January 2014 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Lesley Cox]

That's rather nice Fermi. I didn't know Oz had native eryngiums, thought it was a NH genus. Good colour. My 'Picos Blue' is looking super now.

[fermi de Sousa]

That's rather nice Fermi. I didn't know Oz had native eryngiums, thought it was a NH genus.

I think that there are soem in South America  as well, Lesley.
This is one of our "new" Oriental Liliums, 'Ovation' which is quite tall,
cheers
fermi

[Rogan]

Well now, this is a first for me! 

A friend and I took a walk to a patch of undisturbed meadow near my home today and came across several interesting plants in flower despite the 35'C temperature; one striking bulb I hadn't encountered before is Tritonia rubro-lucens visible from some distance due to its bright colour - does anyone grow this bulb in captivity?

[Lesley Cox]

I have something just about the same but not that name. Without a name in fact. It flowered before Christmas though.

[Rogan]

To continue the theme of summer flowers; I have been noticing this little bulb in flower amongst rocks and boulders in or near water courses close to where I live. I am sure it is a Freesia species closely allied to F. laxa, but there are some differences in gross morphology and flower colour. This is a seed-grown specimen in my bulb collection:

[Hillview croconut]

Just to be contrary I am going to return this thread to what are normally regarded as non-summer plants (bar one)

The VERY early flowering crocus - Crocus vallicola
A very mixed up Cyclamen coum - I have left the date stamp on to prove its authenticity.
Some super duper-sized Fritillaria obliqua bulbs - almost the size of spuds!
A very lovely, late-flowering calochortus species - Calochortus plummerae

Cheers, Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

Re eryngiuns:  Lesley have you not seen Eryngium agavifolium in NZ? Is E. bromilifolium a synonym, anyone?

cheers, M

[Maggi Young]

Re eryngiuns:  Lesley have you not seen Eryngium agavifolium in NZ? Is E. bromilifolium a synonym, anyone?

cheers, M

  Kew Plant List ( which I know not everyone holds with) says :

Eryngium bromeliifolium F.Delaroche is an accepted name
This name is the accepted name of a species in the genus Eryngium (family Apiaceae).
The record derives from WCSP (in review) (data supplied on 2012-03-23) which reports it as an accepted name with original publication details: Eryng. Alep. Hist. 60 1808.
No synonyms are recorded for this name.

[Lesley Cox]

Both Eryngium agavifolium and E. bromilifolium are listed on the Bio Index so both allowed into NZ (as seed) and presumably have been here recently. I don't know of the latter but the former was listed by Parva Plants (formerly of Tauranga but now near Chch) a few years ago and probably will be again sometime. Things that go around come around. I'll order it when I see it. I could get to be quite interested in this genus which, it never occurred to me, belongs to Apiaceae, (thanks Maggi) not obvious from the 'Picos Blue' plants. This has caused much interest over the last couple of months not only from garden visitors but from a truck driver who called in because his cell phone was down and his truck had a problem and he needed a phone, someone else looking for our neighbours and the man who cleans the septic tank! There's no doubt it's one of the most spectacular things here at present seemingly better every day. But I dread the seed being ready and needing to be collected!

[Lesley Cox]

JW in Nova Scotia sent me some seed a while back of a small Dahlia species. Most succumbed to an out of season frost but one seed waited until the spring to germinate and then grew on nicely to make an attractive little plant with rough foliage, very neat and tidy. Here is the first flower. It is about 4cms across and I think the plant will look good with the chocolate cosmos which are in bloom now, and many seeds forming, I'm happy to say, including on the so-called sterile named clones which have been in garden centres last year and the year before. The bees have been at work between those ones and my originals so seed on the lot.

Campanula pulla x zoysii is doing well in a skinny raised bed edging the drive which I started to stop people driving into what will be nursery. I also have the reverse zoysii x pulla but that is much smaller and hasn't flowered yet.

Thymus 'Elfin' is in the same bed and also in a trough (the second picture). It doesn't flower but makes a lovely compact cushion, this one about 12cm across. However now and then a plant will make a sport out the side which flowers well, very low and compact and with the typical perfume of T, serpyllum. 'Elfin' doesn't have much scent at all. I'm doing cuttings of the sport hoping to make a separate. very compact flowering form.

[Lesley Cox]

I don't usually grow annuals as they're too much trouble to replace each year and I don't think they look at ease with more permanent alpine plants. But this year I've had great pleasure from the Tropaeolum (nasturtium) 'Empress of India,' and from a little South Aftrican daisy called Charieis heterophylla, often sold as Felecia bergeriana from which it is quite distinct. I've taken many photos of the Charieis but can't capture the wonderful colour until this morning before the sun came up I managed to get something which showed a pretty good approximation. Here it is along with a rogue seedling which has produced a rich maroon flower instead of the blue. There's also a very dark navy to indigo blue. The blues curl back their petals for the night and unfold again in the morning. For some season neither the maroon nor the dark blue does that but stays wide open all night.

[Lesley Cox]

Two other annuals going strong at present are the dark purple Papaver somniferum and a little quite prostrate sweet pea called 'Pink Cupid.' This has been around in New Zealand for at least 50 years I think, first being distributed from the NZAGS seedlist where it was known to all as "Bunty's Pea" since it was the seedlist director of the time, Bunty Roi who spread it around. Just within the last year or so, it has been redistributed as simply 'Cupid' and said to have been bred by an Auckland breeder of numerous showy plants but this is definitely identical to Bunty's original. The person concerned is the one who claims to have developed the fertile choc cosmos seed too. I'd like to have a good chat with said person one day!!!!

[Lesley Cox]

I should have said the Lathyrus plants are only about 10-12 cms high and spread to about 50 cms each. I planted out 20 seedlings to make a carpet over Cyclamen coum but that is already coming through. What a silly season we are having! The flower stems are about 12 cms long and the two tone flowers have the typical, wonderful sweet pea fragrance.

All these annuals mentioned above, (Troaeolum, Papaver, Charieis, Lathyrus,) are setting excellent seed. If anyone would like some, let me know.

[johnw]

Great to hear Lesley.  We lost ours in the horrendously wet summer of 2011, friends did as well.  So this Dahlia may very well only exist in abundance in the southern hemisphere now.

The flower is identical to the original but does it have the chocolate fragrance - evening  think was best or was that sunset only?

Over-wintering was also a great problem.  Ken says leaving the tuber in its pot and keeping it bone dry was successful whereas bare-rooting was disastrous.  How have you been handling it?  I hope a few other people have it as well.

johnw   - where we await a blizzard.

[Hillview croconut]

Thanks Lesley for lots of lovely pictures and interesting observations.

In a rush but Lesley's post got me out to snap a few things in the garden.

Eryngium Picos Blue is stunning at present but sun strong so could only manage a couple of flowers in the shade.

Eryngium Violetta has been incredible but now on the wan.

Bloomeria crocea - might be a different name but I guess someone will enlighten me.

Origanum dictamnus - sun too strong for a good shot but its seems to like the conditions.

Cheers, Marcus