August in the Northern Hemisphere

[Zdenek]

I am sorry, I am a little late as usually. Here are four pictures from our garden from the last month:
Campanula troegerae
Gentiana georgei
Gentiana stipitata
Gypsophila aretioides
The last plant is 30 years old and this is its the very best frowering after all those years.

[Mike Ireland]

Flowering really well this year is Codonopsis pinifolia.
First picture shows just the flower
the second how long the flower stems are & how they wrap themselves around the plant support.

[Zdenek]

I am sorry, I am late as usually. Four pictures from the last month:
Campanula troegerae
Gentiana georgei
Gentiana stipitata
Gypsophila aretioides
The last plant is now 30 years old and this is its the best flowering from all those years. In first 24 years it did not showed any flower at all.

[fleurbleue]

Beautiful Codonopsis, Mike

[Roma]

Is it Autumn yet? 
Acis autumnale has been flowering for a while and
Hesperis coccinea (have I got that right?) has been flowering for a month.
Cyclamen hederifolium has also produced a few flowers

[Matt T]

I just noticed yesterday that my Acis autumnalis is almost in flower. I see that your plants also have leaves showing. Mine outside seem to be evergreen here whilst those under cover have a proper summer dormancy.

[fermi de Sousa]

Is it Autumn yet?  ...
Hesperis coccinea (have I got that right?) has been flowering for a month.

Hi Roma,
close - Hesperantha - this species used to be known as Schizostylus coccineus but got lumped into Hesperantha a while back.
Nice to see the Acis - we have A. tingitana in flower "down south"
cheers
fermi

[Roma]

Matt, at the Cruickshank garden there were two forms of Acis autumnalis.  The one which I have produces masses of seed and is evergreen except in a very dry summer ( not often in Scotland).  The other form was deciduous and in one clump which set little seed.
Thanks for the correction, Fermi.  I ought to have known.  I got Hesperis matronalis from the AGS seedex a few years ago instead of Hesperantha cucullata. 

[Lesley Cox]

In the far south of NZ we are doing what we can to dispose of Acis autumnalis altogether. Charming though it is, it is a rampant seeder and turns up in almost every pot of bulbs, in beds and even in my vegetable garden recently. No matter how many I dig out there are always more. A. rosea has also had a good year with half a dozen bulbs giving me 60plus stems but only 22 seeds, already germinating, sown in early June.

[Matt T]

That's interesting. Mine are all the same form, just behaving differently under different conditions.
I'd be happy to have it seeding around as it's not really 'weedy'. I doesn't seed here, but the bulbs increase quickly enough.

[meanie]

Flowering really well this year is Codonopsis pinifolia.
First picture shows just the flower
the second how long the flower stems are & how they wrap themselves around the plant support.

That is exceptionally nice!

Salvia "Black and Bloom".............


Commelina tuberosa..............


Kniphofia uvaria?


Echeveria cante is now in bloom..............


The flowers are the largest of any Echeveria that I've grown and a rich shade of red............


Gasteria aff.bicolor lives in a cool greenhouse over the winter and goes outdoors in the spring. It blooms reliably every summer..........

[Yann]

nice, Zdenek your Gentiana are grown in turf mixt?

[Lesley Cox]

Your Salvia is a stunner Meanie. I bought two earlier in the year when they were flowering, one a deep maroon and the other a blue/purple both similar to yours. Planted out they grew well but have died off totally with frosts. The stems look totally dead so I'm hoping they will come away from under the soil. I think their species is probably of Mexican origin. In the meantime I have been able to replace after several years a favourite salvia, S. roemeriana which I originally grew from seed from Les Kreeger in, I think, Surrey. He had some wonderful seeds including another favourite, the tiny Hypericum kelleri which I still have and Delphinium balansae which I don't.

[Robert]

Lesley,

Many of the Meso-american Salvias were tender at the El Dorado County farm (located in the Sierra Nevada Foothills). Some such as S. melissodora, guaranitica, sinaloensis etc. would come back from the roots, generally weakly, and then slowly die-off over the next few winters. Low temperatures of 20 F (-6.5 C) were routine every winter. At our home in Sacramento it is very different. Species such as Salvia confertiflora survive the winter and can become huge. So far, the only tender "species" has been Salvia "vanhouttei" and the like. Our Sacramento home is very close to the Sacramento River. Winter temperatures rarely fall below 28 F (-2 C).

Salvia sinaloensis is a very low compact species. The gentian blue flowers are stunning. It is very easy in a container and worth the effort. I found that yearly repotting was important as the species appears to be a heavy feeder. In our Sacramento garden the plants in the ground need a yearly addition of compost, otherwise they will not bloom for us.

[Steve Garvie]

Some Dandelions:

Taraxacum officianale -I need to do some weeding ......badly!


Taraxacum leucanthum -Grown from Bjørnar Olsen seed collected in Xinjiang (BO-15-208)


Taraxacum lilacinum -Grown from Bjørnar Olsen seed collected in Xinjiang (BO-15-209)




As a child I was told that: "mess around with Dandy Lions and you will pee yourself"
...........I firmly believe it. A fresh change of underwear was needed after this encounter.  ;-)