August in the Northern Hemisphere

[Margaret]

Beautiful photos as always, Steve, though the last was a bit of a shock.

Some snaps of my allotment yesterday.

[David Nicholson]

You keep it beautifully Margaret.

[Maggi Young]

Margaret, how lovely - and HOW productive!

[Regelian]

Love Margaret's allotment! And it looks like one gets full sun.  No street trees!
I had to add this Crocosmia, presumedly George Davisson (is it one or two 's'?), with its open, canary yellow blossoms.  Simply too perfect.  They rarely do well in my garden, mainly too wet, but a few euros for a pot o' colour is just fine.
Then one of the newer Passiflora hybrids, which have graced the German market this season.  I snapped this fragrant one up, along with P. vitifolia, and put them in large pots ti let them over-winter.  Only P. coerulea seems to handle my climate (and sprouts out of every crack it finds!).
I love trumpet fuchsias and this one, name lost, has been with me a few years. It might be Big Slim.

[David Nicholson]

Jamie, I think it is just one 's' (George Davison) but I've also seen it as 'George Davidson' .

[Lesley Cox]

Thank you Robert for the notes about American salvias. I've always liked Salvia from when my mother grew several and overall they do well for me, so I'll always try a new one. S. roemeriana was a favourite roim its first blooming many years ago now. Bright scarlet and I think from New Mexico so I would have expected it to be a bit tender but in the finish it was summer drought that did for it. It always set good seed. I hope I get the little new one going, maybe in a pot down here in the south of NZ and where we are having night after night of snow at present. That's unusual. It would normally be a good fall over one night and then no more for maybe weeks. I have to say I'm over it.

[astragalus]

Among the reblooming daphnes, this is a really nice one, Daphne x susannae 'Anton Fahndrich'.  It seems to be quite hardy, nicely shaped and last year rebloomed twice.

[Regelian]

Thanks, David. An interesting change to be able to make an ID, but not be sure how its spelled!

Here are two shots of a Sarracenia purpurea, which apparently flowers in the Summer, rather than in the Spring.  As I purchased it from the garden centre, it may be a hybrid. In any case, a poor fly-catcher.

[Robert]

Lesley,

We are very fortunate to have the U.C. Berkeley Botanical Garden and San Francisco Botanical Gardens somewhat near by. I am sure that many of the Mesoamerican Salvias that I grow in our Sacramento garden initially came from their collections. Many of the species will do reasonably well for us. The cloud forest species (S.F. Botanical Garden has a great collection!) dislike the hot, dry interior of California and are often not cold hardy either.

Salvia chiapensis is another superb species we grow in our garden. It must be day neutral, as it will bloom for us almost all year. In the last few years, there has been a decline in their blooming. They most likely need a top dressing of compost (our American meaning of the word). I'll be home late next week and hope I can get some nice photographs of our best Salvia species. Now that the Sacramento garden is being tended all of the time, the garden is shaping up well. Some of our Salvia species even are reseeding themselves. I hope that they do not become weedy!

[Lesley Cox]

I'll look forward to your salvia pictures Robert.

We in NZ have just a small handful of the amazing dwarf daphne roll call. The older species such cneorum and its variegated form, probably still arbuscula (I lost mine when I moved the trough; its roots out the bottom were broken), tangutica and a few others and D. petraea in its form 'Persabee,' maybe others I don't know about (mezereum and its white form of course). So overall, not many. It's a great pleasure to see others here and remember the incredible selection in the Czech Republic in 2013. My petraea 'Persabee' flowered really well in our autumn so that I didn't expect buds for spring. But it is currently COVERED in buds, better than ever before and I hope it can be brought on for our OAGG Show on 1 and 2 October. It was a couple of weeks late last year for the show at the same weekend so I 'll have to bring it under cover into the warmth for a while.

[Zdenek]

nice, Zdenek your Gentiana are grown in turf mixt?

Both these Gentians are growing in a peat bed. It is 20 cms of clear peat and anything else. In this bed grows well also himalayan Androsaces and some himalayan Primulas.

[DaveM]

Not much in flower at present worth reporting on, exception being Campanula tommasiniana

[Lampwick]

Pictures taken today.

Gentiana saxosa.
The buds appeared quite a few weeks ago but are very slow to open.
It must need a lot of bright sunshine to do this.
I just hope many of the other buds will open before some of the open flowers lose their pristine look.
I have read that G. saxosa can flower well into September.

If I can get a better picture in the coming weeks I will post it here.

[Gabriela]

How beautiful G. saxosa is!

Gentianopsis are just starting to flower here, a bit earlier than usual.

[Lesley Cox]

Your Gent. saxosa looks very white John. Here they tend to be creamy. Unfortunately it and I think all the NZ gentians are now called Gentianella!