November 2017 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Gabriela]

Helleborus multifidus is starting soon to go dormant, beside it is Epimedium 'Frohnleiten'. A nice combination.
This small Helleborus niger is grown from Holubeck seeds from Italy three years ago, and it is already going to flower next spring.
It has very nice foliage.

Leena, I think the combination of Helleborus with Epimediums is one of the best for the woodland garden, regardless of the species.
Very nice H. niger foliage indeed. I am also looking fwd to my first Helleborus x hybridus grown from seeds to flower next spring - very exciting!!! (seeds from a breeder, they had double purples with torquatus in parentage).

We had a record breaking night for the region -12C, with very little snow.

[johnw]

We'd not had even a touch of frost until last night.  The mercury plunged from 10c with hard rain to -3c overnight.  A mad scramble till 3am to get pots into cold storage. 

This morning we went across the harbour to Dartmouth to see a friend's extensive Cryptomeria & Acer palmatum collections, she grows 15 named Crypto varieties and a few from Japan still under codes or number.  Of course it was Ken who spied a Disanthus in flower (photo 1); only when I was photographing it did I notice the "stapelioid" shape and markings, a complete surprise.

Philip McD arrived for a visit & talk this week, always bearing gifts - Philesia, Desfontainea, exotic Taiwanese ferns, Hydrangea aspera 'Purple Passion' from D. Hinkley and a sensational budded x Gordlinia (Gordonia x Franklinia - photos 2 & 3) boasting 12.5cm flowers (one with carry-on stress) when fully established.

Squeaked to a chilly 4c today.

john

[Véronique Macrelle]

I did not know the flower of Disanthus cercidifolius !
Viola banksii in the greenhouse, stolons falling from a pot

[brianw]

We'd not had even a touch of frost until last night.  The mercury plunged from 10c with hard rain to -3c overnight.  A mad scramble till 3am to get pots into cold storage. 

Can you still buy mercury thermometers on that side of the water? They are no longer available here (new) unfortunately. My cheap alcohol greenhouse max/min has faded to a clear liquid and is invisible more or less. Guess I should buy a more expensive model. Another alcohol lab. model sticks and I can never get it to give a clean reading. Maybe after Brexit :-) who knows.
There are Gallium alloy metal versions but I have never seen one available.

[willster89]

I never stop wondering that flowers still bloom at this time of year. Beautiful pictures, thank you for sharing

[Robert]

It seems like forever since I have been able to do much meaningful work out in the garden. My old routine was to walk the garden in the morning and see what was going on. Construction has disrupted this routine and seems to just draw on and on.



The greenhouse room is basically done. The longer the stucco takes to cure the stronger it will be, so I am in no hurry to get it painted. Inside and outside, the electric plugs and fixtures need to be installed. Easy-to-do, bit I guess I am in no hurry on this either. Balancing my time with the garden seems more important.



I have no place to work with the plants now, so I just squat at what is left of the back porch and plant seeds etc.

It is a bit late, but I am getting things seeded out. Seeing progress and looking into the future is enjoyable.



Autumn color on our only Hamamelis in our Sacramento garden.



The deciduous azaleas frequently have beautiful autumn foliage, even here in Sacramento. This is an un-named seedling from a past breeding scheme. I am keeping the best plants to continue forward someday (hopefully soon). Already some good plants have come from this project.



I grew this Lachenalia from seed. It was labeled as L. rubida, which seems more or less correct. Others are coming along. It will be nice having these plants blooming in the late autumn when little else is blooming.

In the back of the pot is a seedling of Eschscholzia caespitosa. I let Eschscholzia caespitosa and E. lobbii seed about in the garden and in pots (with other California native annuals). So beautiful!

[Robert]

The Japanese Maples are looking good. Acer palmatum ‘Ornatum’.



Acer palmatum ‘Shaina'

There are a few more seeds that want to be planted out and the leaves need to be raked and cleaned out of the garden beds. A good time to ponder quantum fluctuations.

[meanie]

Robert - that Lachenalia is very nice. A few weeks ahead of mine.

Despite the recent frosts a few things are still blooming reasonably well here;
Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Bloom'..................
Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Bloom' by longk48, on Flickr

This Alstro hybrid has really surprised me................
Alstroemeria x hybrida by longk48, on Flickr

Salvia 'Amistad'.................
Salvia 'Amistad' by longk48, on Flickr

My pot of Canarina has a tuber that throws up darker green foliage and significantly smaller blooms................
Canarina canariensis by longk48, on Flickr

Canarina canariensis by longk48, on Flickr

The difference in the foliage..............


The Canarina is huddled up by the house wall with a few other "exotics" - Brugmansia sanguinea, Canarina canariensis, Clivia miniata, Echeveria agavoides and E.pulvinata, Gibasis pellucida, Oncidium, Salvia gesneriiflora and an S.elegans baby and Tradescantia purpurea...................


Here's the Oncidium noid which is still managing the odd bloom!
Oncidium noid by longk48, on Flickr

[Robert]

meanie,

Your blooming plants are looking good. 

In our garden, Salvia semiatrata is in full bloom and looking great. I tried to get a photograph the other day but it did not turn out well. Too much overcast and gray skies. All the petals littering the ground around the plant looked even better, however the rain started and now it does not look as good.

Our Canarina canariensis are huge - and no flower this year, (yet).    I had to move them due to the construction. It must of been too shady for them. I didn't have too many choices at the time.

The last time I grew Lachenacia to flowering was in 1974. I'm glad to have a few around again.

No frost here or at the farm. At the farm I have never recorded a lack of frost this late in the season!  Over 30 years of detailed weather records too. This not sign of frost. Plenty of fog in the Sacramento Valley. Oh, also it was 75 F, 23.9 C, yesterday at the farm. The record for the date is 76 F set in 2005.

Anyway, thanks for sharing the photographs.

[meanie]

Robert;

Once again S.semiatatra is refusing to bloom for me. However, S.lasiantha and S.gesneriiflora have just started to produce flower buds.

Overnight frosts seem early this year but I cannot say that I keep a log. Worse still is the frequency that we've been having them.

[Catwheazle]

Helleborus niger from seed ex private garden at Gardasee/Italy

[Robert]

Robert;

Once again S.semiatatra is refusing to bloom for me. However, S.lasiantha and S.gesneriiflora have just started to produce flower buds.

Overnight frosts seem early this year but I cannot say that I keep a log. Worse still is the frequency that we've been having them.

meanie,

I went out yesterday and took another photograph of Salvia semiatatra - it looks that good right now! 

We are slowly working on remodeling our garden. Salvia gesneriiflora is part of the plan. It will bloom all winter in our Sacramento garden. It also gets huge in the garden - so..... do I plant it in the garden and pruning it hard every spring or do I grow it as a container plant? Things I need to work out. There are actually many smaller Salvias I want to work into the garden.

Salvia garanitica bloomed in late summer for us and then quit.    Generally they keep blooming for us well into the autumn.

I'll post the Salvia photograph soon, but now off to cooking in the kitchen.

[Robert]

The days have been cloudy with above average temperatures in Sacramento, California. The mornings have been foggy. High temperatures have been running 69 F (20.5 C) to 63 F (17.2 C), with lows about 52 F (11.1 C). At about 3:30 p.m. the Dew Point has been 57 F (13.9 C) with a relative humidity of 70% to 80%.



Salvia semiatrata has looked great this autumn with many flowers. The bed in which it grows has had compost spread over it several times this year and it has certainly payed off. 



The spent petals on the ground have even looked good at times (not after a rain).



Potentilla gracillis var. fastigiata is one of my favorite Potentilla species. Up at the Sierra foothill farm, they will often bloom three times each year. Not so in our Sacramento garden, at least yet! The foliage looks great.



For better or worse, I trial various California native Carex species in our Sacramento garden. To date, Carex multicualis has been the best performer.

[ikizzeki]

The days have been cloudy with above average temperatures in Sacramento, California. The mornings have been foggy. High temperatures have been running 69 F (20.5 C) to 63 F (17.2 C), with lows about 52 F (11.1 C). At about 3:30 p.m. the Dew Point has been 57 F (13.9 C) with a relative humidity of 70% to 80%.




(Attachment Link)

Potentilla gracillis var. fastigiata is one of my favorite Potentilla species. Up at the Sierra foothill farm, they will often bloom three times each year. Not so in our Sacramento garden, at least yet! The foliage looks great.

The climate almost the same with Antalya Turkey..And with my sorrow,I always treated as a weed
 for this plant

[Robert]

Ikizzeki,

Thank you for sharing the information. The climate of Turkey seems like it is extremely variable as it is in California. The deserts in southeastern California are so different from the Redwood forests of northwestern California. We have many other climatic zones in between.

It poured rain last night with much snow in the Sierra Nevada! It is clearing now. Maybe more rain and stormy weather next weekend. I will be checking on some of my remote weather observation sites in the Sierra Nevada this week. Fun stuff, at least for me.