Early January 2007

[Paddy Tobin]

Anthony,
If I may comment on Zanthedeschia. I have a large patch on the roadside outside my garden where it is wet all year round. Like yours they are generally cut down by the frost but last year they escaped the frost. This seemed great to me but it had a downside. As they weren't cut down they continued to grow through into the second season and became so tall and lush that they were unable to support themselves and collapsed into a sorry mess. This year they aren't cut down either but I am going to cut them to the ground in the next week or so.

The world just has it in for us gardeners - even when something good happens, it is followed by a disaster.

Paddy

[Bjoerg47]

As a quite new member of SRGC, and new to alpines, I find it interesting to get known what are in bloom outside Norway. We have snow and frost, so it will be a long time before we have any flower in our garden.But I am thankful for letting me browse here. Thank You.

[snowdropman]

As a quite new member of SRGC, and new to alpines, I find it interesting to get known what are in bloom outside Norway. We have snow and frost, so it will be a long time before we have any flower in our garden.But I am thankful for letting me browse here. Thank You.

Hi - welcome to the Forum. We would all love to hear about what you are interested in & perhaps you can tell us your name & what part of Norway you live in?

[ichristie]

Hi Snowdrop man, all, Galanthus elwesii 'Freds Giant' was found by Fred Sutherland growing at the Raigmore estate Inverness many years ago, he then took bulbs to Cruikshank Botanic Garden in Aberdeen these bulbs do vary  with some differences in the inner markings. The pictures on my web site which are numbered 1 and 2 are the same bulbs just we need different tags for web site. We do in fact have bulbs almost in flower, already very tall so will get pics with differences soonest. G. elwesii 'Freds Giant' has an A.M. SRGC show at Dunblane some years ago. Ian the Christie kind

[snowdropman]

We do in fact have bulbs almost in flower, already very tall so will get pics with differences soonest.

Ian, thanks very much for this background info & we very much look forward to these pics, showing the differences.

Chris

[Geebo]

Hey Paddy
 some time ago you,You mention the Sprouting brocolli and romanesco,I love this veg very much,do you grow that romanesco true the winter ?? as with the sprouting brocolli.
what I have here is a white sprouting brocolli what is growing as perennial. when I was given the plants I could not believe it but the plants did sprout again after harvesting the crop and is looking prommising for the spring again,and taste wonderful,I have new plants growing from seed if you like some of them let me know and I send some on.
Cheers
Geebo

[Luc Gilgemyn]

My camelia over 6 weeks earlier than usual
and I like his opening buds even better

[John Forrest]

My Camellias were doing fine but the frost made them look rather sad. The whites seem to suffer most or is it that they show the brown more?

[Luc Gilgemyn]

My sympathy John - the Camelia I showed is in a big pot - it's outside all year round, but I move it inside when it's flowering and frosts are threatening. Keeps a man fit and makes the plant look less sad

[Paddy Tobin]

Hi Bjoerg, Welcome to the forum and looking forward to your reports and perhaps photographs.

Many thanks for the information on G. 'Fred's Giant' , Ian the Christie Kind. Looking forward to further photographs and some of the 'Castle' snowdrops also.

Geebo, The purple sprouting brocolli I started as seed last April/May and planted out into the garden when ready. I grows away for the summer, up to two or three feet tall, and begins sprouting after Christmas when the weather warms a little, very early this year. I am not as fond of the white sprouting brocolli and don't bother growing it any more. The romanesco is fine to stand in the garden during the winter but as this year is mild the heads are continuing to grow and are opening up. They are better, I think, to be harvested just before they begin to open. The perpetual brocolli sounds interesting and I would love to try a few plants if you have them to spare. Address: "Cois Abhann", Riverside, Lower Gracedieu, Waterford. Many thanks for your kindness.
By the way, I was in Altamont Gardens, Tullow, Co. Carlow yesterday and there was a lovely selection of hellebores on sale - very beautiful but very expensive, ranging from €40 to €80 per plant.

Paddy

[Maggi Young]

Paddy, what does the name of your house,  "Cois Abhann" mean?

[annew]

And how do you pronounce it?

[Paddy Tobin]

I have been irregular in my visits to the forum in the past few days but Maggi alerted me to this question today. My reply to her was that her Scottish Gaelic must be very rusty and that I was surprised that none of the Scottish people who post to the forum did not make it out.

Well, the translation is very prosaic. "Cois Abhann" means simply "by the river". You will see that the second part of the address, the townland name, is "Riverside". Those who live in rural areas will be familiar with farming practice where each field will have a name. In our immediate vicinity we have 'the hilly field', 'bridge field', 'the mash', 'river field', 'the forty acres', 'kiln field', 'the near lawn', 'the far lawn', 'the little bog' and on and on. The field in which our house is built is called 'Mangan's Field' as a man of that name apparently came out from town sometime in the 1940s or 50s and hanged himself from one of the large beech trees which edge the field. As historically accurate and culturally authentic and all as it would have been to use this as the house name, it had certain connotations which deterred me from doing so. Not superstitious or anything, but why try fate?

Pronunciation? Cois = Kush, Abhann = Abh = Ow as in town, ann = on, so Kush Owon. That's as best I can describe the sounds. Hope that helps.

'Cois Abhann' is Irish as you might have guessed, what you might perhaps call Gaelic. There are not many Irish speakers around, I'm afraid, particularly in this area of the world. There are more on the west coast, the Galway area in particular. However, my wife decided to send our youngest to an all-Irish school and he just loved the language and since he was four we have conversed in Irish almost at all times. I already spoke Irish so it was a pleasure to be able to use the language again.

Paddy

[Lesley Cox]

Roger and I went to one of the local pubs on Sunday night to hear two men from Co. Kerry singing and playing. A lot of their songs were in their own language which is very beautiful to hear but for us I'm afraid, a closed book. A great evening though.

[mark smyth]

In the south west I was amazed to see Camelias is full flower everywhere  including the 6 week early Cornish Snow