fruits of this coral Podophyllum that flowered back in early November took a while to mature however they are just turning and I recently felt plenty of seed in each pod .
The Otago Lily Society have a show in South Dunedin this weekend and as I was up that way on business I went along for a look ...no pics but saw some stunning blooms and they had a couple of well stacked sales tables that I helped lighten ....... ;D
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Lesley, lovely plants you're posting. I like the Dianthus and the Androsace. Those are new species to me, I"m off to read about them. :)
Little Thymus 'Elfins' is enjoying summer, and makes me smile every time I walk up through the rock garden.
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Hi everyone,
I'm new to the club, thought I'd post something to break the ice.
I live in Mount Macedon in Victoria and have a ever growing passion for rare bulbs. I've much to learn from you all, reading recent posts has been a great help.
Brock.
Hi Brock,
Nice to see another Victorian on the Forum.
Being in Mt Macedon you will of course be familiar with Stephen Ryan's "Dicksonia Rare Plants Nursery" which is a great source for rare bulbs. Also consider joining the Alpine Garden Society, Vic Group, which meets in Olinda on a monthly basis. And of course there is the The Bulb Society which meets in Mt Waverley (I think).
cheers
fermi
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Sorry Jamus but that's not Thymus 'Elfin' which is a small cushion, tight and non-blooming. It's only when it makes the sport that it becomes like yours and creeps around. Here's 'Elfin' now and some others.
I got stopped in my tracks when putting these up a couple of nights ago. Everything went black on screen and then I had a box saying "Factory Burn-in" and some other stuff. Only way I could get rid was to turn off at the wall and it was still there when I turned on again later. Roger has fixed it for now.
Picture 3 of this batch is another wonderful thyme which I bought as "lemon" thyme but although the foliage is yellowish green, the scent is of the really sweet thyme which I had once as serpyllum so I thinks this is a form of that. One day I could smell the lovely scent as I walked down the garden plant and then found it was so strong because rabbits had been clawing it to pieces over night. It was easily rescued by potting up 25 pieces and replanting the rest. It flowers amazingly and falls over the little limestone wall. Lemon thyme is, I think, T. citriodorus and has green and cream variegated foliage, an upright bushlet, nothing like this one.
Campanulas are very good this year and this is C. x pulloides 'G F Wilson' which is an old plant but excellent for a sunny rock garden or wall.
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Still with campanulas, these first two are (but I may have got them round the wrong way) C. pulla x zoysii and C zoysii x pulla, both easy plants and loving gritty troughs. I think the deep coloured one may be the zoysii x pulla but I'm not sure.
Now my photo processing programme has seized up (PhotoFiltre) so remaining campanulas will have to wait.
Later - Here we go again. Campanula arvatica is a neat little mat, as low as possible and loves to move about (as do all the creeping campanulas, here this year, some distance away next year. They seem to hate being confined so that if you are growing them in troughs, those need to be quite large ones.). There's a lovely white form of arvatica too, but I lost that a few years ago. Then C. 'Mist Maiden,' a low mat probably with some C. rotundifolia in it but the flower stem grow to about 30 cms. I don't mind that as the flowers seem to dance above the foliage and are really delightful in the slightest breeze.
A Campanula relative, Codonopsis vincaeflora (as I have it. I believe it's renamed as something else). This is a little twining plant and here is supported by the last picture in this posting (below). It attaches to anything at all that is nearby. I hope for seed this year as it's a real little charmer which everyone wants, growing from a smallish, fleshy white tuber.
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A warm welcome to the Forum Brock. I'm sure I went to Mt Macedon one day a few years ago, with Otto and Fermi , and to visit a Hellebore nursery. I remember beautiful plants and charming people and road-killed kangaroos in quantity on the road! I hope you have lots of fun here. I certainly do. :)
Right, two plants to finish this marathon. Both are grown from seed from Tabor, and sown in our winter 2013. They have climbed mightily on a conifer trunk and they cling onto the rough bark with tightly curled tendrils though I've had to staple the thin stems to the trunk because we've had terrible winds though this last spring and are still having them quite often. Anything climbing has been blown down and out several times. I am delighted with the soft pink Mutisia spinosa and it is more or less as I'd expected. Only a handful of flowers for this first flowering. But the other, M. decurrens is a great thrill, really spectacular. A much larger flower (about 7cms across) brilliant orange and so far I've counted 22 buds. The second picture of decurrens shows flowers coming from the left whereas the visible foliage on the right is from spinosa. These are the first to open. Both species are making masses of new shoots at the base and even climbing into the little wire anti-rabbit fence. Like other southern South American climbers they love a cool, shaded position and plenty water, unusual for daisies.
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Thanks for the info re Thymus 'Elfin', it came from Otto as Elfin and I didn't know it was a sport which was prone to revert. I like it anyway!
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A warm welcome Brock from another bulb enthusiast to a very friendly Forum with much knowledge to share . Are you the same Brock who plays the contrabassoon in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra ?
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Hello all, and an especially warm hello to Brock - i only started a few months ago so easy to relate to you in breaking the ice.
The thymus elfin and the sport are both very attractive aren't they. Also Lesley's Thymus 'not sure'. I'm surprised the rabbits eat the thyme - the varmints this way seem to prefer unscented fare.
The garden is such that I am struggling to find much worth showing. Some lovely shrubs but no bulbs to speak of. Excepting a ilium that opened today: L. speciosum album, which came via shirley and jane tonkin.
Jacqui.
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Wonderful photos, Lesley. You can certainly see the zoysii in that campanula. Is it equally irresistable to slugs??
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Yes I have been drooling over Lesley's campanula pictures as well. I'm a bit sad because I lost a my C. pulla and one of my C. cochlearifolia. I would dearly love to grow these but the heatwave conditions were just too much for them. I am planning a new crevice bed with more afternoon shade, and I'm hoping to use some tall standing stones on the western side to give more shelter.
I'm thinking of placing an order with Jelitto for Leucogenes grandiceps and a few other species. Is anyone interested in combining and order to share postage (and seeds?) Jelitto portions are huge and the cost relatively high, so it makes sense to share the cost and the spoils. Message or email me if you're interested and we'll put together a list.
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Habranthus cv. given to me by Fermi responding to the 20mm we had last week. Amazing how fast they are. A nice bit of optimism in the midst of a very challenging summer. Thanks Fermi.
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Hello Jamus , re ordering seed of Leucogenes grandiceps : in autumn I will send you a plant of Leucogenes leontopodioides ( the " New Zealand Edelweiss ) which I think is nicer than grandiceps . I can also send you 2 other silvery New Zealanders :the natural bigeneric hybrid xLeucoraoulia loganii and Ozothamnus (Helichrysum )coralloides for planting in your crevice garden . I too would love to grow Lesley's Campanula pulla x zoysii !Would you like Campanula tommasiniana , 'G. F' Wilson" and cochlearifolia 'Miranda ' that Reginald Farrer found in the Alps a century ago and which I kept in cultivation here for nearly 60 years .
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Thank you Otto, L. leontopodioides looks lovely. I'm planning a new rock garden project for the autumn. I'm already dropping hints about buying more stone to Rebecca, warming her up to the idea. :)
I have a white flowered Campanula cochlearifolia established under a rock overhang and it's coming through its second summer. I think I can grow these with a bit of care and just the right nook for them.
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Welcome to the forum Brock. Do you grow your bulbs in pots or in the garden too? Do you have a rock garden? Be warned, they can be seriously addictive... I had to look up contrabassoon... wonderful instrument.
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Jamus,
nice to see the Habranthus flowering for you. Did I have it labelled as H.martinezii x H.robustus?
There are a few things worth a pic at present in our garden.
Zauscherneri (known included in Epilobium - what a come-down!) cultivar? received from Gillian, a friend in Kyneton;
Lilium 'Black Beauty'
The Seseli is favoured by ants!
cheers
fermi
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Fermi the Habranthus was simply labelled Habranthus hybrid. Is it martinezii x robustus?
I can't get enough of that Seseli. My plant looks good. It might flower next year with any luck. I may ask you for some seed Fermi, looks like you will have a bucket!
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Lovely Zauschneria Fermi.
Epilobium (Zauschneria) canum ssp. latifolia grows near the farm here. It is not as drought tolerant as some of the other subspecies. I always find it near water at the lower elevations. Higher up the mountain I have seen it in drier habitats, or what at least appears to be drier habitats?
I have observed ssp. canum on the east side of the Southern Sierra Nevada. There the habitat was very xeric. or so it seemed!
I have never observed ssp. garrettii in the wild, however despite its desert home, it appears to be associated with moisture in some way or another - at least this is what I find in the literature.
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Fermi the Habranthus was simply labelled Habranthus hybrid. Is it martinezii x robustus?
I can't get enough of that Seseli. My plant looks good. It might flower next year with any luck. I may ask you for some seed Fermi, looks like you will have a bucket!
Hi Jamus,
most likely that's H.mart x robust but I'm not sure which clone; I don't think that I've ever seen a "proper" name for it, other than the cross spelled out in full.
I'm hoping that the critters on the seseli are pollinating it - the previous flower head yielded no seed at all :(
Epilobium (Zauschneria) canum ssp. latifolia grows near the farm here. It is not as drought tolerant as some of the other subspecies. I always find it near water at the lower elevations. Higher up the mountain I have seen it in drier habitats, or what at least appears to be drier habitats?
Hi Robert,
despite it's silvery foliage it does seem to do better if given some summer water so we're not keeping it very xeric. Another plant is planted in a much watered bed and it is looking luxuriant but is yet to flower,
cheers
fermi
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Leslie love the color of the cast, and Fermi great pictures of your fantastic liliums I have a few at the moment as well
Mel
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Have some interesting seeds germinating at moment, the start of Chris Chadwells expedition seed is germinating which I am thrilled about
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Robert, all the Zauschnerias in my garden handle drought very well, despite what the literature says. That would include the dwarfer forms of californicum, canum and garrettii. All have been hardy so far. Sometimes it just pays to ignore the books and give plants a try.
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Hi Robert,
despite it's silvery foliage it does seem to do better if given some summer water so we're not keeping it very xeric. Another plant is planted in a much watered bed and it is looking luxuriant but is yet to flower,
cheers
fermi
Actually my experience with various Zauschnerias is similar to that reported by Fermi - some summer irrigation being best. Our Zauschnerias looked and performed terrible this last season under extreme xeric conditions. Maybe drought is relative to the climate?
I tend to ignore many "gardening books" too. "The literature" I was referring to were field notes made by trained botanist here in California. In reference to Epilobium canum ssp. garrettii, I read things like: "Growing on bank above running water"; or "Growing on north facing cliff face with dripping water". These observation were made in the Southern California Desert.
(The field notes are from the Anza-Borrego Desert. It has been a long time, but have been there. The mountains to the west drop-off very quickly and steeply towards the desert below. There are a number of streams that flow down the mountains into the desert before disappearing. The field notes seem very reasonable to me based on what I observed when I visited the area.)
I just planted seed from Alan Bradshaw of ssp. garrettii. I will report on my results under our local gardening conditions with this subspecies as things progress.
Anne, it is clear from your experience that many Zauschneria have a good degree of drought tolerance. These are very useful observations. Interior California and parts of Southern Australia perhaps take drought tolerance to the next level of endurance. I am sure that all of this information is useful for gardeners with similar climatic conditions. :)
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Robert, the zauschnerias have performed amazingly well here, despite last summer's almost 3 months with no rain and a lot of heat. However, in most cases they have very, very deep root runs, in a mostly gravel mix on top of creviced rock that was simply too big to remove and use. Their roots probably remain cool during the heat as a result and they may be able to find a little moisture under the rock. I did lose one Z.'Siskiyou dwarf' planted in a shallower crevice on the back of the cliff in full all day sun.
Guess that was asking too much.
Of course, they might be even better if I were able to give them water during the summer heat and drought. I have observed during the removal of dead plants (not zauschnerias), that the roots will be splayed against and concentrated around rock. My assumption is that the rock may be the last place to lose moisture. (I'm referring to buried rock, of course).
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Anne,
The soil around here (farm) can be (more like is ) terrible. The soil is rocky, sometimes shallow, to non-existent (i.e. rock outcroppings), and too often poor draining. All the "good" ground is taken by the orchard and row crops. This is a big part of the plant culture equation around here. "Alpines" and "Rock Garden" plants do well around here only because the planting beds I make are "above ground".
In Sacramento our house sits on Class I soil (the very best there is!). Even Rhododendrons are drought tolerant on this soil. ??? ::) It seems a crime that this ground grows houses. I would certainly enjoy having more ground like this to garden on. :)
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Since when did our Southern Hemisphere thread get hijacked by Northerns arguing about the definition of drought!?! ;D Too funny.
Speaking of drought, I call this cause for optimism... Pulsatilla vulgaris responding to the recent rains... 35mm in the last week. Things are looking up.
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We are forecast to reach 29c here on Wednesday Jamus so I'll be taking the day off and seeking the shade .... 8) 8) ...Typically the weather starts to improve after our visitors ,(daughter and her partner), returned to the UK yesterday...... ::)
Flowering in the sand crevice bed is a dwarf form of Gentiana septemfida .
On the edge of the sand bed a Campanula ,(name unknown--any idea Lesley ?),that has filled it's small concrete trough and is seeking new pastures .I'll have to careful it doesn't escape as it will be too exuberant in its growth for the cushions /mats nearby like Saxifragas and Raoulias .
In the process of moving a good sized clump of Roscoea auriculata last season I took a small growth and planted it elsewhere .Unfortunately I forgot where I placed the smaller plant and It's come up between some stepping stones of a path I constructed in winter ...... Duh ! ;D.
The almost orchid like flowers of Tricyrtis have such yummy fascinating patterns .Here's the first flowering of T. latifolia raised from seed ....
Cheers Dave.
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Stunning plants Dave, I wish I could grow Gentians. They hang on and hang on and then for no apparent reason fade and die. Your Tricyrtis is beautiful... I love their spotty blotchy patterning. I am yet to try them here, believe it or not. I must rectify that.
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Hi Dave,
that's a tricyrtis I've never seen before - stunning!
The recent rains here have triggered a few amaryllids:
Lycoris incarnata x 2
Habranthus martinezii x 3
cheers
fermi
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All beautiful and interesting plants from the Southern H - thanks to all for posting :) Some days is hard to get around the fact that I'm watching a 'live show' of
species that will flower here starting June and forward!
An especially lovely dwarf form of Gentiana septemfida.