Flowering now May 2007

[Mark Griffiths]

Nice pics! Is L. nivale what they used to call L. alpinum var crassense? I had it once for a short while but never seen it offered again.

[Anthony Darby]

Just managed to snap this Honey Bee (Apis melifera) in the bulb house visiting a Bug Orchid (Anacamptis fragrans). Its head is covered in pollinia.

[Andrew]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can identify this Aquilegia, might it be A.bertolinii?

This is what I have as Aquilegia bertolonii, as you can see, mine is going over now but it looks about right, the spurs and the lighter petal tips. Yours looks a nicer darker blue than mine was.

Hi, a pic of my Weldenia candida and some questions.

Have you seen this yet Mark?
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=295.0

[Mark Griffiths]

Thanks Andrew, I hadn't seen the discussion on Weldenia. Still seems to be some variation of advice on how dry you can keep it in winter though!

[David Shaw]

One of the lesser known jewels in the floral crown of Moray is the garden behind Glen Grant Distillery in Rothes. The garden was constructed in the early 1900s and restored some ten years ago. The garden is focused around the Back Burn from where it discharges from a rocky gorge to the valley floor with its orchard lawn. Bog plants such as Gunnera and skunk cabbage grow in the wet water margines and the valley sides are covered in mature species and cultivar rhododendrons. I was particularly taken by a mass of Primula japonica below the rhododendrons and reaching up a side valley.

Entrance to the garden is free but why not include a tour of the distillery in your visit and enjoy a dram of the local product.

[Carol Shaw]

The garden is definitely well worth a visit if you are in the area... you can then come and visit our garden too The only snag is that there are no labels on the rhodys and my i.d. ability isn't good enough! In case you don't want a dram there is a restaurant there too but, shades of the Aberdonians we live near, we decided we could survive until we got home for a cuppa and a piece.

[Anthony Darby]

Here's a few more in the garden: a purple form of the Melancholy Thistle (Cirsium sp.); Saxifraga 'Tumbling Waters' just coming into flower; a South American form of Thyme   and Phlox 'Waggonwheels'.

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Martin, I use Photofiltre that's part of my XP system but I've noticed various things like "Crop canvas" which I couldn't make do anything so I'll print your instructions above, then play around a bit and see what's what. My main problem is that while I can point and shoot with the best of them, I don't really know enough about either my camera or my computer to know what questions to ask, let alone what to do! In my next life perhaps...

[Lesley Cox]

Sorry 'bout the spelling mistake. Slip of the finger. To my mind, the pic above of Aquilegia bertolonii looks to have too tall a flower. It's always (in my experience admittedly, but always true from seed) about 5-6cms in height, just nicely clear of the foliage.

[Lesley Cox]

Mark, As I said in the other thread, I have all my Weldenia candida outside through the year so they get whatever rain falls but I realize it may not be as much as you have - we could do with a lot more. I'm sure it will be OK outside in winter if kept covered with some fibrous frost cover such as bracken or a bird's nest arrangement of twigs. Again, we get only as low as -3C or 4 though in my previous garden I had to -12 and it still survived OK. I don't think it likes to be arid through any part of the year and certainly it will take masses of water when in growth and flowering, through to late autumn when it dies down. If well watered in early and mid autumn, there will be a crop of new growths of fresh greenery and these can be taken off with the visible ring included and will root as cuttings in sand. I don't cover them but do keep them damp and in my tunnel house over winter. They should sprout when the older plant is showing above ground in late spring.

While I usually think of Tony Hall at Kew as God, in one respect he and I argue. He said Kew had a compact form of the weldenia but I'm sure it was just the usual form but starved of water while in growth and flowering. It wasn't watered much at all, after showing through the pot surface. Potted plants will always grow less in any case, as the roots are very strong and wanting to delve deeper and deeper. Potting restricts the growth. Of course you may WANT a more compact plant, but I'll bet a bob Kew's never had 180 flowers out at the same time, as mine does, regularly.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

That S. Tumbling waters sure does honour it's name Anthony - beautiful !
Your Phlox Waggonwheels seems to be in good shape to - how do you grow it to keep it that happy ??  I never seem to succeed 

[Anthony Darby]

Luc, 'Waggonwheels' is just planted at the front of a low, west facing, wall. I've had it a few years and this is its best display yet.

[Mark Griffiths]

Thanks Lesley, my plant is in a pot in the greenhouse. I wouldn't have a problem with it being less compact as i grow things like Alstroemerias so I'm ok with something a little bigger than normal alpine fare. I remember reading your article in the AGS bulletin many years ago and it was an inspiration!

[Andrew]

I'll bet a bob Kew's never had 180 flowers out at the same time, as mine does, regularly.

Where's the photograph .

[johanneshoeller]

Campanula ?
Cyp tibeticum - a very tall Cyp. which is flowering for the first time after 9 years!
Dact. hybrid - very tall
different Rhodohypoxis


Hans