Early spring in the Southern Hemisphere

[Paul T]

Fermi,

Pretty much everything you post is at least a couple of weeks ahead of me.  The Bulbinella robusta (or B. nutans) that I have are in bud but still a little way off.  Love that cauda-fellis as it is such a nice colour. Had it years back, lost it, regret it now that I've seen yours in flower!!    Well done!!

We've had an extremely mild August so far.... apparently we usually get 19 nights in August with a minimum below 1'C... this year we've had 2 of them.  Nothing forecast the next few days either so it is looking like it will be a very very warm august.  This will bring the Magnolias etc into flower early too I'd hazard, likely just in time for a solid frost to hit them.

[Lesley Cox]

I really meant that you're going to chop them off in their prime Paul, though I know there's a good reason. But yes, as well, that Mark can receive them but I can't. Boo hoo.

The Bulbinellas are very nice Fermi, especially the creamy white one.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

They only flower on new growth (as with all the mume's) so maximising new growth means more flowers.  Harsh, but effective.  They grow so quickly that the tree can spread quite a way if it shoots off old droppers etc, taking up a lot of space I don't have.  This keeps it compact, producing a solid mas of flowers.

You really shouldn't see what I do to my Prunus 'Elvins' then either...... I trim it back to about 4 foot high straight after flowering each year.  It send up long shoots and in spring it looks like huge pipe-cleaners when it is in full flower.  Beautiful, and it also controls size and maximises flowers.  I'm sure I've posted pics of it before, and I would hazard I'll post pics of it again.  Still a couple of weeks off here yet.

[Lesley Cox]

I'll look forward to it Paul.

[fermi de Sousa]

We've also had a few more Narcissus open up in the last week.
Of the jonquil-type, the Campernelles are old favourites.
This dwarf Tazetta was labelled "Minnow" but I'm not sure, it may just be N. canaliculatus;
Then a range of the "Div 6 " (N.cyclamenius) hybrids, not mini, but smallish:
Coronet;
Cyclades;
Snowski (raised by a local chap in Kyneton, Doug Bryce);
"Div 6 Seedling"; (from Doug);
"Tatiana x cyclem" (just labelled like that, again from Doug).
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

Fermi you mentioned recently (must have been about the iris pics) that you had some germination of Iris pseudocaucasica from the AGS 06. Yesterday I noticed that I also had a single seed up (of 5) from the same source and year. I imagine your conditions are not exactly like mine, so it must have been a set number of days/weeks that triggered the sprouting. Here, it follows several snowfalls this winter and some jolly hard frosts and all my seeds are out in it. There are a lot from Otto coming up as well, seeds sent to him from the RBG Kew, from Tony Hall.

[mark smyth]

I like the 'Snowski' and Tatania x cyclamineous

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Great show Fermi !
Quite a collection you have there !
Thanks for sharing

[Paul T]

Fermi,

Love Cyclades.  I pretty much like any cyclamineus type to be honest.  Particularly like the miniatures, which is why I covet so many of Graham's flowers that he posts the pics of in the other thread.  I have straight N. cyclamineus out at the moment both in a pot and in the garden (will try to set seed for you as promised Frans) but no others as yet.  N. 'Minicycla' isn't going to flower for me this year unfortunately..... it's a delightful medium to small type that is nicely shaped.  Has multiplied, but no flowers (so there are positives to it's growth this year.... offsets are good!! 

Great pics.

[Otto Fauser]

Graham,
your Crocus biflorus ssp. pulchricolor is a lovely deep blue, is it one of Marcus Harvey' collections in Turkey some years ago ? The single flower you posted of Cyclamen pseudibericum is [ I think] actually  C. persicum [ the wild one] a close up photo of a leaf would  be of help.
     Ciao Otto.

[Hans J]

Hallo Otto ,

Here is a pic from Cyc. pseudibericum

Servus
Hans

[Rogan]

This is not nearly as exciting as Rafa's field of flowers in Spain, but this recently burnt field near to my place of work is a sight to behold with dozens of Cyrtanthus contractus vying with Hypoxis hemerocallidea for the brightest flowers of the month 

[fermi de Sousa]

Rogan
More fabulous pics! I've not seen that Cyrtanthus before either; keep athat camera handy!

Here are a few more pics, though not the clearest!
First the Triandrus narcisssus that I got as seed of N. x susannae, which someone on the Forum pointed out to me is sterile, so it must've been "just" N. triandrus ssp pallidulus itself! Sorry, I didn't knock off the red-legged earth-mites before I took the shot!
The next is the lovely N. Tracey and finally,
a blurry Moraea tripetala.
cheers
fermi

[Rogan]

Hello Fermi, you're up late!?

Thanks for the favourable comments re. my pictures, your Narcissus are just great too, I just wish I could grow them more successfully in my warm climate - about all I can grow in the garden are from the jonquill complex - the rest have to be in pots.

Hopefully I'll be able to collect seed from these Cyrtanthus contractus in four to six weeks time for distribution.

Bye for now
Rogan.

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

Things are popping open all over the garden at the moment.  Unseasonable warmth, particularly at night, is bringing things along early.  You can see the Magnolias bursting forth each day now.  I'm taking lots of pics of course..... I can't help myself.  Many of the things have already been posted before because most on here are ahead of me season-wise.  But I don't think anyone has posted a pic of this though.......



Scoliopus bigelowei is something I wanted for some time after seeing it in a book.  Finally got it a couple of years ago.  Was concerned our summers might cause it to dwindle and die out but it has actually gotten biger and has an offset this year.  Fantastic.  The flowers are absolutely tiny (maybe an inch or so across) but I just love them.  Not at all what I was expecting from the pics I had seen in the books.  The whole plant is only 6 inches high.  I had to show this closeup which gives some wonderful detail to the flower.  I'd have made it bigger but I thought I'd better limit the size.  As you can tell, I'm somewhat taken with this plant!!