October 2009 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

So much in flower and foliage here at the moment...... I hope some of these won't bore you too much after all the brilliant pics we've had recently.  

A selection of Gazanias in flower at the moment right on the edge of our nature strip where they don't get watered by anything but what the goddess provides.....
Some Linaria in full flower here at present.
Acer 'Bloodgood' has just put out it's leaves along with the other maples.
Anemone nemorosa 'Baby Blue Eyes' is in flower now.
Asphodeline lutea never makes a good pic as there are always flowers that are over.  Still makes a good display though.

Please click on the pics for a larger version.

[Paul T]

And some more....

... including..... Arctotis, Fritillaria meleagris alba, Cerinthe major purpurascens, Dianthus deltioides, Euphorbia x martinii 'Michael McCoy', Felicia mellioides variegata, and Pittosporum 'James Stirling', which has the most amazing perfume that spreads for long distances.  So many thousands of flowers.... well it did until we had our fence replaced this week.  It was 25 feet high at least, now it is less than 6 feet tall.  None of the flowers you see in the mass pic exist any more, but the ones in the closeup still do as they were low enough to stay for the moment.  

Please click on the pics for a larger version.

[Paul T]

And lastly for now...

Prostanthera sp., Banksia Rose, Sanguinaria canadense flore plena (flowering a week or so ago -Thanks Otto!!!!!), Syringa (Lilac) 'Congo' and Wisteria longissima with flowers about 1m long at this stage.  And that piece of scrappy fence behind it no longer exists any more!! 

I've also posted pics in various other specific sections throughout the forums.

Enjoy.

Please click on the pics for a larger version.

[Tecophilaea King]

bill--some of those Babianas look like colour altered photos!

Good spotting Cohan, these pix where snapped late in the day, when light was fading.
It will still give you an idea what the colour looks like.

[Tecophilaea King]

Bill, I think David Shaw might have the book in stock in the SRGC Bookshop, for £27 plus postage.... you can email him @ delftshaws(AT)hotmail.com     

Thanks again Maggi, I will email David Shaw straight away.

[Gerdk]

.... I hope some of these won't bore you too much after all the brilliant pics we've had recently. 

- Not at all Paul! What a nice set of spring flowers - love the roadside planting and
the longissima Wisteria very much.

Gerd

[cohan]

bill--some of those Babianas look like colour altered photos!

Good spotting Cohan, these pix where snapped late in the day, when light was fading.
It will still give you an idea what the colour looks like.

oh no, bill! i didnt mean in any way to criticise the photos--i just meant those flowers have such shocking colour combinations that they almost look like something someone made in photoshop, reversing colours or something--and i mean that in a good way

[cohan]

And some more....

... including..... Arctotis, Fritillaria meleagris alba, Cerinthe major purpurascens, Dianthus deltioides, Euphorbia x martinii 'Michael McCoy', Felicia mellioides variegata, and Pittostporum 'James Stirling', which has the most amazing perfume that spreads for long distances.  So many thousands of flowers.... well it did until we had our fence replaced this week.  It was 25 feet high at least, now it is less than 6 feet tall.  None of the flowers you see in the mass pic exist any more, but the ones in the closeup still do as they were low enough to stay for the moment.  

Please click on the pics for a larger version.

you really are in full swing, paul!  you always make it sound like you have a garden of 5 square feet and dont grow anything nice--and look at all those  lovely things in flower 
is this your biggest season, now, before the heat arrives full force?

[Paul T]

Thanks Gerd.  The Wisteria longissima is my favourite of them too, but my old pink 'Carnea' that was 13 years of age has just dropped dead, quite disappointingly.  I'll replace it with another Wisteria, but no idea why it never came out of dormancy.  Strange!! 

Cohan,

Believe me, most people who know my garden can't believe where I fit everything.  My garden is engineered to flower all the year, but there are a number of peaks.  There's sort of an early and a late spring peak (we're hitting the late spring peak now, although poor flowering on my bearded iris this year for some reason  ).  Later on we'll have the Hibiscus, Abutilons, Dahlias, Cannas, Salvias, etc through the height of summer.  There's always something going on.  

I've prepared yet more pics to bore you (or not) when I get to posting them later tonight.  

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Wow Paul !! What a show - as everybody else, I find your Wisteria longissima absolutely stunning !!!  Like a waterfall of bloom ! 

[Paul T]

Luc,

In ideal condition I have seen longissima with flower stems a full 6 feet in length, just like a curtain.  One of my two plants has better water I think, and it's flowers are longer this year than the other plant.  Unfortunately one was bought as longissima alba, but wasn't at all alba.    Would have been spectacular to have the two of them in flower at the same time in white and purple.

[Ray]

Ixia viridiflora flowering today.

Hi Paul,should be able to help you out with the Ixia in the autumn,also have Ixia rouxii but it is a bit like viridiflora you never know if you will have next year.At SR's nursery in MT Macedon in Sept he had heaps of I rouxii,first time I had ever seen it in a nursery.bye Ray

[Paul T]

Glorious, Ray.  I vividly recall the colour.  See if you can hand pollinate it for seed, as they are supposed to be quite short lived (although mine did last many years before it died out) and seed sowing is the way to keep it going.  Might be worthwhile trying that for your rouxii as well, just for your own safety.  I have some pastel shades in Ixia polystachya if you're interested in trading.  They're the latest of the Ixias for me here, and as well as the 'Baby Blue Eyes' (white with a blue eye) and pure white I have a mix of pale pinks and white with a dark eye.  You don't see them that often, which is why I am mentioning them.

Hmmm..... I might have to try to arrange a rouxii purchase from SR by someone down in that region I think.  Might be the best way to go?  Thanks for the heads up.

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

You'll probably all be very relieved to know that these will be the last pics I post today.  You'll find them dotted all over the forums from my postings today, chewing up your bandwidth and getting in the way. 

Anyway, here's Brunnera 'Jack Frost', a double orange poppy that I have never properly worked out the name for, and a couple of shots of part of my front garden.  The shot out toward the big photinia has the Wonga Wonga vine on the left of it (as seen in the Aussie natives topic) and is part of the view from my front door looking out into the garden.  The second shot is mostly the same things as in the first shot, but taken from down within the garden looking back towards the house.

Enjoy.

Please click on the pic for a larger version.

[cohan]

paul--lovely shot of the front garden! lots of colour and texture..