December 2008 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Lesley Cox]

This is gorgeous Fermi. Which is it?

[Paul T]

Fermi,

I have a flower on seedlings from Habranthus 'Russell Manning' (that is what I received the seed as).  The flower is similar to the foreground of your pic and the flower is absolutely massive.  The largest of any rainlily I have yet come across, although not as round as the grandiflora.

[fermi de Sousa]

This is gorgeous Fermi. Which is it?

Hi Lesley,
the habranthus is a seedling I raised from H. "Russell Manning" which I presume is a selection of H. robustus; as Paul has said it has an enormous flower. Though the seedling isn't as large, it seems a bit more prolific. As can be seen in this pic taken yesterday evening.And yes it does seem to set viable seed, though I don't think I've flowered any of the next generation.

This is a pic to compare the size of RM against H. martinezii,

And for something different, the first flowering on Calochortus clavatus grown from AGS Seedex (?2005)

BTW,Lesley, I'll post a pic later to the iris thread which may be of interest to you
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

I'll look forward to it.

[Ross Graham]

Wow thanks all the posters for showing the amazing things in there garden this month. It inspired me to post a couple of pics to show my puny weeds that are flowering right now in my Dunedin New Zealand garden:

Celmisia philocremna taken at the start of the month, now not looking so pretty

Leucogenies grandiceps

Myosotis oreophylla given to me by a friend of David lyttle and David Toollie, this is a rare plant and I think they are trying to propagate some to replant on site, not sure about that though. It grows on the North Dunstans  on the fellfields. Iv only seen it once, when I visted it with Prof Alan Mark, when I was a student

Aciphylla glaucescens flowering for the first time in my garden, every day it gets taller and I think it hasnt reached its tallest yet. It must take a huge amount of energy away from the plant.

If you want to see what was flowering in my garden earlier this year, in the spring, please visit this page on my website:
http://alpine-plants-new-zealand.110mb.com/Spring%202008.htm

[mark smyth]

Fermi and Paul I think your Pelargonium is P. fulgidum. Are the leaves soft and downy? I have the pink form

[mark smyth]

Ross welcome to the SRGC forum. I would love to see larger photos of your plants

[Ross Graham]

Thanks Mark, I will try and edit the post and put bigger pics Im new to this as you can guess.

[Paul T]

Mark,

Definitely more furry than some of them, that is for sure.  I like your pink as well. 

[ranunculus]

Welcome Ross ... great to see you on this forum ... kind regards and season's greetings to you and, of course, to Steve Newall.

[Ross Graham]

Hi Cliff,
I will say hi to him if I see him, although I dont see him much in the summer and autumn months although my wife is teaching his son Japanese, so I see his son alot.
This photo is for you:
Ranunculus serricophyllus taken this spring growing in a polystyrine trough.
Steve was quite impressed when he saw it.

[ranunculus]

No wonder, Ross ... it's a stunner!

[t00lie]

Hello Ross.
Welcome to the forum.

You seem to be having more success than me at growing our native alpines.

What's the soil mix /ratios in your pots and troughs ?.
Ta.

Cheers dave


 

[Ross Graham]

I use 1 part sieved bark 1 part sieved gravel 1/2 part peat. I think the trick is to re-pot regularly. I don't think my mix is that amazing, its just they need lots of Love!
You also need a big compost heap for all your failures. But seriously I do have a good location. When Steve looked at my plants he complained about the cold wind!

[mark smyth]

Fermi your Pelargonium sidoides looks like it is P. reniforme. Does it look like this?