May 2008 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

4th of May and still no Southern Hemisphere thread.  Will have to rectify that right now.

For starters here's some autumn colour that is in my garden at present.....

[Paul T]

And some more photos of flowers this time, taken this morning....

Thomas, the Galanthus reginae-olgae pictured is the larger form I sent you.  The photo doesn't really do them justice.  It usually produces 2 flowers per bulb, which makes a bigger display.

The Galanthus elwesii is somewhat confused as it is still very early for elwesii.  As far as I know this is a seedling, given to me by a friend who got it from someone that has squillions of seedlings in their garden.  Looks like a very nice variety!!

And lastly the Helleborus niger 'Jacob' (Must check the spelling of the cultivar name, as I think it might be incorrect).  Very, very early this year due to our strange summer/autumn, but both the plants are flowering now.  Lovely pristine white flowers with dark stems on the flowers and leaves, highlighting the flowers beautifully and giving the plant a different character to its brethren for the rest of the season.  Very, very nice plant.

[Lesley Cox]

A nice selection Paul. If I can bring myself to venture out into a very heavy frost, I'll take a few coloured ones myself. The snow and heavy rain we had on Friday/Saturday did for the crocuses I'm afraid though there are more buds emerging but what was out or nearly so, is a soggy mess. Very pleased to see yesterday, that my Massonia depressa from seed is going to flower, a while yet though. I covered them last night in case they were frosted and will have to remember to cover them right through the winter.

[Lesley Cox]

Can anyone remember which thread a couple of weeks ago, had some discussion about Zephranthes flavissima? I can't find it and the "search" facility says no results and I must be looking for, wait for it.... "severences flavoursome!" I have an interesting note from Betty and would like to throw it into the mix.

a search for Zephyranthes would be more successful! Maggi

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Paul,
here's the first decent patch of galanthus in our Rock garden: G. peshmenii! First time to get more than one at a time.

cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Lesley, for your severences flavoursome, try :http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1467.75
cheers
fermi

[Thomas Huber]

Thomas, the Galanthus reginae-olgae pictured is the larger form I sent you.  The photo doesn't really do them justice.  It usually produces 2 flowers per bulb, which makes a bigger display.

Thanks for the photo Paul.
This was the only one of your Galanthus that hasn't flowered for me.
Peshmenii and reg-olg small are over for 3 weeks now, but still looking good.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Good start to the month Paul !
Very nice form of H. niger !

[Paul T]

Thomas,

That's a surprise.  I would have expected the larger form to flower and the other one not to.  Very strange.  Either way, they'll look more representative once they've had a chance to settle in for a year or two and getting into the proper flowering time.  Glad they're doing OK.

[Paul T]

Luc,

Re the niger.... yeah, I was pretty pleased with it.  The flower isn't as impressive as the bigger rounder types (Josef Lemper and ssp macrantha) but the addition of the dark stems makes the plant quite distinct and definitely adds something.

[fermi de Sousa]

Goodness, a whole week has gone by without a new posting to this thread!
Here are some pics taken yesterday.
First, the ever impressive Moraea polstachya,



I took a few things to our local meeting on Saturday and they were still sitting in a tub yesterday!

They included the pure white form of Crocus niveus

and a seed-raised Crocus ochroleucus,

as well as yet another oxalis(!) O.hirta "salmon form"

This morning I got a pic of a perrenial silene I got from one of the seedexes as Silene subciliata, a nice vibrant red,

And just starting to flower is the third of our flowering sized Daphne alpina despite its autumn foliage!



And finally, in anticipation of good things to come (I hope!), a Massonia I got which is supposed to be red flowered!

cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

You're right Fermi, we've been very lax lately. I've looked back through my (occasional) garden diaries for recent years and compared with the last few, this year has had very few flowers out. Don't know why except perhaps that the summer here was so dry that maybe plants couldn't be bothered making the extra effort.

Lots of little bulbs are coming through though, especially Narcssus of the 'Nylon' type. I've given up trying to name these as they're so similar and all flowering from April onwards. All very welcome and nicely scented.

Here's a little autumn colour which still hangs on even with the snow and bitter winds we had last week.


This is a little of the autumn foliage of Fagus sylvatica `Riversii.' Pink in spring, black in summer and tan, titian and gold in the autumn. I LOVE this tree, and I'm lucky to have a well-shaped specimen.




The whole tree then the middle section of Nothofagus antarctica in its pretty, reddish lace dress. I love this little tree too and will try to bring on some from seed.


The fiery heart of Sorbus sargentiana. I've had this small tree (tending bushy at the base) for 5 years and no flowers or fruit so far but that's OK because the foliage is so brilliant. The leaves measure 40cms long, divided into leaflets and the young branches are covered at their tips with a thick toffee-like goo. The autumn colour is outstanding.

[Lesley Cox]

Four little bulbs. Would someone please confirm the name for me, of this, the first of my snowdrops. I've had it as G. corcyrensis but I don't think that name's valid any more. It has come straight through with no leaves yet.


Then a Massonia depressa which is finally going to flower. I lost its mates in frost last year but this and one other survived. I'm covering it each night as a precaution. I believes it flowers in mid winter. I'm looking forward to seeing yours Fermi. It sounds exciting.


Crocus salzmannii albus is another new one from Marcus. It's very clean and pristine.


And finally, Colchicum baytopiorum. The leaves are just showing under the flower. This is the first flower I've had for 3 years so it's good to see it again. None last year but there were about 6 extra shoots around it in the spring.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Great pictures folks !
Nice to get a (short) impression of what Fall feels like...  especially as we're in the middle of Spring with Summer still to come.... 

[Martin Baxendale]

Would someone please confirm the name for me, of this, the first of my snowdrops. I've had it as G. corcyrensis but I don't think that name's valid any more. It has come straight through with no leaves yet.
 

No, corcyrensis isn't a valid name any more. Field studies found that the previous no-leaves-at-flowering-time (reginae-olgae) and leaves-at-flowering time (corcyrensis) distinction didn't hold up in the wild and originated due to observation of very limited cultivated stocks. They're all reginae-olgae now (unless they flower winter-spring instead of autumn, when they become reginae-olgae vernalis, but that's another story - and another distinction that's difficult to justify, as the reginae-olgae flowering  time runs into the vernalis flowering time and where do you make the cut-off point?) Have you tried chipping, Lesley? It's a good way to quickly bulk up your smaller snowdrops.