July 2014 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Maggi Young]

Mark - I think I'd stick with straight Silene hookeri. The subsp. ingramii is supposed to have deep red to magenta flowers cf. subsp. hookeri, but I don't know how distinct each really is (it's always interesting to grow batches of plants from wild collected seed to get some idea of natural variation - don't know how many botanists actually do this?). I've never managed to keep this long on a sand bed but it's very striking in flower. There is a wonderful picture of the third subsp. bolanderi in Graham Nicholls book with the finest of wispy petals - certainly be fun to grow that!

From elsewhere in the forum :

Silene hookeri ingramii from Luc Gilgemyn


Silene hookeri bolanderi grown by Cyril Lafong

See the range shown in Calphotos: http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-genre=Plant&where-taxon=Silene+hookeri

[Mark Griffiths]

Tim, thanks. The hookeri I grew from JJA seed were more the salmon pink kind. I grew bolanderi many years ago and had a seedling or two - that's more like 40 yrs ago though. I also had one from seed of pulivinata (sp?).

[Roma]

Check out Cyril's Forrest Medal winning Silene hookeri ssp. bolanderii in the list of winners for 2003 (under Shows) in the main SRGC site

[ruweiss]

These Arisaemas are now out flowering, but I keep them in big pots
for their foliage effect. (Arisaema fargesii, franchetianum and candidissimum.)
The Lecanophora spec. was raised from seed collected at a roadside near
Zapala by Vojtech Holubec.

[meanie]

The Fuchsias are finally starting to put a show on;

Thalia is always reliable..................


F.microphylla.....................


And F.colonsoi................


Commelina coelestis alba came through the winter unharmed..............


An unknown Penstemon (one of the P.heterophylus cultivars at a guess) that I nicked a cutting from last year...................


I've finally managed a decent photo of N.glauca...................

[Robert]

The big heat is here now. It seems that nothing is in bloom or looking good, however, when I look around the garden it is looks fairly good considering the drought. Not too many flowers this summer.

Some seedling oriental lilies by the garden gate as I set off to work for the day. They are in pots so that I can switch things around as they come into bloom.

[Hoy]

Just a few more or less wild plants from my mountain cabin:

A harebell with the biggest bells I've ever seen on Campanula rotundifolia, as big as my thumb nail!



A common wild rose, Rosa majalis:




A fern, Botrychium lanceolatum:



And the American Indian Paintbrush, Castilleja miniata, from seed some years ago:

 

[Maggi Young]

Your native flowers are looking at their best, Trond  and real congratulations on getting the beautiful Castelleja to grow "up there" too!

[Robert]

Out making the early morning rounds:

The first Canna by the garden gate opening this morning,

and near by, surprised by this Heuchera hybrid that has been blooming for months,

as well as a few lingering pink Larkspur, the rest are long gone.

The very busy harvest season is starting. Ripening fruit, 'Heavenly White' Nectarines,

and 'Flavor King' Pluots coloring up well.

[Hoy]

Your native flowers are looking at their best, Trond  and real congratulations on getting the beautiful Castelleja to grow "up there" too!

Thanks Maggi! I scattered seeds here and there and have gotten at least 2 plants. One of them is very strong growing.


Can't grow nectarines up here though but we once grew peach down at our summerhouse!


Here's the big flowered harebell and one from a clone where the flowers have 5 to 7 lobes.


Some other natives in flower, Arnica montana, Gentiana purpurea and goldenrod with a butterfly (Erebia ligea) which is very common here.

[Hoy]

Had to put the Arran Brown here, was too many pidctures in the other reply.

[Chris Johnson]

Had to put the Arran Brown here, was too many pidctures in the other reply.

A nice image of the butterfly, which has not been officially determined as British even though it is named after the Scottish Isle of Arran.

This from: www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

"The presence of this butterfly in the British Isles has long been disputed. However, there are several historical records that would suggest that it was once found in Scotland. The first record is from the Isle of Arran, Clyde Isles, Scotland, in 1803, from where this butterfly gets its name. Any confusion is not helped by the close similarity with the Scotch Argus, with some specimens of Arran Brown being discovered within series of Scotch Argus in old collections.

British specimens of this species are few and far between. There is certainly insufficient evidence to conclusively determine if the species was ever resident, a migrant, or accidentally or deliberately introduced."

Chris

[Hoy]

With the easterlies we have had now for several days quite a few specimens could easily have been blown over to you, Chris!

[olegKon]

This is what has grown from the AGS seed marked Townsendia mensana. In fact it's a nice Erigeron (too big for a trough though). Can anyone help to identify the species?

[meanie]

Bomarea edulis at last!


I finally planted it out this spring and it has romped away. For once something has come together as it should - I've used a Philadelphus as a host to climb through and the Bomarea has started blooming as the Philadelphus has gone over!