May 2013 in the Southern Hemisphere

[fermi de Sousa]

Isn't anyone from the Southern Hemisphere going to post something before the end of the month?
Surely there must be something worth photographing and posting?!
I can't as I'm still in the Northern Hemisphere!
cheers
fermi

[David Nicholson]

I think Paul T must have forgotten us

[Maggi Young]

I think Paul T must have forgotten us

Bless him - he has that fun red pick-up truck to play with.....
and several of the other Southerners are still in the NH after the Czech "do"  or still doing the washing  and weeding on their return!

[John Kitt]

Oh OK.
Not the usual kind of contribution but.....
My local Garden Club arranged a "Plant a Daffodil Day " for the Children at the local school.  75 turned up and planted daffodils in their own pot.
Children and club members had a great morning.  We plan to "judge" their efforts later in September and enter lots of "winners" in the the local Daffodil Show.
Hopefully the "seed of interest in gardening" was planted as well as daffodil bulbs.

John

[arillady]

Not a lot of colour in this garden at present but this Oxalis is flowering well. If the sun comes out I will find another species to photograph.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Pat
That looks like Oxalis bowiei which is apparently naturalised in Australia.
I've seen it coming up through a Tarmac footpath which was laid over the dormant bulbs!
We have it growing in our garden along some rock steps.
We're about to leave Ballyvaughan where we've been staying to enjoy the Burren and we'll head down to Shannon to visit Michael and then later we'll "pop down to Cork" to see Ashley!
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

My local Garden Club arranged a "Plant a Daffodil Day " for the Children at the local school.  75 turned up and planted daffodils in their own pot.
Children and club members had a great morning.  We plan to "judge" their efforts later in September and enter lots of "winners" in the the local Daffodil Show.
Hopefully the "seed of interest in gardening" was planted as well as daffodil bulbs.

Hi John,
The Vic Daffodil Society have done something similar in conjunction with a few primary schools in country areas near where we live. There is a cute little book called "That's not a daffodil" which they were promoting in conjunction with it.
cheers
fermi

[Tim Ingram]

Here's a picture from the Northern Hemisphere on the same theme, which I found heartening - a group of schoolchildren at Kew in the woodland garden... (now the alpine garden isn't far away...!).

[arillady]

Fermi you are certainly having an extended stay away from home. What a trip!

[Lesley Cox]

That's a great idea John and hopefully will encourage the young ones. I'm trying to get something going with my local group along similar lines as it's from these youngsters that new members will come in time.

I came home to a great show of Nerine flowers in reds, oranges, pinks etc, but a couple of days later they're all frosted so flowers and probably seeds gone. But the leaves are OK. Otherwise there's a lovely red leaf carpet on the driveway where the plum has shed its foliage. Meant to photograph it but may be too late now, more brown than red. Precious little in bloom, even the autumn crocuses being rained off in the last couple of days. (Hope there is more heavy rain in the NZ v. England cricket, the only thing that will save us I imagine. )

First signs of Iris reticulata up, the form called 'Pauline' and a number of the South African Gladiolus nanus forms, just planted the day before I left home. In the meantime, I'm picking leaves off everything from seed pots to irises to troughs to bulb pots. They'll make some good leafmould though. Seed cleaning today as the rain continues, with snow predicted for tonight and tomorrow.

I understood Fermi and Will were in the south of England but a photo I took in Aberdeen showed they were right there. I'll post it tomorrow.

[Otto Fauser]

Fermi, as you know yourself flowers are scarce in late May here apart from Sasanqua Camellias-early June will bring us early Snowdrops , winterfl. Crocus , Hoop Petticoat Narcissus and much more .My different forms of Crocus laevigatus flower for more than 3 months , this one is one of the later ones ( taken today ) and is my darkest one (originally from John Grimshaw ).

  Hope to seeyou in Melbourne soon.
   

[Otto Fauser]

and 2 more from today;

[Lesley Cox]

Back to Fermi and Will. It's all very well to decry the lack of southern flower pics while you both are sunning yourself in the far north. We are under snow today. Many roads including north and south motorways in Dunedin are closed because of it.

And don't pretend you weren't going to Scotland this time either. The picture below, which I took myself so know it is the genuine article, proves conclusively that you were both there, so far as I can see, helping the householder to cook up a witch's brew on the chilly north sea coast of Aberdeen. I bet it wasn't as good as the soup we had a little later, in a little, unpretentious cafe on the beach front. Hot and flavoursome and chips to accompany.

[arillady]

Wow and I thought the sun faded things here in Oz
I was so surprised this afternoon to see a Galanthus reginae-olgae from Paul T flowering. I had forgotten I had planted it in that section and it has survived our summer heat.

[fermi de Sousa]

And how could you have taken that pic, Lesley, when it's obviously you in the middle hidden by the pot!
I'll take this as "payback" for that pic I posted of you at the NZAGS weekend!
Otto,
You always have something in flower in your garden! That gladdie is lovely - did you grow it from seed?
Pat,
We're enjoying touring around and meeting wonderful gardeners and seeing their gardens but we can't wait to get home to see how the garden has fared in our absence. The lack of rain for the first two weeks was a real concern
cheers
fermi and Will