December 2008 in the Southern Hemisphere

[fermi de Sousa]

Well, it's officially summer here in Australia, though we've had some cloudy days and no serious heat yet.
Since arriving home on Sunday night we've managed to have a look around the area and it's obvious that the small amount of rain that had fallen in the last half of November has kept things a bit greener than usual.
Some things had finished flowering while we were away but ther's still some colour in the garden.
I'll post some pics once I can download them!
cheers
fermi

[David Nicholson]

Welcome back Fermi.

[fermi de Sousa]

Thank you, David.
Here are some pics from our garden this week.
A delightful dwarf Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria hookeri,



The late afternoon flowering Moraea gracilenta.

And a nicely flowered Dianthus haematocalyx ssp pindicola, grown from Seedex seed,

The powdery-silver Salvia cryptantha with mauve flowers from pinky-purple bracts,

A different form of Pelargonium triste which I got a nursery at Lara,

The first flowers on Acantholimon hohenackeri,

Cheers
fermi

[Lvandelft]

A delightful dwarf Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria hookeri,
The late afternoon flowering Moraea gracilenta.

fermi   

Fermi, what a beauty, this Alstroemeria. Thank you for showing the whole place where it grows in the garden.
It tells a lot about what it likes.
And seeing the Dianthus haematocalyx ssp pindicola, does it grow in the same (soil) circumstances?

[ian mcenery]

Fermi great to have you back delighting us with your wonderful plants

[Armin]

Fermi,
this salvia is extraordinary too

[Michael]

i particularly like the Pelargonium. Very unusual pattern

[mark smyth]

Fermi your P. triste looks like mine

[fermi de Sousa]

Fermi, what a beauty, this Alstroemeria. Thank you for showing the whole place where it grows in the garden.
It tells a lot about what it likes.
And seeing the Dianthus haematocalyx ssp pindicola, does it grow in the same (soil) circumstances?

Hi Luit,
The dianthus is growing in a different part of the garden but a similar raised bed mulched with gravel. It is fairly exposed to the elements, with a lot of sunshine. I do water that part of the garden during really dry periods but not excessively due to dormant bulbs in the area. If the late spring is dry the alstroemeria also gets a bit of artificial watering otherwise it tends to go dormant without flowering! This year we got enough rain so I haven't had to water it much.
BTW the ixias have nearly gone dormant!

Fermi your P. triste looks like mine

Hi Mark,
this is the second form of P. triste that I grow and it came from Roraima nursery down on the coast. The one I showed earlier was the one I grew from seed from Silverhill Seeds in RSA. Did I send you seed of it?
Here's a few things in the garden,
Clematis "Hagley Hybrid"

A red/orange flowering pelargonium which I also got from Roraima Nsy,

This is a bad shot of its pinnate foliage,

Does anyone know which species it is?
Cheers
fermi

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Great show Fermi !!! 

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

Some stuff in flower here at the moment (Yes, I've finally caught up.... well on my garden pictures anyway.  Still plenty of the Aussie Native pictures to post)

Click on the pic to see a larger version.


A double mauve Campanula which I don't have a name for.  Quite a delicate little thing to less than 30cm tall.  Doesn't seem to spread much either.  I'm sure I've asked about a name for this before, but I don't think we ever came up with one?


Cypella aquatilis, flowering madly at the moment in a bog/water bowl.


Dicentra macrocapnos, which I think I read recently is no longer that genus, but instead is something relatively unpronounceable. 


Geranium 'Summer Skies'


Linaria vulgaris is a bit of a thug, but I still love it.  Flowers for such a long period.


This was photographed at a friend's garden.  Magnolia sieboldii

[Paul T]

Some Cactus for those who are interested.....


An Echinocereus that flowers prolifically at this time every year.




Neoporteria napina, with it's flower larger than the plant. 




Parodia mairanana produces flowers almost all year around.  This is about a 15cm pot at the most, so there are a lot of offsets packed in there with more of them coming into flower all the time.

And a few other things....


This is named Ornithogalum 'Chesapeake Snowflake' here in Aus.




A couple of waterlilies in some of my water features.

[David Nicholson]

Your garden must be a pleasure to see at this time of year Paul.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Lots of variety there Paul !
The double geranium is a real gem  how tall does it grow

[Paul T]

David,

My garden is a mess at the moment.... too stuffed after work to get anything done. 

Luc,

The geranium gets to between 30 and 40cm tall.  Flowers well too.