Northern Hemisphere September 2010

[cohan]

that teucrium is very nice! is this one you coddle indoors over winter?
the cono is nice too, fun to have a plant with such an illustrious pedigree

[JPB]

that teucrium is very nice! is this one you coddle indoors over winter?
the cono is nice too, fun to have a plant with such an illustrious pedigree

Yes, I keep the Teucrium frost free. It is not a difficult plant. Taking cuttings works fine too...

[cohan]

that teucrium is very nice! is this one you coddle indoors over winter?
the cono is nice too, fun to have a plant with such an illustrious pedigree

Yes, I keep the Teucrium frost free. It is not a difficult plant. Taking cuttings works fine too...

do you find it difficult to keep it in enough light over winter, or is it resting and doesn't mind?

[ruweiss]

Flowering today with me:
The Convolvulus welcomes us each morning with new fresh flowers when we have the
first look out of the window.
Passiflora incarnata started rather late at the beginning of June to grow and is now more than
5 meter in height.
Epilobium rigidum amazes me with big flowers, this mall plant was sown in January this year.

[Brian Ellis]

Rudi do you happen to know the name of the Ipomea in 006, it is a lovely colour.

[Lvandelft]

Yesterday was a rather nice day with some sunshine.
Good day to make some pics in the garden.
Here is Vernonia crinita together with Molinia alt. Windspiel
I’m afraid the picture was made just in time, because today we had only rain and it  was very windy

[Brian Ellis]

I love the Vernonia Luit, but how do you keep it upright?  Mine seems to flop over at the first opportunity, is it because of my dry soil?

[Lvandelft]

I love the Vernonia Luit, but how do you keep it upright?  Mine seems to flop over at the first opportunity, is it because of my dry soil?

Brian, it is possible that your place is to dry for Vernonia, but the other possibility is that you have another Vernonia from seed?
You should look for V. crinita Mammuth if possible, which is a selection made by Ernst Pagels. My plant came very many years from him, but that was before Mammuth was named, so I’m not sure if it is Mammuth, but it looks very much alike.
BTW, I read that V. crinita is a synonym of V. arkansana (that’s why I could not find anything  about it’s wild origin when searching for growing conditions)

Here’s a link with a rather good article about Vernonia by Val Bourne.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3336268/How-to-grow-Veronia-crinita-Mammuth.html

Just a little mistake I saw: Where the plants height is mentioned you should read 6 ft ( 2 m.)  instead of 60cm (2ft)

[pehe]

A rainy day in my garden.

1. Schizostylis coccenea
2. Schizostylis coccenea
3. Schizostylis coccenea
4. Cochicum davisii
5. Colchicum hybrid
6. Colchicum pannonicum
7. Acis autumnalis
8. Acis autumnalis
9. Sternbergia sicula

Poul

[olegKon]

The first spike of Gladiolus papilio this year

[Brian Ellis]

Brian, it is possible that your place is to dry for Vernonia, but the other possibility is that you have another Vernonia from seed?
You should look for V. crinita Mammuth if possible, which is a selection made by Ernst Pagels.
Here’s a link with a rather good article about Vernonia by Val Bourne.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3336268/How-to-grow-Veronia-crinita-Mammuth.html

Just a little mistake I saw: Where the plants height is mentioned you should read 6 ft ( 2 m.)  instead of 60cm (2ft)

Thanks Luit, a good article, I like the Molinia with your Vernonia, mine was nursery bought, but I don't think it was called 'Mammuth' still a super plant, I grow it with a very thuggish Bidens integrifolia which matches it in height, and contrasts quite well.

[TheOnionMan]

Good to see Vernonia, such strong and showy plants for late summer and autumn.  Even with drastic drought conditions that gripped the region all summer (and persists to this day), Vernonia stands tall and flowers prolifically regardless of having virtually no rain, nor watered manually.  I grow Vernonia noveboracensis, which reaches 8' (just shy of 3 meters!) and just starting to go over now (only took a photo of it in August when budded up).  Some interesting info on Vernonia, or the Ironweeds as they're called here in the US.

The genus is a huge one, wikipedia stating 1000 species, can this estimate be trusted? There are 30 species in North America, almost all documented to hybridize where their ranges overlap.

V. crinita is correctly known as Vernonia arkansana, some pertinent links:

USDA Plant Profile page on Vernonia arkansana (syn. V. crinita)
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=VEAR3

ITIS taxonomic standing:
http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=38621

V. arkansana links:
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/great_ironweed.htm
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242417428

Many web sites still list the older name, V. crinita  (note the comments about frequent hybridization)
http://www.missouriplants.com/Pinkalt/Vernonia_crinita_page.html

But, if you had just one Vernonia to grow, I recommend V. lettermannii, a short (as vernonias go) species, with fine filigree thread-narrow foliage doing a fair impression of Amsonia hubrectii, only growing to 3' (1 meter), and flowering now with proportionally sized heads of the similar ironweed-rose-purple color.

V. lettermannii , narrow-leaf ironweed (from Oklahoma and Arkansas)
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4888453&fbid=435943772987&id=243932662987&ref=nf

cultivar: V. lettermanii 'Iron Butterfly' (<---note cultivar naming irony... oops, yet another pun)
http://www.northcreeknurseries.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/plants.plantDetail/plant_id/468/index.htm

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks for all that information Mark, it's amazing, you've never heard of a plant before and then you find there are so many species!  I've just looked in the Plantfinder online and find that V. lettermanii 'Iron Butterfly' was last listed two years ago   I also discovered that the nursery which I bought my vernonia from lists V. crinita 'Mammuth' so that's probably the one I have Luit

[ruweiss]

Rudi do you happen to know the name of the Ipomea in 006, it is a lovely colour.

Brian, I bought the seeds some years ago as  Ipomoea tricolor in a garden center, but forgot which
cultivar it was. The plants sow themselves profusely, you just have to weed the unwanted plants off.

[Lvandelft]

Vernonia lettermanii (and/or) Iron Butterfly looks like a very desirable plant. Never seen it here.