December 2016 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Robert]

Fermi,

A lovely set of poppies!

I never got mine planted this autumn.    Maybe it is not too late...

[fermi de Sousa]

Fermi,

A lovely set of poppies!

I never got mine planted this autumn.    Maybe it is not too late...

Robert,
these were sown very late for us in July (equivalent to January for you?); however the germination rate was quite low - only about a fifth or less - some might germinate next year.
In the Rock Garden:
Acantholimon hohenackeri;
Double Triteleia 'Royal Blue';
Tiliqua scincoides scincoides;
cheers
fermi

[Jupiter]

Lovely Fermi. I placed a seed order with Majella larochelle in Gatineau, Canada and it was held up in quarantine for over a month. When it finally turned up Acantholimon had been confiscated and the rest passed...    beats me... but I was quite disappointed.

[Jupiter]

We visited our friends Martin and Penny Fidge yesterday and I took some photos in their garden which I thought you might enjoy. Martin is a talented lily grower and has a great collection (overwhelmingly huge collection!). A beautiful evening with a lovely meal, a bottle of wine shared and fabulous plants. Perfection.

[Jupiter]

Martin and Penny's part 2

[Jupiter]

Martin and Penny's part 3

[Lesley Cox]

I was expecting a local garden club here this morning, the first of a few gardens on their pre-Christmas last gasp for the year. Not looking forward to it as it was very short notice (3 days) and the place is a mess at present. However they've phoned to cancel because the weather is bitterly cold with wind and sleety rain, the temperature about 7C at present. Just as well as Roger fell last evening and this morning it is obvious he has something broken in the middle of his hand. It's very swollen, black, stiff and agonizing, he says. So when he's finished his coffee we're going up to Dunedin's A and E and we all know how long THAT will take. May as well write off the whole day.

[Jupiter]

A couple of offerings from my garden.


Lilium davidii


Dierama pulcherrimum


Lilium duchartrei


Alstroemeria psittacina 'variegata'


Digitalis lanata

[David Nicholson]

Very nice Jamus, you take a lovely photograph.

[Parsla]

Jamus, superb as usual.
Your lily photos are beautiful. Duchartrei is a personal favourite.
Do you know what the pink spotted lily in penny part 3 is?

This damp cool December has allowed foliage to flourish, and I have included a few..
1. Corylus avellana purpurea with cercidiphyllum japonicum
2. Cornus Norman Hadden in full show
3. Sandersonia aurantica
4. Aconitum delphinifolium

[Parsla]

And some lilies..

5. Lilium martagon hybrid Claude Shride has much larger flowers than the species (pink)
6. The fruit of Amelanchier canadensis
7. The tall Lankon hybrid
8. Hydrangea macrophylla "hanabi" bloomed pink rather than white this year
9. Tilia cordata in flower.

[Jupiter]

Jacqui your martagons look amazing! I had one flower this year, my first ever and it wasn't a patch on yours. Your garden looks so lush and inviting. It's already starting to dry out here.

I don't know the name of the pink lily. I'll ask Martin and get back to you.

[ashley]

The value of being 'big, dark & hairy' on sub-Antarctic islands: megaherbs general article here, original paper here.
Is it that we have overlooked similar adaptations in the NH?

[Jupiter]

Jacqui, Martin tells me the pink and yellow spotted lily is a pot asiatic called 'pink pixie', purchased from Adrian van Kempen Club Creek bulb farm.

Here's another picture of my L. davidii 

[Parsla]

Jamus thank you for asking the name for me, its such a pretty lily.

L. davidii is a beautiful lily as well. I shall have to disinter and divide my clump this year.
They used to grow very tall but now appearing in miniature and I can only imagine they are too crowded.
Yours look much better.

And thank you for commenting so favourably on my martagons.
Otto and Marcus would laugh, as I had many failures and rotted a few before finding a way to grow them.
The one I would love to get my hands on is the album superbum. There were seeds offered on sgrc this year and i stupidly put the incorrect number - out by one digit becomes a L. oxypetalum.
 

Two photos today.

1. The Weldenia candida, flowering a full month after everyone else's it seems - could it be the grey summer we are having, i wonder?

2. An unexpected surprise, Otto presented me with a couple of miniature daphne plants only weeks ago and one has just flowered. Daphne collima x petraea, with tiny leaves and vivid blooms.