December 2009 (Northern Hemisphere)

[Sinchets]

re - Asphodelus acaulis - after seeing a fantastic one at the Blackpool show a few years back (completely prostrate tightly curled foliage and prominent flowers - there is probably a pic on a show report on this forum somewhere) I composted my plant of the lanky leaved /hidden flowered variety. Culture was the same but i think this plant varies tremendously in form. I'll grow it again only if I find a good one!

I am sorry, but I have to disagree. Last spring my A.acaulis had only a few leaves and a multitude of flowers, from which it set a good crop of seed. It was almost dormant through the long, dry summer until the rains of autumn when it became a tussock of grasy leaves. It is planted in a poor, free draining soil, but I am sure its long and lusty roots (which never did like being in a pot) have found the water table somewhere down there. All being well I will split it in spring and try it in other even drier locations. We should always appreciate that the form we desire may not be the most natural form for the particular plant. Just like bonsai growers may be trying to form a plant into a shape it is desperately trying to escape from.
Attached is a pic from this spring, which has already been posted on the forum.

[Sinchets]

By the way anyone else throwing away happy healthy plants ay chance you send 'em my way 
Flowering here now- still and posted more to show the deeping (deeper iin real life than in the pic) caused by frosts on the flowers of Aethiopappus pulcherrimus. First pic is from last spring the second from yesterday.

[Lesley Cox]

I'm sure you're right Simon, for the Asphodelus, the hotter, drier, poorer the better the plant/display will be. Having said that, reasonably frequent division is a good idea as it does tend to get very leafy as time goes by.

[Sinchets]

That's what I thought, Lesley. My plants have never looked so healthy and although I know they wouldn't win any shows, I know the flowers are still in there and still (touch wood) setting seed. 

[Melvyn Jope]

My first Hellebore seedling to flower this season, very much earlier than its siblings which have flower buds only just showing.

[cohan]

Flowering here now- still and posted more to show the deeping (deeper iin real life than in the pic) caused by frosts on the flowers of Aethiopappus pulcherrimus. First pic is from last spring the second from yesterday.

nice flower--is this a centaurea relative? nice to have flowers that keep going after frost

[Sinchets]

Yes, Cohan. I believe it was a Centaurea until recently. 

[Paul T]

I have to add to the chorus of joy at the Asphodelus acaulis...... it looks like a great plant.  I've only ever seen tall Asphodelus before, and very, very rarely in real life.

[JPB]

Canarina canariensis finally flowering after five years. The only plant remaining from lots of seedlings years ago.

Second picture is Lapiedra martinezii. Collected years ago in the Calpe area, Costa Blanca, Spain. I didn't know what it was until I saw a photograph of it growing in the wild. The leaves are unmistakable. I will be dividing the bulb and grow it to flowering (keeping it dry in summer).

[Maggi Young]

It has been foul weather here in Aberdeen and little chance to get out and enjoy the garden so I have been catching up on some browsing of John Richards' Northumberland Diary on the AGS website.
I thought this contribution very interesting... and apt at this time of the various seed exchanges.....
http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/diaries/Northumberland/+November+/240/

[Lesley Cox]

John's coments are all common sense really, aren't they? One particular note that I pick up on is that failure to introduce new material means that eventually the whole gardening system will collapse and die (very loosely paraphrased but I think that's what he means.) We are already seeing this in NZ as our bureaucracy has effectively banned the introduction of any new species. Yes, some nurseries are able - at enormous cost - to inroduce new dahlia, rose or iris vars or whatever, but our gardens are becoming more and more of the same old same old and nothing - but NOTHING - of interest that is new or different.

[Maggi Young]

Yes, John is all reason and commonsense.... but, as we know, that is a horribly rare commodity in governments and those in authority 

[krisderaeymaeker]

I'm sure you're right Simon, for the Asphodelus, the hotter, drier, poorer the better the plant/display will be. Having said that, reasonably frequent division is a good idea as it does tend to get very leafy as time goes by.

I have missed this one , but I am agree with Lesley .
My Asphodelus acaulis ,showed earlier,thrives very well in my greenhouse.It flowers very well for a long period and stays compact .It get no shade and in this greenhouse I grow also cacti and succulents.
So it is a very dry and hot environment  .......I try to keep it frostfree , but few degrees of frost are sometimes possible.
Next year maybe is a good time for a division , if somebody is interested .........please let me know   

[Lesley Cox]

Mine (Asphodelus acaulis) has never had any protection, grown ouside and down to at least -6C most years, if not for more than a few days at a time. Never any sign of frost damage.

[Sinchets]

Mine (Asphodelus acaulis) has never had any protection, grown ouside and down to at least -6C most years, if not for more than a few days at a time. Never any sign of frost damage.

The same here, Lesley, though possibly down to  -9C with no snow cover. I am hoping we get more snow before the weekend to give the plants its winter blanket. As to 'compact' growth- I do not have the luxury of a greenhouse for garden plants/ alpines here as it would require refrigeration in summer. The one we use for the tomatoes is much too hot for any plants in July and August. So  I have to 'put up' with planting things in the garden and standing back while they grow 'abnormally' and hide their flowers- ah well such is life!