February 2016 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Robert]

Gerd,

Thank you for your input into the idea of a Mimulus topic.

Your comment is enough for me to put the idea into action (when the time arrives).

I am sure others are interested too. 

[Jupiter]

Autumn is just around the corner... Colchicum bivonae surprised me when I came home from work the other day. I look forward to this multiplying into a nice clump.

[Lesley Cox]

Robert, do you know much about Mimulus aurantiacus? I gather it is American and perhaps from much warmer, drier regions than one would expect for this genus. I ask because I used to have a lovely deep apricot flowered plant (the colour I mean) and more recently found one that is crimson, in a garden centre plant sale. The apricot grew to about 2 metres in a hot, dry bed which rarely had rain and never was watered yet thrived there. I brought cuttings with me to this garden but lost them somewhere in the general confusion of starting a new garden. I think I can find it again. All their leaves are sticky and trap small insects.

Last week I spent some time with my sister in the North Island city of Tauranga. We had lunch in the large cafe of a huge garden centre called Palmer's. No way was I buying plants to bring home. (I'd already spent two days at Bill Dijk's place!) but then I saw, a white flowered form of this Mimulus. It was the lovliest of all, a thick white with a creamy centre, so I did buy it but left it with my sister having first taken a dozen cuttings to bring home. I hope they root or at least a couple. The wood was firmer than I would have liked.

[Lesley Cox]

As mentioned above, I've been in Tauranga for a week and did some lovely things (with my daughter) such as riding on a little antique train, snapper fishing (yes I did Fermi, before you ask and jolly good it was too), and brunching out a couple of times at lovely places near Katikati and beside the sea at Waihi Beach. So warm  but very humid too. Even when it was raining heavily it was pleasant out in it.

I spent the better part of two days with Bill Dijk (occasional Forumist) and Willy his wife who fed me on delicious food and sat me under palm trees for lunch both days. The second day, Forumist and ex former UKer Anthony Darby came down from Auckland with Ina Crossley who is a great grower of the South American rain lilies and other Amaryllidaceae (you should contact her Fermi) and we had a lovely time among Bill's mostly dormant bulbs though some were already up and in bloom, Brunsvigia josephinae for instance, flowering on stems as tall as I am (over 1.5 metres) from bulbs the size of footballs, no leaves showing, and the lovely white form of Cyclamen graecum, flowers pushing through a mass of still full seed pods (I brought a handful home).

It was super to meet Tony at last and I have various pictures on my camera and my phone I but haven't yet worked out how to process them here (I've had finally to come to my laptop, my PC having died at last). I'll try again soon.

In the meantime I must mention the Tecophilaeas. Forumists have seen Bill's bulbs in flower and gasped at their quantity and glory. I saw only dormant bulbs in large fishbox type boxes. But there were thousands - maybe hundreds of thousands and really big, around 2-3cms in diameter. I brought 36 bulbs home (3), to share half and half with another of Bill's friends who lives near me.

Bill gave me many small species and vars of Narcissus; Tropaeolum; Lachenalia and various other South Africans.

Then there was the seed. I brought home Tecophilaea, 3 forms; white Cyc. graecum; Alstroemeria pelegrina alba; Tropaeolum azureum (Bill had about half a cupful of it) and more. He was incredibly generous.

More later when I get the photos sorted.



 (edit by maggi  - sorry, don't know  why there's a large empty space in  this post - cannot fix it!

[Robert]

Lesley,

Yes, I have a very keen interest in Mimulus aurantiacus. Depending on the line of thought there are 5-6 varieties native to California. At this time I grow 3 of the native varieties; aurantiacus, grandiflorus, and pubescens. Varieties aurantiacus and grandiflorus are native here in El Dorado County where we have our farm. Most likely these have more tolerance to cold weather than the other varieties that are native to Southern California, however I am often surprised by the cold tolerance of many Southern California species.

The natural color range of the various varieties is yellow, orange, orange-red, thru red. In the wild, I have found various pastel shades and white forms too, however they are not commonly found. Here in California, named color selections have been around for at least 40 years. Some are excellent and are well worth acquiring.

M. aurantiacus is very short lived with excess water. They thrive in coastal California (in gardens) where the temperatures are cool during the summer as long as they are not irrigated (or at least not very much) during the summer. In our coastal climates they will bloom almost all summer, sometimes even into the autumn. Here in the hot interior I give mine some summertime irrigation to keep them looking good. Without any irrigation they will dry-up and look dead. With the autumn rains they spring back to life and look great once again. In the wild I am familiar with populations that have gone through this cycle for at least 40 years and are still thriving. Needless to say, we do not have the extended bloom cycle that those on the coast experience, however even here it is a relatively long bloom period.

Cuttings are very easy to root. I find that firm older current season growth roots the best for me. I often take cuttings in the winter and get nearly 100% rooting by early spring. Softer wood too often rots under my rooting method (simple propagation boxes). Hopefully your cuttings will root well under your conditions and methods. 

I guess one could write a whole article about this species. I am sure that I have left many details out. Feel free to ask me questions. I have experience with them both in their native habitat as well as growing them in my garden.

[annew]

Here is a new narcissus variety selected by our friend and forumist  Lesley Cox in New Zealand - 'Susan Cox'. In flower now in the UK!

[annew]

Some years back, Dave Toole in NZ sent me this nice little daffodil, which I unfortunately killed! But before it departed it left me this nice seedling, after being crossed with Second Fiddle from Keira Bulbs in Australia.

[Maggi Young]

Superb New Zealand flowers , Anne - well done! 

[Maggi Young]

Lesley wrote :  I spent the better part of two days with Bill Dijk (occasional Forumist) and Willy his wife who fed me on delicious food and sat me under palm trees for lunch both days.

In the meantime I must mention the Tecophilaeas. Forumists have seen Bill's bulbs in flower and gasped at their quantity and glory. I saw only dormant bulbs in large fishbox type boxes. But there were thousands - maybe hundreds of thousands and really big, around 2-3cms in diameter. I brought 36 bulbs home (3), to share half and half with another of Bill's friends who lives near me.     

Forum members may recall that Bill Dijk - affectionately know as the Tecophilaea King -generously sent across a batch of  Teco. Bulbs to the UK  in 2012 which we auctioned to members - raising a very good sum for SRGC Funds.    So kind of Bill to do that, wasn't it?

It is wonderful how generous members are in support of the Club and Website which brings us all together.
Thanks to you all!!

[fermi de Sousa]

Superb New Zealand flowers , Anne - well done! 

Strictly speaking, that second one is an Australasian as Second Fiddle is an Aussie
In the garden we have a sweet little geranium relative which seeds itself around gently, Monsonia emarginata,
cheers
fermi
PS when did the file size for pics increase to 600KB? This will mean a lot less time to re-size!

[Anthony Darby]

Forum members may recall that Bill Dijk - affectionately know as the Tecophilaea King -generously sent across a batch of  Teco. Bulbs to the UK  in 2012 which we auctioned to members - raising a very good sum for SRGC Funds.    So kind of Bill to do that, wasn't it?

It is wonderful how generous members are in support of the Club and Website which brings us all together.
Thanks to you all!!

It was so good to finally meet Lesley, after corresponding through the Forum for 10 years. It was Lesley who kindly sent a parcel of goodies, including a posh cookbook and a calendar, which greeted us when we booked into the hotel at Buckland's Beach, Auckland, on our first day in New Zealand. Her, and Susan More, have been very thoughtful and kind over the years. Bill and Willy are such good hosts. Both have visited when they find themselves needing to come to Auckland. No mean feat, as it is at least 2½ hours driving from Tauranga. Bill has been very generous with his plants, and I always come away with some goodies. 

Photo 1: Lesley; Ina Crosley; Willy and Bill Dijk. Ina is another bulb enthusiast who specialises in rain lilies. She lives in Panmure, near Mount Wellington (about 15 minutes from me) and I have visited her and exchanged bulbs several times. I just asked if she was interested in coming down and she jumped at the chance. Ina is Dutch and arrived in New Zealand as a school girl, with her parents, in 1952.

[Jupiter]

Nice photos Anthony, you all look like you're having a ball in that glorious planty environment. What species/cv are the irises in all those bags at Bill's place? That's a very impressive nursery there!

[Anthony Darby]

Bill called them ABs, but I suspect that means Aril Bred, not All Blacks.

[Maggi Young]

PS when did the file size for pics increase to 600KB? This will mean a lot less time to re-size!

No idea - it may be an error caused by an update.  Please ignore  and use 200kb limit per pic.

 EDIT:   Yes,   it was an  error - please note and stick to the 200KB per pic limit.

[fermi de Sousa]

No idea - it may be an error caused by an update.  Please ignore  and use 200kb limit per pic.

 EDIT:   Yes,   it was an  error - please note and stick to the 200KB per pic limit.

That's a pity The size had been increased to 300KB a while ago and now is back to 200KB I see! More time needed to re-size properly!
Here is a Clematis we got as 'Golden Tiara' but I'm not absolutely sure that it is - I expected something a bit more substantial - maybe because of the price tag
cheers
fermi