November 2015 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Robert]

Jamus,

Any idea how a cow got into your garden?

Here in farm country (sort of now    ) we have had sheep (this past spring, and a real pain  ), and horses in the garden, not to mention the wild animals of which there are plenty (I think that I like them better than the domestic animals, except when they damage the plants in the garden  ). There was much excitement when a Mountain Lion showed up a few years ago. We get Bobcat too, as well as many Raptors that nest in the Gray Pines (Pinus sabiniana) here on the property.

[Parsla]

Some really lovely pictures appearing last few days. Fermi your Dianthus kuznetzowii is a treasure. And Jamus, such a lovely photo of L duchartrei - a favourite of mine.

A few small offerings from this afternoon.

1. Hydrangea quercifolia copes very well with the heat and dry of Eltham. The (sterile) blooms last a very long time.
2. Tight buds of Eryngium pandanifolium - I would really like to grow the "physic purple" colour way but haven't yet been able to source it
3. The fruit of the small-leafed linden
4. Cornus "Norman Hadden" is an evergreen cross (kousa x capitata) with large creamy bracts that age to pink. It seems to grow rapidly despite the dry climate.

[t00lie]

4. Cornus "Norman Hadden" is an evergreen cross (kousa x capitata) with large creamy bracts that age to pink. It seems to grow rapidly despite the dry climate.

Yes some really nice photos have been posted recently .

Jacqui you are so lucky to have the room to grow Cornus ,we saw some beauties in bloom while in North Canterbury a few weeks back during the NZ Trillium Weekend.

Here's Chionographis japonica from Japan  3 flowers this season after a feed last season .

A couple different coloured forms of Iris innominata .

Cheers Dave.

[Robert]

Dave,

I have seen some very good forms of Iris innominata. Yours are some of the most outstanding selections of Iris innominata I have ever seen.

I do not get around much, except into the hills, mountains and other wild places, so maybe this does not mean much. Thank you for sharing such gems. It certainly raises the bar for cultivation here at the farm. Maybe someday I will make it to the coast and some of the outstanding PCI nurseries we have here in California. Honestly, this is not very likely. I much rather check on the wild Iris munzii near Sequoia National Park. This past week I was checking on some colonies of Iris macrosiphon. For me, it beats going to the city! 

Thank again for sharing the photographs. Your PCI are outstanding!

[Otto Fauser]

a few plants in flower at the moment in my garden: the oncocyclus Irises do not feel at home in my temperate rain forest climate ,so I am grateful for any flowers . Very late in the season this year was I. acutiloba . I kept a few bulbs of the yellow Spanish Iris juncea alive for more than 50 years ,which I believe is getting rare in the wild . It would like nice planted next to the purple / blue I. boissierii that Marcus showed recently .
 Rhododendron campylogynum is one of my favourite dwarf species for the Rockgarden  -part of the rockgarden shown .Jamus  a large plant of the Kalmia angustifolia to come your way ,also a Weldenia  etc. Oxalis adenophylla is a rarity in Australia -not available commercially here , yet listed very cheaply in most bulb lists in England /Europe .

[Otto Fauser]

more

[Otto Fauser]

last ones

[Jupiter]

Otto, fabulous pictures! Those are the best photos I've seen of your rock garden. Iris acutiloba looks stunning! It's a real credit to you that you grow it and flower it there in the jungle. I'm having a nervous breakdown over my oncos at the moment. They are doing strange things, some looking unhealthy and like they want to slide into dormancy while others are doing a second growth spurt. I water them when they look like they want to grow, cautiously. I have half in the ground and half in pots... insurance policy.

My garden is sliding into summer mode now which is why you've been seeing less from me. Spring is too short and summer is very hot and dry here, but we had a good spring and I've enjoyed the garden over the past few months.

Here is I. paradoxa looking healthy and growing in the top of the rock garden.

[t00lie]

Dave,

I have seen some very good forms of Iris innominata. Yours are some of the most outstanding selections of Iris innominata I have ever seen.

I do not get around much, except into the hills, mountains and other wild places, so maybe this does not mean much. Thank you for sharing such gems. It certainly raises the bar for cultivation here at the farm. Maybe someday I will make it to the coast and some of the outstanding PCI nurseries we have here in California. Honestly, this is not very likely. I much rather check on the wild Iris munzii near Sequoia National Park. This past week I was checking on some colonies of Iris macrosiphon. For me, it beats going to the city! 

Thank again for sharing the photographs. Your PCI are outstanding!

Thank you Robert for your kind remarks.
Please let me know if you would like me to collect some seeds of the PCIs for you.....

The garden here is primarily a spring affair as I'm normally away in the 'hills' most weekends early summer through to autumn locating and photographing native plants ....... so not much time is left to tend to the garden although I have a note in my diary for every 6 weeks to remind me to spend a couple days of catching up with weeding ,cutting back etc etc. Heavy mulching of the garden beds with the freely available native leaf litter certainly helps ......

Iris acutiloba is a beauty Otto.

[David Nicholson]

Lovely pictures of what must be a very special garden Otto.

[Robert]

Dave,

I have read something of your adventures in the mountains in the NARGS journals. Your mountains are beautiful and seem very different for the Sierra Nevada here in California. The plants are very different too. I look forward to any postings you might have in the future concerning your beautiful mountains and the plants that grow there. There is so very much for me to learn about.

I could never leave my garden unattended during the summer for any extended time. Most of it would be dead without my attention. Summertime rain must be a blessing.

[Parsla]

Otto you have the most amazing green fingers!
The cypripediums and dwarf rhododendron and arisaema are beautiful specimens.

Some perennials and lilies to make up for my lack of posts lately.
1. Artemisia lactiflora makes a beautiful backdrop for other plants. The tight buds open to creamy white flowers.
2. Lysimachia yunnanensis is plainer than some of its more elegant cousins but has its charms. The stems redden at some point in the season
3. The modified leaves of Sarracenia leucophylla
4. This is the second year I have grown Lankon lilies, and the colour variation seems more pronounced than last year
5. Many disastrous attempts preceded this beautiful claret martagon  -  something of a long haul to this prize.

Jacqui.

[Jupiter]

Nice photos of nice plants Jacqui. I love your liliums. I need to get some Lankon lilies. I've joined the Lilium & Bulb society here in SA, so I hope to be able to do some trading with the other members once I get to know people.

Here is Arisaema fargesii flowering for the second time for me.

[Parsla]

Thank you Jamus, I've had some rather good coaching on the photos 

Love the Arisaemas
They are so elegant

I've been a slow learner with liliums, trying to find the sweet spot between rotting them or drying them out.

J.

[Lesley Cox]

Otto's garden is indeed very special, full of amazing things and so many are long term residents unlike many of mine, for instance, which are relatively recent and still in their infancy. I hope to visit again this coming spring (2016) if I may Otto, that is if (as is possible) I am not again in the Czech Republic and Hungary, Austria, Germany!!!)

Otto, I have some fresh seed of Sax. grisebachii 'Wisley' if you would like it, just clipped off the stems yesterday. I was surprised how much seed there is.

Should have some pictures to post within a couple of days, from NZIS Convention - not all irises.