TRIP TO NEW ZEALAND

[Ian Y]

Well I have finally got around to posting some of my pictures I took on my wonderful trip to New Zealand.
My First trip was in the company of David Lyttle, Dave Toole and John Fitzgerald when we climbed Mount Burns.
My first Celmisia was C. semi cordata and it came in many striking leaf variations, unfortunately I just missed out on most of the flowers which were over.
I was shown several hybrid forms of Celmisia some were very good looking plants that I would love to have in my garden.
Helichrysum bellidioides is another plant that I am familiar with as we grow it but this is the first one I saw in it's home land.
I have also grown Raoulia grandiflora in the past and I would like to get it back again after seeing so much of it growing on my trips around NZ.
I had great fun with my companions and when we were not looking at the flowers going AHHH we were nearly always laughing or occasionaly gasping for breath as we headed up to the summit.
More will follow in the next days and weeks.

[Anthony Darby]

More please. That Raoulia grandiflora is fantastic. Is it in cultivation in Scotia?

[Lvandelft]

Beautiful pictures Ian!
Despite most of all these NZ plant I'll never be able to grow in our soil,
I'm happy you show them here!
Show us as much as you like!

[Lesley Cox]

Knees up Mother Brown competition?

The R. grandiflora is the best I've ever seen. Usually it is more spreadout and dead-looking in between the rosettes. Yours is a fine specimen Ian. I'm looking forward to many more on this thread. Oh yes, two puffins flew in yesterday. So welcome, many thanks.

[Maggi Young]

Your countrymen seem very keen to get their knees out, Lesley....my neice had shorts on too, in her photo... must be a local habit.......very few daft enough to get their legs out in the open in Aberdeen..... frostbite and such, you know.

Glad the puffins have flown in... hope you had laid in some sand eeels for them, they must be ravenous 

[Katherine J]

I am more and more convinced that New Zealand is a great place.  I hope I will see it some day.
Thanks for the pics Ian, and everybody who posted. Waiting for next chapters! 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

No drooling smiley available - if there were, I would have used it !
 

Very promising start of a hopefully verrrrrrrrrrrrry long series Ian - we can't get enough ! 

[David Lyttle]

Hi Ian,

Great to see your long anticipated posting and look forward to more as you were fairly busy with your camera.

Oh Celmisias! Picture 2 is Celmisia coriacea with its characteristic orange midrib: Picture 4 is a bronze form of the same. Picture 5 has Celmisia coriacea on the left and Celmisia holosericea on the right. Your first picture of Celmisia semicordata is the non-descript grey form common on Mt Burns but the second is a much more attractive silver form. It is interesting that Celmisia semicordata shows a range of forms from silver to bronze (var aurigans)  and that the same sort of bronze forms are appearing in Celmisia coriacea. And then there is verbascifolia /traversii/petiolata but I dont want to go there (not on this forum).

Maggi, I can assure you our knees were not naked two days later on the Old Man Range.

Raoulia grandiflora grows very well in cultivation - it increases rapidly and flourishes and then the whole plant dies. I am on my third plant at this stage.

[Ian Y]

Thanks to all for your encouragment to go on posting.
David I will be relying on you to keep me correct on the names.
Here are the next ten pictures.
Firts a series of the smaller Aciphylla species, congesta formed some good clumps and pinnatifida was always growing in very wet areas.
ALook carefully in picture 5 and you will see the leaves of Celmisia viscosa on the right , sessiliflora towards the front and a hybrid between the two is in flower.
The tiny mats of Celmisia sessiliflora has long been a favourite of mine but now I have fallen for this hybrid we found.
The tiny flowers of the Euphrasia need close study and the single flowers of geum uniflora shelter under a rock.

[Ian Y]

Another shot of the delightful Euphrasia growing throgh C. sessiliflora.
I think this is Dolichoglottis with a magnificient view behind.
Then a very fine Ourisia growing in the rock scree.
My first sight of the famous Ranunculus layallii in the field.
Then I found a hybrid between Ranunculus layallii and buchananii.
Then my fist sight of Ranunculus buchananii wow.

[Ian Y]

The next series of pictures is all of Ranunculus buchananii growing both by the burn and all the way up the rock scree.
Just feast your eyes it is magnificient it has to be one of the best sights in the world of plants.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Stunning Ian - simply stunning 

[Rob]

Those series of pictures of Ranunculus buchananii are beautiful

I hope this is going to be a long thread.

[Ian Y]

I will keep going - here is the last for today as I must write the Bulb Log among other things.
A few more of the little gardens that I find fascinating plus more of the Ranunculus buchananii and lyallii.
Sorry for the mis spelling of R. Lyallii

[Lvandelft]

The next series of pictures is all of Ranunculus buchananii growing both by the burn and all the way up the rock scree.

Ian, that's marvellous!
You just show the things I'm always curious about.
From where to where are plants gowing on mountains.
Super pictures!
I read somewhere you brought appr. 1000 pictures home?