August 2015 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Maggi Young]

Kurt Vickery seed list :  Kurt Vickery seed list August 2015.pdf (194.43 kB - downloaded 300 times.)

[Otto Fauser]

Thanks to the efforts of Marcus Harvey we now grow several of the yellow Snowdrops in Australian gardens and by far the most prolific in my garden is 'Spindlestone Surprise '. the other is a seedling flowering for the first time of G. 'Corinn' , the seed kindly given to me by Rannveig Wallis .

a cold and wet day today -so no sun to warm and open any Crocus flowers - therefore only 2 clumps of buds .

Edit by maggi : I believe the correct spelling of the  Wallis Galanthus is 'Corrin'

[Hillview croconut]

Wow! What a lovely range of mouth-watering bulbs from the doyen! I love those little printy marks on the crocus and then what a surprise when they open to the sun.
Great to see another Trym-like seedling.

Looks like you have had some rain Otto? We are just plain cold, no rain to speak of.

I will keep the ball rolling with a few more from the day.

Galanthus "Primrose Warburg" - named after that formidable lady and I think found in her garden?

Narcissus "Olumbo" - I think that's the correct spelling? Another of Tasmanian Rod Barwick's Detective Series.

Crocus olivieri ssp balansae - Little seen taxon. Varies in the intensity of external flower colouring.

Cheers, Marcus

[David Nicholson]

Sure that's not 'Columbo' Marcus? He was an American television detective.

[Jupiter]

Beautiful plants Otto and Marcus. I hope to have some crocus open tomorrow or the next day... they are getting close. I love that tommasianus 'Pictus'. Otto's crocus look as wet as we are here. We've had a LOT of rain lately and we're sick to death of it.

[fermi de Sousa]

Sure that's not 'Columbo' Marcus? He was an American television detective.

Hi David,
Rod named his "little detectives" so that they weren't exactly the same, thusly 'Smarple' (misS MARPLE), 'Kholmes' (sherlocK HOLMES), 'Olumbo'(cOLUMBO), 'Orcluse' (inspectOR CLUSEau)
There are others that are even more obscure!
cheers
fermi

[David Nicholson]

Ah! I see.

[Hillview croconut]

Tricky little so and so tis our Rod .... I think the only one true to form is Kojak?

Cheers, M

[Hillview croconut]

Hi again,

I'll swap over to cyclamen coum today:

Cyclamen coum Silver Leaf - original strain from Kath Dryden many moons ago.

The white form of it - originally named by Kath for her husband, Maurice Dryden.

Cyclamen coum - nice pink with plain leaves. Originally from Essie Huxley

Cyclamen coum - ice white with plain leaves. Originally from Essie Huxley

Cheers, Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

Few more snowies:


Sibbertoft White - a gift from Otto Fauser.

x allenii - another gift from Otto and an interesting plant.

Ginns imperatii - long ago purchase from John Morley.

Cheers, Marcus

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Marcus,
nice stuff!
At the risk of causing snow-blindness, here's a Galanthus without a label and for once not an elwesii!
Could it be 'S.Arnott'? The flower looks a bit like x'Allenii' but the foliage may not be,
cheers
fermi

[Hillview croconut]

Certainly looks the goods. It ain't allenii.

Cheers,  Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

The only other named contenders I know of are Galatea but that has a flatter inverted heart shape with little scrolly bits on the ends.

Magnet has also has a flatter heart shape as well and an obviously longer pedical.

Brenda Troyle, well what is it? It's very similar to Sam Arnott. Scented, same heart-shaped mark, same leaves, same height, same sized flower ..... mmmm. It is said to flower 2 weeks earlier than Sam but I have not found this to be consistent. The only difference I can perceive is that BT has slightly longer petals (if that is the correct term) and they flare up and outwards more than Sam.

I'd be interested to hear other growers opinions on this topic.

I still think there are to many names and sometimes muse that we would be able to identify half of them without a label!

Cheers, Marcus

[Jupiter]

It looks very much like my Sam Arnott, not that that's conclusive, but the details match.

[Hillview croconut]

Very lovely photo Jamus. You are a hot shot with a camera.

Cheers, M

PS Been out for a walk amongst the snowie beds but my camera is elsewhere!
PPS One thing I was delighted to find was a single flowering plant of G. alpinus var bortkewitschianus (what a mouthful - those Russians!). I thought I had lost it but there it was ... a long,  long way from home.