August 2013 in the Southern Hemisphere

[fermi de Sousa]

Marcus,
I'd love to try Iris persica - any forms!
I especially loved the yellow one that Michael Kammerlander showed at the First Czech RG Conference in 2007!
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

I've never had persica in any form at all though I have a couple of seedlings just coming through for the second time of stenophylla allisonii, Otto's gift of Kammerlander seed. Otherwise I flowered rosenbachiana (from seed) for a couple of years before it died.

[Hillview croconut]

I think its the fate of many of the smaller, early flowering, "stemless" species. Although I. stenophylla appears reasonably tractable. I obtained all the I. persica I have had from seed, mostly from the Czech sellers.

The only way for us southerners to have sustainable populations would be to build alpine houses like our northern counterparts but even then we might not have sufficiently cold winters for long enough. Getting plants to set seed and then growing seedlings on to another generation is vital.

Maybe we all are mad?? Probably better to not fight nature too much - you never win (for long).

Cheers, Marcus

[Anthony Darby]

Freesias from seed sown December 2012.

[arillady]

Freesias herald the end of winter. There is one flowering here too. Must say I prefer their perfume to the headiness of Babiana odorata which is flowering at present (thanks Fermi).

[Otto Fauser]

Pat , your clump of Iris x'Sindpers ' is just breathtaking  , also your I. aucheri 'Shooting Star' .

    Lesley , yes it is sad that I. x'Sindpers' is no longer available commercially in N.Z.   I did import 10 bulbs in 1970 from John Hughes . They did well for many years but have all died out now . Pat Toolan seems blessed with an ideal climate .Had an email from Tony Hall that he will spend a few days in Melbourne before travelling to N.Z. to speak at the Iris Convention - so we will take him to lunch or maybe have lunch /dinner in my home .

  Found those 2 rather unusual Tommie seedlings amongst the thousands  of Cr. tommasinianus flowering in my garden at the moment. -and the last one is C. heuffelinianus 'Lilac Wonder '
and Cyc . coum seeded itself onto a moss covered rock --no soil - will it survive ?


 

[arillady]

Beautiful Crocus Otto. You can certainly grow them well.

[arillady]

Otto lucky you having Tony Hall to come visit.

[fermi de Sousa]

First flower on Iris aucheri (KPPZ 90158) from NARGS Seedex 2005.
cheers
fermi

[Anthony Darby]

Otto, if the moss can survive, I'm sure the cyclamen will.

[Lesley Cox]

I have a lot of crocuses, old forms I bought years ago from Van Tubergens and also small narcissus forms, that haven't flowered for years, in heavy shade under trees and overcrowded pots, covered in weeds. I actually didn't mean to bring them with me as I thought the contents - the proper ones - were all dead but my son, determined to get everything he could in the time, piled the trays into a truck and now many are in bloom. There are some super tommies and others. I'll get them repotted or planted over the summer and do pictures next season I think. I haven't a clue what many of the daffs are, labels totally bare.

The Magnolia 'Ian's Red' is showing rich crimson colour in a dozen buds today but there's a strong wind. I hope that it has died by the time they open or they'll be shredded. The colour looks fantastic, like my lovely red leather chair.

[Mini bulb lover]

My Iris reticulata flowers haven't been lasting too long with the warmer than average day time winter temperatures here (although it's cooled down a bit this week). I have to say that I really like Springtime the most out of the recent releases here over the last few years. I'm a bit disappointed that out of the 5 Iris reticulata Springtime that I bought from Drewitts this year, only 3 have come up and one appears to be Harmony (certainly not Springtime).

I. reticulata Springtime from 2 different angles and I. reticulata Edward.

[fermi de Sousa]

Here are some things we were taking for the Show bench at our local meeting last Saturday - they enjoyed the warmth in the car and really opened up!
The red is Romulea sabulosa, the mauve is Romulea hartungii; the single pink is Oxalis obtusa and the white is Narcissus cantabricus from seed from Rafa collected in Madrid,
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Here's a couple more from the garden/pots
Muscari ex "Gul(Delight)"
Narcissus 'Smarple'
A close up on Romulea hartungii
Juno iris aucheri opening a second flower
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

Nice selection there Fermi. For some reason my own Rom. sabulosa has flowered well this year too, just finishing now. I usually get a single bloom if I'm lucky but have had 6 this year. Our winter has been, according to statistics the warmest in more than 100 years and the second warmest since records began in 1870. This means that many things are early and Rhododendron keiskii ssp cordifolia which is going to flower better than it ever has before, will be over I think by the time of our show, last weekend in September. The buds are already lemon-coloured.

Magnolia 'Ian's Red' is open today, picture tomorrow. It smells like watermelon just before it goes off.