October 2008 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Paddy Tobin]

Lesley,

I think I would have run up the overdraft in the bank had I been at that plant sale. You got a wonderful selection of plants. May they grow well for you now,

Paddy

[Lesley Cox]

Yes Paddy, the sale is always fun and there are always good things to buy

So what is mine then David?

[Paul T]

Luit and John,

If Fermi's is the same as mine it can in ideal conditions get to maybe 5 foot tall in an established clump (i.e probably a bit of competitition with itself).  I've not had it set seed here, but will keep an eye out for any this season as I have if flowering in a pot at my place at the moment too.  The other good thing about it is that it doesn't flop like so many of the other Ixias... tending to stand good and straight instead of leaning over.  Good multiplier too, although as I said I find it tends to die out if you don't divide it up every few years.

[fermi de Sousa]

Luit,
in our garden the ixia only gets to 4 and a half feet tall
If you are able to receive corms from Australia please sned me a PM with your postal address and I'll send you a few, but of course, you'll have to "turn them 'round" to your seasons!
Here are a few things in our garden,
Clematis "Westerplatte"

The unusual brown Dutch iris Thunderbolt, (at least I received it as that but there is some discussion about it being a Spanish Iris!)

Genista lydia is just about at peak bloom!

This is a dianthus grown from seed as D. sternbergii



Saponaria caespitosa, also grown from Seedex seed,



A poor shot of a wonderful dryland salvia, S. chamaedryoides,

One of our local "flax lilies", Dianella revoluta



cheers
fermi

[art600]

Fermides

Your plants have brightened up a frozen morning.  I want a cold winter to rid us of bugs etc, but I wish it would start in December.
Going to the Peloponnese on Friday for 10 days, so hope to find some sunshine and some spectacular plants.

[ranunculus]

Going to the Peloponnese on Friday for 10 days, so hope to find some sunshine and some spectacular plants.

Do you require a very inexpensive sherpa, Arthur?
Have a splendid break and take lots of images please.

Wonderful shots as usual, Fermi.

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

As well as the Iris I have posted down in the iris section, there are a lot of other things in flower in my garden at the moment.  Paeonia 'Kinshe' is a tree paeony and the flowers are huge.  The Rhododendron fastuosum flore-plena is a lovely lavender mauve colour, with double flowers as the name suggests.  And the Hippeastrum cybister is a first flowering from seed sown in about 2000.  Rather intricate and even more delicate than I expected.  I got it from a seed exchange so I don't know whether it is pure species or not.  I just love it.

Enjoy.

[ranunculus]

Super images of lovely plants, Paul.
Hope you are keeping well?

[Paul T]

Cliff,

Thanks.  Yep, I'm keeping well.  Just not having much time to post things as I am working full time now.  Loving it though..... how could one NOT love working at a Botanic Gardens?   Spending your day in the "office" surrounded by wonderful plants, and getting paid for it and all.    At the end of the day I am tired, but happy. 

Fermi,

Forgot to mention.... that bronze dutch iris is pretty speccy.  Good colour to it.  Reminds me of a smaller one I used to have a number of years ago called "Bronze Queen" or something like that.  I think I saw it again a couple of years back but what they were selling then was not what I used to have.  The original one was a better colour (like yours is) and more delicate in shape and size.  Not a good grower though unfortunately, so it tended to die out in our climate at least.  Nice to see that there are still good bronzes about though, as the more recent ones either have a lot of mauve in them, or a lot of orangey yellow.  Thanks for the pic (and all the others too).

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Great stuff from Down Under everyone - Enjoying every pic  you're showing us as we seem to be diving into an early winter...

[johnw]

John, Clematis foetida iIf there's seed later, would you be interested in some?

Thanks for the offer Lesley but I had best restrict myself to the two tender clematis I have at the moment in the greenhouse - x cartmanii Joe and an ACE sp. that has yet to do anything.

johnw

[Paddy Tobin]

Yes, Southerners, a great run of photographs, really enjoyed them.

Fermi, I grow some large patches of Dianella tasmanica. The flowers seem very similar to your D. revoluta. Are they very similar plants. Of course, for me at any rate, the purple berries are far more attractive than the flowers. Pity about the foliage which I find is regularly a tatty affair.

Paul, that Hippeastrum is certainly an unusual flower, well captured. Now, as for the brown iris, well that colour in irises is one of my pet hates. Why breed a BROWN iris when there are so many far more attractive colours.

Likewise, another pet hate(yes, I have lots of them), I have seen postings of schisostylis (sp?) and I absolutely hate the things, blasted weeds, running everywhere, no manners at all.

Paddy

[Hkind]

A lot of gems as usually, Lesley! Thank you for sharing!

Just one comment re Primula reidii. I always thought that var. williamsii was blue. I have both the species and var. williamsii and the flowers of williamsii are bigger and blue.

[Lesley Cox]

Hello Hannelotte, lovely to see you here, in this thread. You are probably right about the Primula but I thought it was the other way around, the blue as the species and the white as the var. Do you get seed on your blue? we seem to have lost it here. I used to have hundreds of both, originally from Jack Drake seed. Now I have just 3 whites and the man who sold those died a few months ago.

[Hkind]

Lesley, I am never sure I got seed or dust when harvesting Primula reidii. The seed is, as you of course know, tiny. But probably I have some seed of var williamsii and could send you some. Let me know your address.