Flowers and foliage February 2008

[Tony Willis]

talking of rosulate violas I just thought I would use it as an excuse to put up a picture. Not my scree bed but in flower now.

[Gerdk]

talking of rosulate violas I just thought I would use it as an excuse to put up a picture. Not my scree bed but in flower now.

Tony, this makes me nervous 

Viola congesta ?

Your own picture? Where in flower now - Lancashire?

Gerd

[Tony Willis]

Gerd

my picture taken this time last year in the Rio Teno valley in Central Chile,it was just to get your heart beating a little faster.It was a very large scree bed covering a great area of mountainside

[Maggi Young]

Tony, such violets get all our hearts beating a little faster, I think 
That shape, those leaves, such flowers..... what, as our American friends on TV say, is "not to love"
Our success with such plants has been limited over the long term but the pleasure to raise even a small plant from seed and perhaps get a flower or two is SUCH a thrill 
As always when one sees the plants happy in their natural home, it does make one feel rather inadequate, though

[Gerdk]

Gerd
my picture taken this time last year in the Rio Teno valley in Central Chile,it was just to get your heart beating a little faster.It was a very large scree bed covering a great area of mountainside

Tony, Thank you. Do you agree with V. congesta?
Chile is a dream, isn't it?

Gerd

[Gerdk]

Our success with such plants has been limited over the long term but the pleasure to raise even a small plant from seed and perhaps get a flower or two is SUCH a thrill 

Maggi,
I am sure you would  give me the attribute ' killer of rare violets ' if I would tell you of my very, very poor results with these rosulates violets 
See my one and only success - Viola rosulata

Gerd

[Tony Willis]

Gerd

I think it was called V. congesta. I am impressed you got yours to flowering size even if it has since died. Mine did not even form a rosette although the stems got several inches long before it died.I am pleased that even for a moment you thought I might have grown the one in the picture. I have seen a couple on the show benches which have shown wonderful skill in growing them but they just do not compare with the wild plants. We have to try though i think it is in our nature.

[Paul T]

Tony,

Never seen anything like that before.  Do you have any closeup pics of it to show individual rosette and flower arrangement etc?  Never heard of them before, or at least I don't recall them anyway!! 

[Tony Willis]

Paul

I have this one of a viola which is a bit closer. If you want I can send you the full size file which is 1.85mb and you can zoom in your self. This particular hillside was covered in hundreds of them and I only saw them against the bare earth when I stopped to look at an equal number of oxalis.To save being thought of as exagerating here is part of the hillside and one of the oxalis

[art600]

Tony

Was the trip with the AGS?

[Rafa]

Tony: Just amazing!!!, thank you very much for sharing this marvellous pictures.

[Paul T]

Oh My!!  Unbelievable!!  So these were out in full sun I am assuming, unlike the traditional violas which prefer some shade?  Were these cold growers as well, or was this in non-frost areas?  I know that the leaf arrangement of most of these types of plants is dependent on harshness of the climate (Oxalis palmifrons will produce a similar flat disk leaf arrangement when grown in the right conditions, but doesn't look nearly as precise as that in my conditions), so I am assuming it is a fairly hot and dry type growing arrangement there?  Do they then go into winter dormancy?  I am absolutely fascinated by these..... and of course now coveting them greatly!!    That arrangement of the leaf disk, with those flowers sitting right on top is breathtaking.  Would have been fascinating to see them in person.  The Oxalis is pretty impressive too!!

Thanks so much for the pictures.  Superb!!!!!! 

[Paddy Tobin]

Tony,

What an extraordinary plant - the viola, stunningly beautiful.

And the blue oxalis is outstanding.

Many thanks,

Paddy

[Hans A.]

my picture taken this time last year in the Rio Teno valley in Central Chile,it was just to get your heart beating a little faster.It was a very large scree bed covering a great area of mountainside

Hi Tony,

so last year I nearly could have seen you!
I visited at january 2007 the Laguna de Maule / Central Chile - it was a very similar habitat with a hugh number of Oxalis adenophylla - it is no surprise this Violas are so difficult to grow - the radiation is extremly intense - my not covered skin at the hands turned red even with a good sun protection (60) - surprisingly the Oxalis seam to be much easier to grow.
Tony , thanks for the fantastic fotos.

[Tony Willis]

Hans yes I was at Maule in January,I thought the policeman and his family running the border post were very nice and I had tea with them. Bit harder up the teno as it was a day when the road was closed and i had to work hard at getting permission to go up.

Arthur, I went on my own, just sorted out some flights and a couple of car hires. Had a week in Patagonia, and one split between a few days acouple of hundred miles South of santiago and  a couple of days a bit North.

Paul they are under deep winter snow and it is not hot at any time.It was a few thousand feet up and although very sunny there was a lot of wind. The summer rainfall is comparitvley light.As  hans said the UV is intense.

A couple more pics
orepolus
 rhodophiala
 alstroemeria