New Zealand, South Island October 2015

[fermi de Sousa]

You're welcome, Maggi and Ian (the Christie kind),
There are more to come. Here are a few more from Dunedin BG:
Rock Garden, clematis
Lathyrus laxiflorus x 2
Gentiana acaulis
Pieris japonica 'Sarabande'
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Last few from Dunedin BG:
Urospermum dalechampii x2
Green-brown Viola - could it be 'Irish Molly'?
Paeonia mlokosewitschii
The walk out,
cheers
fermi

[David Lyttle]

Hi Fermi,

Great you enjoyed yourself in the DBG. Interesting to see ourselves through the eyes of others. I was up in the DBG today photographing the flowers of some rare and unusual native shrubs. I had a really successful morning and got some great photos - not rock garden material I'm afraid

[Maggi Young]

For information :  there is no requirement that plants shown in the forum must be  rock garden and alpine plants - naturally the majority of plants featured are of that type  but the remit of even SRGC shows is wider than that - encompassing plants for the wild, woodland or bog garden, for instance and since the Forum is a place for members to communicate on their plant enthusiasms there is no restriction on the type of plants we discuss.  In other threads it is evident that members have an interest in a very wide range of plants - from the downright exotic to the quite huge - not descriptions of the average "alpines" for sure. 

I have no doubt that the wide range of plants shown in the forum enable  members to learn about  plants which they might otherwise know little or nothing about - and that is the joy of this place!

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi David,
we really enjoyed the DBG and had enough time to have a good look at some parts of it, but I'm sure you could spend a whole day there and still have more to see. Although I'd been there before, this was earlier in the season than usual so there were different things in flower.

I mentioned that we stayed with Susan and her garden is full of beautiful things:
A large Pachystegia insignis at the front of the house;
part of the Rock Garden;
a close up of a couple of plants: Ranunculus montanus and what I presume is Pulsatilla vulgaris;
Lathyrus vernus forms;
Andromeda polifolia;

cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

After we left Dunedin we headed to Balclutha to catch up with another forumist known only as "Jandals"!
He has an impressive operation raising plants for seed with wooden frames fos which he infills with grit/sand and they do extremely well!
Gentians in planting beds
Jandals inspecting planting beds
Pulsatillas
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Jandals is also growing some very interesting NZ Pittosporums:
Pittosporum patulum
Pittosporum crassicaule (syn. P.rigida)
cheers
fermi

[David Lyttle]

Hi Fermi, Did not know Mr Newall was into filiramulate Pittosporums; there is a group of them some quite rare. Very difficult to identify in the wild. The DBG collection is in flower at present (Pittosporum obcordatum, P.turneri , P patulum). Others are P.divaricatum, P.anomalum and P. rigidum  ( this is the preferred name for P. crassicaule).

[Tim Ingram]

Whew - fantastic tour of gardens Fermi! That stand of Gentiana acaulis is as striking or even more so than one in the Czech Gardens in May 2013, and Steve Newell's pulsatilla bed like nothing I've seen. Trilliums...! . No wonder NZ is something of a horticultural wonderland - and not only for its native flora. Many thanks for all those pictures as we head into snowdrop time here.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Tim,
There's more to come!
NZ really is a wonderland and one of the most impressive private gardens we saw was Maple Glen.
Initial view from the carpark
A golden pheasant in the garden
Fritillaria imperialis
Trilliums
More Trilliums
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

More from Maple Glen
Fritllaria pyrenaica ?
Pink Rhodo
Rh. williamsianum (or hybrid?)
Specimen trees in lawn
Mixed planting - early bulbs have "gone over"
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

We got to have a short walk with Muriel, the owner, who said that she wanted a bluebell wood and has done her best with these! 2 pics.
A glimpse of the house through the trees,
cheers
fermi

[t00lie]

Enjoying the tour Fermi .

The bluebell wood is just as impressive in late winter where the garden beds are a sea of white with tens of thousands of Galanthus in full bloom .

[fermi de Sousa]

Getting back to NZ! Sorry for the interruption to the service We continue with Maple Glen; I think it's a garden I could visit over and over again - seeing all those galanthus in bloom would be impressive and travelling to NZ in winter would probably be more feasible for us than going to the UK for "drop season" - it'll depend on the prognosis of my case of "white fever" 
Muriel in tha garden;
Daffodils;
Rhodo bed;
Yellow Rhodo;
Golden Pheasant and view of house;
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

The pond
- well planted edges!
cheers
fermi