Flowers and Foliage July 2008

[Paul T]

Brian,

Some very interesting stuff in there.  Not sure I've ever seen a Stachys like that last one.  Very pretty markings.  Same for that Francoa.  The Dieramas are of course very cool.    What is the tall mauve clump at the back of that garden pic.  Looks impressively imposing but can't quite place what it is?

[Brian Ellis]

Yes Paul I really like the Stachys.  The tall plant is Campanula lactiflora Loddon Anna mixed in with Clematis recta 'Velvet Night' which gives a nice froth of creamy flowers amongst the campanula.

[Paul T]

That's a Campanula!!!!    Wouldn't have ever thought that.  How tall is it?  Obviously it spreads a bit as well by the width of the clump, but I am guessing not too much or you wouldn't have anything else able to live in the garden.    Do you have a pic of the flowers?  That just looks to be so much bigger than any Campanula I have come across.  I don't see the Clematis recta in the picture, but I'll take your word that it is growing in there as well. 

[Lvandelft]

Luit - Finally I heard back from my friend in Newfoundland who I bought the charge fertilizer from.  As I said the recent bag was Canadian produced.  He e said the bag I just finisheed was made by HYDRO AGRI - ROTTERDAM BV and it was called PG MIX 14-16-18. He also said they have different formulae.

johnw

Thanks John. I already thought you meant some slow release fertilizer.
I wondered just why calling it Dutch fertilizer. Never realized this would travel so far.
Here it is made but also imported from China I read some time ago.
I would in the case of this sort of fertilizer use 6.14.28 for alpines. (Always low N.)
But I don't like the slow released one because in warm winters plants can suddenly start to thrive and
then be killed by severe frosts.
The 14.16.18 might be o.k. for a lawn I think. 

[johnw]

Luit - We use it on perennials, trees and shrubs in pots. Just as a safeguard as it takes care of most deficiencies. It seems to have a bit of everything in it, traces etc.  We use it at about 1/10 or less of the recommended rate.

johnw

[Brian Ellis]

 

That's a Campanula!!!!     Wouldn't have ever thought that.  How tall is it?

Well it's hardly alpine and that's for sure   It stands at about 6 foot and has a footprint of about eighteen inches, it has to be supported, it's head being about four foot across (unless I let it sprawl  )and on my extensive garden visits I've not come across one quite like it, it must be in exactly the right conditions and rewards us well.  Now a good ten years old I should think, at it's feet is C. glomerata 'Pauline' which fits in rather well too although it is now over, the picture was taken a few weeks ago when Loddon Anna was in its first week of flowering.  I shall dead head it and get a few more.

[Paul T]

Brian,

WOW! That really is a beauty.  I didn't realise that the perennial type campanulas got that big, particularly not with that substantial a flower head.  I love the colour too.  Must look out for it and see whether it has ever been brought into Aus.  Well worth growing by the looks of it, particularly if it is only 18 inches wide after 10 years.... which means it is somewhat less invasive than some of the genus. 

Thanks for the closeup pics.  That glomerata is pretty too... I can only recall having seen the normal blue/purple colour in that species, but it isn' like I collect Campanula or am specifically looking around for them.  Both the plants you show are lovely shades of pink.  Very nice!!

[Rafa]

Hello,

I received last year from Hortus Universitatis Hauniensis, in Denmark, seeds of Hastingia alba. Now blooming I am not sure this is correct. Anybody could identify this plant, thank you in advance.

[Paul T]

Are Hastingsia an Australian native plant?  Because we have Aussie natives called Arthropodiums with exactly that flower form.

[Rafa]

Thank you Paul, I am absolutely agree with your Id, it is genus Anthropodium.
I think Hastingsia is from North America?

[Paul T]

Rafa,

Glad to help.  I wasn't familiar with the Hastingsia genus, so I had to ask in case it was related to Arthropodium.  I can't help with a specific name myself though.  The flowers look very much like milliflorum (although they usually have shadings of pink in the flower), but I think there are a few species that are similar from the flower point of view.  Very cute, although rather small, flowers.

[derekb]

Two from me Campanula kirpicznikovii and a Lilly that I would like help with it came from duchartrei seed I know it is not but one of you Lilly experts could help me please, I am not complaining as it is very nice and it was sown on 12-12-06 so has done very well.

[rob krejzl]

Derek,

Your 'not duchartrei' looks like henryi.

[Kristl Walek]

Some of the late Clematis have begun.

A pretty viorna type (likely a hybrid).

C. heracleifolia and C. heracleifolia var. davidiana

C. stans and it's pink form (which simply arrived in the garden some years ago, and is now self-sowing true).

[Kristl Walek]

Everything is at that voluptuous high summer phase in the garden and I had to look up, way up, at everything I saw today...both climbers and just plain giants.

The vigorous, but beautiful native American, Campsis radicans in its glory.

A tall, white Echinops in one of the sand beds.

Napaea dioica, the Glade Mallow, another North American native, is a monstrous thing--over 12'--looks best combined with woody species. The foliage is great---topped by so-so white flowers, which of course you rarely see because they are so high up. But what a presence the whole plant has!!!!

A Persicaria past it's prime--it may or may not be the entirely well-behaved, clump-forming and long-blooming P. polymorpha.

Cephalaria gigantea is probably 15' this year, with all the moisture. I will have to break down the stalks to collect the seed.

And Digitalis ferruginea---small flowers, but a good upright effect in a shady corner.