Northern hemisphere June 2010

[olegKon]

I missed a lot of interesting plants shown here while being in Prague. Now back to the garden to find this clump of Clematis integrifolia in full bloom (1)
2. Delphinium brunonianum grown from SRGS seed
3. Gladiolus palustris
4. Edrianthus dalmaticus (SRGS seed)

[olegKon]

Sorry, this picture is a bit better

[Darren]

Hi Angie,
              I think Susan has plans to make more appearances on the forum, though not perhaps in picture form!

Cohan,

 Ferula is the giant fennel of the mediterranean and is a classic feature of the landscape in Crete during the spring. This year the Cretan plants were quite short & stocky, probably due to a dry season. Our garden is stony and all the stone was dug from the soil too - none of it was imported. I might post more pics later.

[Graham Catlow]

Hi John,
Another delavayi
Do you want to see a picture of how big my Philadelphus delavayi is?

Graham

Hi John,
You can rest easy. I was only joking I don't have a Philadelphus delavayi. 
Graham

[KentGardener]

A couple of things pleasing me this week:

1) Roscoea Jeoffrey Thomas

2) A white Dactylorhiza that my brother found in one of his fields (and rescued before the cattle were let in).

[Paul T]

Wow, John.  Thats a cracker of a white!! 

[KentGardener]

Thanks Paul.  I was gobsmacked when my brother gave it to me in 2008 - this is its first flower in my garden.

A couple more hardy orchids that are looking pretty today.

1) Bletilla ochracea

2) Bletilla 'Penway Imperial x ochracea'

[Paul T]

Excellent Bletillas.  Other than various striata forms I don't think any of the other Bletillas are here in Aus, or I have never seen them mentioned anywhere anyway.  Some of the pics that have been posted on these forums over the years are absolutely smashing!!  I do like the colouration of your last one in particular.  Thanks for posting.

[daveyp1970]

John i agree with Paul the Dactylorhiza is a belter,is the foliage unspotted ?

[KentGardener]

...Dactylorhiza is a belter,is the foliage unspotted ?

Pure green. 

[Tony Willis]

John that is really nice,I have never seen any colour variation in the wild.

[fredg]

Very nice orchids John.
That white really is a white.


This is new to me this year.

Eucomis "Octopussy"

[Onion]

degree. So in my opinion it it a hardy plant.

I meant to ask: Does anyone grow Philadelphus delavayi itself? Some sites say P. delavayi is very hardy but I somehow doubt that.  We have a standing joke that nothing with the species name delavayi will grow here, too tender.  

Another point, the leaves on the new growth of P. 'Starbright' is purple but leaves on stems ending in flower buds are green.  I am wondering if the same is true of P. delavayi.

johnw

John,

I grow P. delavayi var. calvescens (=P. purpurascens (Koehne) Rehd. ( = P. delavayi var. clavescens Rehd.). Plants are from Yunnan. The new growth of the stems is purple, the leaves are not so intensive in the colour. The sepals are dark red. I get two plants from a friend in 2003. One of them I grow in my mothers garden. These plant survived minus  -25 degree. So in my opinion it is a hary plant.

[johnw]

John,
I grow P. delavayi var. calvescens (=P. purpurascens (Koehne) Rehd. ( = P. delavayi var. clavescens Rehd.). Plants are from Yunnan. The new growth of the stems is purple, the leaves are not so intensive in the colour. The sepals are dark red. I get two plants from a friend in 2003. One of them I grow in my mothers garden. These plant survived minus  -25 degree. So in my opinion it is a hary plant.
[/quote]

Uli - Very interesting. I have tried to find out where and what altitude P. delavayi was collected but have not been able to find out anything other than this from the Flora of China  - "Mixed forests, thickets, mountain slopes; 700-3800 m. Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Myanmar]".

Well that makes 2 delavayis we can / could grow.  Now if only Omphalogramma delavayi! 

johnw

[Tony Willis]

I grow Philadelphus purpurascens which has a purple calyx which fits the description in Hillier and is in fact a cutting from the plant illustrated in Phillips and Rix 'Shrubs'. Hillier gives P. delavayi var calvescens as a separate species. I am supposedly growing this as well but it does not fit the description.