Flowering now- July 2009

[Paddy Tobin]

Guy,

Sorry to hear about your troubles with knees etc. Hopefully, you will heal quickly and return to being mobile again.

Take care, Paddy

[Lori S.]

Here's an embarrassing admission that probably demonstrates my laissez-faire gardening attitude perfectly...  
 I had the original Haberlea rhodopensis in a sunny acid bed for about 8 years, during which time it generally looked burnt and ratty and never bloomed... but was, nonetheless, impossible to kill (not that I was trying to...)  It finally occurred to me to look into the conditions it preferred... ahem.  
Then I moved it into shade, where it has bloomed annually since.  
So, yes, tough plants.  
I imagine an additional factor with Jankaea would be those furry leaves... probably prone to rot in wet climates, I would assume.

[David Nicholson]

Hi Guy, nice to see you posting again. Sorry to hear about the knee problems and hope you are soon more mobile again.

Lori, you keep posting them, I'll keep enjoying them

[hadacekf]

After five year old absence into my garden appears a self seedling of Verbascum bombyciferum. This is an eye-catching plant with heavily felted, silver-grey rosettes of large leaves, and bearing long, tall, fleecy stems of bright yellow flowers.

[Ragged Robin]

Franz, I love it!  What a beautiful furry beast it is and what a name to go with it: 'Verbascum bombyciferum'  What promoted it to grow so magnificently this year do you think?  Your alpines must feel exceptionally dwarfed!

[Geebo]

Franz,what a surprise it make,here in our garden it seem to appear every Year in the most unusual places,it seem to have a mind of its own were it is going to get growing,it never get out of hand,so we leave it in peace,and next year or two year there after it show its statueske again.
We to love it even it is always somehow out of place 

Guy.

[cohan]

Hi Paddy,
severe Artritish had prevented me to continue posting on the forum for some time,much to long really,and most of my time had to be spend in the nursery due to slowing down,with little or no time left for leisure
Things have not improved ,as I am now complete immobile,and bound inside,with more than time on my hands,and an opportunity to visit the forum again,you might see me around,the replacement of two knees is going to take some time to recover.
I will try to get out there sometimes to get some pics to keep You informed,hope Im not going to get to boring with our Helleborus  
See You soon,
Guy

sorry to hear! hopefully the knee surgery will help..
nice perennial border, set off beautifully by the white house

[Lori S.]

Lovely verbascum there!  I've grown V. bombyciferum the odd time but it never fails... the plants I count on to reseed themselves often don't.  (Damned biennials and monocarps!   )
Speaking of another damned biennial (more or less), it occurred to me a couple of times during the winter that I'd best finally collect seeds of Campanula thyrsoides, since my last plants bloomed last summer... but being a great procrastinator, I never did.  This spring, though, I started finding quite a number of mysterious, bristly-leaved seedlings around about through the yard, and finally figured out that they were C. thyrsoides (or so I hope!)...  So at least that one did what biennials are supposed to do!

Cephalaria gigantea - which I find surprisingly hard to photograph!  It should show up against the dark tree but never so well as I'd hope!

[pehe]

Some wonderful things everyone has posted.  Some beautiful Salvias, in particular the bulleyana (love that colour combination, I didn't know they came in that colour.  ).

I do have to question one thing in one posting though...... http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3784.msg102640#msg102640 ..... is the first one really Crocosmia 'Lucifer'?  I thought it was supposed to be red, not this orange colour?  Or is it just the camera's representation of the colour?  I just thought I would mention as if the colour is true, my understanding is that that is not that variety?

Paul, sorry for the late answer, I just mised your post.
Yes it is 'Lucifer', in real it is true red. The photo was taken in the evening and I should probably have used flash to get the color more true.
It is a problem when working in daytime, either is many flowers closed or the light is poor. But following Ian's photographic hints in the bulb log gives better results.
By the way, besides autumn flowering bulbs, Crocosmia 'Lucifer' is one off my favorites. It is very vigorous, healthy and both flower buds, flowers and seed pots are very beautifully.

Poul

[Paul T]

Good to hear Poul.  It's always worthwhile checking is someone has a possibly mislabelled plant.... that is how so many things get passed on to other people with incorrect names, never realising that they aren't the true item.  Glad yours is the real red. 

[Geebo]

Hi,
Thanks to all the forumnists sending me there consern,it lift the moral here,

Keep posting,
Guy.

[Ragged Robin]

Hi Guy, wishing you well in your recovery - two replacement knees must be really tough rehabilitation but I'm sure will be worth it in the end to be free from pain - your garden looks wonderful and I hope will lift your spirits 

[Michael J Campbell]

Can someone ID what is left of this flower please,the slugs discovered it before I did. It is 15cm high and the two  leaves are 30cm long.


Flower.
One of the leaves.
 

[PaulM]

Some last pictures of July flowers

1) This was a very nice pink Alcea species which was collected in Cappadocia in 2003. This is how I remember it looking on the plant where I collected seeds, but seeds from the same plant...

2)...gave a different shade of pink as well. Alcea rosea is by the way not native to Turkey, but is grown along houses and has surely escaped.I posted these two pictures in July as Alcea rosea, but I have just learnt that it is Alcea apterocarpa      edit made 28/09/09

3) Silene gigantea grows out of cliffs in Turkey
4) It forms a quite big rosette the first year, and flowers the second or third year
5) The flower stalk gets about 5 ft ( 150 cm ) tall, and is very resinous in the upper part- a good trap for flying insects. Including those nasty Clematis- bugs with the orange abdomen.
6) Streptanthus insignis
7) Teucrium chamaedrys
Vincetoxicum canescens
9) Vicia cassia

[PaulM]

I have to share some pictures of a rare Verbascum species flowering with me now too. I recently learned that it is Verbascum chionophyllum, which is endemic to the area east of Mut, where I collected it in 2004. The foliage is fuzzy like a wool mitten. It is perennial and needs an extremely dry and calcareous spot with intense sunlight for best performance. I should be able to collect some seed, and I don't have any other Verbascums growing in the garden this year, so the chances of DNA pollution are slim.

1) Foliage
2) Flower + foliage
3) Flower + foliage