October 2014 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Robert]

I agree - looks like some sort of Catalpa. Catalpa speciosa is weedy - seedy here in California. Maybe they behave elsewhere?

[Tim Ingram]

David - there are several forms of Lithodora zahnii about - your picture looks like one we have had for years with very pale-blue flowers, usually flowering very early in the year. It has done a lot better for us in the sand bed with winter glass cover (it also makes a fine plant in the covered alpine planting at Wisley). I suspect you are only likely to get good flowering with the heat of glass or given warmth radiated from stones or brickwork! There is another, or maybe a couple, of much better forms that flower later into spring/summer and with vivid gentian blue flowers, and smaller neater habit. Look out for L. zahnii 'Azureness' (ex. Ness Gardens). This flowers brilliantly for us with no protection.

The Scutellaria is a great plant - we've only had this for a year from cuttings from a friend - and it has been flowering for ages this autumn and still going strong. Similar conditions to the Lithodora - as warm and protected in winter as possible. We have it on a 'Mediterranean-bed' also covered with glass (dutch lights) over winter.

[astragalus]

Also seen in the Villa Ephrussi deRothschild garden, Brugmansia growing like the trees they really are and not the huge pot plants I've seen before.  In another spot there was one of a different color.  No identifying labels, unfortunately.  The surrounding begonias were the size
of small shrubs.  Maybe the Riviera is a place where things grow year round.

[David Nicholson]

David - there are several forms of Lithodora zahnii about - your picture looks like one we have had for years with very pale-blue flowers, usually flowering very early in the year. It has done a lot better for us in the sand bed with winter glass cover (it also makes a fine plant in the covered alpine planting at Wisley). I suspect you are only likely to get good flowering with the heat of glass or given warmth radiated from stones or brickwork! There is another, or maybe a couple, of much better forms that flower later into spring/summer and with vivid gentian blue flowers, and smaller neater habit. Look out for L. zahnii 'Azureness' (ex. Ness Gardens). This flowers brilliantly for us with no protection.

The Scutellaria is a great plant - we've only had this for a year from cuttings from a friend - and it has been flowering for ages this autumn and still going strong. Similar conditions to the Lithodora - as warm and protected in winter as possible. We have it on a 'Mediterranean-bed' also covered with glass (dutch lights) over winter.

Many thanks for your reply Tim. I think if I can get the Lithodora out I will pot it and see how it fares on the floor of the greenhouse and outside on the patio during the Summer.

You're right about the Scutellaria it's a lovely little plant. Since I have two I think I shall pot one and keep it in the greenhouse until late Spring and just test the other out with a basic cover with wire legs and a little plastic roof.

[meanie]

Stapelia gigantea.................

[johnstephen29]

Hi meanie I like the flower on your stapelia, I've heard that the flowers on these plants give off the scent of rotten meat to attract flies to pollinate them, is that true?

[Jupiter]

Beautiful meanie, I have been meaning to get more of the Orbeas and Stapeliads, they do well for me here.

[meanie]

Hi meanie I like the flower on your stapelia, I've heard that the flowers on these plants give off the scent of rotten meat to attract flies to pollinate them, is that true?

It only opened this evening and has so far been disappointing in that regard. Maybe by the morning..............

Beautiful meanie, I have been meaning to get more of the Orbeas and Stapeliads, they do well for me here.

This is the first time that it has bloomed, but I must admit that I'm stunned by how rapidly a single finger cut off another plant has become quite a large plant.

[meanie]

It only opened this evening and has so far been disappointing in that regard. Maybe by the morning..............

Yup - the spare room stank this morning when I opened the door!!   Not Dracunculus bad, but bad enough for a houseplant!

[Rick R.]

Anne, the catalpa is likely Catalpa ovata.  Although I'm not familiar with all the genus' species, it is a more easily obtained species that fits.  From the right seed source, C. ovata can grow here in zone 4 Minnesota, but it's not as hardy as speciosa or even bignonoides.

[astragalus]

Thanks, Rick. The pods were so long and narrow  and numerous, it was really quite elegant.

[PaulM]

Thought I'd post a few pictures of plants which have been flowering here both through September and October. Probably the last before the killing frost will come here any day now.

1. Starting off with Cleome hirta- not an excellent picture but the markings in the flower are quite intersting.

2. Asclepias fascicularis from California has taken three years to reach flowering size, but this year it flowered for the first time. Seeds were from the SRGC Seed Ex 08/09.

3. A yellow flowered Ipomoea sp from Ethiopia surprisedly flowered even in Sweden this year. The picture is not good.

4. Another picture of the flower- not very good quality either. Does anyone know what it could be. The flowers are only about nickel-sized.

5. Not something I grow in the garden, but I picked some this September and this species is really delicious.

[PaulM]

Here are a few more:

1. Berkheya cirsiifolia survived the winter 2013-14 and flowered in July and then again now in October. It seems to spread by shoots and is quite spiny, but the flowers are top notch.

2. One more of Berkheya cirsiifolia

3. I've always been attatched to the plant Eryngium leavenworthii from Texas. This year it has really exceeded my expectations in height and floral display. The plant starts out metallic blue-grey, but the longer the time the more purple the bracts and stems become and it is really a terrific plant which attracts lots of late insects too.

4 & 5: Eryngium leavenworthii

[meanie]

Paul - the Cleome and Eryngium are both outstanding! How large does the Cleome get?

The Ipomea is rather interesting too.

[PaulM]

Will you bear with me for one more set...or two ?

1. Impatiens bicolor from the SRGC Seed Ex has formed a very nice stand below the summer house kitchen window. It has really increased in height considering that the seedlings were only about 2'' when I planted them out in May.

2 & 3. Impatiens bicolor.

4. Ipomoea 'Jamie Lynn' started flowering in September.

5. I picked about two quarts of cranberries on a bog close to the summer house. They are good for making jams and homemade cranberry syrup is a valuable cocktail ingredient.