May 2019 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Parsla]

Hello all and Happy May.

A few more crocus showing up.
1. Crocus caspius - a nice fat one..
2. Crocus cartwrightianus
3. Crocus banaticus - just the one thus far
4. Crocus pumilus kindly gifted by Otto - this one is striped
5. Possibly Crocus hadriaticus

[Maggi Young]

Hi, Jacquie, happy  May to you too!  Just  started  snowing  here  so could be  better!

[Parsla]

Hi Maggi,

Oh goodness. Shouldn’t you be going into Spring/Summer?

Jacqui x

[Maggi Young]

Happily  it was  just  a  short  sharp blast!  Sun out  again now, meantime   but  snow  is around and weekend  forecast  isn't  great. Sigh!  Yes, you'd think we'd be be truly  into  better weather  by  now, wouldn't you?  Our weather  is  so changeable  all year  round - it would be  good to have seasons that  began and then stayed, until the  next  one, rather than swapping between them all through a  single  day! 

[Parsla]

hi all

one last snap i managed to catch on the weekend before the rain and birds destroyed it...
crocus laevigatus

[Jupiter]

I had fun on the weekend with the autumn flowering bulbs. We had cool sunny weather which opened lots of flowers.

[Parsla]

You are such a whizz with a camera Jamus.
Lovely photos.

[Jupiter]

Aww gee thank you Jacqui.    I really enjoy capturing beautiful plants to be able to share them and go back and see them whenever I like. They are so fleeting after all! I often go to work and miss them all together..    Today I asked Beck to take a pic of two pots of goulimyi I have in bud, it was her day off.

[bibliofloris]

She did a beautiful job — love those bees! And I’m still entranced by Narcissus viridiflora — I’d never seen it before joining this forum.
Kelly

[fermi de Sousa]

Finally, we have some autumn crocus flowering!
Crocus ochroleucus from Marcus Harvey in 2003 x2 pics
Crocus pulchellus x 2
cheers
fermi

[Parsla]

They look so healthy fermi.
White anthers ever so attractive

[Maggi Young]

 Members will be  aware, I am sure,  of the  former  Wood Bank Nursery  in  Tasmania and  of the Gillanders  who ran it. It  is  my  sad  task to inform the forum that  Ken Gillanders' wife, Lesley, has died.

We are  most  grateful to Sandra who has  been in contact with  SRGC friends on behalf of Ken Gillanders.

" Lesley passed away peacefully on Monday evening with Ken and  daughter Sandra by her side.  Lesley was at home happy with family until this past Saturday and spent only a short period with family in palliative care and was very comfortable.  Dad asked me to let you know."

Sincere condolences to Ken, Sandra and  family  on this  sad loss.


Ken, a nurseryman for over 50 years (now retired) and his wife Lesley started Woodbank Nursery on a bush block in Tasmania. Woodbank Nursery specialized in rare, exotic, unusual and native plants. As their nursery and its reputation grew so did their spectacular gardens containing many rare plants. Ken and Lesley collected seeds in Chile, Ecuador, New Zealand, China, South Africa, and Lesotho.
 

[Parsla]

Terribly sorry to hear that Maggi,  thank you for passing on the news.
I’m sure all our thoughts are with Ken Gillanders and Sandra.
I have never met Ken or Leslie, but have heard only lovely things about them.

[Parsla]

Autumn leaves are starting to turn - it all  seems very late this year. The fothergilla is a delight.
Also, quite a bit of variation in this clump of crocuses. Not sure if all are laevigatus???

[Jupiter]

Yes I think they are all colour forms of laevigatus Jacqui. They have beautiful markings don't they? I have some similar ones flowering, from Paul Tyerman in Canberra.

Here are the little ones from Otto a few years ago.