February 2013 in the Southern Hemisphere

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi all,
We've just enjoyed a suberb Study Weekend here at Lincoln Uni, Canterbury, NZ, organised by the NZAGS.
Harry Jans, Rannweig and Bob Wallis gave extremely wonderful talks with great photos from around the world.
The local speakers were of a similar high quality and I think the talk sponsored by the SRGC by Dr Shannel Courtney was a real highlight looking at mountain flora of NZ and showing us some recently discovered taxa.
Unfortunately we Aussies couldn't participate in the sales tables  but there were some exciting things for sale. Dave Toole did suggest one way I could take something back    but I won't be taking up his suggestion!!!
Look forward to catching up with some pics to post when I get back to my computer at work next week,
cheers
fermi

[Maggi Young]

Good to know all is going well , fermi.    Is the weather good for the trips?

I know Harry and Hannie were excited about their trip and seeing the mountains and so far they have been quite lucky, I think.

[ranunculus]

Looking forward immensely to images of the study weekend and all the participants.  So pleased it went to plan, congratulations to the hard-working organisers.

[Mini bulb lover]

The bees are doing a good job at the moment in my garden. I was lucky enough to get a photo with 2 bees on 1 flower of a self sown Cosmos silphureus. You can also see a bee hanging off one of the opened flowers of Allium carinatum ssp. pulchellum (at the bottom of the photo, in the centre). I do love Allium carinatum ssp. pulchellum. I've found it grows well among my roses. I water and feed the roses as normal without regard for the alliums and that seems to suit them. Although they produce a lot of seed, I rarely have any self sowing (although I do dead head most of them when tidying up the garden). Every few years I divide the clumps and give all the extras away to friends & family. The flowers last for many weeks (including as cut flowers). As the individual buds of the flower slowly drop over time, they start to look like exploding fireworks. If grown between roses or under a low growing perennial their dried up leaves at the base of the flower stems don't cause an eye-sore.

Hymenocallis x festalis is very showy, with a nice scent.

[Anthony Darby]

Three of my four frangipanis (Plumeria sp.) have flowered well. I didn't think they would like an Auckland winter, but the long hot summer seems to have done wonders. I kept one (the last pictured) in a pot, but it stayed out next to the north facing fence. The fourth one is under the north facing front window and the flowers are a month off opening.

[Anthony Darby]

Visited a large managed reserve in the middle of a housing estate in north Auckland where Auckland green geckos have been spotted. Didn't see any, but I saw some plants I'd not seen before, including the rata (Metrosideros fulgens ). It usually flowers before Christmas, but there was a nice display on one bush. There were several trees, including a large kauri (Agathis australis) and tea trees (Kunzea ericoides), up which the vines were climbing.