June 2008, Southern Hemisphere

[Lesley Cox]

A glorious sunrise this morning. My camera doesn't do reds at all well. The first one should be scarlet and crimson, the second, like the first. It shows the nor'west arch which always precedes gale force winds from that direction. Usually they're hot, drying winds, but less so this time of year.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Beautiful shots everyone !
Like your sunrise Lesley.. and the N. petunoides - I got hold of one bulb to and expect it to flower next year - from your story it seems to be a good clumper.  Good prospect !

[Lesley Cox]

Luc, the point of my note about N. petunioides, was that it isn't. Nothing like! Petunioides as I'm sure you know is short-stemmed, pure white and with a wide, flat flower, a little bit frilly. Mine is taller-stemmed, lemon yellow and with a trumpet-shaped flower. Very nice and yes, a good clumper and flowerer, but NOT what I paid the earth for.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

I get the picture Lesley - I haven't seen mine in flower yet so I'm still hoping I've got the real thing.  If I do and it sets some seed you can be the first in line ! 

[Lesley Cox]

That's sweet of you Luc. Some friends in Australia had seed from Jim Archibald and theirs was true. Don't think they've had seed on it yet though.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Lesley,
I divided up the pot of mixed seedlings that had a Narc. canatbricus petunioides in it but none of the bulbs appear ready to flower, but maybe later in the spring - or next year!
The "red Massonia" has finally flowered! A bit different to the others, but of interest anyway!

And, no that's not a smattering of dirt on the flowers, it's the ****** earth-mites!

And here's the foliage of Oxalis palmifrons which flowered months ago!

cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

well, I do like that Massonia. My M depressa will be ready to photograph in a few days. In the meantime, 2 new crocuses on the Crocus thread.

[Paul T]

Fermi,

That Massonia is just lovely!!  Very good colour to it.  Will be great once it is fully open.

M. depressa is fully open here at the moment, M. jasminiflora has finished now.  No others yet to flowering size (not that I have many other species coming along).

[Paul T]

OK, I've been somewhat lax in posting pics over the last while, so here are a few taken this week in my garden.....

With our warm autumn/winter we have a number of Azaleas flowering at the moment.  'Inga' tends to have a good flowering in autumn every year anyway, but very good this season. 

Next, Banksia 'Birthday Candles' is a "groundcover" banksia.  I just love it!!  Would do a lot better of course if I actually repotted it occasionally. 

Camellia japonica 'San Dimas' is pure red unlike this photo.  I just cannot for the life of me get an accurate colour in pure red with my camera.  It positively glows in the garden at the moment.

A few different Clematis, including a couple of cirrhosa and a nepalensis which are all in flower at the moment.

One of the early Galanthus elwesii clumps, and lastly a perennial Nemesia (who's trade name escapes me right now) which is flowering beautifully from cuttings taken from a friend's plant.

[art600]

Paul
Wonderful plants - is the Banksia difficult to grow?   I have a wonderful Callistemon citrinus that flowers well, and wondered if I could grow a Banksia.

[Lvandelft]

Never seen Banksia Paul. What a beautiful flower.
If these Clematis are hardy here, they would be some plants I'd like to plant here.
Never seen them here before.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Wonderful series of plants and pix Paul - they don't really give me a Winter feeling though ! 
Thanks very much for sharing them !

[Paul T]

Luc,

They're definitely all winter flowers though!  Some are a bit early this year, but they're all plants that should be flowering in our cold times.

Luit and Arthur,

When I post the ANBG and Aussie Natives thread (I'm hoping to finally get that started this weekend) there will be a few Banksias in there.  Some, like the one I posted a pic of, are ground covers while others are large shrubs/small trees.  Some species have flower heads up to a foot long (no exaggeration) and can look stunning during winter when in full flower.  They don't mind our cold, but no idea whether they require the summer heat or not.  Require excellent drainage and low phosphorus soil (i.e you need to be careful with fertilisers, like many Aussie native plants).

Luit,

The Clematis are all fully hardy here with no cover.  The C. nepalensis is actually summer deciduous, losing it's leaves for a few months, then coming out of dormancy in autumn and straight into flower for winter.  Very good for honeyeaters and the like, which love them dearly.  I get seed on this species every year if you'd like some?  I get a few seedlings about the garden, but nothing majorly invasive as yet!    The cirrhosa I have very rarely had seedlings appear from, although there are a couple just recently.  I've had some of the cirrhosa varieties for 10 years now, so they obviously don't become a thug here.  So far I know of 5 seedlings I have had, 3 of those have appeared this year.  The leaves are distinctive enough that I know they are that species, plus they're near the 'Lansdowne Jem'.  I can always try sending you see of them as well if you want, but no idea of viability.  I know that the nepalensis have a high viability as there are lots of seeds germinate under it each year, but they tend to get to an inch high and then die off, with very few ever maturing.  I have probably had 15 or 20 seedlings grow properly in the garden in the last 10 years, so there are more than the cirrhosa, but still nothing problematic.

[Paul T]

A quick pic I took at a set of traffic lights here in Canberra this morning.  The Prunus have commenced.

[Lvandelft]

Paul, I'm afraid C. cirrhosa and C. nepalensis both are not hardy with me.
I just found out, they are advised in :   EU zone 9  =  -1.2 C. to  - 6.6  C.
So I better not try it outside here, wich is a pity, because the flowers are beautiful.