September 2013 in the Southern Hemisphere

[annew]

Shady Lady?

[Maggi Young]

Shady Lady?

A form of Telopea specioissima ....

http://asgap.org.au/t-spec.html  ..... I love the way that from a distance  it looks like a rhodo !

[annew]

Thanks maggi, a protea lookalike.

[Maggi Young]

Yes  - really lovely isn't it?  A friend just got some in a wonderful bunch  of flowers that also included  red Anthuriums and giant pink/ creamy/furry Proteas ( King Proteas?)  The form and texture of them is great and the colour is yummy.

[Stephen Vella]

HI Maggi and Anne,

Not a form of Telopea but a hybrid. Shady lady comes in red, pink, white and yellow. Telopea speciosissima x oreades is the cross. Basically introducing vigour, a differant shade of red, and other colours, being able to with stand clay and phosphorus soils and much bushier with massive bloom count. Telopea speciosissima your lucky to have it grow for a couple of years yet alone have a few maybe 3 blooms. These hybrids are gross feeders. Can withstand temps down to -12c, maybe lower but I havnt seen it get that low here..yet  Its a wonder they are not in some parts of the U.K??

Maggi its funny how you say that they look like a Rhodo even though they are proteacea. This hybrid does not have the serrated leaves like the usual speciosissima. The dormant buds are very fat like a rhodo with its rhodo like leaves and bushy habit you could easily mistaken it for a rhodo in winter. The emerging new leaf and flower buds look like a rhodo and when the new shoots emerge with their candel stick like shoots and leaf bracts attached that are reddish. The emerging flowers are arranged like a rhodo with the bud bracts sitting beneath, even down to how they are arrange on the bush. And funny enough they will grow alongside Rhodos as they love the cool misty weather and grow in open forest but will take more sun.

I have a white and a yellow about to open. Will take a pick

[Stephen Vella]

Heres Shady Lady white, looking a shade of pale...the whites and yellow do this as they emerge but the bush and buds do look Rhodo like.

[Paul T]

Good that you could catch up with Paul again Fermi. I hope you gave him everyone's best wishes. Hope some time he'll get back to the Forum.

It's possible, Lesley, although you probably shouldn't hold your breath! 

[annew]

They look fabulous, and the growing conditions sound a bit like yours Maggie...

[Maggi Young]

They look fabulous, and the growing conditions sound a bit like yours Maggie...

I was thinking the same thing, Anne -  I may look into availability here. I really like the look of a rhodo from a distance and then the surprise of  getting closer to see the flowers.

[Paul T]

Maggi,

I grow Telopea in a pot here, as I have heavy clay as my soil base and I find that pots tend to give the better drainage that they need.  Obviously mine in a pot is only small though, and will never produce a display anything like Stephen's though.  Stunning plant, Stephen.  Do the Shady Lady series really no longer worry about Clay or Phosphorus fertilisers?? :O

[Stephen Vella]

Hi Paul,

Yes Shady Lady is vigorous and not worried about clay or phosphorus at all  they love a good azalea or camellia fertiliser mix, just half the dose and water it in ..now a good time.

If your planting in clay do dig the soil over and add compost into it, you can raise it a little as long its not in a sink where water will sit it dose like some drainage...stay away from manuare....and they love woodchip mulch...and do water them just after flowering when most of the growth is happening and then you wont have to worry about them as long as they get some rain in the summer...watch out for tip borer that seems to get them some years, you will notice frass in the bud..but can be easy captured....try it Paul

Actually here at Mount Tomah Botanic Garden we are having our Waratah festival running for 2 weeks...I will send you some picks of the flower competion, from the NSW Waratah Growers Association. They have some amazing blooms and also on show are some native flower arrangements that Im about to go off and do...

cheers

[Paul T]

Stephen,

Interesting to know that.  I'm used to the natives usual drainage requirements etc, and I always suggest mounding in our clay soils to increase drainage, but I wasn't aware of the phosphorous tolerance.  Interestingly, if you read the NPK ratios on the Azalea and Camellia fertilisers, they're actually lower in Phosphorus in many cases than the native fertilisers themselves.  I've wondered about that for a while, and whether it is really true. 

[fermi de Sousa]

Back in the office today, so the pics have been downloaded and re-sized!
Nice to see you back, Paul, thanks again for your hospitality and all the plants!

Here are some pics from the Canberra Hort Soc's Flower Show,

Welcome to Show;
Judging in progress
Discussion on the Champion bloom? (Paul T on left!)
There were other blooms on display!
5 Distinct blooms

cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Some of the mini-daffodils on show!

[Paul T]

So you're getting as sneaky as Graham (Mini-Daffs)?  Taking photos while I wasn't watching.  At least he smiled and waved at me (evilly I might add) after photographing me doing show and tell at the Horticultural Society meeting.    Thankfully he hasn't posted any of them here though..... I don't want to shatter people's computer screens (obviously you've got a camera with a strong stomach).