January 2016 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Gabriela]

I think in this case "crazy"  is  crazy = wow, great !  That's a really good plant!

Yes Maggi! and Robert - I meant 'crazy how nice it is' More of a fuchsia colour, but I don't want to start a discussion on this direction 
I am glad that you do propagate it.

[Gabriela]

I don't have experience with cyclamen flowers, mine are still just seedlings, but I have been also sceptical about very early Galanthus when there is a lot of snow and winter lasts forever. Then snowdrops start to flower under snow. We have had couple of good winters with not so much snow, this winter I don't know yet. After the snowy winters I decided that late snowdrops are best to grow here but now after the early springs also early snowdrops have had time to settle and maybe they will cope better with also snowy winters, only time will tell.

One year in March I dug about 25 cm and found the Galanthus in flower (I regret didn't took a picture) - but I knew precisely where it was because I only had a couple of them  But after reading more on the forum I think I will try from seeds some fall flowering species (if I can find seeds).
Cyclamen coum may make it if you have a slightly sloped area that receives lots of sun in the spring, preferably close to a deciduous shrub or tree.

[Robert]

Yes Maggi! and Robert - I meant 'crazy how nice it is' More of a fuchsia colour, but I don't want to start a discussion on this direction 
I am glad that you do propagate it.

The things I learn. 

I have never heard "crazy" used as "how nice". To me, in context it appeared to mean chaotic or out of sorts. My camera seems to fall into that chaotic, out of sorts category from time to time.   

[johnralphcarpenter]

I think it's 1950s American, Robert - jive talk, like, that's crazy, man!

[Robert]

I think it's 1950s American, Robert - jive talk, like, that's crazy, man!

Ralph,

I am willing to bet that this is correct.

Somehow from an early age I became disconnected from many, but not all, facets of Americana. My wife is the daughter of immigrants - Norway for the most part. She speaks German, Spanish, English, and can get by in other languages. Somehow I can relate to the farmer characters in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small, if this makes any sense.     Not that I understand Scotland any better than the U.S.A.

When I was young I kept company with the local farmers such as Mr. Barrett and his wife. Later one of my best friends was Kyoko - from pre-1945 Japan. Now my wife and I keep company with the Tibetan Buddhist Monks.

Maybe this explains my disconnect with American culture? 

Anyway I hope everything is settled and okay.        

[Gabriela]

Ralph,

I am willing to bet that this is correct.

Somehow from an early age I became disconnected from many, but not all, facets of Americana. My wife is the daughter of immigrants - Norway for the most part. She speaks German, Spanish, English, and can get by in other languages. Somehow I can relate to the farmer characters in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small, if this makes any sense.     Not that I understand Scotland any better than the U.S.A.

When I was young I kept company with the local farmers such as Mr. Barrett and his wife. Later one of my best friends was Kyoko - from pre-1945 Japan. Now my wife and I keep company with the Tibetan Buddhist Monks.

Maybe this explains my disconnect with American culture? 

Anyway I hope everything is settled and okay.        

I don't know if that's a good explanation. I am an immigrant here, so English is not my first language; I do very well in French and Spanish and wouldn't get lost in Germany either. So I don't have any connection with 'Americana'. My idea is that the 'uni-language' speakers just don't have the adaptability and flexibility a multi-language speaker has.

I was trying to express my enthusiasm for a plant showing a certain 'wild beauty' that's why I called it 'crazy' (nice crazy  Interesting to see how it stirred up more discussions than the plant itself 

[Cfred72]

Hi everyone, my home, some small thing for now that have attracted my eye and I would share.

The giganteum Cardiocrinum start.

The Bulbocodium vernum show flower buds.

Colchicum luteum The 'Vahsh opens a flower.

Iris danfordiae illuminates the strip plant with its beautiful yellow color.

The Tulbaghia violacea have not stopped to bloom all winter.

[Cfred72]

The coum Cyclamen are blooming and the seeds germinate in a dense mat.

[astragalus]

Robert, the Forum is a great place for language expansion.  For me, that would be "gobsmacked" and "bandjaxed", not to mention  " moreish".

[Robert]

Robert, the Forum is a great place for language expansion.  For me, that would be "gobsmacked" and "bandjaxed", not to mention  " moreish".

Anne,

I have to admit to being flummoxed at times, but I certainly appreciate the reciprocity. At times I indeed feel gobsmacked. After all the forum is so moreish how can I resist coming back for more. 

[Cfred72]

Last year, I bought bulbs Eranthis hyemalis Eranthis cilicica and a department store.
I am well aware that few bulbs are certainly came alive at home, but it was stronger than me, I wanted to try.
I have soaked 24 hours and then put the garden in small groups.
For cons, I know who is who and how we see the difference.
Still, some survived.
The first to have flowered for three weeks in the Tilia.

Today I see another that shows its face in a Buxus.

Would it be fair to say that the first is Eranthis hyemalis and the second is cilicicum?

[arilnut]

Bloom has started in zone 6 Kansas.
Alan's ret.  Debonair
Colchicum  kesselringii

John B

[meanie]

Vestia foetida flowering far too early...............


It's about eight weeks earlier than last year and as a result the colour is not soo good and the flowers are a bit smaller. It is so loaded with buds though that it should still be in bloom come April so all is not lost!