April 2008 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

A little burst of sunshine to herald in April.....

and a surprise a couple of weeks early.

[Susan]

Lesley I have transferred my reply to your last post in March to April as it is April 1 today.

I just hope Roger doesn't read this regularly, Lesley!

The label on one of the 31 plants that I am holding hostage,  says Zephyranthes flavissima.  Hope this is of some help.  They are getting a nice little shower of rain at present.  Mine are still enjoying their final days of freedom down at Hokonui but will be delivered up here later in the month.

Susan

[David Lyttle]

With the southerly coming through we have all got a bit of rain even out here on the Peninsula. I lit the fir tonight as it was getting a bit on the chilly side.  Her is sunrise on April 1 - shepherd's warning!

[fermi de Sousa]

The first true autumn crocus in our garden has been Crocus "Oxonian". I missed the first flower but a second came into bud on the weekend,


but I couldn't get enough daylight to get a pic of the open flower without the flash,




so apologies for the washed out colour!
More rainlilies! First, the hybrid between Habranthus martinezii and H. robustus,


Then Zephyranthes grandiflora,




And finally, the first of our nerines, N. fothergilla "Major",


cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

Susan, I make darned sure Roger doesn't read ANY of the Forum, at all.
Very chilly here today too. Nice day but definitely autumnal. We too, are lighting a fire in the evening.

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

A slightly out of kilter flowering here in Canberra, Australia..... Weldenia candida.  Has had a couple of flowers this autumn, which I don't mind at all as it reminds me how nice they are!! 

Also Crocus pulchellus flowering now, but I'll post that in the Crocus section unless anyone wants it posted here?

[fermi de Sousa]

A short lived perennial which is lightly seeding itself around the Rock garden, is Monsonia emarginata.




A new crocus came into flower yesterday; it was a "stray" in a pot of seed raised Crocus olivieri and must've looked different when I repotted them 2 years ago (so don't ask me what the tunic looked like, Thomas!) so I planted this one in a raised bed and it produced a bloom:




Is it a small flowered C. speciosus? Any other suggestions?
cheers
fermi

[Thomas Huber]

OK Fermi, I will not ask for the corm tunic, but nevertheless it would be good to know 

It could be a form of serotinus ssp salzmanii.

[Paul T]

Thomas,

are there small spidery forms of salzmanii?  The only ones I've ever seen are quite a large flowered variety.  Just starting to emerge here, but definitely nothing small about them! 

[Thomas Huber]

Paul, salzmanii is very variable, I have forms from small to big in all shades of blue, with rounded and pointed tips.
But it's still only a guess as long as we don't know which corm tunic Fermi's plant has.

Surely it's not a speciosus - for which the leaves appear in spring.

[Paul T]

Thomas,

I have a white, mauve and a darker salzmanii (The latter is yet to flower for me to confirm it actually is correctly named) but didn't realise there was lots of variability.  I guess that is what comes from buying things as plants, rather the growing them from seed with it's inherent variability.  In your flowering season I'd be interested in seeing some of the different forms if you photograph them.  Might not be convenient at the time, but if you think of it.

Good to have another of our resident Crocus experts back.  It was strange while you were away not having you chime in with IDs for unidentified crocus we had.  You were missed!! 

[fermi de Sousa]

Here's another crocus, C. goulimyi "albus"




It's very inconvenient when these crocus only flower during the week and I can't be there in daylight hours to take a pic!
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Firstly, the long awaited crocus nudiflorus!


which of course, it isn't! perhaps another C. speciosus or C. pulchellus? And this time I have a pic of the corms! taken in January before I planted them out! I hope you're watching Thomas!




They were grown from NARGS Seedex 2004, donor from the Czech Republic. I presume just a mix up somewhere along the line!
Another seedex flower for the first time was labelled Colchicum bivonae, but it seems a bit small


cheers
fermi

[Thomas Huber]

Fermi you have a hard nut to crack. The flower doesn't look like speciosus, more like pulchellus,
but I can't see a yellow throat which pulchellus should have. Perhaps it's another salzmanii?

[David Lyttle]

Here is my contribution to autumn- flowering bulbs. After listening to Ian Y's talks in Christchurch i was inspired to do a major repot on all my bulbs I found 75 small trilliums in one neglected seed pot as well as assorted bulbocodium daffodils. The upshot of all this was that this particular Colchicum flowered for the first time for me. Coincidence perhaps. The label says Colchicum pusillum so I presume that is what is is.

Continuing on the bulb theme here is Cyclamen hederifolium white form followed by a few random shots.

Borage - an interesting flower from a photographic viewpoint.

Corokia macrocarpa with its orange berries. It is a native of the Chatham Islands and very hardy in coastal situations.

Hebe ' Inverary '  which I think is one of the better small cultivars. At least the flowers are not pink.

Cotinus coggygria purple form.

Carmichealia curta one of the native New Zealand brooms. This is its second flowering this season.

Lastly Cyperus ustulatus which I grew from seed gathered on the West Coast. I am looking at its potential as a garden plant.