Foliage now- October 2009

[Ragged Robin]

John, I'm so excited to see your Rhododenrons with that wonderful deep intense red brought on by Autumn cold.  Your close ups dhow the leaves perfectly, even the hairs!  Thanks for all the information too.  You leucaspis is just magic lit up against those dark leaves 

[johnw]

Robin - If you like hair the hybrid - quite unlike myself  - has lots on the new shoots.

johnw

[Ragged Robin]

 

[Brian Ellis]

Now I appreciate that John, I just love the shoots of rhodos (at this point I have to say that the motto of Norfolk is Dew different!)

[johnw]

. Hostas are fantastic in this respect but I doubt if I could grow them in the Alps so I will have to admire them on these pages.

Robin  - I can send you seed of the dwarf mucronulatum if you are interested.  As it comes from Cheju-Do, high up, you should have no problem with it and snowload.  BTW Hostas should do great for you, start with the best and don't catch the bug - you only need three - Devon Green, June and English Fragrance; I'm bound to get into trouble with a statement like that.  

johnw

[Ragged Robin]

John, I would love to try growing your dwarf mucronulatum from seed but need to know what to do - also there is a postal strike in the UK so everything is chaotic, I think.  When should you sow the seed?

Have been on the web to look at your suggestions and 'yes' have got sucked in to all the wonderful Hosta leaves and Fragrances but am still not sure they wold do well here at 1,200 metres, freezing cold winters and dry baking hot summers - Spring and Autumn ones would be best I suppose but haven't seen anyone else growing them here - now there's a challenge 

[johnw]

Robin -  I had no idea you would be baking hot in the summer in the alps at that altitude.  I must do some  summer travelling and get out of the fog to see what happens when the sun shines elsewhere.

Probably the best thing to do would be to just sprinkle some of the rhodo seed in a scree in the autumn and some more in the spring and sit it out.  This mucronulatum should be able to handle cold if Lori is growing it (Crater's Edge - a selected form of var. taguettii)  so well in Calgary.  How cold and hot does it get there?

The mail from here would go directly to Switzerland and thus avoid the UK strike. PM me your address if you still want the seed. At the moment I fear there is a precious snowdrop shipment of ours in that heap of 65 million back-logged letters in London!

johnw

[Lesley Cox]

Robin, John and Brian, if you like hair (or feel the lack of it) you should take a look on the CALOCHORTUS thread at C. elegans var nanus. It has hair to spair.

[Lesley Cox]

And yes John, you're in trouble over the Hosta statement.

[johnw]

Robin, John and Brian, if you like hair (or feel the lack of it) you should take a look on the CALOCHORTUS thread at C. elegans var nanus. It has hair to spair.

Lesley

Thank-you so much for the dig.  The top of my head is now feeling more like the Azorella compacta in the Peru thread - you know, the one with the discarded toupée to the left of the plant.

http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4391.0

johnw

[Lori S.]

...all the wonderful Hosta leaves and Fragrances but am still not sure they wold do well here at 1,200 metres, freezing cold winters and dry baking hot summers - Spring and Autumn ones would be best I suppose but haven't seen anyone else growing them here - now there's a challenge  

Robin, hostas are quite indestructible.  They are commonly grown in the coldest parts of the Canadian prairies - I mean where they have real winters, e.g.  lows of -40 C for a few weeks at a time, and hot summers (unlike these wimpy Calgary winters where our relatively brief cold spells are regularly broken by chinooks, and the summers are chilly).  There have even been hosta breeders resident in those parts, so I doubt very much that your conditions would faze them.  
You would probably grow Rhododendron mucronulatum much better than I can, provided you normally have snow cover through the winter (as I expect you probably do).  In normal winters here, the flower buds are generally killed off by the lack of lasting snow cover (unless protected, of course).  (Last year was an exception, with the unusually heavy and persistent snow, and I actually got to see it in full bloom for the first time in 11-12 years!)

[Lesley Cox]

Truly sorry John, but as I've not seen a picture of you I wasn't really sure whether you were in need or not. If I were a man I think I'd rather be the Azorella than the discarded toupee. Bald is considered sexy nowadays and a couple of my most favourite men are smooth as baby's...

[Paul T]

Robin, hostas are quite indestructible.

Unless you have snails about, then they're VERY destructible.  I grow very few because they fall prey to the snails all the time. 

[Lesley Cox]

Look for modern hybrids Paul. They are bred for thick texture and toughness, and snails just don't bother with them and they stand even severe hail storms. They provide great autumn colour too, usually deep honey colours and gold. (Of course I can say this as I have no snails. )

[Paul T]

No snails!!  Oh to have no snails!!    They are positively heartbreaking beasts, I tell you!!