August 2018 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Jupiter]

But never say never Otto! Some people are still successfully importing bulbs through quarantine; my friend Greg Rucket has imported LARGE numbers of new hybrid Lachenalia (at great personal cost) and I'm sure you've seen some of them turning up for sale in Victoria there? So why not Galanthus? When it comes to the species I have ordered seed from Jelitto, Plant World seeds, rareplants.eu etc. and have germinated some. I agree it's much harder and more expensive, but as the old adage goes, where there's a will there's a way.

[Lesley Cox]

Yes it's still possible to import some things, mostly dormant bulbs but the bureaucracy and the financial costs involved are astronomical. We are so lucky here that one woman has been prepared to take up this task - at some considerable cost to her finances and also, unfortunately to her health, as the stresses of the processes have invaded her life - but with the result that we, the gardeners and snowdrop lovers are benefitting as she is bringing in cultivars of which we've only been able to dream in the past. She too is ruled by CITES but as she has been able to prove the provenance of home and nursery cultivars, gradually a selection is becoming available.

While the first two snowdrop days were largely attended by approximately local (South Island) growers, as the word has spread, more and more from around the rest of the country are taking part and available places for the day are snapped up very quickly. I know at least two North Islanders who are attending on this coming Sunday and it will be wonderful to see them again after many years. One thing has become obvious to me after listing just a very few crocuses this last autumn,  there is an insatiable hunger among NZ gardeners for little bulbs and the many other precious things that rock gardeners treasure. Years now, with no new plants allowed into the country, have created a demand that is impossible to satisfy. We want NEW plants, not just more hemerocallis, more alstroemerias, more and more of what we have already, but SPECIES that we've not seen before. Will this ever come about? I doubt it. Certainly not in my lifetime anyway.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi Lesley
Our David Adams is named after the David Adams who lives just near Christchurch. I will have to change the name as there is already a daffodil named David Adams. From recollection, the last time I caught up with David was in St Louis in 2016. We had an Italian dinner with him and his wife on our arrival in St Louis.
David Adams is well known in the daffodil world and he is into miniatures. I have been friends with him for a number of years. He has visited the Canberra daffodil show and our farm (as has Fermi). I suspect Fermi visited at the same time as David Adams.
David liked the flower when it first flowered. I have intended naming it after him as a consequence of his comments about the flower. It is a very nice flower.
Graham

[Lesley Cox]

Oh yes Graham, that's our Dave all right. Nice man and knows his daffs like no-one else in NZ I think. I hope you can sort a suitable name for the little daffodil.

[Mini bulb lover]

I wish we had snowdrop days here in Australia!

Crocus reticulatus raised from Marcus Harvey 2012 seed catalogue. Seed collected Mt Falakro, Macedonia, Greece 1300m. When reading The World of Crocuses earlier this year I saw that Janis Ruksans had been given seeds and corms Marcus collected in this location which have since been identified as Crocus orphei. I thought maybe I had a new species in my collection! But my crocus have yellow throats; C. orphei does not. Still a beautiful crocus, whatever it is.

[Maggi Young]

New Zealand members and those who have the good fortune to visit there, sing the praises of  Hokonui Alpines, run by the brother and sister team of  Peter and Louise Salmon. Their nursery is featured in an article in the New Zealand Gardener magazine - http://nzgardener.co.nz/




Photos from FB by Doug Logan

[Jupiter]

Some late winter colour.

1. Romulea sabulosa
2. Romulea sabulosa again
3. Dionysia aretioides
4. Moraea macronyx
5. Crocus heufellianus

[cohan]

Here are some other flowers in our winter garden:
1 & 2) Pomaderris obcordata 'Mallee Princess'
3 & 4) Hakea species
5) Anemone coronaria from seed from Iraq
cheers
fermi

Those are words I never have to use-- flowers from my winter garden... Are the first several natives?

[bibliofloris]

That morea is gorgeous, Jamus!
Kelly

[Jupiter]

Thanks Kelly, yes I like it a lot. Strange how I can eschew yellow in some plants but then one comes along like this and it's suddenly very attractive to me! Also with auricula primulas, the clear, solid yellows are irresistible! Not that I can grow them.. 

[fermi de Sousa]

Those are words I never have to use-- flowers from my winter garden... Are the first several natives?

Hi Cohan,
Yes, the Pomaderris and the Hakea are Australian native shrubs.

That morea is gorgeous, Jamus!
Kelly

One of my favourites, too! And the scent is reminiscent of lemon meringue pie!
Here are a few more from our garden:
1) Narcissus 'Viristar' is really making a splash now.
2) Bulbinella latifolia var doleritica from Silverhill Seeds
3) Iris 'George'
4) Tulipa orthopoda AGS Seedex 2003 coll Kazakhstan
5) Crocus flavus flavus AGS Sdx 2004
cheers
fermi

[Mini-daffs]

Hi
Some photos of what is flowering or about to flower in our gardens.
Graham

[Mini-daffs]

Hi
A few more photos. We are growing a few reticulata camellias from seed so we can have a dedicated camellia garden in our front yard. They are coming along nicely and have just been repotted except for the pot where one plant is going to flower this year.

[fermi de Sousa]

Yikes! Are there mice after the galanthus? They look a bit worried!
cheers
fermi

[Jupiter]

Funny Fermi, but that Arisarum is a bit of a thug! I am trying to think of a solution to its spread... Maybe a barrier? Or a big container?

Two flowers on Iris bucharica