November 2014 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Jupiter]

Sounds great Stephen, yes I like the seed heads too. The only trouble are the copious volunteers which follow, but I don't mind as they are easy to weed out and it's pretty obvious what they are. I let a lot of things go to seed and enjoy the seed heads, as you do too by the sounds of it.

It's very dry here in Adelaide. We have quite a drought going on unfortunately. Things are hanging in there but it's on the edge.

[Stephen Vella]

As attractive as the seed heads are on perennials they also serve a purpose for next generations and even accidental hybrids that maybe something unusual/ desirable, seeding in places that are more favorable.
Hope the rains come in time as to alleviate the time spent on hand watering. The heat really dries the place up fast in the high 20s, low 30s. The grass is starting to become crunchy and it's not even summer.

[Anthony Darby]

Revisited Joy Plants and came away with four pots. One huge Scilla natalensis with a flower spike in bud and three Drimia urginea, and all for $30. Terry Hatch was in good form.

[ruweiss]

It is nice to read, that Terry Hatch is in good form.
He was one of our tour guides during Southern Alpines 1996 and we had
a fine time together with this excellent plantsman.
Please give him our best wishes if you see him again.

[Lesley Cox]

Stephen, the iris is wattii x tectorum and was bred and registered by the late Jean Stephens, an early NZ TB breeder.

Anthony, Terry's always in good form isn't he?

[Jupiter]

Saxifraga cochlearis 'Snowdrift'




An unknown (to me) species Alstroemeria.

[Anthony Darby]

Anthony, Terry's always in good form isn't he?

Yes, I could spend a day there and still not see everything. Every plant seems to have a history. He says he got the original Scilla natalensis bulbs 50 years ago. I can believe it! He was at a flower show at the weekend and spent more than he made in the first hour. I can believe that too. 

[Lesley Cox]

He was at a flower show at the weekend and spent more than he made in the first hour. . 

As you do!

[Jupiter]

Another orange flower... I love this little poppy for its ability to survive and thrive, but orange offends me in the garden, so it's an awkward relationship. How do others here feel about orange in the garden?



Papaver atlanticum (Papaver rupifragum var. atlanitcum?)

[Matt T]

Oh, Jamus! Orange is a wonderful colour in the garden. Even the untidy, invasive Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora reprieves itself in late summer when ablaze with flower. The rest of the year we wage a war against it. I follow the Christopher Lloyd school of design with colour and revel in mixing colours of all hues. To be honest we need to be grateful for anything that will manage to flower in our difficult conditions.

[Jupiter]

You see that Crocosmia is stunning and I agree, it's such a glowing and sunny hue, but it just jars somehow.. i can't explain it. I feel the same way about yellow and I was really upset when the 'red' Erysimum I planted en masse turned out to be half red and half yellow/orange.

[Tim Ingram]

Maybe if you live in a hot sunny place with vivid flowers you yearn for softer pastel shades - and if in a cooler overcast climate something much more vivid! There is a very good book by the photographer Andrew Lawson - 'The Gardeners Book of Colour' which looks at the way colours and plants interact, and a lot is to do with the balance of foliage and flower. How can you end up except as a flower arranger? Beth Chatto's garden confirms this so well.

What about here...?

[Stephen Vella]

Jamus, it could be our harsh sun. The light in the northern hemisphere is softer and these hot colours are more acceptable. Just an observation.
Have you noticed as a photographer the hot colours really stand out early in the morning or at sunset and even better on foggy/ misty days when the light levels are just right and photograph well or otherwise on a hot sunny day there is too much glare and the colours bleach out and so use a filter.. But our eyes don't have filters just blinkers.
Oranges look great with blues, greys, greens and autumn colours. Or go with shocking purple and pinks.
It is a matter of taste.. Working in public garden I've noticed the public go straight for the hot or shocking colours.
Orange is a great colour!
Cheers

[Lesley Cox]

I love orange too and it's easily tempered with hot scarlets, gold/yellow/lemon/cream colours or blues and they look wonderful with lime green colours as in the many euphorbia species, lime-green tobacco, alchemilla and others. The only no-no for me would be orange with magenta or rosy pinks. Put several orange shades together. I always believe - I've seen it so many times - that plants of the same or very similar shades ENHANCE and strengthen each other, rather than cancel each other, as some believe. Colour is so much a matter of perception - and taste of course.

I can't find the picture at the moment but I have a marvellous Cheiranthus called C x Kewensis 'Rufus' which is a low bush of hottest burnt orange. It's known locally as 'Taieri Sunset' but the other is correct. I think it's on a different card and not processed yet.

In the meantime, at last, after 3 attempts, I have the true Papaver 'Patty's Plum,' a glorious plant in a rich, smoky deep red/pink. I adore this form!

[Jupiter]

Oh Lesley, that oriental is gorgeous. I absolutely love that colour. I hope you will be keeping seed when it's ripe (silly question considering who I'm talking to).

Yes colour is very much a matter of taste and highly subjective. I guess like many of you here for me the plants take precedence over the 'garden' so I haven't been able to create a colour themed garden, apart from my silver and purple corner, which is working quite well I think, albeit on a small scale.

My youngest sister is drawn to combinations of hot pink and orange...    I agree with you, it has to be the most jarring colour combination in existence. Likewise I work with a woman who is planting a "red, white and blue" garden.     Not my cup of tea at all, but each to their own.

Stephen, yes I've often seen hot colours burning out in photographs. You're right about our sunlight here. I wouldn't be surprised if it was double or more the intensity of European daylight, I haven't seen any figures on thus subject but I've seen plenty of Brits on holiday as red as beetroots! I'd take photographs but my camera just can't accurately render that intensity of red! 

I don't use filters; the only one I own is a circular polariser which might actually help. A neutral density filter would suffice I suppose. The era of filters is a by-gone one, tweeks to whitebalance and shooting bracketed sets for later HDR processing in photoshop is the way things are going. I don't get that technical though. NO TIME!