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Author Topic: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere  (Read 14154 times)

wooden shoe

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #15 on: January 11, 2015, 07:25:34 PM »
It is rainy and stormy outside, but Clematis 'Winter Beauty' is giving a great show. With this type of weather it is difficult to make proper photographs, but I managed to take a photo of a flower. The other photo's were not good enough to show due to the bad light and the rain, so I have added some 2 weeks old ones of the plant and the buds.
You may be able to see it has hundreds of flowers. My former record was 5 and last year it was one.
Many years it didn't flower at all as it is not really hardy here. I almost lost it 2 times, so I'm delighted to see this year's result.
Rob - central Nederland Zone 7b

Paul T

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #16 on: January 11, 2015, 09:59:11 PM »
What species of Clematis is 'Winter Beauty'?  Wonderfully thick looking flowers.

Leon, Hot and Dry summers shouldn't be a problem for the Ipheion I would think..... at least they aren't a problem for them here anyway?
Cheers.

Paul T.
Canberra, Australia.
Min winter temp -8 or -9°C. Max summer temp 40°C. Thankfully, maybe once or twice a year only.

Robert

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #17 on: January 12, 2015, 01:13:49 AM »
Leon,

The same here in hot, dry California - Ipheion seems easy to please as long as they get some irrigation.
Robert Barnard
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To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves.

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meanie

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #18 on: January 12, 2015, 06:53:14 AM »
Meanie,
That is a beautiful photo of Rolf Fiedler.  I grew it here for a number of years along with Ipheon 'Wesley Blue' but now both have died out.  I think our long hot dry summers were not to their liking.  Ipheon is a most enjoyable plant.
Leon

Thank you! The light on that day was appalling so I was particularly pleased with it.

Ipheon are a strange one for me because the garden outdoors in winter can go to hell as far as I'm concerned - it's cold and it's wet and I really do loathe the winter. But I really like Ipheon in all its forms. I was led to believe that Rolf Fiedler was a bit borderline in the ground but it grows well enough to please me in a small pot. Anyway, like all my winter bulbs it will be dry all summer tucked away on the bottom shelf of the greenhouse and that seems to do it no harm.

I get my kicks indoors during the winter seed sowing and from the houseplants.

Kalanchoe x houghtonii....................




Gasteraloe..............


West Oxon where it gets cold!

Maggi Young

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #19 on: January 12, 2015, 10:16:07 AM »
What species of Clematis is 'Winter Beauty'?  Wonderfully thick looking flowers.

Gorgeous, isn't it?  Not very hardy in UK, I hear but it would love your place, Paul, if it is available.
I think it's a Clematis urophylla type.
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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Maggi Young

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #20 on: January 12, 2015, 10:19:51 AM »
I get my kicks indoors during the winter seed sowing and from the houseplants.

Kalanchoe x houghtonii....................

  (I loved the Ipheion pic too)   
Was just thinking how super a photo this was of the Kalanchoe  and then went on to view the pic of the whole plant...... Wow! what a surprise! I know nothing of this species and was completely taken aback to see the size of the plant. A really stylish house plant!
Todays' house plant lesson  for me - though there will be members who could grow this in the garden, I'm sure.
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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Paul T

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #21 on: January 12, 2015, 12:10:00 PM »
Never even heard of that species of Clematis, Maggi.  But that isn't really that surprising.  So what doesn't it like about the UK?  The cold in combination with wet?  Or just that the winter days don't warm up at all?  That is of course the advantage we have here.... we can get to -8'C overnight and then hit 12'C during the day with bright sun.  And we get the "maturation" factor of summer that seems to give stronger plants for winters.  Of I think that is what we've tended to work out in the past when people ask me how the heck I can grow something in -8'C that they can't grow in the UK in -5'C.  ;)
Cheers.

Paul T.
Canberra, Australia.
Min winter temp -8 or -9°C. Max summer temp 40°C. Thankfully, maybe once or twice a year only.

Paul T

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #22 on: January 12, 2015, 12:10:47 PM »
Meanie,

That Kalanchoe is absolutely amazing!!  Never seen anything like it.  Wow.  :o
Cheers.

Paul T.
Canberra, Australia.
Min winter temp -8 or -9°C. Max summer temp 40°C. Thankfully, maybe once or twice a year only.

Maggi Young

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #23 on: January 12, 2015, 12:19:31 PM »
Never even heard of that species of Clematis, Maggi.  But that isn't really that surprising.  So what doesn't it like about the UK?  The cold in combination with wet?  Or just that the winter days don't warm up at all?  That is of course the advantage we have here.... we can get to -8'C overnight and then hit 12'C during the day with bright sun.  And we get the "maturation" factor of summer that seems to give stronger plants for winters.  Of I think that is what we've tended to work out in the past when people ask me how the heck I can grow something in -8'C that they can't grow in the UK in -5'C.  ;)

It can do okay as a conservatory plant here, I think - but not outdoors. The evergreen Clematis as a whole tend to be borderline in Scotland, anyway.  I think it is , as you say, as much a question of unripened wood  being the problem as much as the actual low temperatures. That  goes for flower production as well as hardiness, of course.
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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meanie

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #24 on: January 12, 2015, 05:03:28 PM »
  (I loved the Ipheion pic too)   
Was just thinking how super a photo this was of the Kalanchoe  and then went on to view the pic of the whole plant...... Wow! what a surprise! I know nothing of this species and was completely taken aback to see the size of the plant. A really stylish house plant!
Todays' house plant lesson  for me - though there will be members who could grow this in the garden, I'm sure.

Meanie,

That Kalanchoe is absolutely amazing!!  Never seen anything like it.  Wow.  :o

I do grow it in my succulent area too, although it is only an annual here in the UK. It is not what you would call hard work though as it drops so many plantlets from the leaves.............


Here is one in the bed in April/May 2014 after the winter in a frost free greenhouse...........


As you can see the flowering habit is different under different conditions.

Maggy - I have plenty of plantlets to spare.

Paul - if you can track one down in Oz it may stand half a chance as a perennial of sorts in Canberra.
West Oxon where it gets cold!

Maggi Young

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #25 on: January 12, 2015, 05:20:25 PM »
When you were writing about Bryophyllum daigremontianum the other day, I didn't put two and two together that the Kalanchoe was one of those viviparous plants   :-[ - yes, I'm dim, I know!

I'd be delighted to try a plantlet, please - will send you my address by pm ! :D
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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meanie

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #26 on: January 12, 2015, 06:57:00 PM »
When you were writing about Bryophyllum daigremontianum the other day, I didn't put two and two together that the Kalanchoe was one of those viviparous plants   :-[ - yes, I'm dim, I know!

I'd be delighted to try a plantlet, please - will send you my address by pm ! :D
No probs!
West Oxon where it gets cold!

Anne Repnow

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #27 on: January 12, 2015, 07:22:12 PM »
That Kalanchoe really is something else!  :o (I only ever got it to grow to about 3 inches...)

In Germany it is called Goethe-Pflanze (Goethe plant), because this famous writer got to know and love this plant (which originated from Kew via Hannover Botanic Garden). He even wrote an essay about it in the 1820s which, however, wasn't published. And he wrote a little poem about it to one of his beloved muses:

Was erst still gekeimt in Sachsen,
 soll am Maine freudig wachsen;
 Flach auf guten Grund gelegt,
 Merke wie es Wurzeln schlägt!
 Dann der Pflänzlein frische Menge
 steigt in luftigem Gedränge.
 Mäßig warm und mäßig feucht
 ist, was ihnen heilsam däucht;
 Wenn Du's gut mit ihnen meinst,
 blühen sie Dir wohl dereinst.

How is that for a useless bit of information??
Anne Repnow gardening near Heidelberg in Germany
carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #28 on: January 12, 2015, 07:45:48 PM »
Quote
How is that for a useless bit of information??   
Fantastic!  It is these "asides" that make it so easy to learn so much here! Thanks, Anne!
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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meanie

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Re: January 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere
« Reply #29 on: January 12, 2015, 08:48:47 PM »
That Kalanchoe really is something else!  :o (I only ever got it to grow to about 3 inches...)

How is that for a useless bit of information??

The Bryophyllum just about grew to that in the same time that it took the Kalanchoe to hit those heights.

My useless contribution - after the potted ones flower I cut them right back to about 10cm. They then branch out and start again. The removed parts can then be cut up into sections of 6cm or more, most of the leaves removed and laid on top of a pot of sandy MPC. They will root and send up several new stems. I can see no difference in the growth rate between that method and the plantlet method but if you're growing it commercially it really is a win/win type of plant.
West Oxon where it gets cold!

 


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