June 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Maggi Young]

Ian found this old shot of how the Mec. delavayi used to grow 

[Leena]

A picture of my oldest woodland bed.
Paeonia obovata
Ranunculus constantinopolitanus 'Plenus'
Tulipa batalinii, this little tulip has survived many years in my garden coming up each year while taller tulips flower mostly just one time after planting.

[Maggi Young]

A beautiful woodland bed , Leena - very much to my taste!

[astragalus]

Linum suffruticosum salsoides-1st flowering

So nice to see this plant again.  I grew it years ago and liked it.  Don't really remember when or why it left the garden.

[Roma]

Flowering in the greenhouse
Five flowers open on Roscoea humeana 'Alba' from Hartside nursery
Second flower on Roscoea humeana 'Alba' grown from seed
The flower shape is different and the leaves on the seed grown one are more advanced
Weldenia candida

[Steve Garvie]

These white Roscoea are bonny!

[meanie]

Roma - Weldenia candida is a jewel!

Also in the greenhouse here is Mackaya bella which has just started blooming...............


I was just pleased that this one survived the greenhouse freeze but now I'm stunned that it is in bloom so early. The larger plant which was also in the greenhouse really looked a goner but started to come back from the roots a few weeks ago. Even more surprising is Sues which was treated appallingly and left out all winter - new shoots started to emerge from the roots last weekend!

[Robert]

A few plants that I am enjoying in the garden right now.

>1 Chaenactis artemisiifoila. A tall growing California native annual. There are a number of Chaenactis species native to California some of which I appreciate in the garden. Concerning C. artemisiifolia, I enjoy the form and purity of the flowers and the deeply cut gray foliage. 100% xeric!

>2 Madia elegans. Another California native annual. Late in the season come the beautiful flowers and wonderfully scented foliage (at least to me). During the summer the plants will die off. I leave them in place as the first autumn rains bring out the wonder fragrance of the foliage for another season. The scent can be enjoyed from 100 feet distance or much more if one has many plants. 50 years ago there were thousands of acres of this species growing wild and in the autumn their scent was everywhere, saying this is California.

>3 Monardella odoratissima var pallida. Perennial. Another one of those scented foliage plants that I enjoy so much. The flowers are nice too. Variety pallida is generally found at the higher elevations in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. At the lower elevations this species will generally have lavender-pink flowers. Selection is worth while as some are exceptional.

[johnralphcarpenter]

That's  three I've never heard of before. Thanks Robert.

[Robert]

That's  three I've never heard of before. Thanks Robert.

Ralph,

Thanks! I wish that I had more time to photograph the plants in the garden. There are some (more like lots) interesting xeric California native plants that I have brought into the garden. Most are generally over looked, even by the local gardeners and thus are rarely seen in gardens. Many are indeed good garden plants for our climatic conditions and are looking good drought or no drought. They seem to fit into a garden setting just fine.

[meanie]

I let Iris foetidissima self seed about as it throws up some interesting colours. The latest is this one that is blooming for the first time which is rather good in my eyes...............

[Giles]

Some big leaved Magnolias:
Magnolia macrophylla ashei
Magnolia officinalis biloba
Magnolia tripetala

[Giles]

Magnolia sieboldii 'Genesis'
Magnolia wilsonii (from Cluny House seed list, now 18' tall)
Magnolia x wieseneri
Magnolia x wieseneri 'Swede Made' (not a spelling mistake; it was made in Sweden)

[johnw]

Giles  -  Is 'Swede Made' commonly available there now?  Stefan Mattson from Enkoping who named it has spoken here several times and was frustrated with its propagation difficulties.  I have its sibling which I easily chip-budded.

Sadly the great magnolia hybridizer Dennis Ledvina died last week.  He probably had done more for magnolias than anyone on the planet.  His new insignis crosses have produced some sensational pink hybrids that look like sieboldii and tripetala.

johnw   

[Robert]

I let Iris foetidissima self seed about as it throws up some interesting colours. The latest is this one that is blooming for the first time which is rather good in my eyes...............

Meanie,

It looks good to my eyes too. Sometimes the self-seeders can be a great bonus to the garden. This year the reseeders have saved the day in parts of our garden that went more or less completely neglected since last fall.