Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: zvone on December 01, 2012, 09:04:02 PM

Title: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: zvone on December 01, 2012, 09:04:02 PM


Hi!


Although there are present first Frosts.... he is blooming at Me:

(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-mDvQMgtlncY/ULpu2NO3gpI/AAAAAAAAOUY/aPFlAKQ9cbM/s640/20121201_130215-ALL.jpg)

(Aponogeton distachyos)

http://zvonem.blogspot.si/ (http://zvonem.blogspot.si/)

Best Regards!  zvone
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Menai on December 01, 2012, 10:49:22 PM
Hello Zvone
I noticed a flower in my pond also today - 2 days after our first proper frost. It is such a modest plant that I don't always see it. Unfortunately it has been rather overwhelmed by Pontaderia cordata which has also suppressed my water-lily.

Erle
Anglesey 4°-7°C today with a bit of sunshine.
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: KentGardener on December 05, 2012, 01:59:51 PM
I awoke to my first snow of the season today in the UK.   :o

What a difference a few hours can make...

1 - 08.00
2 - 08.00
3 - 08.00
4 - 08.00
5 - 13.00

It now feels quite warm this afternoon after that rather surprising start to the day.   :-\
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Tim Ingram on December 05, 2012, 05:31:53 PM
John - doesn't snow give a great feel to the garden! I like the picture of the fern very much. Our garden is rather expansive by comparison but the snow tidies it up beautifully.
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Nate on December 06, 2012, 12:10:38 PM
Most of my garden has gone into hibernation, but at least I have something cheerful indoors!

Petrocosmea cryptica, blooming for me for the first time =)
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: johnw on December 06, 2012, 01:29:18 PM
John - doesn't snow give a great feel to the garden!

The British variety maybe, not the Canadian, certainly not the Hokkaido strain. 



johnw
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: KentGardener on December 06, 2012, 06:19:44 PM
Our garden is rather expansive by comparison

I soooo wish I had a larger garden - but I try to do the best I can with the tiny space I can afford.  :-\
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Tim Ingram on December 07, 2012, 09:44:00 AM
It can be a mixed blessing John = a larger garden can begin to have a life of its own which you run along behind!

JohnW - how on earth do they manage to keep a road like that clear?! I agree we are rather lucky.
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: johnw on December 07, 2012, 06:17:34 PM
JohnW - how on earth do they manage to keep a road like that clear?! I agree we are rather lucky.

Gerd   - I wondered that as well.  Perhaps they use snow removal machines like those here, they melt rather than blow.  All that water would have to go somewhere.

johnw
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: annew on December 08, 2012, 10:43:00 AM

JohnW - how on earth do they manage to keep a road like that clear?! I agree we are rather lucky.
Maybe it's only a metre high behind those banks  ::)
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Casalima on December 09, 2012, 02:18:44 PM
I've seen an aerial view that gives the impression it is a very deep cutting, with trees growing relatively near the edges of the snow.
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Leon on December 11, 2012, 02:00:33 AM
Actually this Passiflora was blooming last month but I just got the photo off my camera yesterday.  Yeah, you can call me a procrastinator. This is Passiflora belotii (P. alata x P. caerulea).  The plant has now been killed by a freeze but I took ample cuttings to get a replacement to plant back next spring.  There were at least 200 buds waiting to open when the plant died but I enjoyed many blooms through the summer.

[attachimg=1]
Passiflora belotii

Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Tim Ingram on December 11, 2012, 12:35:28 PM
Going from the rather beautiful to... I can only say malodorous... these are fruits of Ginkgo biloba picked up whilst weeding today. We have quite a mature plant, now about 25 years old or more, but this is the first time it has ever fruited. I was under the impression that Ginkgo was dioecious and separate male and female trees were required to produce fruit, but our tree is obviously, at least to an extent, monoecious. The seeds apparantly are a delicacy in Japan but the flesh has a strong sweet and sickly smell which doesn't endear you to the tree quite so much!
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Garden Prince on December 13, 2012, 11:38:19 AM
I believe female trees produce seeds, males don't. In the Netherlands Ginkgo's that are planted as street trees are almost always cultivars of the male variety (Princeton Sentry, Tremonia, Autumn Gold etc.)
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Tim Ingram on December 14, 2012, 10:28:42 AM
Interestingly I don't know of any Ginkgos planted as street trees in the UK, even though they are renowned for their ability to tolerate pollution. Our tree must have had at least some male reproductive parts for it to produce what look like viable seeds. On the other hand I can understand why 'male' trees are planted in streets - the fruit really does smell unpleasant!

Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Luc Gilgemyn on December 15, 2012, 11:33:22 AM
I discovered a pleasant surprise in the garden this morning !  :D

Ranunculus calandrinoides with it's first flower !

Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: krisderaeymaeker on December 15, 2012, 07:02:35 PM
I discovered a pleasant surprise in the garden this morning !  :D
Ranunculus calandrinoides with it's first flower !

That's very early Luc...Even no buds here and mine stays in my glasshouse.
But it is stil a bonus and it's always a lovely plant to have in flower.
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: ranunculus on December 15, 2012, 07:47:16 PM
Leaves and no buds for me here in the UK, Kris ... Luc has very green fingers!!!

Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: krisderaeymaeker on December 16, 2012, 08:54:33 PM
Leaves and no buds for me here in the UK, Kris ... Luc has very green fingers!!!

That's for sure Cliff .    8)  And he lives in the mediteranean area from Belgium ...  ;D
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: ranunculus on December 16, 2012, 09:38:15 PM
Agreed, Kris ... agreed.   Luc has a permanent suntan.  ;D
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Tim Ingram on December 16, 2012, 10:23:30 PM
Snowdrops don't have it all their own way in the winter - how about frost on the foliage of plants? Really very beautiful, especially on the fine textured fronds of ferns.
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Luc Gilgemyn on December 17, 2012, 07:53:33 AM
That's for sure Cliff .    8)  And he lives in the mediteranean area from Belgium ...  ;D

Agreed, Kris ... agreed.   Luc has a permanent suntan.  ;D

Some people need their geographic knowledge updated.... others their eyesight checked I guess...  ::) :-X
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Paddy Tobin on December 17, 2012, 09:44:39 AM
Tim, it is also a time of peculiar light in the garden. Foggy frosty mornings.
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Maggi Young on December 17, 2012, 11:41:06 AM
Paddy, while I'm pleased to see you are getting out in the garden, regardless of the weather, I have to say, you're not looking so good these days........ maybe a wee tonic needed?  ::) ;)
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: ranunculus on December 17, 2012, 12:51:43 PM
A little pallid perhaps (and a tad limp wristed), Maggi ... but all in all he's looking better than expected for a slightly pickled Irish person of a certain age!!!
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Paddy Tobin on December 17, 2012, 02:51:56 PM
My defense is that I have been caught in a bad light. On brighter days and in better spirits I can appear perfectly passable. In the meantime, I think I may take Maggi's suggestion and treat  myself to a tonic.
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: ruweiss on December 26, 2012, 09:37:55 PM
Sorry, no white Christmas this year, but unusual high temperatures up to +14° C
in the last days. Sunshine was quite rare today, but we took the chance for a walk
around a small lake.
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: freddyvl on December 26, 2012, 10:02:36 PM
The Hamamelisseason has fully started because of the mild temperatures.

1. Ham. int. 'Moonlight': a 'evergreen' Ham. and therefore only a collector plant;
2. Ham. 'Rochester': first bloomer every year and the most fragant of all (especially this year due to the 'high' temperatures);
3. Ham. int. 'Advent': It's all in the name !
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: zvone on December 29, 2012, 10:21:28 PM
Hi!

December finishes, but he is warm and lonely Ranunculus is already bloomed on a Mountain Kozjak!

(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-0oc8kODWcMA/UN8fVZjgEWI/AAAAAAAAO3E/eAw9YXWq_gg/s640/IMG_4875.JPG)


PICTURES: http://zvone.blogspot.si/ (http://zvone.blogspot.si/)

Best Regards!  zvone
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: peter hood on December 31, 2012, 07:51:40 PM
Throughout December, this cheery little flower has smiled at me from out of the greenhouse. It has lasted through frosty days and damp days without suffering at all. As we have got to the end of the month, I thought I would share its picture:
Townsendia parryi
I don't know if it is late flowering for 2012 or early flowering for 2013.
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Leon on December 31, 2012, 09:09:25 PM
Last year this Clivia bloomed in spring soon after I put the pot outside. Today we are having constant snow showers and it is nice to see it in full bloom.  I am not sure what I did to cause it to bloom this time of year.

[attach=1]
Clivia 'Flame'
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: Victor Yatskevich on January 02, 2013, 07:44:03 PM
This is December in Belarus. Snow fell so much that the service did not have time to remove it and just collect in heaps along the roads and walkways:

[attachimg=1]
Title: Re: December 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere
Post by: zvone on January 02, 2013, 08:46:50 PM

(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-x9yLYDZoFSs/UOSQJ-K122I/AAAAAAAAPTQ/qU51RnqFgAk/s400/IMG_5235-all.jpg)

(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-oX6Tw5qbJxw/UOSQKhQFIjI/AAAAAAAAPTc/fCqx14JcqMU/s400/IMG_5237-all.jpg)

(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-_DPxtmeuYsY/UOSQL4tePII/AAAAAAAAPTg/dPLiDQVxy5o/s400/IMG_5272-all.jpg)

Happy New Year!

I wish you much joy within your garden and in nature!

It is Winter (January), but strangely warm. Flowers (Veronica chameadrys, Taraxacum officinale and Vinca minor) bloomed on solar positions of lower mountains and they warm up hearts of visitors...

Best Regards!  zvone
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