Flowers and foliage June 2008

[Kristl Walek]

Kristl, I wish I could grow Opuntias like you do.. but winters are too wet here. They may survive but they don't get anywhere close to yours, and I have not seen a flower in any garden here in the north, not even in whole Norway.

Magnar:
I have never quite understood this. Is it the winters, or is it the lack of strong heat in the summer?

Also, I wonder whether pads are planted in the ideal condition (pure sand or near sandy soil).
Lastly, I also wonder whether pads are mature enough to flower--this is something some people don't consider--many of these species take quite a few years to mature and flower.

The Canadian prairies, where most of the really hardy cacti are native get A LOT of snow each winter and it stays for 4-6 months---but then they have plenty of heat and dry in summer. Here we normally have unpredictable snow cover but wet, wet winters, and usually wet but hot summers.

I know Peter Korn's cactus have had an incredible year with flowers, so he reports,  with all the heat and drought he has had in Sweden.

[Magnar]

Kristl.. I think you have a point there about lack of summer heat, at least here up north. But the problem with survivale seems to be winter wet. They often rot here in winter.

[Brian Ellis]

A small mixture from the garden today...
Gladiolus flanaganii, Lathyrus belinensis, Equisetum in a pot hiding a clump of Arisaema, an annual that I love for it's soft apricot colouring - Collomia grandiflora, and a nice bit of happenchance, the birds planted Stipa arundinacea and at its feet Carex 'Frosted Curls'

[Lvandelft]

You grow some very nice annuals Brian.
Does the Lathyrus seed itself like the Collomia does, or do you grow on
each year new plants?
The Equisetum is not the normal E. arvense or am I wrong?
There are some beautiful big form I know about, but would not dare to plant them
here in our sand.

[Gerdk]

Brian,
Super plants, especially the glad! Do you grow the ' suicide gladiolus ' outside the whole year?

Gerd

[Brian Ellis]

Luit the Lathyrus does not seed itself around, in fact there is very little seed although I hope to have more this year as I am growing more plants.  The Equisetum is  Equisetum hyemale which likes boggy conditions, it is also a bit of a thug - hence the pot to keep it contained. 

Gerd I wish I could, G.flanaganii has to stay in the cool greenhouse over the winter and generally only comes out when it is in flower, it is a super thing.

[olegKon]

Something from my garden yesterday

 A.cyathoforum v.farrery1
 Allium amphyboleum
 Arisaema flava
 Arisaema jacmontii
 Arum italicum
 Eminium lehmanii
 Eminium lehmanii
 Gladiolus illiricus

[olegKon]

fogot about pinellia ternata and  Iris pseudocorus

[Anastasia]

I have lagged behind you on some pages. 

Magnar, your primroses and Aquilegia simply fantasy. 

About Dyctamnus:

Dictamnus dasycarpum Turcz. - Siberia, the Far East, East Asia.

Here it is in detail written, but in Russian. I shall not translate to not add mistakes. Probably you will understand better: http://flower.onego.ru/other/dictamnu.html

Paul, I can send you seeds from the plants. 
I think, that at you in Australia they will well grow. All Dyctamnus very much love the sun.

[HClase]

Our forecast of another fortnight of rain, drizzle and fog (rdf) wasn't correct - we had three warm (20-25) sunny days before returning to 9C and rdf.  Three days of furious gardening.  Not much time for pictures but here's our last frit - F. camschatcensis, the chocolate lily and a couple of wild things from the woods.  Starflower, Trientalis borealis is our only local member of primulacae and is quite common in our woods - I've seen up to 4 flowers per plant, but 1 or 2 is more usual.  The understorey is often carpeted with Crackerberry (NF name), Cornus canadensis like English woods with wood anemone - the "petals" are of course white bracts, the tiny flowers cluster in the middle - they are creamy in C. canadensis and purplish black in C. suecica, which we have in coastal sites.

[David Nicholson]

Howard, your rdf sounds very much like Devon weather, albeit with lower temperatures

[Hans J]

here some Hemerocallis from our garden today :

H. APRICOT ANGEL

H. ICE CARNIVAL

H. SUZIE WONG

[HClase]

David,

maybe that's why so many people from Devon settled here (including me - sort of, all my ancestors were born in Devon even if I'm actually a moonraker).

[Viola]

Pics from Eisenerzer Reichenstein-Austrian Mt.
Karl

[Viola]

More pics and rock goat.
Karl