August 2015 in the Southern Hemisphere

[David Lyttle]

I am posting these for comments; Primula vulgaris a white and coloured form naturalised on the site of an old farmhouse. I am curious to know if these are true P. vulgaris or something different.

Selaginella kraussiana also naturalised and not wanted. A legacy from the garden of the Hon. Wm Larnach.

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Jacqui,

I haven't looked.  Spent most of the day fiddling down at Susan's with the snowdrops and hepaticas and taking the dog for walks. Did complete the intro to my new seed catalogue,  which I will probably change, and adding to a blog article on fritillaries.

Hope Fermi got a few in the door?

Cheers,  M

[Parsla]

Hi Marcus,

Fermi had quite a few - about 20 I should think.

They have expended much effort and not a little devotion into creating a rock garden in harmony with the surrounds, artfully designed as a panorama from the verandah.

I hope fermi doesn't mind - I have attached one photo of a very small section, just to give an idea.
In Spring - only a couple of weeks away - it will explode into a riot of colour.

I look forward to your fritillaria blog M, after looking with awe on your species photos (especially the handbag frit) 

Jacqui.
 

[Hillview croconut]

Hi David,

They certainly have all the hallmarks of the species but so much tinkering has been done with them.

I have never seen a wild  plant the color of your dark one but I am no expert.  I have seem pale blue.

They are close enough.

Cheers,  Marcus

[Parsla]

Hi David,

I feel a bit of a pipsqueak making comment after Marcus, but had just popped out into the garden to photograph a couple of primula vulgaris for comparison - so am posting it anyway.

These originally came from two sources, and there is a marked difference in the leaves but both still within the P. vulgaris remit. Both seem perkily upright as far as the flowers are concerned.

Of any help? Jacqui.

[Lesley Cox]

Yes I saw part of your order at Hokonui last week Lesley    .Lou, always the sales person, suggested I purchase another couple of plants to top your order however I was already at my max    ....... Superannuation must pay well !.

It would be terrific if an article/s on alpines/small bulbs appeared in the NZ Gardener especially with a mention within of the local alpine garden clubs around.

Here's a potful of Iris winogradowii , 8 blooms with 1 yet to open. Rescued from the garden a few years back where it had declined, if I remember correctly, to a couple of bulbs .Enough in numbers now to try it again elsewhere in the garden proper.       

No Dave, superannuation (as provided by Her Majesty's NZ government) does NOT pay well. You can live on it if you have no debt, like rent or a mortgage or hire purchase and if you don't take a holiday or go to a concert or buy books/plants etc. let alone a bottle of wine. If it were not for a few plants sold, life would be miserable.

Thanks Marcus. Otto had suggested candidus and I did have it of course. The problem with the crocuses this year is that there are so many different and the chooks have played merry hell with the labels. If they're still present, they've faded. I've gone back to an old lead pencil for labelling. I don't remember having C. gargaricus from you but quite likely. Actually I DO remember now, because earlier I always mixed its name with that of Campanula gargaNicus. So that's two more I can label correctly. Now I have so many pots of seedlings and all seem to have a mixed bag in them so hybrids are busting out all over, this June-August.

Remember when you're planting out your Iris Dave that I. winogradowii doesn't like summer dry. It comes from damp meadows around the Georgian capital of Tblisi, not the Iranian/Iraqui steppe, like the other reticulatas (or the forms we grow so easily). Same applies to its children 'Sheila Ann Germany' and 'Katharine Hodgkin. My own winogradowii gradually declined and was lost altogether maybe 3 or 4 years ago and I was able to get one from Louise year before last. It bloomed and set a pod, nine seeds and these are germinating now around the bulb which is only now (yesterday) poking its nose through. There should be some rice grain babies too.

[Anthony Darby]

No Dave, superannuation (as provided by Her Majesty's NZ government) does NOT pay well.

Superannuation must pay better than what has replaced it for teachers, as teachers here seem to go on for ever. No one I know teaches beyond 60 in Scotland! Your pension would be 1/80th of your final salary (it's now changing to average salary) for each year you taught plus a lump sum of 3/80ths X number of years taught. Teaching 40 years (I know of one person in Scotland who clocked up this) would give you a pension of 1/2 final salary plus a lump sum of 1.5 X your last year's pay. You can retire at 60 on your SA pension, but won't get your old age pension until what ever age that now is.

[t00lie]

What a cheery sight that potful of iris is Dave. Trilliums are barely out of the ground here.   
Cheers,  Marcus

Thanks Marcus --Found T. nivale and also some different forms of T. rivale in bud today only needing a bit of warmth.

Here's some more cherry sights from around the garden . .A few repeat Narcissus but so welcome at this early part of the season .......... 

[t00lie]

More.

[t00lie]

No Dave, superannuation (as provided by Her Majesty's NZ government) does NOT pay well. You can live on it if you have no debt, like rent or a mortgage or hire purchase and if you don't take a holiday or go to a concert or buy books/plants etc. let alone a bottle of wine. If it were not for a few plants sold, life would be miserable.

Remember when you're planting out your Iris Dave that I. winogradowii doesn't like summer dry.

I was just winding you up with my superannuation comment Lesley......

The Iris won't need to worry about summer dry in this climate and garden   .The experts are forecasting a 15% increase in moisture levels this spring /summer....    I think my previous problems were of a fungal nature ......

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Dave,

I don't have many species here and I figure it's too late to start!

Here is my contribution to the primula discussion:

Wild seed collected in the Taygetos Mountains in the Peloponnese above Mystras in the Lagada Pass.

Also Muscari macrocarpum

and an out of focus Cyclamen balearicum.

Cheers, Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

And to make it a lay down misere on the Fritillaria crassifolia front:

Fritillaria crass. ssp kurdica

Fritillaria crass. ssp poluninii

Fritillaria crass. hakkariensis (very bedraggled from snail attack and downpours but I couldn't resist giving Otto a thrill!)

Cheers, Marcus

[Lesley Cox]

I know you were Dave. That's OK

Anthony I think the way pensions are calculated here are quite different from the UK and of course women don't get them until 65 while I believe it's 60 in Britain. Like all the elderly (Oh God, that's me now) I probably moan and groan at whatever the govt does but believe me I'm very well aware that I'm well off compared with many. Without the plants or some other source for a top-up I don't see how many can cope at all, never mind the millions in third world countries whose lives are so vastly different. I count myself fortunate in many, many ways.

[Parsla]

I've never seen a fritillaria like the crassifolium ssp poluninii Marcus. 
Are all members of the crassifolium group particularly hard to grow?

[Anthony Darby]

Anthony I think the way pensions are calculated here are quite different from the UK and of course women don't get them until 65 while I believe it's 60 in Britain. Like all the elderly (Oh God, that's me now) I probably moan and groan at whatever the govt does but believe me I'm very well aware that I'm well off compared with many. Without the plants or some other source for a top-up I don't see how many can cope at all, never mind the millions in third world countries whose lives are so vastly different. I count myself fortunate in many, many ways.

For women, the pensionable age (for state pension) has increased from 60 (it's currently 63, I think) and for both men and women it will be 65 by November 2018; 66 in 2020 and 68 after that. It is currently £115.95 a week.