Flowers and foliage May 2008

[gmoen]

Is it just me, but Magnar's pictures in reply 183 of May 18 are'nt seen but each is replaced by a little red cross. Normally when this happens I click the cross, choose 'Show Picture' and all is well. Not this time though.

Similar thing happens in Darren Sleep's reply 198 of today.

They are OK on my computer

[David Nicholson]

.... and on mine this time Geir, but not darren's pic on reply 198. Maybe it is something to do with slow download speeds!?

[Michael J Campbell]

Campanula Persicifolia (nitida) Planiflora
Chlidanthus fragrans
Moraea unknown ?

[Lesley Cox]

Same for me too David. Magnar's are fine but Darren's is the red cross thing. I clicked the file name under it but got a "website cannot be shown" notice. Might be OK later in the day or tomorrow.

Paddy, will you be living just about right UNDER that bridge? It seems it will totally dominate your home and garden.

[Kristl Walek]

Luc, I took a couple more pictures of the Degenia for you today. In the further-away shot you can actually see the crevice in the limestone where it is planted. I have no idea if planting it here has anything to do with anything---but I know it's the first time the plant has lived longer than 2 years in my garden.

[Kristl Walek]

Michael: I have grown out seed of the Campanula pers. planiflora many, many times and never gotten the real thing. Lovely to see it here.

[Paddy Tobin]

No, Anthony, no estate. The garden was smaller, just the square around the house but we bought some extra space when this bridge was announced. We thought of moving but couldn't settle on anywhere that we preferred. You will see from the photograph that I am in an agricultural area, yet this area is within the city boundary and I am less than two miles from the centre of town and can drive there within five minutes. This is a peculiarity of the manner in which the town it laid out being all to one side of the centre - which means it is not geometrically the centre, I suppose.

Mark, there are lawns and there is grass. There are two smallish lawns to the front of the house; one is visible in the photograph. To the back of the house, the stretch of grass between the hedges is also regarded as a lawn but the open grass area to the top right of the photograph is the football area - the top of the goalposts are just visible. Football days are coming to an end, my knees aren't what they were, and there are designs for two raised beds and another bed with trees, shrubs and underplanting. If it was all done I would have nothing to do tomorrow.

Lesley, the bridge is about 150 metres away but will be huge, really huge, at 110 metres high. The suspension cables to support the road platform will hang from this.  However, the road platform itself will be relatively low and the house and garden will not be overlooked by those travelling on it except for one short stretch as the road moves away from the bridge and also away from us. We considered moving but could not settle on anywhere that we preferred. We live in a peculiar situation: an agricultural setting within the city boundary and within 5 minutes of the centre so the best of both worlds with seclusion and proximity to amenities as the same time.

NOW, nobody gave me any feedback on the two paeonies, names if possible, which are of far more interest to me.

Paddy

[Kristl Walek]

I'm very impressed Kristl!!
But sometime ago you told, that you would have to leave the place.
What happens to the garden and the plants?
Can you take at least some of them with you to whereever you go?

Luit,
Life takes us in directions we sometimes don't want to go--and needing to leave this place is perhaps one of the more difficult changes I have had to face, as 20 years of my life are tied up in this garden. I don't want to leave, but a marriage breakdown and needing to split the property with my ex forces the decision. There may still be some (financial) miracle, but I am trying to get mentally ready.

I wrote to my friend in Norway yesterday and said to him "I started making an electronic memory of my property and of the native plants that grow here on the SRGC site. It's a memorial that is either supposed to heal me ahead of time, or make me change my mind about going. I really don't know yet which way it will go yet."
 
In the beginning I thought it would be least painful to just walk away from it all, without taking a single plant. But each day now, I find myself marking the spots in the garden where the ephemerals and bulbs are, so that I might be able to find them later. And divisions are beginning to pile up in pots in the "move to Nova Scotia" section. The easy plants I will grow again, but the species that have taken 5-10 years from seed will accompany me.

[Magnar]

Is it just me, but Magnar's pictures in reply 183 of May 18 are'nt seen but each is replaced by a little red cross. Normally when this happens I click the cross, choose 'Show Picture' and all is well. Not this time though.

Similar thing happens in Darren Sleep's reply 198 of today.

They are OK on my computer

The lines in to the server where my home page and pics are, were dowe all day yesterday. So that might be a reason why the pics didnt show like they should.

[Magnar]

Kristl:

That Degenia is just fantastic. I never got a plant to over winter here.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Luc, I took a couple more pictures of the Degenia for you today. In the further-away shot you can actually see the crevice in the limestone where it is planted. I have no idea if planting it here has anything to do with anything---but I know it's the first time the plant has lived longer than 2 years in my garden.

Thanks for taking the trouble Kristl - it really looks fabulous.
I had (notice the past tense ) one planted up in a dryish crevice high in the rock garden as well, but it got lost last year.  There are young self seeded plants in situ though, so I can look forward to flowering next year.
I hope yours keeps going on ! 

[Anthony Darby]

Look away now if you don't like ferns - I love them!
Dryopteris x complexa 'Crispum Stableri', Polystichum setiferum 'Pulcherrimum Bevis' bending over backwards at it unfurls. Polystichum setiferum (plumosum Divisilobum Group) 'Othello' group of three plants, and Polystichum setiferum 'Plumosomultilobum' with its very scaly croziers.

I love ferns too and will look out for those. Matteuccia struthiopteris is taking over one of my bark paths - stolon a march, as they say.

I can access Magnar's but can't see Darren's pic?

[Lvandelft]

But each day now, I find myself marking the spots in the garden where the ephemerals and bulbs are, so that I might be able to find them later. And divisions are beginning to pile up in pots in the "move to Nova Scotia" section. The easy plants I will grow again, but the species that have taken 5-10 years from seed will accompany me.

That's exactly what I meant, Kristl. Would be my way too!

[David Nicholson]

Kristl, perhaps it is easy for me to say and so very much harder for you but you must try to think in terms of new beginnings and not old endings. Your plants are a important part of your life and as many as possible should go with you if you have to go.

With best wishes,

[Kenneth K]

Another Uvularia. This time the tiny U sessilifolia. One of my favourites in the woodland. I've tried a week now to get a good picture. I give up! I can't get it better than this.