December 2013 in the Southern Hemisphere

[fermi de Sousa]

The start of summer today in Australia and it feels it - last week it almost felt like winter!
A couple of American geophytes are adding a bit of colour to a landscape which is rapidly drying out,
Triteleia ixioides
Triteleia laxa
cheers
fermi

[Hillview croconut]

Love the brightness of those triteleia. They look like a summer's day. Have a huge number of calochortus flowering and some amazing colours in the C. venustus but I was too lazy today to get any pictures. I did get a few bibs and bobs from my other block however.

Eremurus himalaicus is a favourite with such full, clean white flower stems.
Allium jesdianum Purple King - please excuse the pathetic shot. I had to crop most of it away because it was so out of focus.
Allium rosenbachianum
Allium schubertii x I think stipitatum - from memory. Its Janis' plant.
Tulipa sprengeri - a great late season species. Please excuse the fungal fleck on the flowers. Been soooo wet here.

Cheers, Marcus

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Marcus,
I have no luck establishing eremurus in this garden! That E. himalaicus looks stunning!
A few more (it's taking time getting smaller pics by first uploading them to NARGS Forum and having their software reduce them in size! Then copying back into my folder.)
Zephyranthes primulina x 2
Acantholimon hohenackeri
Triteleia'WWW'
cheers
fermi

[vanozzi]

A few fuchsia species flowering now.The fulgens looks as though it may have a virus, so I had better collect some seed.

Regards Paul R

[meanie]

Nice!

Vanozzi - lovely Fuchsias, but splendens and speciosa are truly outstanding!

[Stephen Vella]

Marcus nice alliums and that Eremurus is a stunner...whats the secrete?..I have seedlings in pots and trying to decide what position/conditions suits it best..

cheers

[Mini bulb lover]

A few photos taken at the end of a hot (35 C) day. My Alstroemeria tall red threw up a yellow (blushed red) sport a couple of years ago but I only seem to get 1 flower stem from it. The allium had a halo from the warm setting sun. I thought I'd include a close up of Campanula glomerata nana.

Alstroemeria tall red
Alstroemeria tall yellow sport
Allium giganteum
Campanula glomerata nana
Arisaema candidissimum

[Hillview croconut]

Hi,  great to see such a diversity of plants.   Stephen,  I wish I knew the secret!  Right alongside the himalaicus is a row of very sad looking stenophylla. I think himalaicus likes cooler conditions when growing and good rain. Stenophylla seems to like less humid conditions.  I have tried a few more species but I have failed to grow them well including robusta. If you want big, bold and indestructible go for the Shetford hybrids. They are serious accent plants.
 Cheers,  Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

PS Shelford hybrid, M

[fermi de Sousa]

A few photos taken at the end of a hot (35 C) day. My Alstroemeria tall red threw up a yellow (blushed red) sport a couple of years ago but I only seem to get 1 flower stem from it. The allium had a halo from the warm setting sun.

Hi Jon,
I wonder if the yellow/blushed red Alstroemeria was a piece mixed in with the red when you bought it? Was it a recent purchase? Is the red one as pink as your pic shows it? It looks a bit different to the ones I grow.
I like your Allium - I seem to have little luck with those big-headed sorts!
cheers
fermi

[Mini bulb lover]

Hi Fermi,

I've been growing the red alstroemeria for at least 8 years so the yellow one wasn't mixed in with it. The photo doesn't represent the colour too well - it is more red in person. 

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Jon,
this is the red Alstroemeria we grow, I think it's sold as 'Red Fury', I can't remember what we bought the next one as but it is a yellow/orange with a pinky exterior,
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Two other pink Alstroemerias we grow are this commercially available one -pink with yellow interior and one I grew from seed collected in California so we call it Californian Pink (quelle surprise )
cheers
fermi

[Mini bulb lover]

Hi Fermi,

Beautiful Alstroemerias. Although I purchased mine as being "red" it's certainly not as red as yours. Mine is more of a pink-red.

[arillady]

A couple of flowers still persisting in spite of the heat and dry.
A very late arilbred which I grew from seed from Lars Hoepfner in Denmark and is a reliable bloomer.
An allium whose label has faded and I need to reprint - rabbits have played havoc with many tags in this section of the garden.