June 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere

[fermi de Sousa]

Two mysteries to start our winter season!
The first: this muscari came up in a pot labelled Muscari sivrihisardaghlarensis though the first flowers in 2018 appeared to be just M. neglectum - could this be the real thing? And flowering in winter?
The second is a nerine which was planted so long along I have no memory of what it's name might be - presumably a hybrid
cheers
fermi

[Maggi Young]

The first: this muscari came up in a pot labelled Muscari sivrihisardaghlarensis though the first flowers in 2018 appeared to be just M. neglectum - could this be the real thing? And flowering in winter?

cheers
fermi

This may help ....

 Muscari sivrihisardaghlarensis - biodicon
In this study, some morpho-anatomical features of rare endemic Muscari sivrihisardaghlarensis Yıldırımlı & B. Selvi which is distributed in Central Anatolia has been investigated. Anatomical features, a detailed morphological description and a distribution map of M. sivrihisardaghlarensis are given.

Click this link to download pdf .

[fermi de Sousa]

Thanks, Maggi.
It could be true but I'll wait to see if anyone with more experience with it agrees with me!
cheers
fermi

[ashley]

I don't have more experience than you Fermi, but it looks like what I grow under than name.
To me the white tips are wider than M. neglectum but the plant is smaller.

[Lesley Cox]

My God! is that name real? If so, Fermi and Ashley, you are very welcome to it. I don't think it will ever be at the top of my wish list, no matter how cute the plant itself may be.

Winter has started indeed with heavy frosts the last week, to -7C which is a hard frost for here and today, snow in Central Otago and on the Crown Range. There's even a bit of snow on the Maungatua Range, visible from my dining room and close to the Dunedin airport. I've thought the Southern Hemisphere lockdown for Covid-19 has been more harsh due to our approaching winter compared to the NH's spring/summer weather and flowering of early bulbs. But these are beginning to poke through now - snowdrops mainly - as we ourselves are gradually being released from restrictions, so as someone said, "If winter comes, can spring be far behind?" Hopefully not.

[Lesley Cox]

This coming Thursday (June 11th) we shall hold a Committee meeting of Otago Alpine Garden Group, the first since mid-March. Things to be sorted are whether we'll have our Annual Spring show late September and what we can retrieve from the planned, but then abandoned programme of regular meetings for 2020. Since our government seems likely to open up almost every activity within days or another extra week at most now (except for international travel) some meetings at least should be possible but not, alas, our planned International Visiting Speaker (Oron Peri this year, courtesy of Steve Newall who arranges these treats for us each year, or Chris Gardener who was to speak at the 2020 NZ Iris Society Convention in Tauranga before visiting the South Island and speaking to several groups. Hopefully both these gentlemen with come to us in the near future. Perhaps a whole Conference could be arranged starting with these two speakers and adding Jiri Papousek who is planned as Visiting Speaker for  2021.

Anyway, whatever the outcome of our committee meeting on Thursday, it will be very good to see Group friends again and have what can only be seen as a good gossip about our gardens and other friends. Oddly, and almost uniquely in difficult times, we are in happy accord about our Govt so no need to throw brickbats.

[fermi de Sousa]

Flowers from last week:
Oxalis massoniana
Narcissus 'Winter Colours #5'
Narcissus seedling of Oidle Loidle
white hoop petticoat daffodil in the garden
Acis tingitana
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Narcissus '07-20T' (Bairns Sol x 98_22T) from Lawrence Trevanion
Leucojum aestivum 'Gravetye Giant'
Hesperantha humilis from AGS Seedex years ago
Creamy-white hoops, potted (originally from a small bulb found in an Amaryllis pot)
Pure-white hoops in the garden
cheers
fermi