June 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Robert]

and an unknown Calochortus grown from a mixed bag of bulbs from a local garden centre,
any ideas to the name would be appreciated.

Mike,

My guess is that the Calochortus is a hybrid of sorts, most likely with C. venustus. Without a better look at the calyx (on an open flower) it is difficult for me to make a better guess, however the unopened bud suggests a hybrid of sorts as well as other features. I am no expert, so hopefully someone will have an answer for you.

Nice looking plants. Thanks for sharing.

[Steve Garvie]

...............and an unknown Calochortus grown from a mixed bag of bulbs from a local garden centre,
any ideas to the name would be appreciated.

As Robert suggests it looks to have venustus blood -looks very similar to some of the Cuddy Creek strains of C. venustus that I used to grow.

[Mike Ireland]

Steve, Robert & Maggie,
thanks for the comments/info. Coming from a mixed bag which turned out to be mainly C. uniflorus the red flower was quite a surprise.

[johnw]

Maggi

Well down there to you in the Annapolis Valley they do grow it under glass for the winter but outdoors for the summer along with their Nepenthes.  No Ecuadorians around here  other than landed immigrants of the two-legged sort.  I think this came from the Irving Botanic Gdn where they had a large tender Vaccinium collection - pix and that's Barry Starling's hand.

We're good with up and down here in NS, it's all our other directions that make no sense.

john

[HClase]

As I said in an earlier posting in St John's we are 200 miles to the west, rather farther south and about 2 months earlier (or later depending upon how you interpret it) than you in Scotland.

No real rock garden around our little condo but where else can you have narcissus in June?  Two clumps of these came up in the bed in front this year,  I don't remember planting them so I suppose it was Leila in 2013.  (They may have come from one of those bags of mixed left over bulbs that they sell cheaply in supermarkets.)  I have no record, but unusually they seem to be doing very well and escaping the fly - almost every one had three flowers per stem.  Anyway, I don't know what variety these might be, can anyone help?

[Maggi Young]

How lovely, Howard - I think those are Narcissus 'Thalia' - which happens to be one of the best multi-headed  whites , in my opinion.

[Robert]

Some old, common friends in our garden.

1> Allium senescens - Common and easy. I would not be without it. I have been trialing some other Alliums in the garden. I try to avoid the Allium thugs too. The Allium thugs are long time pests in the city of Sacramento, California.

2> Aquilegia formosa - Our local species. The columbines hybridize in our garden, so I often plant more A. formosa from local seed as this is my favorite species. Yes, there are some great dwarf species, but I would not be without A. formosa.

3> Originum 'Kent Beauty' - Thrives in one of our sand beds.

[meanie]

Another of my Iris foetidissima. This one has been blooming for a couple of years now...............


I now consider Acnistus australis to be hardy. The small blue one has started to bloom.............

[Robert]

Mimulus cardinalis - They will bloom all summer into the Autumn. I also grow a yellow flowering form that will start blooming soon. This species grows near streams in its native habitat, so they need some irrigation to do well in the garden.

[meanie]

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Mimulus cardinalis - They will bloom all summer into the Autumn. I also grow a yellow flowering form that will start blooming soon. This species grows near streams in its native habitat, so they need some irrigation to do well in the garden.

I used to grow this at my last house. Not hardy here but a reliable self seeder. Time to grow it again I think.

[Matt T]

A lovely plant. I used to grow it as a pond marginal - not submerged, but with it's feet wet. Not here though, over in 'balmy' Essex.

[Robert]

I used to grow this at my last house. Not hardy here but a reliable self seeder. Time to grow it again I think.

meanie,

Thank you for the information. Given the elevation range of this species I thought that it would be more cold hardy. The plant world is certainly full of constant surprises. In the garden here it can sprout back from the crown or from the roots up to .3 meters away from the crown. It certainly provides much flower color in the garden when there is not much else in bloom.

If you decide you want to try them again let me know. Most likely I can provide some seed.

[ichristie]

Hello, it is great to see so many different plants from all the forumists we are now very dry here desperate for rain plants flowering still 2 weeks or so late a good show of Primula candelabras  and Lilium mackliniae

[ichristie]

A few more, Ian

[ichristie]

We have had our rain yesterday and with this came some large hailstones knocked a few tall flowers over still dry underneath but looks like more rain tonight, a few more pictures,  cheers Ian the Christie kind