Recent Posts

31

Flowers and Foliage Now / Re: Matelea cyclophylla is flowering

« Last post by Hans J on October 13, 2025, 10:34:08 AM »

Good news about my Matelea plants (4 )

I saw a fruit on 13.09.2025 !!!!

My hope was that some insect would take pity and pollinate one of the many flowers...and it worked!

Maybe there are more fruits – but you can't see everything in this jungle.

Now I'm curious to see when this fruit will be ripe, because autumn is coming... eventually it will get too cold in the greenhouse and I'll have to move the plants indoors.

32

Ian Young's Bulb Log - Feedback Forum / Re: Monthly Bulb Log Diary 2025

« Last post by annew on October 13, 2025, 09:54:20 AM »

Ian, my heartfelt thanks as well for all the Bulb Logs over so many years - truly an outstanding commitment. I've learned so much from reading them and they have informed the way I grow things here so many times. I think you deserve to have a rest from the timetable of producing the logs, but maybe still some videos so we can continue to feel part of your garden?
I also find it interesting to look back through the years at the same weekly date and see how things move around the calendar as the climate changes. The back issues are a fascinating record of this. Love and respect to you and Maggi xx

33

NARCISSUS / Re: NARCISSUS 2025

« Last post by annew on October 12, 2025, 07:39:00 PM »

At least I have the correct names for these:  N. x alleniae

34

NARCISSUS / Re: NARCISSUS 2025

« Last post by annew on October 12, 2025, 07:36:30 PM »

I finally seem to have got the hang of flowering the autumn daffodils, but still struggling with the names of the white ones. However, I received these as N. miniatus orientalis They were collected in the Peloponnese, Crete and Cyprus. I realise N. miniatus is not now an accepted name.

35

Galanthus / Re: Autumn snowdrops

« Last post by annew on October 12, 2025, 07:31:10 PM »

A nice G reginae-olgae seedling from Ruby's Green Dream x Anmarie Kee. Last photo shows the seedling on the left compared to Ruby;s Green dream on the right

36

Galanthus / Re: Autumn snowdrops

« Last post by annew on October 12, 2025, 07:29:30 PM »

Very pleased with this clump of G. reginae-olgae Tilebarn Jamie happy under a pine.

37

Flowers and Foliage Now / Re: October 2025 in the Southern Hemisphere

« Last post by fermi de Sousa on October 12, 2025, 06:38:44 PM »

1) Gagea graeca
2) Moraea setifolia - which can become weedy for us.
3 & 4) Hesperantha bachmannii
5) Allium cowanii
cheers
fermi

38

Flowers and Foliage Now / Re: October 2025 in the Northern Hemisphere

« Last post by fermi de Sousa on October 12, 2025, 06:28:16 PM »

Hi Robert,
those pics are reminiscent of gardens in the Dandenongs east of Melbourne - quite different to where I garden these days. I guess we can't go back to what we had but must grow what we can in a new environment!
cheers
fermi

39

Flowers and Foliage Now / Re: October 2025 in the Northern Hemisphere

« Last post by Robert on October 12, 2025, 04:37:38 PM »

Hi Ashley,

Thank you for sharing the photographs from your garden. You have some very interesting species, some of which will not grow in our part of Interior California. The Clematis and Tropaeolum species are never seen in our area. At one time I grew a number of Fuchsia magellanica varieties. Most of them did well despite the heat. Fuchsia mites eventually wiped them out. Climate change and 46 C summertime high temperatures did not help either.

My tall, single flowered Dahlia hybrids are based on Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandoff’, D. coccinea, and common dwarf bedding Dahlias that are sold at our local nurseries. I threw out all the dwarf and semi-dwarf plants and continued breeding with yellow and red forms of Dahlia coccinea. Recently, I have used tall double hybrid Dahlias. The polyploids are much more resistant to the heat, but I am not interested in large double flowers. This is definitely a work in progress.

Hamamelis grew well and was spectacular during the autumn up at our El Dorado County farm. At one time I had a large ornamental garden in addition to the agricultural row crops and fruit orchard. Climate change and shortages of water for irrigation led to the demise of the ornamental garden. Today where the ornamental garden was located there are dry invasive annual grasses, such as Bromus diandrus, and a few native Blue Oaks, Quercus douglasii.

Here are a few photographs of this ornamental garden 35 years ago. Today, in our Sacramento ornamental garden we need to be very thoughtful about what we grow.



Springtime in the garden.



Springtime in the garden.



More springtime in the garden.



Acer palmatum ‘Ornatum’ with Berberis thunbergii ‘Aurea Nana’ and Arrhentherum elatius var. bulbosum ‘Variegatum’.



Japanese Maples, Stewartias, and other species in autumn colors.

40

Flowers and Foliage Now / Re: October 2025 in the Southern Hemisphere

« Last post by fermi de Sousa on October 12, 2025, 03:07:29 AM »

A week or so ago we visited our friend Cathy in Macedon - only 45 minutes away but a completely different climate!
A few things from her garden:
1) A moraea, possibly Moraea loubseri
2) Another one, possibly Moraea neopavonia
3) Moraea marlothii
4) Gladiolus lilicaceus
5) Epimedium 'Amber Queen'
cheers
fermi