May 2015 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Jupiter]

Hot sunny places I have, but high Andes this most definitely is not! I'm making sure I'm all smiles and pleasantries when I bump into our quarantine officer at work. A good relationship with her might help not just me but the whole gardening community in the future.

Not a plant I know but very pretty, Amanita muscaria

[Lesley Cox]

Very pretty, very poisonous though some species are more so. I have a patch under my mailbox, and it gets nibbled by something, possibly rabbits.

[vivienne Condon]

Yes you need to keep very friendly with any quarantine officers as you never know when you may want to import plants.
That interesting about Oxalis adenophylla Lesley, I always thought they may be tricky, it would be good to see them growing in the wild as we would have a better knowledge of how to grow them.
Here are two of my favourite Oxalis we saw when we were in the UK last, I guess they will never make it to this country. They were growing at Wisley, in their Glass house's so they may not be hardy there either. Patagonia climate would be difficult to copy anywhere I should think.

[Otto Fauser]

Viv , beautiful photos of the exciting 2 named clones of Oxalis laciniata . I once grew a seedling with almost the same dark blue flowers (it only ever produced 2 flowers ) but it is no longer with me . Also had a 10" pan filled with Oxalis "Ione Hecker " ,also no longer here .

[Anthony Darby]

My Paramongaia weberbaueri opened today. Pot has just been sitting in full sun all summer with no water until the first leaves appeared.

[Jupiter]

Thanks for posting those pictures of Oxalis laciniata. Wonderful plants aren't they? I'm going to keep my eyes open for seed on the exchanges. Perhaps if you failed there Otto, I might be lucky? You never know, maybe they would tolerate a mediterranean climate better than a temperate one?

My order from Woodbridge nursery arrived today! Gentiana dinarica, I have to try! A couple of choice little campanulas and Leptinella pusilla for the rock garden.

[Chris Johnson]

Not a plant I know but very pretty, Amanita muscaria

Fungi were honorary members of the floral kingdom for nigh on 200 years. They now have their own kingdom. 

[Jupiter]

Yes it's true they considered them plants but it seems strange to us now... they look so different, don't photosynthesize and they don't build their cell wall out of cellulose. I work in a fungal pathology lab and I never cease to be amazed by fungi and their enigmatic life-cycles.

[Lesley Cox]

Viv, do you not have Ox laciniata in Australia at all? Is seed permitted? Peter Erskine's 'Seven Bells' is a fantastic form isn't it? I believe it is here though I don't have it.

[Lesley Cox]

The Paramongaia is super Anthony. Is it South american? I have a couple of SAs with specific name of weberbaueri. And is it related to Narcissus (i.e. Amaryllidaceae?)

[vivienne Condon]

Oh Otto, now they are not even in Australia.
No Oxalis lacinata, adenophylla, and seed is not permitted, we did see Oxalis 'Seven Bells' in Peter Erskine's glass house, is it his hybrid Lesley? or from a collection of his. Stephen Ryan was lamenting on the lack of the these oxalis the last time he was speaking to the AGSVG group, I think he has been trying to get Aqis to change their minds for years to no avail, a bit like all of the lovely dwarf Salix.
We have all worked so hard with Aqis for years now, and it takes years before plants are placed on the approved lists.

     

[Hoy]

Very pretty, very poisonous though some species are more so. I have a patch under my mailbox, and it gets nibbled by something, possibly rabbits.

The red is not the most poisonous one as you say Lesley. I have read that farther east (from me!) they used it for dope. The effect was better if you drank the urine from one who had eaten it. It is also said that the berserks used it. Probably they had learnt it in Garšarķki.

[Hoy]

Vivienne, that makes sense. Of course they would treat all the Oxalis equally and exclude them all from import. I guess I'll have to be satisfied with pictures... until I travel to Patagonia.

Jamus, until you get there! They came in many colours and shapes. Some even grew in rather shady woods and some rew through 20cm of volcanic ash.
These are O. adenophylla.

[Hoy]

Many species were yellow like this Oxalis san-romanii. But usually bigger than this species.
A red one: O. squamata

[Jupiter]

Thanks for those amazing pictures Hoy. Did you find it easy to travel in Patagonia? Did you visit Northern Chile too? Are they well set up for tourism or a challenging destination? I don't speak Spanish obviously.