January 2014 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Lesley Cox]

The O. 'Bellissimo' is a real find Marcus. Is it yours? and how is it going to be in NZ? If this, why not other things?

I have only about a 50% success rate with rooting ANY origanum cuttings tho' rooted stems pulled from the base of the plants are easier, especially with rotundifolium and tournefortii. However, even the cuttings which do root successfully are almost all lost at or soon after potting on. I've just about given up propagating them though I get the occasional seedling appearing.

Fenius, yours looks perhaps like a dictamnus hybrid. Is this likely. They do hybridize quite readily and yours does seem quite woolly and reasonably dwarf. It's a possibility.

I've yet again missed three new flowers on Gelasine azurea. They seem to last only for perhaps an hour and I ALWAYS miss out. Gathered 29 seeds today from two heads of Tecophilaea cyanocrocus, the first seeds I've ever had of it. I'll photograph it tomorrow for the seed ID thread. Graph paper has to be located first. Greedily, I'm going to sow the lot.

[Hillview croconut]

Hi,

At last I have finished lifting the summer catalogue bulbs and I can sort of relax for a couple of weeks.

Thanks Lesley, Tim, Fermi and Otto for your kind words. Yes the plant is mine, well I own the PBR but others get it into the big wide world of commerce. This process has direct reference to some of the things I have been saying on the Regulatory Threats Thread. Only the big boys can negotiate the system but the plants ..... they come from all sorts of places ... including the niche market nurseries. If that sector dries up then a major source of new material is lost .... so its in the big boys' interest not to let that happen.

How do they get to NZ? Easy, they come as little bits of sterile, un-rooted tissue culture material in a little flask Lesley. The days of transporting real plants has gone.

I concur with Lesley re origanum dictamnus. Otto you must be holding out on a trick or you have a very easy-going plant. I took 50 cuttings in late spring before there was any sign flowering. I ended up with 5 rooted cuttings, I now have 1 potted plant left. I leave you to draw your own conclusions. I find origanums generally difficult, although amanum and rotundifolium are better than most. But dictamnus, because I suspect of its brittle, woolly stems, is a no go zone. I did note with eye-popping interest that David Glenn of Lambley Nursery, in Victoria, where Otto lives offered it for sale last year.

Fenius, because there have been a lot of origanums shown on this thread recently I wouldn't class us (well me) as experts. But I do concur with Lesley's opinion.

Cheers, Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Tim,

No I don't grow the white form of O. amanum and I suspect I never will. I think us Australians are stuck with what we now have because of the brutal cost of biosecurity compliance. The only new material will be a mass produced clone a la my little chap or something arising from the gene pool we now have. Of course there is always the overseas seed route.

Cheers, M

[fenius]

Thanks Lesley and Marcus! Today it's finally snowing here, I'm so happy to see snow on roof tiles and cars and bare branches again! I think it's been at least two years..

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Fenius,

I note you live in Thessaloniki. Did you purchase your plant at a nursery there?

BTW I really enjoyed your city when I visited a couple of years ago.

Cheers,  Marcus

[fermi de Sousa]

Nothing as exciting as those oreganoes here, but this is a new "aggie" for us, it's called Agapanthus 'Blue Diamond'
cheers
fermi

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Fermi,

Susan I were only just talking on the weekend about these plants. They are so beautifully architectural and a fine cut flower but I guess I have such a problem with them romping about too much I regard them as a nuisance. I guess its what you choose and where one plants them.
I have posted a picture of a plant I love, Euphorbia segeuriana. It is such a wonderful summer bloomer and, like the aggies, provides a  strong architectural presence. I collected as seed in Greek Macedonia a few years ago and it hasn't looked back. Surprisingly it isn't available elsewhere in Australia.

Cheers, Marcus

[fenius]

Hi Fenius,

I note you live in Thessaloniki. Did you purchase your plant at a nursery there?

BTW I really enjoyed your city when I visited a couple of years ago.

Cheers,  Marcus

Hey Marcus,
glad to hear you liked it here! I did in fact get my origanum at a nursery here, it's been a pretty long lived plant too (from all those I've tried so far in pots) ..I think I've only come across this variety here ( sometimes with bigger or smaller leaves but then again that might be due to culture conditions as the flowers always look exactly the same)