September 2015 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Jupiter]

Jacqui, thank you for posting the pictures from your visit to Cloudehill. Nice to see Marcus and Otto together in such a beautiful setting.

You're lucky to live in a climate where you can grow Trilliums. I really struggle here; but on the other hand I can grow oncocyclus iris which are difficult in cooler wetter climes. We can't have it all can we?

[Mini bulb lover]

Jamus, technically we can grow oncocyclus iris down here (iris iberica elegantissima from Otto, below) as well as trilliums (T. rivale dark leaf form from Viv). However in the 2 years I've had this iris I haven't had any flowers. We had a comparatively cool summer, this winter has been the coldest for 20 years and spring has so far been cool, so I don't know if it will flower this year. But it's still alive, out in the elements. I wouldn't call it difficult, just stubborn! 

Jacqui, the conversation between the 3 plants-men would have been interesting!

Dave, love the Corydalis. That's one thing I don't have much luck with.

[Lesley Cox]

Quite fantastic Lesley, I've never seen this in flower live.  Had S. minima for a bit until it was overgrown by moss.

john

But wait! There's more!

[Lesley Cox]

LOvely to see those darling men at Cloudhill. Just wonderful and a really nice day by the looks of things.

Yesterday and today are truly spring at last (though the forecast is for more snow down this way at the weekend!)

I went on Tuesday to visit a friend, a cousin of Roger's but I'd known her quite independently of that and long before I met him 25 years ago, when she bought plants at my little nursery in Timaru. She lives in Balclutha now, about 40 kms south of me. She has a great collection of little daffs many from way back that we never see nowadays, such as those from Alec Gray. Masses of other lovely things too and I came home with bags of "bits and pieces" as she calls them, a very generous lady especially since when she came here a couple of week ago, she paid a small fortune for what she took away. But she paints exquisite native bird portraits for sale, often as wedding gifts.

I took my camera and the following 7 are from her garden and the last, a frit is from mine, this morning.

[Lesley Cox]

I'd like name please for the Ipheion? Nothoscordum? and the Scilla, and oh yes, the Tulipa as well.

[Lesley Cox]

But wait! There's more!

I've been whining on for weeks if not months about how cold the winter has been this year and now I can produce the proof! Or I will be able to in a few days or a week or so. For the first time ever, Diapensia lapponica is going to flower!!! I counted 3 buds yesterday and today there are 10. I don't know how long they'll take to come out but I'll be waiting with baited breath - as the cat said to the mouse - camera in hand. The whole plant, so wonderfully dark red through winter, changed to bright green in just a couple of days a couple of weeks ago.

John, your seedlings of Rhodo mucronulatum, the dwarf form, are also in bud, showing deep purple on plants just 5cms high. Could you remind me of the varietal name please. The taller form flowers every year, pink, in July.

[Lesley Cox]

How wonderful to see the pictures of Cloudhill and those darling men, all of them, but specially Marcus and Otto. Looks like a great day too. I love Cloudhill, the only garden apart from Sissinghurst, where I'd happily lie down and die, with no regrets whatever.

[t00lie]

Hi Dave,

Here is a photo with more leaf showing and taken from a slightly different angle.

If it is still intact by Friday I can shoot a side view if you would like.
How does one distinguish between T. cuneatum and chloropetalum - if its okay to ask?

You showed a beautiful collection of trilliums on the bulb thread.
I have very few. Still learning…

Jacqui.

Thank you Jacqui
I'm no expert ..still learning every single day .

Here's of a pic I took today of a yummy coloured form of Trillium chloropetalum and a close up of a flower which I think is a good example of some T. chloropetalum petal shapes.

However T. chloropetalum varies quite a lot and I still have difficulty figuring out at a glance,(without having to inspect/measure the length of stamens/and whether connectives extend beyond the anther sacs ......and so on   ), whether plants I've raised from seed are in fact T. chloropetalum var giganteum or T. kurabayashii or whatever.

Sorry none of my T . cuneatums are in bloom that I could use as a comparison . Most of mine come up as very dark foliage then fade....I was going to say all of mine come up dark however I can''t remember what my T. cuneatum 'silver leaf' comes up like....and I've forgotten for the moment where it is planted.......  

Cheers Dave.

[t00lie]

Lovely pics Lesley .
I would suggest your friends Scilla is S.rosenii . Although mine are in bloom they are not at that  reflexed stage yet.

Having some 'down' time this 'arvo' I finally decided I'd had enough of Monty our dog deliberately skidding on the moss that is supposedly our lawn ......     so I decided to create some more garden beds .
Being a lowly paid landscaper    I couldn't afford any timber for the edging between the planned gravel paths and beds so I used some of the native branches from our wood pile instead..
I'll turn the moss/soil over by hand over in the next week taking care to weed a couple small patches of buttercup and it shouldn't take too long to plant out .It will a relief to liberate numerous pots mainly of of Trilliums and Hellebores ......

In the only part of the lawn that's left now I filled in the depressions created by the removal of some pavers with used potting mix.

Cheers Dave. 

[David Nicholson]

Bit of a problem nailing 'em down Dave?

[fermi de Sousa]

Dave,
you didn't have to go to all that trouble just because you are having 2 lots of overseas visitors
I'm looking forward to seeing it in person!
Sad to say, we might miss out on the flowering of this Puya in our garden - after a dozen years, it is finally producing a spike, I just hope the "pups" around it continue on,
cheers
fermi

[Carolyn]

I'd like name please for the Ipheion? Nothoscordum? and the Scilla, and oh yes, the Tulipa as well.

I think the tulip is probably tulipa humilis Persian Pearl.

[johnw]

I've been whining on for weeks if not months about how cold the winter has been this year and now I can produce the proof! Or I will be able to in a few days or a week or so. For the first time ever, Diapensia lapponica is going to flower!!! I counted 3 buds yesterday and today there are 10. I don't know how long they'll take to come out but I'll be waiting with baited breath - as the cat said to the mouse - camera in hand. The whole plant, so wonderfully dark red through winter, changed to bright green in just a couple of days a couple of weeks ago.

John, your seedlings of Rhodo mucronulatum, the dwarf form, are also in bud, showing deep purple on plants just 5cms high. Could you remind me of the varietal name please. The taller form flowers every year, pink, in July.

To flower that Diapensia in your climate is quite a feat.  See what a good Canadian winter can do for you.....

The R. mucronulatum I got in the 80's as R. mucronulatum 'Cheju', it had been collected on Cheju not very many years before that and was quite the rage amongst rhodophiles.  It should never have been called 'Cheju' as it was a seed strain not a selection, it also was sold as var. chejuensis; there was a selected form - or was it really just another seed strain? Think so.- called 'Crater's Edge' which to me looked no better than my "Cheju" itself or selfed seedlings.  Meanwhile the taxonomists got at it and it's now R. mucronulatum var. taquetii which I invariably spell incorrectly. Place it where eventually you will be able to see its immense fat trunk. 

A Hokkaido friend says to cut out any long shoots that appear, if cut out the plant will not send out another for a few years, if allowed to grow it could overtake the slower growth.  He says it happens in the wild and if that long shoot gets killed by cold the plant stays dwarf  - almost like a clever feeler to test the weather.

john   - predicted for today +27c feeling like +32c, Diapensia will be cringing.

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Carolyn,that's quite likely as my friend has bought such bulbs for maybe 50 years and I'm sure the 'Persian Pearl' selection was offered maybe in the 80s by the late Jim Lecomte. Wish I had bought it myself. One to look for.

[Carolyn]

Thanks Carolyn,that's quite likely as my friend has bought such bulbs for maybe 50 years and I'm sure the 'Persian Pearl' selection was offered maybe in the 80s by the late Jim Lecomte. Wish I had bought it myself. One to look for.

It's still available in the UK, not that that's much help to you. The flowers don't last long, but are a joy on a sunny spring day.