Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: Paul T on August 02, 2012, 12:37:13 PM
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Howdy Folks,
Unless the north and the south really have separated, it should be August now. I figured that at this point in the conversation on the July topic would be a good point to start a new topic for the month? I hope no-one minds a southerner starting it? As a southerner I am not including any pics though. ;D
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Paul you could at least include a map to prove your statement!
Just to open the game:
Alstroemeria aurea grows like a weed.
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Trond,
As requested...... Here 'tis! (https://maps.google.com.au/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb&q=map+of+australia&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x2b2bfd076787c5df:0x538267a1955b1352,Australia&gl=au&ei=cnAaULTNHKXYmAWh6IDAAw&ved=0CBsQ8gEwAA)
If you observe on the eastern side of the biggest island thingy, at the lower right is a city called Canberra..... which is where I live. ;D So as that island thingy is in the southern hemisphere I must therefore be southern in reference to those of you in the northern hemisphere. ;)
So is that enough proof? :P
;D ;D ;D
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Oh I see :o
I have always assumed that Earth was flat and ended abrupt somewhere behind the horizon of Equator???
But you are barely south of the line, anyway ;)
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Alstroemeria aurea grows like a weed.
Unbelievelable - all my Alstroemerias - collected at a high-lying site in southern Chile years ago died
last winter when we experienced about - 15 ° C without snowcover.
Why are your plants going weedy? In cold Norway?
Gerd
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Visited a friend's garden yesterday and spied an Alstroemeria aurea I had given him a couple of years ago. I am surprised that it is so far ahead of the ones in Norway.
There is a garden here in Halifax that is over-run with Alstromemeria aurea. The gardener brought a few roots back from her native Sweden, it surely over the years has seen many a cold snowless winter so hard to explain your losses Gerd unless they were exotic species or they advanced too much in that warm January weather you had.
I take no absolutely no credit ( :o) for that nearby pink Impatiens.
johnw
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Unbelievelable - all my Alstroemerias - collected at a high-lying site in southern Chile years ago died
last winter when we experienced about - 15 ° C without snowcover.
Why are your plants going weedy? In cold Norway?
Gerd
I have grown Alstroemeria aurea in my garden for many years without any special care. They have survived snowless winters to -220C. I can only say as Hoy, they grow as weed and from time to time I have to limit their growth.
Poul
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Visited a friend's garden yesterday and spied an Alstroemeria aurea I had given him a couple of years ago. I am surprised that it is so far ahead of the ones in Norway.
johnw
Although we usually have an early spring things have an tendency to slow up during summer as the temperature never gets high. However the fall is long and frostfree till November so plants like Alstroemeria set plenty of ripe seed.
Roses are late too, this picture was taken the last day of July and it is the first flowers of 'Blaze'.
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Unbelievelable - all my Alstroemerias - collected at a high-lying site in southern Chile years ago died
last winter when we experienced about - 15 ° C without snowcover.
Why are your plants going weedy? In cold Norway?
Gerd
Gerd, my planst are growing where they have a very deep root run. I have also mixed the soil with pebbles and chunks of rock (some quite large actually) that increase the soil temperature.
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Gerd, my planst are growing where they have a very deep root run. I have also mixed the soil with pebbles and chunks of rock (some quite large actually) that increase the soil temperature.
That's it! My plants where growing in a heavy soil (Although a little bit organic matter added when preparing the bed) - so it seems it wasn't the cold which killed them.
Thanks for all replies!
Gerd
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Hedychium gardnerianum
Not in the garden, but still bringing colour and beauty into our life ;D
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That is a cracker, Ron. Has it taken long to get that big and flower?
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Five years from seed here Maggi ( when we grew them in natural heat in Taiwan they would flower easily in three years from seed ). Unfortunately, its two other seedling grown cousins were tried in the Polytunnel in the ground but succumbed to the winter cold. For us its a plant of a large pot, in the conservatory ( no heat ) but frost free. It is often reported as poor of scent, but we find it very pleasant. :) :) :)
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Five years from seed here Maggi ( when we grew them in natural heat in Taiwan they would flower easily in three years from seed ). Unfortunately, its two other seedling grown cousins were tried in the Polytunnel in the ground but succumbed to the winter cold. For us its a plant of a large pot, in the conservatory ( no heat ) but frost free. It is often reported as poor of scent, but we find it very pleasant. :) :) :)
Ron i have tried a couple of the so called hardy gingers and lost them,that is a stunner matey.
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Five years from seed here Maggi ( when we grew them in natural heat in Taiwan they would flower easily in three years from seed ). Unfortunately, its two other seedling grown cousins were tried in the Polytunnel in the ground but succumbed to the winter cold. For us its a plant of a large pot, in the conservatory ( no heat ) but frost free. It is often reported as poor of scent, but we find it very pleasant. :) :) :)
Five years in the UK for a plant like that seems more than resaonable to me. Three years, even in Taiwan, seems great!
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They grow incredibly rapidly if the conditions are good ( warm and humid ). Very hungry / thirsty plants when in growth. The problem here is they take a long time to recover from the check of winter and so their growing season becomes very short. In the sub tropics ...no problem, ;D ;D ;D Anyone who wants to heat an area through winter can grow this Genus easily.
Cheers Davey 8)
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Very nice ginger Ron - the hardy ones rarely do well with us; too dry in the summer. Another group of perennials that need more summer moisture than we can generally provide are the crocosmias. This year though the summer rains have brought the best flowering for a long time - this is Crocosmia 'Emily McKenzie'; it has been in situ for many years with no division or special care and has a looser and more elegant habit than some.
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Tim i could be wrong but that looks like lucifer.
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Lucifer is a good red, isn't it? Tim's looks like it's orange. The pics I've seen of the real Lucifer are unmistakeably red. I've bought it a couple of times in the past and ended up with an orangey red, so I have no idea whether the real Lucifer is actually here in Aus, or whether there are other things going around under that name. Probably not a bad thing anyway, as I got rid of the others I had, as the Crocosmia are a bit thuggish here. ;D
The only one I now grow is 'King of the Oranges" (or some name like that) hwich has a massive flower. Not really enough water in my garden to do it justice unfortunately, but the dry does help keep it under control. ::) If I had acreage (still waiting for you to offer me your farm for free Lesley!! :-*) then I'd grow some of them where I had space. Fantastic flowers in summer.
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A few years ago I gave a friend in the damp south a bunch of tiny bulbils of various Crocosmias we had. The first two pix are what he has of Lucifer. The orange one is supposed to be Star of The East. The orange and the yellow are unknown, possibly named ones. The two blurry shots are a solitary ruby red with dark stems that seems to be a spontaneous seedling and I should have marked its location. Solfatare has disappeared. Any ideas?
johnw - +19c at 8:30
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John,
That dark red with the dark stems is lovely. Great seedling. 8)
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Gloriosa rothschildiana
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A couple of days ago I visited Beacon Lagoons, East Yorkshire, a series of inland lagoons, prone to seasonal flooding by the sea, leading to very salty summer water. A rare and unusual habitat in the UK. A great Odonata area ( but never saw one! ::) ), and summer home to a colony of The Little Tern, Sterna albifrons. Each year the Terns come here from East Africa to breed in the sand dunes. Unfortunately the eggs and young are almost always 100% taken by foxes :(. Those that aren't are usually prey to sparrowhawks, :(. Sadly the colony was a long way away from the hide this year so I could only get a poor picture, but it gives a feel. :-[
The Eryngium maritimum were looking particularly nice though this year.
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What a Snowdrop garden looks like in the Summer.... ;D
Some quick (sorry - non alpine!) pics from here today.
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Fantastic, John. I love jungly gardens.
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Me too ;)
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Looks great, John.
We have jungle weather. Pfffff.
Lina.
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Scollies looking fab, John.
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This is Kniphofia 'Prince Igor' going full blast in our garden at the moment. As you can see he is a rather big boy, nearly as tall as the gazebo. One of my favourites, except sadly, I know that autumn nears when he is in flower.
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Also in the garden at the moment is this rather nice double Platycodon (Balloon flower). What is so nice is its blue back.
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Roscoea Red Ghurka - flowering for the first time for me. Stunning, get one if you can.
I was told that it is not reliably hardy. Can anybody advise if I should lift it for the Winter or leave it in the ground?
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I have 'Red Gurkha' too, bought from Julian Sutton at the Nottingham AGS Conference. Little problem with hardiness, this has been through the coldest winter we have had in Kent with temperatures down to -14°C. I think the bigger problem is likely to be summer drought. It is a stunning plant, though maybe even eclipsed by the pristine pure white Roscoea that Ron Mcbeath showed at the Edinburgh Conference in 2001.
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Roscoea Red Ghurka - flowering for the first time for me. Stunning, get one if you can.
I was told that it is not reliably hardy. Can anybody advise if I should lift it for the Winter or leave it in the ground?
Hi Pete
I am not too far form Tim and also find 'Red Ghurka' to have been fine over the last half a dozen years. (But my garden is walled, small and middle of town).
Regards
John
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P.S.
Every year I worry I have lost 'Red Ghurka' as it does not put in even the slightest appearance until very late June.
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Looks super John ;D
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Thanks Tim and John. I am now happy to leave it alone in the ground.
I hope that I can get some seed off it and see what colours it produces.
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Albizzia julibrissin v. rosea 'Ernest Wilson.
Photo 1 at 1pm today
Photo 2 at 6:30pm today
Photo 3 Stephania foliage.
A strange thing, the Puya mirabilis flowered last year and that shoot died. Today a flower stalk is arising from the centre of that dead leafless shoot stump. ::) Am I missing something.
johnw - +24c
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A strange thing, the Puya mirabilis flowered last year and that shoot died. Today a flower stalk is arising from the centre of that dead leafless shoot stump. ::)
Strange that. I wonder whether puyas are strictly monocarpic, or perhaps the 'decision to die' depends partly on conditions.
Several years ago I had a P. berteroniana that produced a strong side-shoot (not from the base either as you might expect from a bromeliad) the season before it flowered. Unfortunately the plant was killed the next winter by unusually harsh conditions so I'll never know whether it would have survived flowering.
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Two events here in Northern New Jersey.
A Dahlia of unknown variety and the most famous English apple.
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Slightly yesterday pictures of my garden ...
Anemone trullifolia var linearis - Magnar thanks!
Gentiana paradoxa
Eryngium yuccifolium
Gentiana asclepiadea 'Alba'
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I am really pleased with the delicate colouring of this Crug farm sourced Aconitum loczyanum.
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Super colour, Brian - it is tall?
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Not this year Maggi, but it is it's first year in situ. Round about 1m 20cm I would say, pretty isn't it!
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Crocosmia 'Okavango' rather nice peachy red in the garden at the moment.
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Complete opposite to the tall Prince Igor earlier, Kniphofia 'Little Maid' and Clematis 'Gravetye Beauty'.
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Not this year Maggi, but it is it's first year in situ. Round about 1m 20cm I would say, pretty isn't it!
Oh dear not good at picturing in metric, it's 97 cms ;)
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That's okay, Brian - I know 38 and a quarter inches when I see it.....
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Looking around the forum posts, I think there are clearly some plants doing "out of season" things.... some here and there, in different genera in different places.... but as the season's get more muddled, I'm beginning to wonder what exactly "normal" might be? :-\
They're very muddled here too :-\
Some reckon it's spring:
Hamamelis × intermedia 'Jelena' :o flowers smaller and paler than in winter but with good scent
Weldenia candida gave a small flush over the last week or two
Primula vulgaris from Spain flowering non-stop since last December
Gentiana acaulis started flowering last week and has quite a few buds to come
Others are in autumn mode already:
Cyclamen cilicium
Mahonia x media 'Charity'
Galanthus reginae-olgae buds emerging
No daffodils though ;D
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Didn't get round to posting much in July and its nearly the end of August so I'd better get a few August pics in.
Summer Gentians are flowering and the first of the Autumn ones. No flowers yet on Gentiana paradoxa. I think it needs a move as it is quite shaded and dry under an azalea which keeps getting bigger.
Gentiana loderi 2
Gentiana ex 'Black Boy' grown from seed and noone could shed light on the odd name when I posted it last year
Gentiana farreri 'Silken Star Group' from Aberconway
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This has almost finished flowering now but was very good this year. Pity the Viburnum won't grow a bit more to support it.
Clematis x durandii
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Also flowering this month
Potentilla thurberi
A late flower on Geranium argenteum
Cyananthus integer x forrestii
Crepis incana
Erica vagans 'Mrs D F Maxwell
Thunbergia alata 'Blushing Susie' in the greenhouse
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All are beautiful, Roma. Thanks for showing us.
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Some gorgeous plants there Roma !! Impressive !!
Here, some self sown Delphinium tatsianense offer some late season different shades of blue !
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I've been dreaming about that marvelous colour of Roma's Potentilla thurberi and now Luc comes with a sparkling blue Delphinium.... these colours are inspiring and so cheerful.
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Bought at the Mid Anglia bulb sale last year from Luc S have been waiting all summer for a flower on Zephyranthes Candida Alba. Rather like buses two have come along at the same time and opened up today.