November 2015 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Jupiter]

part four


Scabiosa stellata, the seed heads are what you grow it for, the flowers are pretty boring


Symphyandra zanzegur, my first ever flower on this and I'm smitten.


Thalictrum flavum glaucum


Grew this Penstemon from seed... no idea what it is.


I bought this Viola as V. jooi, which it clearly isn't...

[David Lyttle]

Hi Anthony, package on the way.

How would the Moa be an evolutionary agent?  Distributor of seed? Eliminator of competitive species? I am intrigued.

Cheers,  Marcus

There is a theory that  moa browsing was instrumental in the evolution of the filiramulate, divaricating habit (ie a mass of tangled branches with very few, small leaves) of many New Zealand trees and shrubs. Many New Zealand shrub genera  have members that are divaricating (Coprosma, Pittosporum, Melicytus to name a few examples). On the other hand some species in those genera are normal in form. There are several trees that have a divaricating juvenile stage Pennantia corymbosa , Elaeocarpus hookerianus, Hoheria angustifolia, Sophora microphylla that are divaricating as juvenile and when they grow above the moa browse line they grow as normal leafy trees. The opposing view is that the cold, windy and dry conditions prevailing in southern New Zealand during the Pleistocene glaciations drove this evolution. My own view is that the two theories are not mutually exclusive and so the debate continues.

See Phil Garnock-Jones' very readable and entertaining blog http://theobrominated.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/going-through-motions-what-did-moa-eat.html

[David Nicholson]

David, you have improved my vocabulary immensely. Having been got at, by she who must be obeyed, owing to my lack of a haircut in the past weeks I shall ask her if she thinks my current look is both filiramulate and divaricating. I suppose I shall get one of her best shakes of the head and raising of eyebrows.

[David Lyttle]

David, you have improved my vocabulary immensely. Having been got at, by she who must be obeyed, owing to my lack of a haircut in the past weeks I shall ask her if she thinks my current look is both filiramulate and divaricating. I suppose I shall get one of her best shakes of the head and raising of eyebrows.

My grandmother would have described such a condition as "being dragged through a gorse bush (Ulex europaeus) backwards"

[Hillview croconut]

How fascinating! The vegetation I mean, and I suppose David's hair too. . I think mine could also be described  the same. My locks have developed a very pronounced kink over the past 6 months. Some of you may know that I have skin cancer. One of the treatments knocked out my endocrine function and I am currently on HRT. Apparently artificial testosterone may be the culprit for my unruly and filiramulate hair.

Back to the plants. I looked up this phenomenon and yes it is noted in Flora of NZ. https://books.google.com.au/books?id=iwc8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&dq=filiramulate&source=bl&ots=yFkw6pBe0S&sig=gqfv3gUwJZ_wnhMcjktF9eK7gSo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAWoVChMI0Pyp9qSOyQIV4namCh3YpQI7#v=onepage&q=filiramulate&f=false
Hell, there must have been some predation pressure! Another thing that the author thought came into play was the fact that most new genetic pathways into NZ were blocked so the filiramulate strategy remained the dominant defence.

Cheers, Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

BTW David, thanks for putting me onto Phil Garnock-Jones' blog. It was a great read.

I had the good fortune to have a lecturer who taught botany with the same flair and inventiveness.

Cheers, Marcus

[Eljay88]

David, I love that bellevalia forniculata and I'm on the hunt for one! Are you able to suggest where I could find a bulb, or seed? I have a passion for blue flowers and that one is stunning 

[t00lie]

What a very beautiful selection of PCI. Very impressive from a pack of seeds! I especially like the Picotee.

Hello Robert -if I remember correctly I purchased 16 packets of seed that year .Here's another one that opened today for the first time from that sowing. I seem to have gone for dark colours .......

Last seasons seed from the SPCNI seedex was sown as soon as received in march of this year and germinated a few weeks later in autumn and continued to grow through the winter .You can see they are just about ready to be planted out .

[David Lyttle]

David, I love that bellevalia forniculata and I'm on the hunt for one! Are you able to suggest where I could find a bulb, or seed? I have a passion for blue flowers and that one is stunning 

I got the seed several years ago through the OAGG seed exchange - not sure of the original source. I sort of cleaned myself out
of bulbs this year and will need to build up my stock again. I am hopeful I will be able to get some seed this year but seed set is not always reliable. I have also had issues with Bellevalia seed some turned out not to be Bellevalia when it flowered and I appear to have got a very dark Muscari of some description instead. It seems I have a bit of a queue lining up for bulbs when I can produce some more as I have had several requests.

[Anthony Darby]

My grandmother would have described such a condition as "being dragged through a gorse bush (Ulex europaeus) backwards"

I have what you call fly away hair. It's flown away! 

[Parsla]

Wow. There is no mistaking that dab hand with a camera Jamus!
Your photos seem to be three-dimensional, always.

Marcus, not too sure about terming your blonde and newly curly hair filimurate.
I do think Goldilocks would be envious. 

Nothing too exotic here, but each with its own charm

1. Thalictrum flavum v glaucum. Snap, jamus.
2. This scabiosa is more of a primrose yellow than the photo allows. It used to yield hundreds of blooms per season - until the possums discovered how delicious it was. Now one must be content with a few.
3. My thornless blackberry has perfect tiny pink blooms
4. Salvia jamensis in the perennial border
5. Clusters of ripening berries hang from the branches of Amelanchier condenses.

[Robert]

Hello Robert -if I remember correctly I purchased 16 packets of seed that year .Here's another one that opened today for the first time from that sowing. I seem to have gone for dark colours .......

Last seasons seed from the SPCNI seedex was sown as soon as received in march of this year and germinated a few weeks later in autumn and continued to grow through the winter .You can see they are just about ready to be planted out .

David,

Are you going to do selective breeding with the PCI or just selection of the best seedlings from the many seedlings you have grown on? (and there are some good ones)

I have made some effort to find some of the older clear blue hybrids based on Iris munzii created here in California. I am not even sure if the clear blue forms of straight I. munzii are still around. Perhaps they are safe and growing well in your part of the world. So far, I have been too busy to make much progress on this project, however exploring the native habitat of I. munzii is high on my list of projects.

Anyway, I am impressed with some of the selections you have made. From the photographs I see, I should not be surprised. horticulture is taken to a new level of excellence in your part of the world.

Thank you (all) for sharing photographs from your gardens. Things are sleepy here with frosty mornings and low snow levels.

[Jupiter]

Beautiful photos Jacqui, I love the berries on your Amelanchier, I had to look it up. Sadbush? Why sad? I don't have space here to grow a lot of interesting shrubs and trees. It will be nice to move to a bigger property some day but the logistics of moving all my precious plants is overwhelming even considered hypothetically. It's be sad to leave my stonework behind too...

 

[Hillview croconut]

Bellevalia forniculata - Dr Vlastmil Pilous' list - out every year in late December.

Cheers,  Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

Jacqui, that's an interesting salvia. Maybe I've been half asleep to perennials.  Did you get it and the scabiosa locally?

BTW  I haven't got Bellevalia  forniculata for sale but I have got the dark blue B. pycnantha and the multi-hued B.dubia.

Cheers,  Marcus