Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: Paul T on November 02, 2007, 11:31:39 AM
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No pictures prepared to post as yet, but thought I'd better get the nothern hemisphere police off our tail!! ::) (I still loves ya Maggi, honest!! ;D)
For November flowerings etc........
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Decided I couldn't leave it at that.....
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Clematis florida 'Seiboldii' has started into flower, along with the straight species and the double white version.
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One of our native greenhood orchids, although not from anywhere near here..... Pterostylis baptistii 'Gosford'. Flower is large for the genus.
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Here's some more flowerings at present....
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This is Convulvulus althaeoides which is growingin a large pot to keep it under control. I'd imagine it would have taken a few square metres by now if it wasn't confined..... its a healthy little blighter!!
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The first of the season... Roscoea cautleyoides
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I went on a day trip nursery crawl to an area a couple of hundred km north of here on Thursday. Bought myself a few little treasures but on the way back photographed an area which has a naturally occuring stand of Xanthorrhea (grass trees) near the highway, only 15 minutes or so north of Canberra. At the moment there must be well more than 50 of them actually in flower in quite a small area.
Unfortunately no-one around here seems to propagate the local one (it is the same species as the ones in Western Australia, but I'd like to grow one from our local area just to know it came from around here naturally).
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This is a first ever flowering of a Hippie from seed for me.... this is a seedling from Hippeastrum striata var crocata. Rather nice flower, but I'm assuming a hybrid as it has more "filled in" flowers than I was expecting.
More pics will be posted shortly in the Iris, Rhododendron and Pleione threads.
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And some pics I've taken this morning.....
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I bought this Astrantia 'Ruby Cloud' while I was away up north on Thursday. Been wanting a nice dark Astrantia for a while, but hard to get hold of. Nice plant this one too!!
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Campanuls persicifolia 'Alba' is so far well behaved for me.
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Clematis viticella 'Madam Julia Correvon' flowers for most of the summer if given a chance. Lovely strong colour to it, and so very floriferous. One of my favourites, although it is sometimes hard to choose a favourite from the 65 odd different varieties of Clematis that I grow! ::)
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Bought this as Erigeron glauca.
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One of the miniatures... Gladiolus 'The Bride'
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A lovely peachy-pink oriental poppy. I find them variable here..... I have to find the right place for them or they dwindle out.
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Another Tritonia, this one received from our neighbour Mary. Rerally nice orangy pink striped flower, well behaved but a good grower and very floriferous. Doesn't try to take over the world. It and T. crocata are real joys to have in the garden at the moment.
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Here are some odds and ends out now in my garden. I'm in major retrieval mode at present and pictures of the whole garden or parts of it are not an option. Everywhere needs to be started fresh and it all takes time. Things which desperately need planting out still languish in pots. I'm waiting for Peter Korn to come and make a crevice garden for me, and the first to go in it will be Viola pedata.
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Some individual flowers are huge. From top to bottom tips (lying sort of sideways here) this one measures 5cms.
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Ranunculus parnassifolius is doing nicely in a limestone trough. The woolly plant to the lower left is the little Salvia (as cyanescens) that Laurence Moon sent to me as seed last year. This is the only one not to have damped off in the seed pot, all within a few days of germinating. But this one survived and has the first signs of buds. I think it is wrongly named though. S. cyanescens is a much taller, looser plant, though equally woolly. Perhaps there is a very dwarf, compact form. This one was pictured on the old forum and I fell for it immediately. It is not quite like S. daghestanica which I was able to buy recently. I love salvias of all kinds.
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This seedling from my friend Dick King is obviously an offspring of Clematis marmoraria, one of thousands it seems to me. It has a nice dangly habit and masses of soft lime-green flowers. Also beautiful with its mass of fluffy seed heads.
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Difficult to photograph on a windy day and I had to just about lie across the raised bed to reach it. Trillium pusillum v. ozarkanum. Several stems were broken in recent gale-force winds.
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Another blurry picture, due to wind. But I should get into the habit of using my little tripod. This is Tulipa batalinii x maximowiczii.
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Recently Fermi asked about an asphodel he has and whether it was a weedy species or not. I mentioned my similar plant at the time and this is it. It turned up out of nowhere and sets lots of seed. This is a recent plant but another exactly the same turned up some years ago, beside Asphodelus acaulis. I removed that when it made so many seeds which were never allowed to mature or distribute so where has this one arrived from? The flowers are the colour of A. acaulis flowers, pinker than this picture suggests.
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Erigeron aureus is a good plant in a raised bed. I'm always hoping for a seedling similar to `Canary Bird' which we don't have in NZ but mine never sets fertile seed.
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Telesonix jamesii (syn. Boykinia jamesii) doesn't have many flower stems for me. But each flower does set good seed which germinates easily.
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A very firm favourite and utterly reliable, is Haberlea ferdinandi-coburgi. During our dry summer and even at other times when there's not much rain, the group (about a dozen big plants) gets so shrivelled they seem quite dead. Then, with some rain or watering they come back to life and flower furiously. It may even be the near-death experence each year that makes them flower so well. I usually get some seed.
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Like all my Trilliums, the stems of Arisaema sikokianum were smashed by wind this year. Only 3 in this little group were saved. It seems to be a low form, just about 15-18cms high.
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I removed that when it made so many seeds which were never allowed to mature or distribute so where has this one arrived from?
Lesley,
I was growing Viola grypoceras var exilis (V. koreana) in a large pot with pewter leaved C. coum, but it died out. A couple of years later I moved the cyclamen into the ground under a magnolia. Now several years further on I have the viola again.
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Rob,
I find that mine appears and disappears every year or two as well. Don't think I have any at the moment, but it may reappear again sooner or later.
Lesley,
I meant to mention that I loved the Haberlea. The closeup pic almost looks like a Mimulus or a Rehmaniana (false foxglove), but obviously much smaller. Well I'm assuming much smaller, having never grown or seen a Haberlea in the flesh.
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Good evening Paul, you only have a few more days to wait till you have a flowering plant of Haberlea ferdinandi-coburgi growing in your garden-I will post you a plant and also a superior form of it:"Stourmouth Var." More compact ,also more intensly coloured.They and their close relatives ,the Ramondas[mauve, pink ,white myconi] are very easy to grow here in my garden, some I planted here and there in planting holes when I constructed a dry stonewall,a cool spot, halfshade and some leafmould gives me wonderful results.Managed to get a few leafcuttings some years ago from the Munich Botanic Gardens of a very old hybrid between R. myconi and R. nathaliae, made around 1900 by Suendermann and named Ramonda x regis-ferdinandi.
Hope the Haberleas settle in well,
ciao Otto.
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Wow!! Thanks Otto. you're too generous!! PLEASe let me know whether there is ever anything I post that you might like a piece of. The Weldenia was already enough to have me wishing I could send you something special, so more just makes it even more necessary!! ;D
Buds visible down low in the Weldenia now. Yeah!!
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Just a few more from the rock garden taken yesterday (Melbourne Cup Day Holiday!)
A brodiea grown from seed so showing a bit of variation tothe depth of colour, B. jolonensis:
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Its cousin, Triteleia ixioides,
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Another look at Dianthus haematacalyx ssp pindicola
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Saponaria caespitosa
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And finally, another Aussie native, Homoranthus flavescens with its horizonatal growth.
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cheers
fermi
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Lesley,
thanks for the pic of your "volunteer" asphodel. Mine (received as "Asphodelus acaulis hybrid") appears to have smaller flowers and I think it is the weedy species (Asphodelus fistulosus) - I wish people wouldn't donate that sort of thing to the Seedexes! especially since A. acaulis is such a desirable plant!
Something I did grow from Seedex seed is Calochortus superbus and although I've already posted pics of it, I can't resist showing (off) this pic of a "clump" with variation in colour due to being seed raised!
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This one has a lot less red than the others,
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cheers
fermi
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Now a little something for Lesley! Two rock plants with an NZ connection!
Dianthus "Bombardier" which I got from Viv who imported it, from Hokonui, I think.
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And an Helianthemum grown from seed collected in NZ in 2004 from a single dark red variety.
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I'm not sure of the colour, I'd probably call it a pinky-orange, with an orange basal blotch. The fliage went a bit yellow after being planted out last month, so it probably isn't a natural variegation!!
I've already posted a pic of Genista lydia, but it just reached its "peak" on the weekend, so here it is again!
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But from the other side of the path it's even more stunning!
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cheers
fermi
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Fermi,
Nice Calochortus!! And that Dianthus 'Bombadier' is brilliant. Love the colour, and double form to it as well which is nice. Looks like it stands up well too, without flopping. Great Stuff!!
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Here are some odds and ends out now in my garden. I'm in major retrieval mode at present and pictures of the whole garden or parts of it are not an option. Everywhere needs to be started fresh and it all takes time. Things which desperately need planting out still languish in pots. I'm waiting for Peter Korn to come and make a crevice garden for me, and the first to go in it will be Viola pedata.
Lesley,
Congratulations for the well grown Viola pedata, I never had more than one or two flowers on a single plant.
Gerd
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I have half a dozen plants Gerd, all grown from seed from a generous American. But though they're grown close together, there's never any seed, not so far anyway. But they are very lovely flowers.
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Lesley, Viola pedata-I've tried twice from seed with nil germination both times.Any tips please including when best to sow here!
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How sweet of you David to suggest I'd know how best for you to sow your seeds in the UK. Sure, I'm a goddess but not actually GOD, so probably you'd be better with advice from someone in your part of the world. BUT, for the record, I sowed my American seed on pure, deep sand, on the premise that it would need a very gritty position and maybe not like disturbance. I planned to leave the seedlings, if any, in the pot and just grow them on in situ, as it were. However, there were about 30 seedlings in a 4" pot so I divided the mass into half a dozen and potted some and planted the others in a raised gritty bed, gave some away. As to when, as soon as you get them. Mine took about 6 months before they started to germinate and they looked surprisingly ordinary when they did come up. Have a look at other viola/violet seedlings around the garden so you know what to expect. Small, and quite deep green.
If sowing another lot, I'd still go for a mixture with a very high grit/sand content with something humusy as well and then cover the seeds with a thin layer of grit. Leave the seedlings until well grown, say 3 cms in diameter leaf tip to leaf tip, then pot or plant them out individually but reasonably close, for company. Perfect drainage but otherwise, they don't seem to be difficult.
Be sure though, that when they germinate you do have the genuine thing. I grew several batches of V. pedatifida as pedata, before a kindly gentleman took pity on me and supplied the right thing. One sure way to tell, is the number of seeds in the packet. If there are more than a very few, you have V. pedatifida almost certainly. The same applies to Dicentra peregrina (I had over 100 seeds in a packet recently and they're NOT D. peregrina) and Olsynium douglasii or O.filifolium. When you get a lot in the packet, they're bound to be a weedy sisyrinchium. Sure as eggs is eggs!
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Lesley, as always very sound advice. Thank you very much.
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But you won't really KNOW if it's sound advice David, until you get some seedlings up, will you? :)
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Everything's working in slow, slow, (not at all quick, quick) slow time this morning. This with Broadband as supplied by Telecom New Zealand, who are THE PITS, by and large, for customer service and satisfaction (if this post finds its way onto someone's blog (as happened to a couple of others) and is read by Telecom staff, so much the better). The only advantage my Broadband has given me is that I can use the phone while my computer's on. I've tried to post twice to the Aroid thread and it just won't upload. I tried here, starting at 9.50am, put up 5 pics and that too has bombed out. Cannot find the website; have you typed in the correct address? Are you connected to the Internet? etc etc. It seems I can post text but not pictures. Very frustrating and I think I'll now retire to my bed for the day, with a stiff gin. Hell, it is 10.15am after all! >:( >:( >:(
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Well, some hours later I've managed to do the aroid post and will try again here. Things are a little quicker now and just for the record, I retired to the tunnel house to weed, rather than my bed.
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Lathyrus nervosus which always gets a snicker when people ask the "common" name (Lord Anson's Blue Pea.) One of my favourite things and deeper coloured than the pic suggests, I'm not getting much seed lately. Used to get a good cupful each summer. About 1 in every 6 or 7 seedlings has a somewhat streaky look which is virus-like. Is that likely from seedlings? It's there right from germination.
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John Forrest sent me seed of Silene hookeri Ingramii Group and it has grown well for two years now, and is setting seed for the second time. I potted up 50-odd a few days ago. Again, paler here than in real life.
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This is closer to the true colour but still a little light.
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The same is true of this Dianthus alpinus seedling whose foliage is dark red. The flowers are not so deep though, as in `Joan's Blood.'
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A few days ago Fermi posted D. `Whatfield Wisp.' This is a seedling from it, rather bigger, deeper in colour and with a stunning perfume. It is called `Marybank' for the Nelson garden whence it came.
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I just had to share my little 'summer beauty' with you, Tigridia durangense, always the first Tigridia to flower in my collection and never disappointing:
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Those last 2 plants in particular are stunning, thanks folks.
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I have to agree with you Ann --a stunning Tigridia Rogan --it's a beauty all right.
Last few pics of Trilliums here--
Firstly --i've known and grown this one for a while now as T.cernuum --however i'm sure ,(after another look at Cases book) it's rugelii.Strong grower and quickly makes a good sized clump.
A couple of double T.grandiflorums --interesting that while i reviewed my pics for posting just now i see some differences between the two separate plants.
Finally ---i counted 32 flowers on this robust Trillium sulcatum last weekend--It is placed in an open position--(well --as open a spot as can be in our forested garden) and normally wilts during the 'hottest' part of the day--no worries this year --really enjoying our wet cloudy conditions of the last couple of weeks.
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Great pix everyone ! :D
Keeps our spirits up in these gloomy, windy autumn days.
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Thanks for the encouragement Luc.
The label beside the following Chionographis japonica raised from seed is a bit faded however i think i can just make out SRGC ??? 98.
Currently looking a picture with ,(4), stems arising some 25 cm above the small Hosta like foliage.
I find whites and yellows difficult to photo with my basic compact digital during sunny days so please excuse the last pic.After some testing i found my hand provided the best background--at least you'll gain an idea of scale--smile.
Cheers Dave.
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That's a very nice little thing Dave. The small one you gave to me a couple of years ago died unfortunately. And a stunning Tigridia Rogan. Really like that one, much more than the reds, yellows etc.
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A few more from here, then some leafy things.
Still with pink flowers for the moment, Saponaria ocymoides is a good, basic plant for a wall or bank or any sunny place. It takes a good hard trim back after flowering.
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Dianthus `Whitehill' is a tiny var, best in a trough or raised bed. Rather spiky foliage, very neat.
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Not sure if this little double pink auricula has a name or not, but whatever, it's very pretty, rather formally shaped.
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Ever reliable is Oxalis enneaphylla alba.
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and to end this batch, Adonis brevistyla. I find this quite difficult to keep as it has no thick rootstock like, say, A. amurensis, but is a rather fragile herbaceous plant which is very sensitive to dryness at its roots. It sets reasonable seed though and this usually germinates well (what I sowed last summer hasn't, though).
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These plants are sometimes grown just for their foliage, and sometimes it's a bonus along with flowers. They all look very good at this time of year when the leaves are quite young and not yet suffering from summer dryness. They are also best able, while still fresh and full of sap, to withstand the very strong, cold winds we've had, seemingly for weeks through this spring.
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Clematis recta is an herbaceous species rather than a climber. This is a particulrly good form which keeps its purple colour right to the end of the season. Flowers are small and creamy white.
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I keep coming back to Crambe maritima but it's such a good thing and I love it. I see that it's spreading from the root, probably sprouting wherever I've knocked it with a weeding fork.
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Nearby the Crambe is Eryngium `Picos Blue.' The flowers are steely blue but as it makes buds, the leaves also take on a wonderful blue, metallic sheen.
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Ligularia `Britt-Marie Crawford' is a stunning plant to use as ground cover if there's room but otherwise looks very good as an accent with gold foliage. She herself has yellowy/gold flowers typical of the Ligularia genus, daisy-like.
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Another fine deep red/brown, is Euphorbia dulcis `Chameleon.' I couldn't do without this plant which seeds around a little but never as a problem and always comes true to colour.
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What this peony seedling is, I don't know. It "just growed" like Topsy, but the foliage has promise of an attractive plant.
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Now some golden foliage.
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Spiraea `Gold Flame is light orangey/apricot coloured in the spring as the first leaves grow but changes subtley to a rich golden orange with reddish tips as the season develops. The autumn flowers are plummy red and don't improve things in my opinion, so I cut them off.
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This gold form of the common lemon balm is called - surprisingly :) - Melissa 'All Gold.' It makes a good clump but isn't invasive as the regular lemon balm can be, in moist soil. The leaves do burn rather though, if exposed to too much sun.
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I love Bowles' Golden Grass, Millium effusum 'Aureum.' Apart from its superb colouring, it always reminds me of my late brother's comment about "suicide blondes." Dyed by their own hands.
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A smaller plant than others above, this is the usual but UNusual foliage of Campanula pseudoraineri.
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Heuchera 'Marmalade' varies from orange and red to copper and pinky shades depending on the weather and the age of the leaves. Always interesting and attractive though.
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There are very many red forms of heuchera and I can't keep up with them all. The differences are subtle rather than distinctive. The other here, is `Green Spice.'
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Not everyone likes variegation but I do, very much indeed though in moderation and with a lot of plain green as background. I guess Astrantia `Sunningdale' has it both ways in that the variegation ages quite quickly to green after the spring.
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All the podophyllums have great foliage and I think P. hexandrum is among the best. The genus (or part of it) is now called Dysosma or something like that.
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P. 'Spotty Dotty' has a horrid name but is a superb foliage plant. It hasn't flowered for me yet but they should be red.
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More spots on Dactylorhiza maculata. This is an easy ground orchid which seeds about gently to come up in unexpected places like the cracks in a concrete path or the grass outside our road gate.
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Although plain green coloured, the foliage of Helleborus torquatus is beautifully shaped and serrated, to be attractive on its own. The flowers will be an added bonus.
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To finish (at long last, they said) the wonderfully coloured foliage of my little copper beech. It's pinkish to red at present but will blacken as soon as the sun warms a little, a long-winded process this spring.
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All wonderful pics Lesley!! 8) Great Stuff!!
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'Sunningdale Variegated' is fairly disappointing here, Lesley: not only does the variegation fade away after spring, but it tends to revert to the type on part of the stems each year.. :(
I definitely prefer Peucedanum ostruthium 'Daphnis' in part shade. Do you grow it too, in your country? I wonder how it would behave in zone 9, and would appreciate your input (I have some plants I want to offer to a southern friend next spring, and would willingly add this one!)
Zephirine
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Zephirine,
Lovely leaves. Never come across that genus before. I'm another lover of variegated plants.... can't help myself. ;D The plant looks very familiar, but I can't place what I am actually thinking of.
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The plant looks very familiar, but I can't place what I am actually thinking of.
Oh I think I can tell you!!!! ;D : It definitely looks like that terrible weed called aegopodium podagraria variegata! (terrible weed for me, anyway)
But peucedanum ostruthium 'Daphnis' is a quiet and beautiful plant, not invasive at all!
It adds a wonderful light to the shady borders, and doesn't threaten its neigbours.
The flowers should be white umbels, but it doesn't bloom for me (probably too much shade).
So I can't offer you any seeds, and I'm not sure seedlings would be variegated anyway...
But if you come across it, don't hesitate, it's a nice companion indeed!
I tried Peucedanum japonicum once, quite a different plant, lovely glaucus foliage and large white umbels, but didn't manage to keep it, alas. I might give it another chance if I can get hold of another one (I had found it in a very far away plants fair near the city of Toulouse, not sure I can get back!).
Zephirine
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Quote ---"That's a very nice little thing Dave. The small one you gave to me a couple of years ago died unfortunately."
Must remember to make sure i sow seed this season and start spreading the Chionographis around.
Seems to like a bit of moisture at its feet. Not *100% certain but i think i read a publication many years ago that mentioned it's most happiest in a peat bed.
*Could google it i guess but i want to press on with the following-----
Last Month in 'Oct 2007 in the Southern hemisphere' Paul showed us some pics of his wonderful sunny dry garden in Canberra .
Here are a few general shots of our shady moist garden just a *hop, skip and jump across the ditch.Actually i wish the damn possum which is hissing and making such a racket at this very moment up in a tree outside the back door would do just that*---smile . I'll give it 10 minutes and if it hasn't gone quiet then it's a gonna ---bang bang!!!!!!.
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Final pics --The noise in the tree has stopped --possum lives to see another day.
Cheers Dave.
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Oh Dave!! It's so green. I've almost forgotten what it is like to have such green surroundings....... beautiful. And the blue poppies! (Sob!) So very different to my garden! <sigh>
Great pics. Thanks for taking the time to post them.
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Paul ---i smiled when i saw your comments mate--- there you are wanting my moist conditions and here i am wanting your sun.Big sigh!!!.
Guess it's only human nature to look over each others 'fence' and wish for what we don't have.
Doesn't stop us from pushing the boundaries though.
Now i must really get to bed.It's nearly 1am here.
Cheers Dave.
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I enjoyed seeing the general shots of your garden.
The hostas and primulas look to be doing much better in your garden than I can manage in the UK
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What a gorgeous garden Dave.
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Zephirine, I've never come across the Peucedanum before in NZ and the genus is not included on our Biosecurity Index/Plants, which lists all the species we are allowed to import. So, I wouldn't be sending it south if I were you. I don't know about Australia. Maybe it's there. I must admit I too, thought "variegated ground elder" which was here at one time But I've not seen it for many years.
If you are sending plants to NZ, there are many things to be aware of. Some are the need to check if it's on the Bio Index, the bare-rooting of all plants, a phytosanitary certificate, 12 months quarantine at this end (very expensive) and so on. Not just a matter of packing up a few nice things and posting them off. But I guess you know all this.
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I'm surprised to see Dave, that you still have some lawn, especially at the back. Thought that would have gone ages ago. :D Your Mecs are earlier than mine for which I'm grateful (they're still just beginning to make buds, and are still low) because I'm hoping all these beastly cold winds will have gone before they have to brave my much drier conditions. Everything with you looks really nice and fresh.
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If you are sending plants to NZ, there are many things to be aware of.
I certainly don't know all the regulations regarding NZ, Lesley, but I knew there were many, yes: we had discussed this last year with a french rose addict living in your country. Maybe you know him? His site is called Rosarosam, and a french rose breeder (and a friend of mine) dedicated a rose to him ('Rosomane Janon').
Anyway, I'd never send anything anywhere without enquiring first! (I very recently asked the question about Australia!)
It's a matter of respect...and self-respect.
But thank you for the reminder, it wasn't needed as far as I'm concerned, but might be useful to someone else reading this forum! ;)
Zephirine
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Beautiful shots Dave of a very beautiful garden !
As so many of us on this forum, seems your struggling with space...and using every square inch to cram in more plants... ;D
A bit envious of your trough collection though... they look great ! (and not only the troughs)
Thanks a lot for showing us around.
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Dave,
a real pleasure to see your garden in pics - maybe one day in person! We don't have any lawn - just a lot of grass and weeds! That's why I can only show individual plants and small parts of the garden at any time!
cheers
fermi
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Rob --yes Hostas grow well here now after finally getting on top of a snail problem a year or two back.
Luc ---the front area especially needs to be thinned out/remodeled which i've started on ---I didn't show pics of another planted woodland area off to the side which i'm selectively clearing out at the moment to make room for Trilliums coming on from seed.
I'd love to build a very very large Czech style crevice garden with a ridge line say some 2 to 3 metres in height but that will have to wait until retirement and on another property with more sun.
Fermi --You are most welcome to visit any time --- of course despite the close planting we get weeds as well--one which i'm sure i'll never get rid of is that damn small ground covering oxalis --bronze foliage--yellow flowers--appears only to have a root or at least i've never found a bulb or corm --- introduced when in my early days it appeared beside a plant i'd purchased and i innocently thought i was getting two plants for the price of one ---aaah !!!!!!!!!!!
Cheers dave.
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I get the picture Dave - retirement should open new prospects (not only for you.... ;D) and a huge crevice feature is something I'm also dreaming of.
As to the Oxalis you mention - it's not totally unknown out here either >:( in fact it has become a real pest - and same as you, we seem to owe it to our nurseries go give it for free... :-\
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Dave,
It's O. corniculata. Absolute pain in the posterior!! Prolific just doesn't do it justice.... invasive seems more apt here. And yet, when mentioned on the oxalis list recently I was actually asked for seeds of it. I don't think I could actually send seed of something like that to someone.... it's just TOO thuggish and I can't imagine it not surviving anywhere. Then again, given lack of bulbs it might die out if cold enough, heaven knows nothing ELSE kills it. ::)
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it might die out if cold enough, heaven knows nothing ELSE kills it.
Well, it can survive minus 19c to my knowledge. :P :'( :-\ >:( :( :o
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Well that isn't exactly warm then. Even a worse weed than I thought! :o
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I also have the same darn weed invading my pots :( :'( :-X
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Here's a pic I took in Goa, India in 2005, mainly because - there it was - the ubiquitous oxalis!
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We also have a green leaf form which isn't quite as bad, but the red/brown leaf one comes up frequently in pots bought from outside sources!
cheers
fermi
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Here's another look at the Campanula aucheri, but after seeing Otto's plant I wonder if mine is actually another in the "Tridentata Group" perhaps C. anomala or C. tridentata?
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Also flowering in the Shadehouse last week was Stachys candida
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I say "was flowering" because I no longer have it .....I gave it to Viv to see if she has better luck propagating it!
cheers
fermi
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Dave,
Great to see your garden, a delightful collection of plants and wonderfully created planting areas, troughs etc. in abundance. Also, a lovely setting, great background of good sized trees and shrubs to enclose the garden giving a wonderful atmosphere.
Is that a large 'tank' for collecting rainwater I see?
Also, glad to see you seem to have a very nicely arranged and productive vegetable plot - it's a shame that more gardeners don't use their horticultural skills to grow good quality food rather than buy from the supermarket/shop/even farmer's market where quality is so much poorer. What are you growing? I was in Italy earlier in the year and was so jealous to see a man tending his vegetable garden where he had rows of aubergine, peppers, chillis and tomatoes which I can only manage here under glass. Is the (the word won't come to me) plastic covered glasshouse-like thingy redundant?
Could you identify the Aciphylla in the photographs entitled: "Another view of the front garden. This time looking west."
It seems to me to be the same as one I grow here on a rockery but whose name I have long lost. I have it about 20 years, never a flower but it is now about the same size as yours though the lower leaves have to be regularly taken off; they seem to drop quite easily. It's a beast of a plant to work around, deadly dangerous and many a time my arms have been pierced by the vicious points on the tips of the leaves.
Paddy
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Fermi, the only reliable way to propagate Stachys candida is by seed. I've just lost mine - swamped by a pulsatilla - but I've grown it for several years in both pink and white flowered forms. I've rooted cuttings but they are difficult because of having to keep them damp which their woolliness doesn't like. Stachys saxicola is even worse but at least it makes a reasonable amount of seed. S. candida is rather parsimonious with it.
I don't think your campanula is C. tridentata. How about C. saxifraga?
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Welcome back to the Forum Paddy. It seems a long time since we had your somewhat acerbic comments to ponder on. I must take you up on one though. I agree that it's a shame many people don't grow their own vegetables. Living conditions of most people would prevent that, even if inclination didn't, but while homegrown is undoubtedly best, a good Farmers' Market is very close and I can't agree that fruit and vegetables from one such, is "so much poorer." Ever so slightly poorer maybe, in that the produce was harvested yesterday instead of today, but properly stored and packed, as it is here, by the vendors at my Market, it comes very close to "just out of the garden."
For the record, "my" Market isn't owned by me, just managed. It is owned by (or originated with) a charitable Trust which employs me.
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Dave's Aciphylla looks like A. aurea. Vicious indeed.
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Hi Lesley,
have you heard of the term "like a red rag to a bull"? I bet Paddy has!
we're just about into summer here despite being a few weeks off the "official" start.
Clematis are doing well, especially "Polish Spirit"
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And in more shade, "Hagley Hybrid'
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Another late flowering bulb is Conanthera campanulata
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A new dianthus for us is D.kuznetzowii, grown from Rocky Mountain Rare Plants Seed 2006.
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It has small white flowers on long stems, which are supposed to give a gypsophila-like effect.
cheers
fermi
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Hello Paddy
Nice to hear from you again.
As we live out in the 'wop wops' somewhat we are reliant on storing rain water for our domestic supplies.
No veges grown here Paddy and as i am unsure of what pic you are referring to i am unable to clarify matters, although some could say that a few plants in trying to reach better light levels grow like cabbages.LOL.
The tunnel house frame is my excuse for an alpine house.It has netting up to about belly button height around all sides to stop Hilda's cats from entering.A cover is placed over the top only down to the netting during winter to control moisture levels.
The Aciphylla is as Lesley has identified.Planted ,(out of the way i thought), in an old double concrete wash tub some 14 years ago.Such are the plans of mice and men----I've stopped counting the number of times it has attacked me.
Cheers dave.
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Fermi --I like your Conanthera . I must be keeping mine too dry--The bulb feels healthy enough but hasn't shot into growth yet.
A few more in bloom here.
Iris verna --seems to have a brief flowering period before the petals turn.
Frit. roderickii--liverwort and all !.
And a couple quick to bloom from seed --
Primula ellisiae
Primula cortusoides
Cheers dave.
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Dear Lesley,
It has indeed been a while since I have posted here on the forum but let me assure you that during all of that time I was thinking of you and it was in a moment of compassion that I thought it really was time to drop you a line. You see during this long absence I have had this picture in my mind of you hiding behind a bush just waiting for me to pop up again and I said that it was about time I took you out of your misery. I had then to consider what ploy would give you best satisfaction as you pounced - you see I have given this some consideration. Eventually, Dave's photographs from his garden gave me the opportunity. Although Dave doesn't grow vegetables I thought that I could latch onto that tunnel and post a comment in pretended ignorance knowing that any comment casting even the slightest aspersion on the Farmers' Market would be sure to draw you out of your ambush position. And boy oh boy did it work. You were out like a coiled spring, like a shot from a gun, like a racing horse from the starting box, a cheetah from the long grass and my oh my, even after that long time in tensed anticipation you were still as alert as ever. You have my deepest admiration. What a woman!
Farmers' Markets produce and vegetables - ah, come on now, Lesley. Sure that crowd are only codding you. Those beautiful brown eggs that they sell were only cheap white ones they bought and soaked in cold tea. Then dipping the potatoes and root vegetable into the old bucket of mud to give them that just lifted out of the ground wet covering of soil. Those organic apples, from the local supermarket, the fancy wrapping discarded and a few gentle bruises here and there to add 'authenticity' Oh, I have never known a farmer who wasn't a cute h... , well, fella/wan. Farmers' Markets are a great place to go for a good laugh. You just sit and watch the townies coming out in their Range Rovers, wearing their waxed jackets and green wellies, oh and of course the tweed caps, to get the weekly supply of 'fresh', 'organic' and 'direct from the grower' vegetables. Ah, it keeps them happy, I suppose, part of the life style statement and it keeps the farmers happy as well. It's always great when you have a good supply of fools who are ripe to be parted from their money.
Oh, yes, it's great to be back. With such a warm welcome I am sorry I left it off for so long.
It is one of the joys of life reading your lovely postings Lesley.
Yours, (tongue in cheek) Paddy
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Blast it!
Lesley,
I have just realised that as it's 7p.m. here you are probably well wrapped up in your bed and I'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear from you again.
Paddy
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Hi Dave,
It was the tunnel and the regular beds beside that put vegetables into my mind.
OK, Lesley, I did really think they were vegetables and not plotting to draw you out at all. There, I've admitted it now.
Lovely garden Dave. I am amazed with the aciphylla. It is about the same age and size as mine, similarities in the climate, perhaps. I presume yours flowers regularly.
Paddy
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Dave's deadly Aciphylla has a cousin here in Aberdeen, too. Lethal brute and no mistake, though very handsome with it ( that's the plant, not you, Dave, you're just a style icon)
Did you say your one hasn't flowered, Paddy? I'd like to get seed to grow more where I need a spiky barrier and ours hasn't flowered. I think one of the rosttes did once, some years ago, but no seed. There are a couple of rosettes at the minute. I don't think they would transplant, even if I were foolhardy enough to try to get close enough to move them!
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Maggi, I promise I'll get some nice fresh seed for you in the late summer/autumn, collected from the wild, not so far from where I live. Dave could beat me to it of course, so one way or another, you'll have enough to populate the highlands and the islands. Now THERE'S an anti-terrorist device!
Paddy, I know you are waiting for some devastatingly erudite (but also wildly funny) comment but I absolutely refuse, except to say that I'm sure you have been consorting -- or consulting - with Martin Baxindale. (Him of the receding hairline.)
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Many thanks, Lesley... that would be very gratefully received....... while we're on this spiky subject ( and here I am not making reference to the receding hairlines of either Martin or Paddy, honest) might you be a ble to get me seed of any of the smaller aciphyllas? The really little chaps, esp. A. crosby-smithii ??...also we'd love to get the deliciously soft and gentle A. dissecta again... we lost that.
Pretty please if at all possible! :-*
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I'm sure that can be managed Maggi. Dave and David (Lyttle) both collect them and I do when the opportunity arises. It would be around Feb/March I should think. Seed is always sent to the Otago Alpine Garden Group and I have seedlings at present of 4 from the most recent list (June/July) including crosby-smithii and my favourite, pinnatifida. They seem to germinate reliably if reasonably fresh.
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I did think of mentioning Paddy's hairline, but refrained due to my good and generous nature. But if the cap - or hairline - fits.....
Now, I really must go and get a life and go out to pot primulas.
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Hi Dave,
I have the Conanthera in the rock garden as well as in a pot and they receive the natural rainfall over winter/spring which bring them into growth over here. I do give them a little supplementary water around now as the skies don't provide any and the plants are in full growth!
I have one tiny seedling of C. bifolia and some seed of another species to try this autumn!
Here's another couple of plants in flower in the rock garden; firstly a newly planted Crowea "White Star" which is just a slip but covered in bloom,
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and a Moraea gracilenta which I already posted to the South African Bulb thread but worth showing another pic here!
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cheers
fermi
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Fermi,
That Moraea is a beauuuuuuuuuuty. Just lovely. Certainly worth posting a few times.
Lesley,
You have disappointed me. I thought you would come back with a vengence - for fun, of course. Regarding the receding hairline: from a very young age I had what my mother described as a 'high hair line' which was, of course, a sign of great intelligence she believed. I take the more mundane view that god designed only a very few beautiful heads and covered the rest with hair.
Yes, the sun does indeed shine off my pate.
Paddy
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Well, that's better than the place where Roger reckons the sun shines from on his body.
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Taken lots of photos this week, but only just starting to prepare some. Suffering white fever at the moment..... but not Galanthus.
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Weldenia candida.
Thank you, thank you thank you Otto!!!!!!!!!!! Small, but perfectly formed. Would look a lot nicer if the snails hadn't polished off half the leaves the night before.... so you just get a closeup of the flower to cover it's many imperfections plant-wise!! :o
I'll post shortly an unknown plant in the identification section. I'm hoping someone can tell me what it is, as it is pretty distinctive.
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Now this is a white fever that is worth catching, Paul! Weldenia is such a beauty. I was very pleased to be given one last year by Rob Graham, which has done well. I'd lost our old plant after many years and was very pleased to get a new one.... now I know how well Lesley does with hers, I am determined to do better with this new plant......snails and slugs be warned!
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One of mine had 16 flowers yesterday, and I've already removed 31 dead blooms. Thought I'd wait until there are a lot more before taking a pic. ;D ;D ;D I've never had slug damage to mine. I'd have thought the leaves might be too tough, though I suppose they are quite succulent. Better sprinkle a few pellets Paul.
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Lesley,
There WERE pellets, Lesley. They just crusied right on by. Now it is sitting up in a basket on top of a metal railing, and I still find them up there. 3 flowers out this morning, bringing to a total of 8 flowers so far. So how big is your actual plant now? How many separate crowns and how many flowers per crown? I'm asking approximates, I don't expect exact figures, carefully added up each day and then averaged over the season etc. I'm not that cruel!! ::)
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Nothung as exciting as Weldenia here, but a few new flowers:
Campanula ephesia, grown from seed and it tried to flower in the winter but got frosted.
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Also grown from seed, this time SRGC2003, Calochortus albus,
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cheers
fermi
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Your Calochortus albus is very nice compared with mine Fermi, a rather muddy greenish white with a little brown on it. CC. amoenus and amabilis are good though.
Paul my two biggest at present are 5 and 6 rosettes respectively. I had one of 18 but the leaves were so congested that the flowers couldn't open properly so I put a spade through it. On the big one, the most flowers I had on a single day was between 150 and 160, but really hard to count except by taking them off. That year in total there were over 2000 in all. For now, around 40 or so per day will be a good result. I found that the more flowers were open, the smaller they were. Fewer flowers, larger.
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Lesley,
Good grief!! 150 flowers a day. Methinks I have a way to go yet. :o
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Here are some other things.
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Calochortus amabilis has 2 stems this year. It's taken about 5 flowering times to produce another stem.
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C. amoenus is very small and quite weak stemmed but the colour is pretty.
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C. caeruleus is very small, not unlike CC uniflorus and umbellatus.
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This super Penstemon species (name please?) has the habit of P. rupicola making a low, wide mound. The leaves are glossy and the flowers about 4 cms long.
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Rhodohypoxis are everywhere and this is my favourite, which could be R. `Susan Garnett-Botfield' but not sure.
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When I had two seeds germinate from a seedlist, of Lewisia rediviva, I was delighted. When they flowered and 1 was white, the other pink, I was even more delighted. Unfortunately the pink has died (rotted) this last winter but the white is flourishing. The second pic shos the delicate colour of the stamens and style, pink and lavender here, but in reality, apricot and pink.
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Some irises and verbascums now.
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Iris setosa dwarf form (sometimes called hookeri, nana or canadensis).
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Then Iris x Sibtosa, a cross between sibirica and setosa, the seed from Thomas Tamberg in Germany. It clearly shows the fall shape of sibirica, but has the bristle-like, or almost absent standards of setosa.
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And another picture of Iris `Queen's Grace' with a smaller flower from the same section. `Queen's Grace' is a NZ raised tectorum hybrid and is about 10cms across.
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I have quite a few of these hybrids of Verbascum phoeniceum in shades of purple, pink and a curious grey shade which I love (not out yet). They're easy as pie to grow, fully perennial and make quick fillers where needed.
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This one could have similar parentage but I know it as V. `Flush of White,' a misnomer since flush suggests something pinkish in there, but this lovely plant is pure white. Also perennial, it comes true from seed.
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My long time favourite, V. `Alstree Hybrid' goes on year to year, entirely reliable. It is sterile and I wish would make more cutting material. No joy with root cuttings.
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And this one came from the AGS seed list last summer, as Verbascum acaule. Oh dear. But it's reasonably dwarf at about 40 cms in flower and with slightly woolly foliage, is quite attractive. Perennial? I don't know yet. And better than the tall woolly mullein I received as V. acaule, the year before. It is a very weedy, biennial about 1.8metres high!
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And two final pictures because for me, each constitutes a great thrill. Some time ago Ian of the Christie kind, SCRG President, posted a picture of a beautful white form of Rhododendron camtschaticum. I had 3 seedlings at the time, from Jim Sutherland's Red Form. They were growing well but even up to a month ago, showed no sign of flowering this year. I remember saying I'd love to have seed from a white form some time.
A very short time ago a bud appeared on the soft new growth of one plant. Gradually it grew and a few days ago it was obvious that it was going to be white. The other larger plant may also be white as the foliage is a light, granny smith green colour while the 3rd, a smaller plant, has a reddish tinge to the leaves. It went red and orange in the autumn while the two larger went yellow. So here it is, with the only flower for this first flowering.
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And the other thrill started a week ago when I first noticed that there were fat seed pods on Epigaea asiatica. The flowers were a lovely rose pink shade, very waxy and now, there are 6 pods, maybe more developing.
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Lesley,
Fantastic pics. Love those Verbascum in particular, and the Calochortus of course. Got a nice Verbascum from that garden with the unknown Lobelia.... white with a faint fluch of pink. Apparently it seeds around a little so hopefully it will be a permanent part of my garden as I love the Verbascums but don't tend to find them much around here. I try to grab any I can find. Great to see your pics. Thanks.
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Hi Lesley
I love the calochortus and that amabilis is quite striking.
I've had a catastrophe with Verbascum "Letitia" which had just started to bloom when one branch after another just went into complete wilt! Gone in the space of a week! Heartbreaking, as it was 5 years old and about 40cm x 40cm! - I made the mistake of showing it off last year! When I cut it to the ground I found a new fresh shoot just breaking through the soil! It may eventually regenerate!
Other new flowers include Dianthus serotinus bought a few weeks ago on the trip to Gladysdale.
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Also flowering is a recently acquired Aussie native plant, Caesia calliantha,
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In the Shadehouse a single Lilium pumilum is now in bloom
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On the South side of the house the previous owner had planted a number of Catalpa bignonioides which are spectacular at the moment.
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cheers
fermi
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Great pix girls and boys ! Thanks for cheering up another grey, dull Monday morning.
It's always a great view to see a good L. rediviva Lesley ! Lovely !
That Dianthus serotinus looks so delicate Fermi, very nice !
I've had a similar problem with Verbascum Letitia last year. In full bloom, without any apparant reason 4-5 branches just wilted away.
I cut them back and fortunately (touch wood) it recovered.
I took cuttings as wel, but out of 10, only 1 survived.. :'( but at least I now have one substitute on the bench ;D
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Super images Lesley and Fermi,
Many thanks from cold and damp East Lancashire.
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Lesley & Fermi,
A great display of flowers, a wonderful selection indeed. I could mention which appealed most to me but it would simply run to a list. Wonderful!
Paddy
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Thanks everyone. Nice to know we in the south can do our bit to keep northern spirits buoyant on a dull day. We're having several days of lovely warm sunshine and already I'm beginning to think it is TOO warm (22 yesterday :)). I see on today's TV weather map that Melbourne across the ditch is to have 29C.
Paul I'll have seed on the white and purple verbascums, also probably the yellow, if you'd like to try some?
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Lesley,
We've had 30'C+ for the last week or so... I think 33'C forecast for today. WAY too hot for this time of year, or at least it feels that way. We do often get a brief hot flush in November, but this flush is lasting a little too long. ;D Sharing my wife's hot flushes is quite enough thank you very much!! ::) 8)
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Pretty impressive toilet that is Paul...HOT flushes, eh?
Don't you live in Can...brrrrr?
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I think we had 28oC for a couple of days two summer ago. Probably the first time in Dunblane since 1976? Today it was 9oC and wet.
The new Dunblane High School opened its doors to pupils today. Vast improvement on the new (6 years ago) (alleged) carbuncle that is Graeme High School in Falkirk. That (alleged) abomination could (allegedly) be improved by the strategic placement of a few sticks of dynamite. It would certainly fix the problems we have with temperature: baltic in the assembly hall and a sauna in the rooms on the south side of the school when the sun shines, even at this time of the year. >:(
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Only in winter Cliff, only in winter. Definitely not brrrr is summer (or even last spring in this case). The scary part is that our hottest months are January, February and into March (varying as to peak temps during that time, some years we get 40'C around new years day, others not until late January and Early Feb).... when we're only the middle of November it doesn't bode well for what this summer is going to be like, particularly with so little rain around except the odd thunderstorms. :-\
Anthony,
28'C is a cooler day in the middle of summer here. Quite refreshing after a week of 35'C I might add!! ;D Just shouldn't be above 30 for a week or more in November. Thursday we're forecast 24 (will be heavenly) then 27 then back to 31'C for the next 3 days after that. Going to be a lot of above 30 this month by the look of it. Will definitely bring the total outside mains watering ban into place earlier if this keeps up. :'(
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28'C is a cooler day in the middle of summer here. Quite refreshing after a week of 35'C I might add!! ;D Just shouldn't be above 30 for a week or more in November. Thursday we're forecast 24 (will be heavenly) then 27 then back to 31'C for the next 3 days after that. Going to be a lot of above 30 this month by the look of it. Will definitely bring the total outside mains watering ban into place earlier if this keeps up. :'(
It sounds just like us, except we've had very good spring showers and relatively cool temperatures - things are hotting up a little bit now though - yesterday we had 33'C (what we call 'berg wind' conditions - hot and dry pre-frontal north-westerlies), today we have 20'C (cool, moist south-easterlies as the cold front passes through). All in all fantastic summer weather! :)
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Things are certainly starting to dry out a bit.
Here's the dwarf Alstroemeria hookeri but you can see the non flowering shoots have all withered.
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This Happlopappus coronopifolius was grown from seed from Lesley in 2004 and has gone from strength to strength.
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cheers
fermi
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Fermi,
Nice alstro. I grow a whole bunch of the hybrids, but very few of the species. I grow them in waterwell tubs (i.e self-watering) to give them the extra moisture they like at times. Also contains them so that they don't escape. Some of the delicate little species pics I've seen look much more behaved and well worth growing. Thanks for the pics. 8)
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Paul,
it would be worth your while finding some of these small species as they are less invasive (certainly less than A. pulchella or A. aurea types) and are suited to our climate. We also have A. angustifolia which behaves itself in the rock garden. I had A. pulchra in a pot but unfortunately no longer! maybe one day the few seeds it produced will germinate! I got A.versicolor germinating after a few years but am not sure if it will grow outside, so it's staying in the shadehouse for now!
After all the heat of the last few days, it's now raining! SO much for our "dry mediterranean" climate!
cheers
fermi
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We've had five glorious days starting last Saturday with about 23C and a little warmer each day, 31C yesterday. Back to 12 today ??? But the 31 did for a few things as I have been away in town each day (jury) and unable to water much. Seedling primulas in particular have suffered and the little Ajuga `Arctic Fox' with heavy white variegation, may not recover. It will be the second I've lost to too much hot and dry. It's very sensitive.
I've taken a few pictures though.
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This one is to make Paul a little green around the gills but is not the best as with conditions yesterday even these 25 fresh flowers of Weldenia candida are feeling the heat. Fortunately there are MANY more to come. :)
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And I couldn't resist another of Lewisia rediviva alba. There are still more buds but by the time they're out the first will have gone off.
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I hope Dave Toole is pleased to note that the iris he gave to me is doing well. This beauty is a regelio-cyclus hybrid called `Vera.'
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One of my favourite roses is Rosa moyesii `Geranium' but it's almost impossible to get it nowadays. When I parked my car yesterday I met the Dunedin City Council top dog in Parks and Reserves and took the opportunity to ask him if I could have some cuttings a little later in the season. Yes :-* The building of the railway station makes a very nice background for the rose.
I've grown seed from this cultivar but the babies are a vulgar pink shade, nothing like the rich lipstick red of the parent, hence the need for cuttings.
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Yesterday was a most interesting and varied day with a court case first thing, then Ian Rankin's talk ("A Conversation with..") at lunchtime and then a jaunt to the Botanic Gardens for a look at what's happening in the Clive Lister Garden. There were several other, shorter visits/jobs to do in between times so a full-on day and pleased to have a cold, no-cook dinner outside, on a beautiful, warm and windless evening. Started with Lemoncello and tonic water/ice and ended with Sauvignon Blanc.
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Probably the largest of the Astelia species, like a large flax (Phormium) bush but glossily silver-coated.
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This is a quite benign aciphylla with softly pointed leaved instead of the usual killing swords. It is A. diefenbachii from the Chatham Islands and one of the easier and more permanent species to grow.
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This is perhaps the biggest kowhai I know (Sophora tetraptera) and a lovely shape to boot, which many are not.
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I've not seen a Mahonia with this colouring in its new growth. It looked very tropical and exotic.
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The gold of Berberis thunbergii `Aurea' is outstanding with a really good blue-leaved hosta. In the Clive Lister Garden the hostas always look so fresh and strong, without a single spot of pest damage. Ample water has them growing to close to a metre in height.
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A blue cedar seems to grow out of the massed hostas. Arisaemas in the foreground.
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OK Lesley, you win!! I will stop feeling pleased with my Weldenia candida now. ::)
The Lewisia is lovely!! Received some seed this week from the UK of a couple of Lewisia and don't want to wait until they flower in a few years time. So pleased to have them and their wonderful promise.
Cool pics!! 8)
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Lewisias don't take long to flower Paul. The L. cotyledon forms are usually ready about a year after germination or a few months longer. Likewise the excellent (and true from seed) L. `Little Plum.' This rediviva seedling only took about 18 months. L. pygmaea is in flower now, still in its seed pot, sown just 15 months ago.
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Lesley,
Did you hold and sow yours in autumn, or sow them as soon as you got them (I'm talking here about northern hemisphere seed). I'm hoping they'll do OK for me.
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Hi,
Guildford is between Castlemaine and Daylesford in central Victoria (Australia) with minimums of -4C in winter and maximums of 35C in summer.
Regards Ray.
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OK Southern Hemisphere Friends,
You have done yourselves proud today with such a wonderful display. Great plants entirely.
Where to start with the list of those most admired?
Lesley, I couldn't deny you the enjoyment you are obviously enjoying with your Lewesia rediviva 'Alba' which is simply stunning. It's a pity they are not so fond of the winter wet we get here and are difficult to keep going outside during the winter.
That little Weldenia candida is a complete dote, a real beauty. I grow some other kind of weldenia here, yellow flowered, and find it excellent growing along the edge of a path where it encroached onto the path more and more each year now almost covering it but does not mind being walked upon and is a great ground cover.
The aciphylla is simply to die for, would love to grow it at some time. The Kowkai is a brilliant tree, love it. Mount Stewart in Northern Ireland had two outstanding specimens growing in the lawn in front of the house but one was lost. The remaining one is a huge tree, a really mature specimen and only breaks one's heart that the pair didn't survive together. It was a fabulous idea to plant the pair and such a pity that one has been lost.
I share your admiration of the rose. As well as an excellent floral display the hips are also excellent. Will it not also come true from seed? I thought it would.
Ray,
I am very surprised that the dicentra grow so well for you considering your high summer temperatures. Do the flower earlier in the year and go dormant during the hotter season?
Paddy
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Great show everyone - keep it going - b e a u t i f u l !!!! 8)
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Thank you Paddy. I was about to say "Little Weldenia! The cheek of it" then noticed some small note of Irish humour to follow. :) Good luck with your yellow. In fact, I grow that one quite well too.
The Mt Stewart kowhais must have been a super pair, a shame, as you say, to lose one. Wind maybe? The (Maori) word is pronounced as co-fy (as in fly).
The aciphylla is relatively common here so it should be possible to get some seed in the late summer for you. It germinates well.
I had hoped the rose would come true from seed but I've grown two small batches and they were all harsh pinks. Not nice at all.
Here are a few more from the Clive Lister Garden, part of the Dunedin Botanic Garden and funded by a bequest from an American academic who wanted to thank the city for the great time he had had at Otago University.
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For yet another year I didn't get to see the Fritillaria imperialis in flower and have had to make do with seed pods (pots too. I was given seed from both oranges and yellows from these last summer). There were dozens of similarly laden stems so they must have been a great sight a couple of months ago.
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David Lyttle has had a recent trip to the Chatham Island off the east coast of NZ. He saw this native plant, planted out in long borders. A smaller group here of the Chatham Is. forget-me-not, Myosotidium hortensia. (I think the astelia in the above group must be the chatham Is species, A. chathamica).
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Its back to the world, but the outer markings on Arisaema nepenthoides are seen clearly. Another group across the path, was labelled, inexplicably, since both groups were identical, as A. exappendiculatum.
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Beside the last group was this group of very short and delicate-looking plants of A. tortuosum. They must be first flowerings as when I took a pic of this species last year, in the same area, they were well over a metre tall. These were barely 40cms and with small flowers, but very pretty.
The hose among them seemed to follow me right along the path (there were several actually) and every time I got close enough to take a picture, the arc would come my way and drench me. By the time I went up to the cafe for a cup of coffee (and a delicious cheese, herb and sun-dried tomato muffin), I was just about dripping and the camera too, had to be dried off. But it was a really hot day so I didn't mind too much.
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Tall grasses are not to everyone's taste and I think a really big space is needed to show them effectively. Here they sit well with a larger/taller allium, the soft grey/greens and purples looking well together.
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In a large pond setting, Siberian irises come into their own with space and plenty of water making for optimum growth. This is Iris sibirica `Castle Grace,' an early NZ raised seedling which is one of the finest of all, in my opinion, always reliable and free-flowering, tough as old boots and has the grace and elegance of older hybrids which the modern cultivars lack. It's height means that when a wind blows, it sways and moves like a breeze through a field of reeds, a lovely sight.
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It looks a lovely garden Lesley.
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This is super, Lesley, you are doing your civic duty, arranging cutting material, seeing and sharing the Clive lister garden with us AND you DID get to the Ian Rankin Talk! What a busy week this is!
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That's right Maggi, a right little dynamo, that's me! The weather has obliged too which has made all the tripping about easier and more pleasant.
Here's a final batch from the Clive Lister garden.
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I never tire of the big, bold foliage plants, such as Ligularia `Britt-Marie Crawford.' Planted en masse, it's magnificent with or without flowers, which are more or less typical yellow daisies on tall stems. Puts my small clump to shame.
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The ostriche fern Matteuccia struthiopteris (one of horticulture's more interesting names), is another I've planted for its magnificent cover, having seen it in its glory here. But with me it will only grow to half the height probably, for lack of water. The autumn colour is a glowing gold before it browns off.
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There's great diversity of foliage here and it's this that I love about this garden; the size, shapes, colours and textures make such a rich and varied tapestry and combined with water, the oversal effect is hugely satisfying.
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I can't get enough of Podophyllum `Spotty Dotty,' though I hate its name. This planting has many flower stems hiding coyly under the leaves so when they're out, perhaps another week, I must go back for more pictures. I've never seen the flowers yet.
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A final picture, looking back to the little lookout gazebo. I was well watered there too, with a sprinkler among the huge hostas not quite missing the pathway.
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The Ian Rankin thing was excellent and very funny. He's a great speaker as well as writer. Not a bad singer either. I had him singing "Scots Wha' Hae', Wi' Wallace Bled" while he was signing books and yes, I was in the queue.
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Lesley,
Wasn't the light in that garden simply wonderful. You have used it to great effect in some of your photographs - the ferns in particular but the frittilaria seedheads also.
I grow that ligularia but have never bother to divide and spread it. It certainly looks well when planted in a group. It is an idea I must follow. The podophyllum with the dreadful name is also wonderful planted in number. Purchasing such a number for one's garden would be quite expensive.
Great show of photographs. Well done;many thanks. Paddy
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I can't claim any artistic know how with the light Paddy. Literally, just pointed and shot. It was very strong light that day and the sky quite cloudless. The frits had the light in front of me, the fern, behind but I think all those soft greens seem to glow at this time of year before the harder look of summer foliage developes. Pleased you enjoyed them.
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Flowering from SRGC Seedex seed sown in July 2007(!) is Silene hookeri "Ingrammi Group"
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The Campanula troegerae which flowered last year for the first time is heavy with bud! Actually I think this is a sister seedling as the original "flowered itself to death"!
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Mike asked if the rain we'd had resulted in any rainlilies and it sure has:
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Habranthus tubispathus "Roseus" is quite prolific and fairly quick from seed. If Zephirine or anyone else is still interested in seed please let me know asap by personal message as otherwise it'll be "Off with their heads!"
cheers
fermi
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Lesley and Paddy,
OK, I have to ask about the yellow(?) Weldenia? Given it is a monospecific genus I am doubting there are other species, and not a ground cover. An in joke, or something else that I am supposed to understand?? ???
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Aha! I'm glad you asked that, Paul, because i was just going to ! Yellow Weldenia??? ??? ::)
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OK Time for me to get out and check on my label. Obviously I must have made a mix up here.
Five minutes later: You had better appreciate this. It is freeeeezzzzzzzing outside and I dashed out in my usual house-wear, shorts, T-shirt and flip-flops and on the way back into the house noticed how heavy the frost was on the cars. BBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
Anyway, the purpose of the exercise. What I am growing is Waldsteinia ternata. Ah, I was close enough. Just a little mix up in my senility.
Sorry, if I raised hopes that there was something easy in this rather special genus.
Time to put the kettle on here.
Paddy
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Oh dear, I done 'im wrong! :'( I really thought you were having a little joke Paddy and were talking about dandelions or something simlar, referring to the ease (ahem, ahem,) with which I grow Weldenia, which was why I said I grew that one well too. But from previous pictures of your own garden, I should have known there would be no such things along your paths. Commonplace here I'm afraid.
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Quote---"hope Dave Toole is pleased to note that the iris he gave to me is doing well. This beauty is a regelio-cyclus hybrid called `Vera."
Lesley --i'm shocked --You are actually agreeing to calling it Vera now !!!!--this confirms to me that you have come over from the 'dark side' and seen the light.Smile --i said earlier you'd keep and i have a long memory.(I owed you that one Ms Cox).
Nice to see it healthy and in bloom.Unfortunately the parent plant has refused to flower here for me for the past two seasons.The only spots i have left have been too shady-- so today i promised it to a good friend who has a sunnier garden.She has has plenty of room under the eaves of her house facing north to give it the baking i presume it needs.
Suppose you'll miss next weekends Otago group field trip,Saturday being Market day ?.
Cheers dave.
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Oh Lesley,
Plenty of dandelions here.
Sorry about the mix up.
Paddy
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Dave I'm hoping to go to the Blue Mountains next Saturday. I can take a day off and I haven't been anywhere in the mountains for so long (except over the old Dunstan Rd yesterday). I phoned John Fitz this morning and left a message on his phone. Don't know if Roger will come though.
Regarding the iris, I'd (conveniently) forgotten that I'd argued about the name. It's not as I remember `Vera' when I had her but that was 30 years ago and God knows, my memory ain't what it used to be. So I'll go along, for now anyway. :) It should need a good open sunny place and dry in the summer. I believe Marion Rutherford grows it out on the open garden so even Southland can be warm enough it seems. Mine's in a pot for now but I plan to plant it out in the later summer.
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Some new flowers to show you!
The Campanula which was in bud is now open: Campanula troegerae.
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Last year, I think, Anthony said that it looked more like the cross between C. troegerae and betulifolia and seeing that the flowers are more bowl-shaped I think I must agree.
Another new to flower is in the Rock Garden, Asperula nitida ssp subcapitella, from AGS Seedex, sown in June this year.
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A huge name for such a tiny flowering plant! I wish we could get seed of some of the lovely forms we saw in Prague in May! Especially the pink A. arcadiensis! It's even on our "allowed" imports list!
I'll finish with some more rainlilies: Habranthus martinezii and Zephyranthes drummondii.
cheers
fermi
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Fermi, someone will confirm (or deny) but I think Asperula arcadiensis is the correct name for what we've grown for many years as A. suberosa, which is different again.
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Fermi,
That's early for H. martinezii.... ours usually isn't about for a month, but then again we've had it hot and dry so you just never know!!??
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Lesley
they're both on our "allowed" list so if someone were to send seeds of each or either we'd be very happy to grow them on to see if there is a difference!
Paul,
I seem to remember that these flowered about this time last year but they're always dependent on the rain. The Habranthus robusta hybrid "Russell Manning" is also flowering and I'll try to get a pic of it tonight or tomorrow if it lasts that long! The individual floret is about the size of a single Amaryllis belladonna bloom!
cheers
fermi
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Fermi i see you have posted a pic on page 8 of Silene hookeri ingrami group.
I also have seed up ,(sown jan 07),from possibly the same source ?--(last years SRGC seedlist).
I suppose within the group there must be quite a bit of variation ,as in previous years plants grown from seed from other seedexs under that name have resulted in different coloured flowers ,some with deeply cut linear lobes.
It will be interesting to compare 'notes' when flowering hopefully starts here soon.
Cheers Dave
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I was hoping for some Silene hookeri ingrami from this years' seedlist, alas, there's no trace of it on the list .. :'(
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Luc ---you are most welcome to seed from any of the plants i finally show.That's if you like the form i end up with .
Smile.(still can't post any of the emotions above--darn it!!!!).
I'll leave you to remind me later on.
Cheers Dave.
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Most generous Dave ! :D
I'll make a note on my calendar... although I'll have to think twice in what month I put the note ??? ;D
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Fermi, my Aperula suberosa (or...) has never set any seed. Nor have any of the others, lilaciflora caspitosa, gussonii, nitida puberula.
Luc, my Silene hookeri Ingramii Group (grown from seed sent to me by John Forrest), is in massive flower right now and already has heaps of fat seed pods, so I can send some before Dave's will be ready. I still have your address. I won't even need reminding. :D
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Hope you enjoy the Blue Mountains, Dave and Lesley. Sorry I won't be there but am walking the Routeburn next week. Only hope I am not helicoptered out!
Lesley, Asperula nitida puberula, which I think I got from you, does not set seed either, but is looking good at present.
Asperula nitida puberula.
Speirantha convallarioides.
Roscoea cautleoides.
My favourite plant at this time of the year, Ranunculus lyallii.
Susan
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Between us Luc you might end up with some nice forms.
Summer seemed to arrive here last week and quickly turned the last of the Trilliums blooms 'over'.
However back to normal service this morning with hail showers and temps down to the low teens.
A few shots taken over the weekend---
Gladiolus tristis --only one bloom after dividing it earlier in the year.
Scilla verna--i also have the pink form .
Moraea sps.
Bulbinella rossii ---I just about split it up last year as it had bulked up to 3 sizeable growths in the clump .Glad i didn't as it's looking particularly good this season .
Quote from Susan "...walking the Routeburn next week.Only hope i am not helicoptered out".
All depends on how much wine you drink i guess Susan.
If you do need to catch a ride ,to save any embarrassment please do not mention you are a SRGC member-- --we have our standards you know.
Cheers dave.
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What on earth are you doing there Dave, with the smileys? Trying to say "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" or something?
Susan, have a marvellous time on the Routeburn. Lots of piccies for us?
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Dave, as I have to carry the wine, I am not sure I shall be taking much with me. Of course I'd mention the SRGC, I could do my best Scottish accent - I wouldn't want them to think I was a Kiwi would I ;D
Susan
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ALl this talk about mountain climbing is leaving me quite exhausted!
I promised Paul that I'd post a few more rainlily pics, so here they are.
This is Habranthus"Russell Manning" which I received from Murray Cubis (Discovery Bulbs) in Armidale, NSW. He told me that he grew it from seed from ....the SRGC Seedex!!!
It's apparently an Habranthus robustus hybrid.
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Here it is compared with H.martinezii for size.
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I sowed some seed of it a few years ago and this seedling has slightly darker tips to the petals and shorter flower scapes, but otherwise seems the same.
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Today there was a bloom on Zephyranthes grandiflora so I've crossed them and hope I might get something interesting!
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cheers
fermi
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Fermi,
The problem is, if it is grown from sed then it shouldn't be labelled as Russell Manning, but rather as a seedling thereof. :(
Great pics though.
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paul,
it was on Murray's list as "Russell Manning" so I'm not sure if he named it such or it was sent to the Seedex as such. If it was sent as "RM" I wonder who sent it? Who was Russell Manning? Perhaps the Wyllie Wyfie would know?
cheers
fermi
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Wow, the Southern hemisphere is buzzing isn't it ? ;D
Lesley : :-*
Dave : no kiss for you, but many thanks all the same ;D
Another great show Fermi ! Love these rainlillies.
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Oh Susan,
Ranunculus lyallii is one of those simply fantastic plants. A friend who had been to New Zealand a few years back gave a talk to a local garden club and show photographs of it at the time. I managed to get a plant shortly afterwards but unfortunately it did not do well with me and died. What a pity.
At least I can still enjoy your photographs. Many thanks. Paddy
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Paddy, I have to say that it took me 20 years to get it happy enough to bloom consistently for me. I had it growing in various parts of my garden. We are at over 1000 feet (300m) and I wonder whether altitude has a bearing on its happiness rating. It also only seems to start to flower when it starts to creep around and at the moment it is starting to 'monster' surrounding plants.
Susan
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That was sweet of you Luc, I can do with many of those. :) Here's one for you too. :-*
Fermi, the Habranthus has been around for at least 30 years, probably more, as 'Russell Manning.' But who or what or where he was, I've no idea.
Here are a couple of pics from the weekend. Roger and I went across the Lammermoor Range, to Linnburn Station to see my son and grandson. (Their wife and mother is taking a week's holiday in Oz at present, so it seemed a good chance as R and C don't get on.) There wasn't enough flora along the road to call it a field trip but we did see some very nice Aciphylla aurea, all males, oddly, which I've rarely seen as they seem to flower quite early (now) and I don't usually get to the mountains until well into the new year. There must have been females somewhere but the skyline one, last in this batch, was the only one I saw. Raoulia australis was also on the roadside but all were quite old and scruffy, not the lovely smooth mats I'd prefer to photograph.
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Sorry, I went a bit overboard here but the male flowers are so good, compared with the female. They seemed to open in layers like one of the shelf fungi and were very decorative, a warm, creamy shade.
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Lots of pink-flowered things out at present. Saponarias are very good - as always - and I have some seedlings from S. pumilio which show promise. I left taking pics until too late and they're past their best now but some are identical to pumilio itself while others are a little smaller flowered, several flowers to a very short stem (pumilio has a single flower) and wide open flowers of a peachy colour. They can only be hybrids with S. lutea which is near to pumilio in a raised bed. The peachy seedlings are all identical to each other and I'll be interested to see their habit as they grow. Their leaves are imtermediate between the two species. About a dozen seedlings, all from the single pod gathered last summer but one.
In the meantime, here's S. `Bressingham Hybrid' on the corner of a limestone trough.
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At another corner, Dianthus callizonus.
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Allium unifolium is an excellent species, making a great clump in the garden. This one will too, when I get it planted out. In the meantime, the strappy foliage (to the right) is very tatty. Though supposedly one-leaved, there are several to each bulb.
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Always try any batch of seed labelled Iris x Chrysofor or 'Chrysofor.' This is I. chrysographes x forrestii, 2 species within the Sibirica Group and all the seedlings are interesting and/or beautiful. I love every one. This one grows to about 50cms tall and is a lovely veined and speckled combo of plummy purple and deep lemon.
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And the last for today, Myosotis capitata, a NZ native but from the islands of the southern ocean, not the mainland. In close up it almost looks like Myosotidium hortensia, the Chatham Is. forget-me-not but it is just 4 or 5 cms high and speading to a low small mat. I should have seed later if anyone is interested. Although it is short-lived, it's easy to replace by seed and to grow on.
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Also very pleased to see that there is some seed on Phacelia sericea, a purple-flowered silvery plant shown earlier (October 2007 in the Southern Hemisphere, page 5).
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Another great day's posting from the Southern Hemisphere. Many thanks to all.
Susan, reading back on your comments on Ranunculus lyallii I think what you say about altitude is very relevant. It seems to like it cool with a misty moisty atmosphere. Great plant.
Lesley, that little myosotidium is beautiful, a wonderful plant. And, you can never post too many aciphyllas. Another great plant, treacherous but beautiful.
Paddy
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My favourite plant at this time of the year, Ranunculus lyallii.
Seeing Susan's wonderful picture of Ranunculus lyallii reminds me of our very own R. baurii which occurs naturally in the Drakensberg mountains. R. baurii has magnificent, large (20 - 30cm) 'spoked' leaves resembling a nasturtium-gone-wrong. It bears masses of chrome-yellow flowers and loves growing in and beside cool mountain streams at high altitude.
Susan, please tell us a little more about your R. lyallii.
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A good horticultural friend of mine (- no longer!) described the first flowering of my X Hippeastrelia hybrid (Hippeastrum x Sprekelia) as 'porn' ::) It is rather bright I admit, but very beautiful and unusual I think - we've all got at least one embarrassing plant in our collections, don't we? :-[
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Rogan,
LOL It is bright, but then again most Hippies and Sprekelias ARE bright!! That I think is a slightly different flower form to some of the crosses I have seen, but that makes sense as some I imagine inherit more of one parent than the other. If it flowers as well as Sprekelia then it's got to be good. ;D
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Like Rogan I would like to urge Susan to give us more information on R. lyallii. It looks lush and great. However, living in a rather demanding climate, if it is a NZ native, I doubt it will like the conditions around here (I can't even get the all-over-the-place NZ bronce carex to survive). On a lighter note I do have both Iris forrestii and chrysographes. Seeing Lesleys lovely picture makes me plot a plan to place them closer together, to see if they volunteer any hybrids. Maybe even give them some help with a brush.
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Lesley,
Forgot to mention..... love that Iris. And the Myosotis is stunning!!!!!!
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Rogan,
Another brilliant ranunculus - your R. baurii. The foliage seems to be the better part of the plant? The patterning reminds me of that seen on some saxifrages, very attractive indeed.
Hippiastrum? Eye-piercing red, indeed. An irritant to the retina! But, such is the world of flower colours and fashion of colours comes and goes with us and it may be that shortly that particular red will be all the rage. Colour snobbery is a waste of our time.
Paddy
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Wonderful to see people discussing Ranunculus....is the world finally coming to it's senses?
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Lesley
loved the iris cross - will have a go at that next year and the Myosotis - (another) one to look out for
Sue
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Sue, was it you who was asking earlier about NZ Myosotis species? I can't find the right topic. This one is a beaut all right and there will be seed later on so if you'd like to try it I can send some.
Cliff, it's probably the wrong time for yours but I have a bud in R. godleyanus, the remaining plant of three. I'll do a pic in due course. I suppose Louise at Hokonui will have a positive patch of it now with masses of flowers.
Rogan, the leaves of your R. baurii are certainly super. Susan will no doubt respond but our R. lyallii has very leather-textured leaves and with the hollow so clearly seen in Susan's pic, can hold a lot of water, especially as it comes from areas with high rainfall. Maybe that's why deer love it so much. Perhaps they go to the leaves for a drink and just happen to take a mouthful of leaf as well and realize it's jolly good to eat - if you're a deer - so scoff the lot!
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Rogan,
I love the colour of your hybrid. Did you do the cross yourself? Was the Sprekelia the seed parent?
The Ranunculus baurii is another "new to me' plant I'll check ICON for it!
cheers
fermi
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Lesley
I'd love to have a go with some seed - I've been very restrained this year not buying much seed at all and then the RMRP catalogue hit the doormat :-[
Sue
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What's RMRP?
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Rocky Mountain Rare Plants Lesley.......or Ranunculus Make Remarkable Presents.....oh that I could see a bud on my Ranunculus godleyanus within my lifetime!!!!
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Oh yes Ranunculus rule! They always put a smile on your face don't they!
Rogan and Staale - I had tried to flower R lyallii for around 20 years, in various parts of my garden. Finally it is happy. I live at an altitude of just over 300 metres (Google earth says higher) in a cool climate. We have our share of misty weather, but it needs sharp drainage. Temperatures go to say -6C in winter and seldom go over 30 in summer and then only occasionally. I have over the years lost a number of plants, but where it is now it gets full afternoon sun, and is romping around - a bit weedy if you like! One that I shifted last year from another side of the rock garden, about 4 feet away and which was getting smaller each year, is now picking up and doing better. Same soil etc. Have come to the conclusion that it must be the aspect it is facing. When it starts to creep around, apparently it is happy and should flower. The leaves are getting bigger and bigger each year. I am posting a photo of R buchananii which we saw on Mt Burns in January this year and you will see that they are flowering as the snow melts. R lyallii was also growing in this area.
Hope this is of some help.
Susan
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Thanks Cliff. I did eventually make the connection when someone on another thread was talking about seed lists. For some reason I kept trying to make the initials mean Royal Canadian Mounted Police and couldn't work out why they didn't fit. Not a good day I'm afraid.
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I love the colour of your hybrid. Did you do the cross yourself? Was the Sprekelia the seed parent?
Sorry I did not reply to you sooner Fermi, I was away on holiday for a few days. I did not do the cross myself - the seed came from Italy in a trade (Fausto Ceni - perhaps you've heard of him?), so I have no claim to fame other than of raising it to flowering size from seed. My plant in turn is setting seed which I will gladly pass on when ripe.
As I implied above, I have just returned from a hiking trip in the Drakensberg mountains where I saw dozens of bulbs in bloom. November and December are the best months for flowers, however dodging violent thunderstorms in exposed positions can be a little nerve-wracking (sic?) at times. I plan to return in six weeks time when most of the ground-orchid species will be at their best.
Below are two not-so-rare bulb species I photographed along the trail in a natural setting: Moraea alticola and Dierama aff dracomontanum.
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A Drakensberg thunderstorm - don't mess with it!
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I wouldn't dream of taking any liberties with a storm like that, Rogan! Wonderful picture!
That clump of Moraea is just lovely! I am drooling! Someone asked recently for a "drool" smiley icon... I must go look for one!
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Aha! Here we go, a choice of two ... copy and save for your own use!
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I'll have to send these to Dave Millward and Chloe, who were both looking for these expressive chaps!