Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: fermi de Sousa on October 01, 2020, 10:54:14 AM

Title: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: fermi de Sousa on October 01, 2020, 10:54:14 AM: Spring continues apace here in southern Victoria.
Daffodils are finishing and tulips have reached their peak.
South African bulbs are also flourishing.
Here are a few:
Lapeirousia divaricata
Geissorhiza monathos
Moraea atropunctata

and Paeonia cambessedesii is in full bloom
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: fermi de Sousa on October 02, 2020, 03:32:50 PM: Tulipa hageri 'Splendens'
Geissorhiza monathos
Moraea aristata
Babiana cv - purple - probably a form of Babiana stricta
Ixia - yellow orange seedlings
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: cohan on October 07, 2020, 06:50:57 PM: Looking great, Fermi-- it's nearly always spring, somewhere :) It would be a nice way to travel around the world, following spring!
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: fermi de Sousa on October 11, 2020, 11:49:43 AM: Back in March I took 4 cuttings of Weldenia and potted them in perlite with a bit of coir peat. This week I unpotted them - 4 decent sets of tubers and 2 single roots now potted separately
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: Maggi Young on October 11, 2020, 01:53:38 PM: Great result, fermi!! Well done!
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: fermi de Sousa on October 11, 2020, 03:12:58 PM: Thanks, Maggi.
I'm hoping to be able to pass some onto others of our group - if we are able to have our annual "Bunfight" - plant exchange - at the end of the year.
Here are a few things in flower this weekend:
Tritonia securigera
Iris xiphium
Ixia odorata
Silene davidii
Campanula wanneri
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: fermi de Sousa on October 13, 2020, 02:47:25 PM: Babiana spathacea - tends to flop over if not grown in full sun!
MBI 'Blue Flirt'
Tritonia crocata
Gladiolus meliusculus from NZAGS Seedex2008 - much paler than the one I had posted earlier
Geum 'Jess'
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: fermi de Sousa on October 15, 2020, 12:24:52 AM: Lachenalia mathewsii - thanks to Paul C & Colin E
Wachendorfii paniculata - the only flower to open - a bit damaged by frost but all the other buds aborted
Oenothera acaulis
Banksia blechnifolia
Viola stojanovii - a freebie which came up in a pot from Alan at our Plant Swap
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: fermi de Sousa on October 17, 2020, 01:45:27 AM: Muscari pallens exJJA 0.690.550 from seed from Ashley
Saruma henryi - not hugely vigorous but at least it has returned after a torrid summer followed by a cold winter
Horminum pyrenaicum alboviolaceus - one of my "iso-purchases" from a Victorian nursery by mail-order
Cistus creticus - a gift from a friend who visited last year with the local MGS group
Narcissus 'Sun Dial' - a late daffodil
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: fermi de Sousa on October 22, 2020, 02:16:40 AM: This year Puya chilensis has decided to send up 3 spikes!
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: ArnoldT on October 22, 2020, 02:29:53 AM: Fermi

That's amazing.
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: David Lyttle on October 22, 2020, 12:18:13 PM: Hi Fermi, I gather from my daughter in Melbourne that Victoria is in the process of coming out of lockdown. She has been getting rather grumpy about it all. I am interested in your Puyas as I have a batch of P. alpestris that I am not sure what to do with. They are more lethal than Aciphyllas which is saying something. Several years ago a Puya berteroniana growing in the Botany Dept here in Dunedin flowered. It was quite a sight with deep blue almost iridescent flowers. I gather they are rather erratic in their flowering habits.

best wishes,

David
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: fermi de Sousa on October 24, 2020, 02:53:00 PM: Thanks, Arnold and David,
the Puya thrives on complete neglect and an occasional drink in summer (only because the neighbouring plants get watered).
The lockdown is slowly lifting but each time there is a relaxation an outbreak seems to occur. It's not a good time in Melbourne but the restrictions are less strenuous here in the country.
I would love to grow some of the blue flowered species and will get around to doing so one day!
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: ashley on October 24, 2020, 08:09:57 PM: A few years ago seed-grown Puya berteroniana flowered here too (https://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2405.msg54981#msg54981) but then died of exhaustion. A savage plant that I mistakenly planted near a path, but stunning & worth the wait.
I hope your magnificent P. chilensis survives Fermi.
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: fermi de Sousa on October 29, 2020, 12:04:14 PM: Hi Ashley,
I don't think that Puya chilensis is monocarpic - this plant has flowered twice before but only a single stem the previous two times.
1) Linaria aeruginea
2) Gypsophila repens & Anthemis cretica
3) Gladiolus communis subsp. byzantinus
4) Banksia blechnifolia
5) a dwarf dianthus grown from cuttings from our friend Viv - but not labelled - any suggestions for what it could be?
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: ashley on October 29, 2020, 05:24:23 PM: That's great Fermi. Indeed mine started to branch but may have been finished off by a cold winter.
The ferocious backward pointing barbs on the leaves made me think that stories of sheep or other animals caught and eventually dying might indeed be true.
Title: Re: October 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere
Post by: cohan on October 30, 2020, 03:45:13 PM: All kinds of goodies, Fermi, just rolling along :) Cute Geum, amongst the other exotics :)