Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')

[tonyg]

First crocus of the season here is Crocus kotschyanus - a garden 'escape' fighting it's way through the overgrowth and miraculously not found by a slug .... yet 

[Brian Ellis]

Today about 80 of us enjoyed an excellent set of lectures from Peter Korn, Kit Strange and Paul Cumbleton at the Norfolk AGS one day conference.  Here you see Peter and Kit studying a flora of Kyrgyzstan brought home by a local member who knows the author.  Peter must be the most laid back guy I have met.  When asked about the planning that went into his last trip to Kyrgyzstan he said "I just bought a ticket, hired a car when I got there.  Took a photo of a map in the first hostel we stayed in then just drove to likely looking places."  You couldn't make it up!

It was, indeed, a wonderful day in a super conference centre and I did learn a lot...some of which I have retained   Many thanks for all the organization that went into it and we are all hoping that it will become a biennial event!

[tonyg]

Thanks Brian - A team effort as always with our group.  I just organised speakers and nurseries.  Yes, we are thinking 2017 (or 2018) for another go.  The venue was a great find  - down to Chairman Ian who knew of it's existence.

Now who shall we invite from overseas next time ......?

[tonyg]

Todays little gems - Cyclamen intaminatum raised from Cyclamen Society seed sown two years ago and Scilla lingulata (should that be Hyacinthoides lingulata?) which has proved indestructible under glass here for the last twenty years or so!

[tonyg]

Colchicum longifolium from SRGC seed exchange seed sown Jan 2007 ..... a long wait but worth it 

[tonyg]

Crocus pulchellus - second species in flower here.

[tonyg]

An Indian Summer here at present, showing Cyclamen graecum off to good effect in the sunshine.  These are the plants that were originally planted here under glass.  The greenhouse has been gone for a couple of years now but the cyclamen continue to thrive in a very gritty raised bed..

[tonyg]

After a long weekend in Scotland (pictures in Events and Places to Visit threads) the crocus have begun to move.  Several new spacies in flower this week although the peak flowering is a week or two away.

Crocus goulimyi - seed raised two or three generations down from Mani White.  First generation gets no white flowers but later generations are mixed.

Crocus boryi x tournefortii - also doing well in a raised bed.

Colchicum speciosum atropurpureum is looking good now.  Before I went away I had a tidy up in this bed, removing some of the cover for slugs and snails.  Combined with some warm dry weather it seems to have limited the damage to these later flowering colchicum.

Autumn colour at it's height on parthenocissus - the best place for these is planted next door!  I can keep it in check easily enough with secateurs and as our side is the sunny side we get the best of the colours!

[Maggi Young]

Autumn colour at it's height on parthenocissus - the best place for these is planted next door!  I can keep it in check easily enough with secateurs and as our side is the sunny side we get the best of the colours!

  A clever approach, Tony!

[tonyg]

After completing the re-potting of my collection mid-September the outstanding jobs were to inspect, clean and refresh the seed pots from 2013 and 2014 and to plant the 2015 seed.  Today I finished the clean-up of seed pots.  You can see the difference this makes in one pic below.  I remove the top half of the compost in these seed pots and replace it with fresh.  The seedling bulbs are always below this level but leaving it until they begin to grow means I can see the level they are at more easily.  Usually there are new shoots to guide me, sometimes roots exploring upwards are the sign.  Why not do it dry before they start to grow?  From past experience it is all to easy to throw out the small seedling bulbs with the old compost. 

Crocus serotinus salzmannii and Crocus tournefortii x boryi both caught my eye in flower today.

[tonyg]

Autumn colours are good this year .... even in this garden!  Some years this Hamamelis colours like a traffic light, other years it just yellows and drops it's leaves.

Persistently dull here at present - no good for the crocuses 

[tonyg]

Still mostly dull and cool here.  A few moments of brightness helped open the crocus flowers today.

Crocus cambessedesii - a tiny gem.

Crocus goulimyi leucanthus - seed raised from a Steve Keeble wild collection sown in 2000. 

[tonyg]

Some nice crocus established in the garden for a few years now.

Crocus boryi x tourenfortii - vigorous form, as hybrids can be
Crocus goulimyi
Crocus goulimyi leucanthus
Crocus niveus

Sunny places and a free draining soil seem OK for these autumn beauties here.  Important not to let them become overgrown by other plants as slugs and snails often lurk beneath them.

[tonyg]

After a couple of weeks mostly away from home it has been good to find crocus still flowering on our return.

Crocus sativus, Crocus cartwrigtianus and Crocus leavigatus all growing in raised beds in the garden,

[tonyg]

To close the year a very special Anemone coronaria - special to me as the plants were raised from seed sent a few years ago by  fellow forumist Oron Peri.