August 2015 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Arum]

Yes. Thank you again Anthony. That has also been confirmed off line. Pleased to put a label on it again. Edna

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Jamus, both you and Viv should report these breaches to the Director of the Airports Program. No officer has the right to deviate from the prescribed conditions of entry as outlined in ICON UNLESS they have VERY COMPELLING  grounds to do so.

Viv, all your frits look like hispanica/lusitanica. Pyrenaicea flowers usually is slate to chestnut brown with a gold interior and rolled tips.

I am sure there is some difference with the leaves and one has linear nectaries but I can't remember this stuff and would need to look it up.  Hispanica/lusitanica is a large and difficult complex and needs revision.  Get the crocus blokes on to it!

Cheers,  M

[vivienne Condon]

Thanks so much Marcus that is what Otto said too, but he said to put them on the forum just to make sure they were Fritillaria lusitanica

[Jupiter]

I tried again to get good pictures of the Iris tuberosa today as we had dry weather and good light. They are looking their best right now.

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Jamus,

Well done with these.  They look gorgeous. None of mine are out yet. We must be 3 weeks behind here. Another SA friend tells me his Cyclamen libanoticum and pseudibericum are flowering already.  Mine don't even have buds showing.

As a postscript to your lovely herms (ok, iris): I believe I may have collected the seed on Poros. Just over on the hill looking down on the little port.  They have many bulbs for company including,  both Crocus boryi and cancellatus mazziaricus, Fritillaria argolica, Cyclamen graecum, feral Iris germanica and romulea.

Viv, ID always seems easier in one's own garden! Hats off to those earlier taxonomists who must have spent many a puzzling hour with what Farrer called,  a bunch of green and brown stinking bells! A tad unkind but after endlessly sifting through them I'm sure those taxonomists would have tended to agree

Cheers, M

[Jupiter]

Marcus I have Cyclamen libanoticum flowering here too, actually it came out a couple of weeks ago! It's newly planted in the rock garden so it wasn't looking very photogenic, but here's a snap anyway.



Edna, your clumps of snowdrops are drop dead gorgeous! I keep going back to look at them.
 
Vivienne, did you take a digital SLR camera on your trip to the Pyrenees or are those photos taken with a compact camera? They are nice shots.

[Jupiter]

Here are the weekends photos in the garden. Sunday was nice and warm and I got quite a bit of gardening done.


Ipheion "Rolf Fiedler was a gift from Trevor Nottle.


I grew Lobelia tupa from seed 3 years ago and have a couple of good sized plants in the garden now. The newly expanding leaves have lovely texture.


Otto gave me this wonderful Narcissus cyclamineus selection from his garden which he called "hint of green".


Another reticulated iris flowering, this one I bought as "Springtime".


Salvia africana var. lutea is absolutely as tough as boots in our climate. I neglected it all summer through the drought and it's going gang-busters.

[Jupiter]

And a couple more...



A bit of a thug but I love Veronica peduncularis. This one goes by a few names so I'm not sure of the cultivar; georgia blue?


I raised this Sparaxis from South African imported seed 2 seasons ago and have the first flowers now. Very rewarding.

[Hillview croconut]

Beautiful photos Jamus. Mine can't get up there to your level but here are a couple of interesting customers:


Galanthus "Spindlestone Surprise"

Fritillaria carica - came to me from Pilous as F. kittaniae

Cheers, Marcus

[Anthony Darby]

Does anyone grow yellows in New Zealand?

[Hillview croconut]

A couple of favourite crocus


Bowles' mystery crocus, Crocus jessoppiae

and good old Crocus corsicus


Cheers, Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

And a couple of early fritillaria:

Fritillaria ehrhartii from the hot slopes dropping to the sea near Karystos.

Fritillaria davisii from the equally hot Porto Kagio. Looks a little like F. argolica but the leaves are bright green.

Cheers, M

[Tim Ingram]

The Veronica must be 'Georgia Blue' with that penetrating colour - it was introduced by Roy Lancaster. I don't suppose any other forms of it are grown - such a good plant! There is a picture of this in 'the Caucasus and its Flowers' by Vojtěch Holubec and Pavel  Křivka (wonderful book) of very pale lilac.

[vivienne Condon]

Thank you Jamus, it is a Nikkon SLR but my shots never seem to be as good as yours, more to the point I don't know how to put them on the Forum like you do either. Its difficult to take pictures in the wild as there is always so much wind and the plants never stay still for me. You should see me struggling with our local Alpine plant blog that we are trying to get up and running whew!! Oh to be Savey with the computer.

[Jupiter]

Marcus, sensational plants. I love that Crocus corsicus, very elegant. One for the wish list for sure. I'm loving seeing these Fritillarias too.

Vivienne, if only I lived closer I'd come over and give you some tips! You're dead right though, so much of it is the treatment of the files once you'd downloaded them from the camera. I have the advantage that I was introduced to computers at about the age of 10 or 11. My kids have lived with them since birth, so imagine what they'll be doing with them as adults.

Thanks for the ID on the Veronica Tim. Is there one called Oxford Blue, or is that a misnomer?