May 2010 in the Northern Hemisphere

[angie]

Just a gentle warning to wrap up well if you are visiting the Aberdeen Show on Saturday. This is the second day in a row we have had a little burst of "iffy" weather. The photos below show that there were a few hailstones at about 2.15pm today. However don't let that put you off coming to the show, (It's held inside after all) and according to the BBC weather forcast Aberdeen reached the giddy heights of 7 degrees today and in reality was basking in intermittent sunshine.

          
By the time Saturday comes around it will be sunny and warm for our show and if not the soup that Maggi always makes will warm anybody up .
Looking forward to meeting our overseas guests.
I was in my polytunnel today happily potting up plants, fleece on fleece off but at least I was dry,  but nothing in flower for the show yet:'(

Angie

[Graeme Strachan]

Angie,
         Are the ladies going to be nice to me ths year?

                        Graeme

[cohan]

McMark,
the wood of this tree is a major source of furniture wood in Japan and Asia, where it is caller kiri.  Ultra light, flexible, easy to work.  I could well imagine it becoming popular for dressers and bureaus.  I used to have a lot of furniture built of it, mainly from Japan.  It has a fine surface when sanded, as well.  And it's growing on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike.  What are people waiting for?

Maggie,

I have a small garden and no space is wasted.  Everything is chock full, but I love it.  My German friends call it the jungle paradise.  This is the land of manicured lawns and barkmulched rhodi beds with petunia and begonia inbetween.

Here is another shot, to the right of the snakebark maple in the first shot, showing the pong and the woodland behind it.

wow, jaime, wonderful garden, congratulations on defying the manicurists!

[fredg]

The first of my Sarracenia to flower this year.

Sarracenia flava v rugelii (Green throat)

[angie]

Angie,
         Are the ladies going to be nice to me ths year?

                        Graeme

Of course we are
Hope Helen remembers the aprons, she has been so busy getting her garden ready for her open day or should I say open days. Her garden is looking lovely.
Angie

[Maggi Young]

The Helen  Angela is speaking of is Helen McGregor of the Aberdeen Group... a vital cog in our wheel.... her husband, Bill, is uor Group Treasurer.
Their beautiful garden is open under the Scotland's Gardens scheme.... see details and some lovely pictures, here :
http://www.gardensofscotland.org/garden.aspx?id=57273426-f968-43bd-baf7-9cab010e81e3     

[angie]

Thanks Maggi for the link they have put so much hard work in there garden this year, weeding in this cold weather isn't to much fun for them.
Teas and cakes are alwaysworth the visit.
Angie

[Giles]

Lilium oxypetalum.

[Lesley Cox]

I was going to remark that the Paulownia is very easy to raise from seed but it seems that is already noted. There have been massive plantings in warmer parts of NZ over recent years, for furniture but whether anything has come of that I don't know. Whatever, it is a beautiful tree but not as lovely as Lilium oxypetalum.

[olegKon]

We are enjoying a very warm spel. Everything rushed to bloom
1. Anemonella thalictroides Single white
2. Anemonella thalictroides Double white
3. Anemonella thalictroides
4. Dicentra Burning hearts
5. Anemone glabra

[galahad]

We are enjoying a very warm spel. Everything rushed to bloom
1. Anemonella thalictroides Single white
2. Anemonella thalictroides Double white
3. Anemonella thalictroides
4. Dicentra Burning hearts
5. Anemone glabra

Love that Dicentra

[cohan]

We are enjoying a very warm spel. Everything rushed to bloom
1. Anemonella thalictroides Single white
2. Anemonella thalictroides Double white
3. Anemonella thalictroides
4. Dicentra Burning hearts
5. Anemone glabra

i haven't seen a dicentra like this before--very nice!

[TheOnionMan]

Oleg, as others said, the Dicentra 'Burning Hearts' is stunning.  Curious to know more about it, I googled:

http://www.skagitgardens.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=plants.plantDetail&plant_id=40
http://www.gpnmag.com/articles/dicentraburninghearts.pdf
http://www.perennialresource.com/plants/general-perennial/1908_dicentra-burning-hearts-pp20797.aspx

[olegKon]

Thanks everyone for good comments. In your last reference they are absolutely right it blows you away

[Lesley Cox]

I may have missed it but I didn't see in Mark's links, any reference to the parentage of 'Burning Hearts.' It seems to be a red version of Dicentra 'Ivory Hearts' which is white of course with very similar silvery-grey foliage and is a seedling of D. peregrina and D. cuccularia. (I'm wrong there, the other parent is eximia) 'Ivory Hearts' is fertile and comes pretty much true from seed. If you have 'Burning Hearts it would be worth trying that from seed too. (Only protected from asexual propagation.) Surely the red form of peregrina is a parent.

I had a couple of seeds of 'Ivory Hearts' from one of the seedlists about 3 or 4 years ago I think. They grew, flowered and have given me some seed which in turn is now growing on, looking just like the parent. There's a lot of Google stuff about it and some great pictures, and a super one from Laurence Moon in Flowers and Foliage Now Early May 2006, on the Old Forum, as well as some fantastic other plants. WELL worth a look back there. It was because of that picture that I wanted it in the first place and couldn't believe my luck when I got it.

This is my original seedling. The next generation are a little less floppy but this one was in heavy shade.