July 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere

[johnw]

The Acers are well represented in Dave's collection in Mahone Bay, NS.  Here are a few that caught my eye.

Acer campestre 'Carnival' - ready to be be planted & withstands full sun without burning.
Acer palmatum 'Geisha' - I'm not a great fan of red or purple-leafed ones.
Acer palmatum - I much prefer green ones and especially viewed against the sky.
Acer platanoides, simply marked "dwarf" from the late & great Dennis Dodge    - the dreaded Norway maple in its only acceptable form..
Acer triflorum - I was really taken with this supremely elegant large tree.

john

[Hoy]

Visited a friend's garden in Mahone Bay, NS on Thursday. He's particularly keen on dwarf conifers and trees.  Here's Taxodium distichum 'Peve's Minaret', a very dwarf fastigiate form of the towering Bald Cypress.    The other photos are developing pneumatophores or knees on his large Taxodium distichum; we know of no other instances of knees developing in Nova Scotia so there was a lot of excitement. This tree is on the edge of a lae but the water rises in the autumn and submerges the root sytems till early summmer, seems to be a sure-fire recipe.

john

John,

Do you have a picture of the whole tree? How big is it? My Taxodium shows no sign of producing pneumatophores.

[johnw]

Trond  - I would guess the base of the tree is about 25cm in diameter.  It was imposssible to get a long shot of the tree without a boat and a shot toward land.  Dave is gradually clearing around the tree now that it firmly anchored in the ground. Next time down I'll get a shot of at least the base.

I may have knees on mine in Lunenburg. I planted it in about 1988 in a bog through which water runs so it constantly sits in water. Last I saw it was about 6 years ago so I must launch an expedition out of mosquito season.

john

[Maggi Young]

Taxodium  knees  / pneumatophores : "An enduring enigma" 
http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/2000-60-4-cypress-knees-an-enduring-enigma.pdf

[meanie]

Bomarea edulis..............




Eucomis punctata............


Digitalis ferruguinea and Lobelia tupa are at their best at the moment...........

[Jupiter]

That's interesting meanie, I have Lobelia tupa planted adjacent Digitalis lanata, almost the same combination! I hope mine look half as good as yours do when summer comes.

[Tim Ingram]

That's an inspired mix with the crocosmia too! Must try to copy it.

[meanie]

That's interesting meanie, I have Lobelia tupa planted adjacent Digitalis lanata, almost the same combination! I hope mine look half as good as yours do when summer comes.

Two plants that are so trouble free and undemanding will always look good.

That's an inspired mix with the crocosmia too! Must try to copy it.

I wish that I was inspired but the truth is I chuck plants in where I think that they'll do best. It's only later when they bloom that I think (more often than not) "yeuch, nasty mix"! Which is why I tend not to do general shots of my garden.
I must admit that I am rather pleased with this combination though.

[Hoy]

Bomarea edulis..............


Eucomis punctata............


Digitalis ferruguinea and Lobelia tupa are at their best at the moment...........

West Oxon where it gets cold!

Meanie,

You grow a lot of plants I would love to try  

Exactly how cold does it get where you live?  And what is the normal summer temperature?

[meanie]

Meanie,

You grow a lot of plants I would love to try  

Exactly how cold does it get where you live?  And what is the normal summer temperature?

Being as far inland as I am we get pretty much as cold as it gets in the UK (the local airbase frequently records the national overnight low). The last winter saw -8°c three or four nights. In the summer we rarely see over 20°c as a rule except for in periods of prolonged high pressure Saharan weather.
So stuff like Eucomis I start off in the greenhouse and then sink the pots for the summer. Without the early start they will not bloom. Same for Canna.
Bomarea is hardy if planted deep enough.
Plants that some regard as exotic such as Brugmansia sanguinea and Cantua buxifolia have taken -15°c. The problem with that is that they get damaged so badly that it takes the entire season to recover.
So my theory is that if it can be grown from seed then I try it.

[Philip Walker]

Thalictrum kiusianum
Notholiron macrophyllum
Cosmos peucedanifolius
Campanula scheuzeri subsp scheuzeri
Callistemon citrinus-from seed

[brianw]

Bomarea edulis..............




Eucomis punctata............


Digitalis ferruguinea and Lobelia tupa are at their best at the moment...........


Interesting that these photos are not visible in I Explorer but are with Firefox. First time I have found an advantage in using the latter, which generally I find awkward.

[brianw]

Weird. They have now appeared in both the original and my post; using I Explorer.

[meanie]

Weird. They have now appeared in both the original and my post; using I Explorer.

I'm an avowed G.Chrome user now. Firefox is my back up but like you I find it clunky to use.

[claykoplin]

Lilium Lankongense - A pleasant surprise with the tag long since gone gratis Stellar's Jays.

Not sure I have the picture sizing worked out - picture isn't showing in the preview...