July 2014 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Anthony Darby]

They were sent as Albuca spiral Lesley. I sowed them in pure pumice and have kept them reasonably moist to give them a good growing season.

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Anthony. I'll await mine with interest. Spiral leaves are lovely I think.

Winter continues cold in the south but today there is good sun after a hard frost. Most mornings have been like the one below, gorgeous colour, a quick sun-up, this disappearing into heavy cloud for the rest of the day.

I found the red mushroom (Amanita muscaria, fly agaric,) under our letter box recently and the other, (Caprinus comatus, shaggy ink cap) under the plum tree which is hated for its leaf/flower/fruit/rain fall on my nursery beds but useful for its summer shade. I'd not met this fungus before but apparently it is edible while young. This one's a bit late I think and an hour later was beginning to drip black "ink," and looking distinctly dodgy. positively sinister in fact.

Through the winter this rather nice grey polyanthus has been in flower. It was here when we arrived and I like its unusual colour. It has a strong perfume too.

[Robert]

Beautiful Sunrise Lesley!

[Maggi Young]

What a sky!  I've passed that pic on for use on the SRGC Twitter page, Lesley - to let the "twittersphere" see what our members are seeing. 

[Lesley Cox]

Thank you Robert and Maggi. Unfortunately, like all such sunrises, it was precursor to a "shepherds' warning" type of day. We've had few day recently with no rain, accompanied by bitterly cold winds but the colouring made up for a lot of that. After I took the photo I went in to put the kettle on and within two minutes when I went out again, all that glorious red and purple was light yellow then gone a minute later.

Maggi I didn't know we had a Twitter page. I can't cope with either Twitter or Facebook and feel the world is leaving me way behind because of it.

[Maggi Young]

A kind member was good enough to start a Twitter page for the Club so that we could have a foot in that camp. I pass on interesting bits and bobs to be posted there to let the "Tweeps" know what we're up to :

https://twitter.com/ScottishRockGC

For other members on Twitter: why not keep in touch - 'Follow' etc!! 

[Lesley Cox]

"Tweeps?" I thought those who twittered were twits!

[Maggi Young]

"Tweeps?" I thought those who twittered were twits!

A commonly held belief, Lesley.
 But in trying to get to grips with the notion of  this "social media" thingy,  I discover that "they" seem to refer to themselves as Tweeps  - derived I suppose from  people ("peeps") who tweet......   

Hard to imagine any medium more social than this forum, really, though...... 

[arillady]

Lachenalias making themselves at home.
A spider I missed when I took this photo.
the bulbocodiums ex Monocot years ago.
The oncocyclus irises are beginning.

[Lesley Cox]

Golly Pat, is your season very early, like ours? It would seem so with Lachenalias and oncos out already!

I have a lot of "spring" crocuses well out and even finishing though a few haven't appeared yet. One of the nicest - for me anyway - is a hybrid of cvijicii x veluchensis. This one is, I think, the best coloured of a couple of batches of seedlings which have been gradually flowering over 3 or 4 years. The weather has been rotten for weeks, persistent rain, bitter, savage winds and some snow so that any poor crocus is finding life difficult and very few are opening properly before fading away. Not good photos but they give an idea of the colour.

[arillady]

That is a lovely coloured Crocus Lesley. We have had cold and rain on and off for weeks. Yes the arils are early. I never remember when the lachenalias flower.

[Jupiter]

Early bulbs are starting here, many of them very early this year as you said Pat. I'll post bits and pieces as they come out.

[Maggi Young]

Always such a pleasure to see the fantastic photos from Forumists - thanks to you all!

[Hillview croconut]

Hi,

Some very beautiful plants on display. Wow Leslie! I am turning GREEN .... . Did you do the crocus cross? You know I am a bit of a purist but I must say that cross is beautiful. I have a few chrysanthus x biflorus (whatever!) crosses going here at the moment. I'll see if I have the time to post some pictures.

In the meantime . . . just a few to make a contribution:

Iris unguicularis ssp creticus grown from seed collected at the Kedros Plateau in Crete.

Crocus? cvijicii collected as Crocus veluchensis seed way below where it would be expected to occur at Tria Pigadia near Mt. Vermion.

Cyclamen coum Silver Leaves originally from Kath Dryden seed many moons ago - sorry about the weeds!

Hellebore lividus, again originally from Brian Mathew seed, many years ago.

Cheers, Marcus

[Lori S.]

What an absolutely stunning crocus, Lesley!  I never imagined crocus could be that colour.

Beautiful photos, Jupiter!  Your skills at photography (and at growing plants  )are enviable!