October 2009 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Lesley Cox]

Bill, you might like to say a few words about the Tauranga climate which is so different from mine, for instance.

Here are 5 quite unrelated plants which are flowering at present. There are one or two new dwarf bearded irises out each day at present, but the rain and snow have done for some of them. Fine and sunny today but with a hard frost. Poor old North Island is getting a full on return to deepest winter with 30cms snow on the Desert road the night before last.

Small enough for a sunny trough, this little gem is 'Jelly Bean.' I need to check with the catalogue (temporarily mislaid) as I would have expected 'Jelly Bean' to have been red, for some reason, but I suppose there ARE black jbs. I always preferred the red and white ones, myself.


Primula juliae is under discussion in its own thread. Here is the genuine article, again, damaged by rain and snow.


Draba bryoides imbricata invaded from below by a stolon of Gentiana acaulis. As a hat for the draba, it's a bit over-sized.


This little tulip came from the Market at the weekend and was quite white, the outer petals suffused with green but by next day when it opened, had taken on an ever-deepening pink. It seems to be double or semi-double. No idea what the name it though.


And finally, a really lovely crabapple which I grew from seed. I picked up a very large crabapple from the footpath outside someone's garden and decided to grow it, hoping for the apples. It flowered for the first time last year, at about 2 metres high even though it's only 3 years old. Beautiful flowers, lightly scented and the subsequent apples were very small and yellow, quite different from the large russet one it was grown from. No matter, it's turned out to be a very attractive tree and growing fast.

[Lesley Cox]

A couple more. Fritillaria pyrenaica just 2yrs and 2 months from germination and still in its seed pot but grown, disappointingly, from FGAGS seed, as F. p. lutescens.


And Daphne arbuscula, untouched by the recent bad weather. I'm using this to psyche myself up for the flowering of D. petraea 'Persabee' which will follow in a few days.

[Lesley Cox]

Pat, I have a few Gladiolus nanus corms which seem to be the same as yours and bought them just as 'Charm.' They're in bud now so I'll do a pic later.

[fermi de Sousa]

A few more things flowering outdoors in the Rock Garden,
Calochortus amabilis


Leucocoryne hybrids(?)


Moraea villosa


Morarea aristata


DBI"Seta"


And yet another unnamed DBI in purple shades


cheers
fermi

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Great images of Spring boys and girls !! 
A very floriferous D. arbuscula Lesley - I wish mine flowered half as well... 

[Tecophilaea King]

Bummer.  I have treated them exactly as you have outlined, right down to the drainage and morning sun.  I grew mine from seed a number of years ago and they are now large bulbs, but I have never had any signs of any offsets from them.... ever.  Now the C. montanus on the other hand offsets like a weed, but also never flowers for me.    Do you grow and flower it as well?
Thansk so much for all the info.  Given your outline of how to grow it, I'm stumped on what I am doing wrong.

Paul, I am not exactly sure what you are doing wrong, there are so many aspects to consider when it comes to growing something successful. I think perhaps its more a question of paying attention to detail, and try to duplicate their native habitats/requirements as close as possible, (difficult at times) in the wild.
I often shift containers to suitable positions in the nursery, from sunny to shady, or warmer or cooler, more or less water for some particular/special genus/species, dry off or store at the right time at the right place. all these important tasks/detail should and will make a difference.
Knowing exactly what to do theoretically and putting it into practice takes knowledge, experience and dedication.
Enough preaching for now, don't stop trying Paul, and yes I do grow and flower Cyrtanthus montanus successful as you can see.  

[Maggi Young]

I am not exactly sure what you are doing wrong, there are so many aspects to consider when it comes to growing something successful. I think perhaps its more a question of paying attention to detail, and try to duplicate their native habitats/requirements as close as possible, (difficult at times) in the wild.
I often shift containers to suitable positions in the nursery, from sunny to shady, or warmer or cooler, more or less water for some particular/special genus/species, dry off or store at the right time at the right place. all these important tasks/detail should and will make a difference.
Knowing exactly what to do theoretically and putting it into practice takes knowledge, experience and dedication.

I can agree with your comments, bill. So often the key to success is not found by following a predetermined plan, but by experimentation and, above all, by constant observation of the plants to learn their needs and signals.....

[Lesley Cox]

That's a gorgeous Cyrtanthus Bill. What an interesting genus that is, much more so than the few we used to have, led us to believe.

[Tecophilaea King]

Bill - How on earth do you manage to grow so many beauties, all to such perfection?  Enjoying your postings immensely.
I only grow Cyrtanthus brachyschyphus, not the showiest but it certainly is easy and gives a good long show.
Can you recommend a source of this Cyrtanthus along with C. macowanii and obliquus? The usual SA seed suppliers never seem to have these, ditto Lachenalia viridiflora.
A question, last spring I planted seed of Blandfordiae punicea and they are not up yet; maybe the lack of a cold period caused this.   I wonder how big the seeds were, I dig around and can't find them. Seems to me they were tiny?  Can you confirm?

Hi John, for a start a good healthy plant is important, cultivation requirements, spraying for pest and deceases all make the difference when it comes to taking good a good picture (and what I have been preaching to Paul)
A good quality digital camera does help as well, I often take plenty of pictures at different setting and then select the best ones, not to forget the background and time of the day.
I have a 4 GB memory card that can take from 100- 1000 pics depending on the resolution, and when full, just wipe and start again.
Photography of course is another subject with many possibilities.
We originally got our seed from Silverhill Seeds, which I would recommend, but there are many SA seed suppliers that sell these seeds, you have to shop around on the internet.
I might be able to help you with the Lach.viridiflora seed which has set seeds and will be ready to harvest shortly.
Send me a private PM and we'll organise something.
I don't know what happened to your Blanfordiae punicea seed , again so many things can and will go wrong when it comes to raising plants from seed. They may still come up, good luck.
I will show a picture of  Cyrtanthus obliguus which I photographed last season. (see if you can find the little spider on top of the plant) Enjoy.

[Maggi Young]

Not sure about the fly, Bill, but I can certainly see a spider!

[Tecophilaea King]

Not sure about the fly, Bill, but I can certainly see a spider!

I qiuckly tried to modify as you can see, but you beat me to it. 

[Tecophilaea King]

Not sure about the fly, Bill, but I can certainly see a spider!

I thought you were enjoying your beauty sleep by now, I am off to do a little work in the nursery.
BTW: the difference is now exactly 12 hours with the UK

[Paul T]

Lesley,

That Cyrt always reminds me of a Nerine when I see it.  I'm hoping to flower it one day, but still haven't managed to get it to flowering size.  Not like I don't have enough bulbs of it to experiment with.... it offsets very freely.  I'll keep experimenting with the pot of falcatus, Bill.  I have 3 bulbs in it, never offsetting, so I am not going to be able to do too much experimentation with it unfortunately.  I've moved it out into a bit more sun the last week or two, just to see if it was too shaded for it where I had it.  I'll give it a slow release bulb food as well soon, and see what it does this coming year.    Thanks for the advice.

[Lesley Cox]

I was thrilled to see this little fritillaria, F. purdyi out this morning. It is from J and J Archibald seed. Not up to the one I used to have though from seed Wayne Roderick gave me many years ago. It was similar except that the pollen was a rich crimson colour and it had the effect of lifting the flowers as the black anthers do on some rhodos, such as R. leucaspis. Alas I lost that one maybe 10 years ago.

[Tecophilaea King]

I was thrilled to see this little fritillaria, F. purdyi out this morning. It is from J and J Archibald seed. Not up to the one I used to have though from seed Wayne Roderick gave me many years ago. It was similar except that the pollen was a rich crimson colour and it had the effect of lifting the flowers as the black anthers do on some rhodos, such as R. leucaspis. Alas I lost that one maybe 10 years ago.

Good photography Lesley, what a beautiful Frit, wish I could grow frits like that one. I am green with envy.
Will/try to say something nice about Tauranga and its climate shortly