Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: Jupiter on April 01, 2017, 11:44:49 AM
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Finally we are getting some autumn weather and some autumn bulbs are responding with blooms. I'm particularly happy with Narcissus obsoletus, my first time seeing flowers of this species. Thank you Fermi for the seeds.
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Rafa tells me my N. obsoletus is in fact
N. decipiens Narcissus deficiens. Label will be changed.
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Anthony D. sent me a few bulbs of Narc. obsoletus which flowered nicely and set seeds too to my pleasure. when sown, they germinated in 3 weeks! The original bulbs are just showing though now, it has been very dry here since beginning of March.
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It is dry here too Lesley. I'll be out with the hose again tonight.
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Anthony D. sent me a few bulbs of Narc. obsoletus..........
He's still alive then? :P ;D
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He is indeed David and flourishing so far as I can gather. Like me he committed the almost unforgivable sin of going to Facebook (I'm recanting!). He is teaching and doing sports things and his young ones (or daughter anyway,) are going to university this year. He has very recently (with all family and dog) moved into a brand new house in Auckland, and I believe his lizards etc along too so all well there. Why anyone wants to live in Auckland is beyond my understanding but each to his own of course. ;D
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Lesley, I was much pleased by the information ;)
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Crocus pulchellus 'Michael Hoog'. Otto gave me a few bulbs but only two buds. I love the colour and the contrast with the beautiful orange styles.
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Michael Hoog really is a most beautiful shade of amethyst violet.
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Maybe very high blood pressure or perhaps someone bopped him on the face? Hope the colour goes down soon. (Sorry, I should have NOTHING to do with David N. ;D)
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Moi? ??? :-X ;D
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Maybe very high blood pressure or perhaps someone bopped him on the face? Hope the colour goes down soon. (Sorry, I should have NOTHING to do with David N. ;D)
Very clever Leslie ;D
But on a more serious note when I looked up Michael Hoog to see if the clone/cultivar was named for or by Michael Hoog. But all the references and Janis Ruksan's website - which is probably a reference in its own right say Michael Hoog is a white pulchellus albus selection, Michael selecting one clone of pulchellus albus that was larger than the other flowers.
So it could be that Jamus' Michael Hoog is not Michael Hoog!
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Could well be. I did notice the same Anita... either Otto mixed the labels or I did. Maybe another one will flower that looks a better match for Michael Hoog, and then we might assume that the tag on the other refers to this one!?
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Dirk Schnabel over on facebook thinks my amethyst Crocus might be C. serotinus. Otto are you reading this? What do you think, is this a possibility?
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I thought perhaps serotinus or what I used to know as asturicus, as (for me anyway) pulchellus flowers without leaves.
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Crocus caspius, the first flower opened today a week behind Anita's. There are more to come.
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Finally an autumn crocus in bloom!
Only noticed it yesterday evening so brought it inside but it stayed closed; cold drizzly day today so no chance until we turned the heating on after dark!
Crocus speciosus ssp xantholaimus (NARGS Sdx 2003; collected Turkey, Erich Pasche).
Sorry, I can't check it out in Janis' new book as my copy hasn't arrived yet!
cheers
fermi
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Its lovely to see crocus in bloom again. The banaticus is beautiful Jamus, and the dark pulchellus.
My crocus goulimyi are just popping up, some opening, others still sulking underground
Mostly though it is the cyclamen lending colour to brighten the faded end-of-summer garden.
1. Crocus goulimyi
2. The same, but the 'Mani White'
3-5. Various cyclamen
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...and a few miscellaneous perennials
1. Plectranthus ecklonii
2. Persicaria virginiana (or virginia knotweed)
3. A spider chrysanthemum - a cutting from susan jarick
4. Tricyrtis - i think T. formosana but unsure
happy Easter to all.
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It seems we have finished with the last of cyclone Cook down from Vanuatu. In the South Island we had what was for us jolly good rain with no damage at all though the North Island was badly flooded and trees, roofs, cars destroyed, the second dose following cyclone Debbie just the week before.
So I've had heavy drizzle off and on since Thursday but no wind worth the name and no flooding though the lawn is very soggy. All pots and plantings have had a good pre-winter drenching and in the meantime the temperature today at my place at 11am, is 20C. I expect frosts from now on but no sign so far. Today the sun is out and it's very pleasant outside, just as well as I have a lot of pots to move to a new area so I can get my car into one end of my shed before the cold comes.
Crocuses and Cyclamen are the best of the flowers except for Dahlia 'Bishop Llandaff' which has been blooming since Christmas. It is making a fabulous picture under a red-leaved maple which has turned to scarlet over the last week.
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Hi Jacqui. Your Crocus goulimyi looks lovely in the baby's tears.
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and two more from today
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My favourite Crocus (because it grows so well for me) goulimyi is in full swing. It is one of the few that thrives in the garden on the Adelaide Plains, obviously it does not require any winter chilling and it doesn't mind additional irrigation during summer. This lot, originally from Marcus Harvey, has been in the same spot since 2011. There were only three corms to start with. This group has been in bloom for two weeks. As each bloom lasts just a few days there have probably been around 60 blooms. It's near cousin C. goulimyi Mani White is just coming into bloom. Mani White grows adjacent to a buffalo lawn and gets watered every couple of weeks during summer. That group is growing right at the foot of a Papa Meilland rose bush and doesn't seem to be worried by the irrigation required to keep lawn and roses alive - unusual for the autumn flowerers, many of which like it really dry during their rest.
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Your goulimyi is looking amazing Anita! What a good show. How did you enjoy the rain today? We had 28mm! I can breathe a sigh of relief now as things have been getting pretty dry lately. Good news, tonight when I got home from work and did my customary tour of the garden I noticed two germinating Crocus tournefortii from the seed you gave me. Nothing in the goulimyi yet but they shouldn't be far behind.
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I'm so glad the tournefortii are up! The goulimyi shouldn't be far behind.
We got about 20mm today. Thrilled to bits as the ground was so dry. If it hadn't rained we were going to have to start a major round of watering. I expect we're now going to have an orgy of cyclamen coming through.
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Oxalis massoniana
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My Oxalis massoniana is still a couple of weeks away but has been very dry under trees.
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I was hoping for more this year... I'll feed it up and see if I can't encourage it to multiply. But.. since when do you need to ENCOURAGE an Oxalis? ::)
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Sounds like an Ox(y)alismoron to me Jamus.
Back in the 1980s when I lived in Timaru (360-odd kms north of Dunedin), I had a friend who grew 3 different oxalis species in a patch, all joining into each other, one of the finest rock garden sights I ever saw. They were O. massoniana, O. luteola, a clean citron yellow and the pure white form of O. purpurea. The orange, yellow and white together were wonderful. I've never been able to duplicate it as for some reason, her massoniana flowered with the others, later than mine does now (and yours too obviously). My friend is no longer alive but I'll never forget the times I spent with her in her garden, stunning autumn gentians were one of her great passions and she had many fine selections and also, with her friend the late Ken Burns, bred a race of low-growing nerines in incredible colours from palest pink through every pink and red shade to deep crimson, with a sheen of gold dust seemingly on these, and apricots and oranges, some with smoky, almost lavender overtones. Most are around somewhere in various gardens but were never recognised as they should have been. I have about a dozen different forms which are just starting now. They are all perfectly proportioned with smaller flowers than the "big" ones, finer stems and less and narrower foliage. They love the sun of course but June K had them under high shade from birches and the like where they were well ripened in summer and flowered wonderfully in the autumn.
June also loved rhododendrons and among many others grew a selection of Vireyas in large pots in a sunny corridor linking her kitchen and an exit door. They were too tender for the great outdoors but flowered in this sheltered place at all times of the year. She said they would flower not seasonally like others but according to how much water they were given so could be encouraged to flower at almost any time she wanted them to such as for birthdays, Christmas or whatever.
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A few pictures from the garden today.
Crocus nudiflorus is my new favourite Crocus. It's just gorgeous and I thought it had finished flowering. Galanthus peshmenii is late this year and has three flowers so far with possibly more to come. The little Crocus laevigatus has pulled the same trick as nudiflorus. It threw some early blooms, had a little break and is now popping out a whole lot more! Unfortunately there wasn't enough sun today to open them but the markings on the outsides of the tepals are stunning anyway.
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My earlier post of what I had labelled as Crocus pulchellus 'Michael Hoog', but was something else, is now flowering true to type. It looks like there was just one rogue Crocus serotinus salzmannii mixed with the pulchellus.
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A very wet few days here, which the garden will love.
The weeds are springing up like mad things with the rain.
Just a few...
1. Cosmos atrosanguineus, or chocolate cosmos, has such pretty black buds
2. And in flower...
3. The small form of Euonymous alatus (burning bush) showing off its vibrant berries
4. The Sarracenia are doing extra well this year - wish I knew why. They seem to be happier when cramped.
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Lovely pictures Jacqui. I have killed the chocolate cosmos THREE TIMES now. I have no idea why. :-\ Do you have an advise? Your Euonymous is lovely too. I envy people with choice shrubs in their gardens. I am trying to plant more but it takes time and I don't have much space.
Do you like my nudi-crocus?
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I'll send you some fresh seed of the cosmos Jamus. Germinates quickly and will grow to flowering size in one season. You should be ok for cold. I've had to minus 9 several times the last 2 winters and even minus 10 one night last July. Cosmos came through well with a bit of other stuff around it but not covered. In fact even the tubers were exposed in one place where the rabbits had dug and eaten!
I have a couple of white crocuses I want names for but both have been nibbled by something. There may be better flowers in a day or two. Still no frost here yet though tonight could be quite close. But 19 forecast for Dunedin today and we are usually a degree or two warmer. :)
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Beautiful plants Jacqui. I love the white sarracenia and the euonymus.
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Yes Jamus I love your crocus nudiflorus
( amusing, the spellchecker just made that into 'nude flirts') ;D
It seems a darker colour than others I have seen but could be the light??
It is beautiful.
Pardon my ignorance, but I wouldn't have recognised the photo below labelled crocus laevigatus. Is it a cultivar or?
And thank you Leslie. It's fun to post things when they look presentable for a change.
Jamus, chocolate cosmos can be finicky. I had some that went swimmingly one season, grew and multiplied, and then failed to awaken from winter dormancy the following year. Others that failed to recover after rabbits munched them. So I have similar problems. Don't give up as they are so rewarding when they do grow. Getting a bit of genetic diversity by Leslie's generous offer of seed is a good start - I understand the commercial ones are clones.
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Jacqui I know what you mean about my C. laevigatus. Otto sent it to me as that and I'm cautious to correct him as he's probably right.. but, I read in Janis' book that it's a highly variable species and I don't have time right now to research it properly late for work running out the door right now see you later bye!
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Jacqui I did some reading in my lunch break and I'm happy with C. laevigatus as the identity of my little crocus. A pity we're not getting much sunshine at the moment. It'd be great to get a photo with all 12 of the flowers open together.
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Barely enough sun to open the Crocuses today but I got a few photos, sort of half open. At least you can get a glimpse of the gorgeous red style in the Crocus medius.
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Gosh Jamus, they really are beautiful crocuses, all of them.
i do love your coloured laevigatus - very striking perspective.
the only crocus i seem to have blooming now are the crocus goulimyi, which i have already shown.
The patch has expanded slowly over about 3 years though, and its quite glorious.
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Lovely crocuses from all, Jamus your nudiflorus are :P
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Jacqui your extensive plantings of goulimyi are sensational.. it's one I don't have here in my garden but I have germinated some seed so in the future, maybe if I'm lucky.
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Some oxalis in the garden:
1&2) Oxalis massoniana is only just coming into flower now;
3) Oxalis palmifrons;
4) Oxalis hirta;
5) Oxalis polyphylla heptaphylla
cheers
fermi
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Beautiful Fermi. O. palmifrons is up here but no flowers yet.
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My Oxalis massoniana is going great, producing more flowers.