October 2015 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Jupiter]

A couple from this morning.


Verbascum phoeniceum 'violetta' is my favourite.


Aquilegia formosa

[Lesley Cox]

Sorry Marcus, I didn't mean to hassle you, just a comment and if anyone delays it will be MPI rather then you. Besides, it's not as if I have nothing else to do right now.

[Lesley Cox]

Jamus, the Diapensia is to all intents and purposes an Arctic plant, from the tundra, maybe circum polar, though I'm not sure of its exact range. It needs very cold conditions to induce flowering and I suppose it was our much colder then usual winter that has produced these 16. John W in Nova Scotia flowers it well I think but then his winters are MUCH colder than mine. I doubt it would flower well in South Australia. It's one of those plants that presents a challenge so to have it flower is a great thrill. I've pollinated some of the flowers in hope of a little seed - of course - and I see today that the Soldanella pusilla which also flowered better than usual, has some nice capsules on it.

[Jupiter]

Thanks Lesley, I shan't bother with it, as you say my climate won't flower it. We can only succeed with those things that decide they enjoy the climate in which they find themselves. I'll concentrate on growing the things that do effortlessly well here, with nothing more meddling than the odd splash of water in summer.

[Anthony Darby]

We had a cold, for Auckland, winter, but my Scilla verna, which produced flowers last year, has failed to produce nothing but a good crop of leaves this year. May split them in July and try half in the fridge to give them a winter to see if this is the problem.

[t00lie]

Podophyllum pleianthum with leaves yet to fully expand ,already in bud .

Caltha palustris 'Flore Pleno'.

A Fritillaria meleagris /Narcissus triandrus combo.

Narcissus 'Little Flik' ,(Bill Dijk NZ),in full flight.

Cheers Dave.

[Maggi Young]

So please be patient  ..... I am not a mega department store selling t-shirts.

Cheers,  Marcus

Ahhhh..... so that's why my t-shirts didn't arrive..........

[johnw]

John W in Nova Scotia flowers it well I think but then his winters are MUCH colder than mine.

re: Diapensia lapponica

I can't say my old plant (photo #1), which was about 30+ yo when it finally packed it in, flowered well.  One Spring it did open a number of flowers simultaneously.  Though it flowered every year it was one flower at a time, often over a long period; a few times it opened a single flower every month from about about April till December.  I'm not certain if our winters were not protracted enough, our growing season too long, the dry vs wet periods confused it or life was simply too easy for it.  Where I've seen it growing in Newfoundland the sites are all extremely windy, very chilly and moist with abundant snowfall, all with an extremely short growing season and not much if any spring to speak of.

Seedlings (photo #2 and not much smaller in photo #1, 5 years before) 2.5-4cm across have yet to flower and they are by no means youngsters.

john

[Hoy]

Lesley, Diapensia lapponica is stunning. Can you tell us something about it? I haven't seen it before.

.......

Jamus,

I can add that Diapensia lapponica is circumboreal and very common in Norway, especially on ridges and windswept summits where little snow accumulate during winter. Although it is common I have only seen it in flower only a few times as it grows farther north than I usually walk on my trips. You may try it in a pot and keep the pot in the freezer during winter

Last time I found it it was out of flower:

[johnw]

especially on ridges and windswept summits where little snow accumulate during winter.

Hoy  - Great point and on second thought could apply to the ones I saw in Newfoundland, the winds were ferocious where they grew on high ridges on the eastern side of Nfld. and at sea level on the western side.

john

[Anthony Darby]

Diapensia lapponica is found on the summit of one mountain in Scotland. It's entire UK distribution and the most southerly colony in Europe. http://www.thewildflowersociety.com/wfs_report_menus/wfs_diapensia_2006/diapensia_2006_page_1.htm

[Lesley Cox]

All the above notes (John, Hoy, Anthony) tempt me to say "Well done little Me, then. In fairness, I should say that my plant was bought some years ago, can't remember how many but probably 10 or so, from  Christchurch  and I believe she has had flowers too, years before mine and maybe this year too though I don't know that. I've pollinated each flower by hand in hope of a little seed but how the plant will cope with the current weather I don't know.

Our spring weather this week has been a bit of a trial. Our Show was on two beautiful days then Monday and today were savage, hot nor'west gales but at 3.30 today, just as 40 people from out of town arrived for an arranged nursery visit, the wind turned to the south, still very strong and the temperature dropped from 28C to about 9C in just 10 minutes. The rain bucketed down we we were all drenched. They only stayed for 20 minutes, long enough for their bus to offload, go away and turn around then return to gather them up again. Changed my clothes then sat down with a glass of something warming.

edit by maggi = if you are going to flower Diapensia as well as you do the Weldenia, Lesley  - I will be forced to fine you lots of choclate to assuage my envy!

[ashley]

It's common in northern Sweden  (e.g. here) & NW Finland too, but flowers quite early in the short season.

[Maggi Young]

Aussie folks - what is this, please ?


 a Goodenia?

[Robert]

Aussie folks - what is this, please ?
 a Goodenia?

I,m not from Austrlia, but the plant looks like a Scaevola species. I will be very curious to find out.