Northern hemisphere June 2010

[daveyp1970]

i love this cute little New Zealand plant Arthropodium candidum

[Maggi Young]

Very nice, Davey.... a bulb that wants to be a grass or a grass that wants to be a bulb?!   

In the Lily family, I think.... cute indeed.... the flowers bear close inspection.

[Diane Clement]

Very nice, Davey.... a bulb that wants to be a grass or a grass that wants to be a bulb?!   

In the Lily family, I think.... cute indeed.... the flowers bear close inspection.

Used to be in the Lily family (in the olden days  )
Until very recently it was in Anthericaceae, but now it's in Asparagaceae

[Maggi Young]

Very nice, Davey.... a bulb that wants to be a grass or a grass that wants to be a bulb?!   

In the Lily family, I think.... cute indeed.... the flowers bear close inspection.

Used to be in the Lily family (in the olden days  )
Until very recently it was in Anthericaceae, but now it's in Asparagaceae

Flippin' 'eck!

[Martinr]

Botanists.......

[Giles]

Flowering - only 3' high - and soil pH 8.

[Maggi Young]

Seems the Museum of New Zealand is as behind the times as I am....
http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/ObjectDetails.aspx?oid=717082

Oh well........

[Maggi Young]

Giles, that is lovely... a magnolia?

[Giles]

It's another  Magnolia x wieseneri.
It should open out flat, but with rain, perhaps, tomorrow, I thought I'd take the photograph now.
It's fantastically fragrant.

[Graham Catlow]

For David and Luc and everyone else.

My rock garden is ‘work in progress’. I looked at it a couple of years ago and thought it looked like a patchwork quilt of miscellaneous plants dotted amongst the rocks. So I began to reduce the number of varieties and bulk up the ones I wanted to increase.
The good soil was only a few inches deep and it was then heavy almost clay. I began to dig out to a spades depth and then break up a little further down with pea size gravel and then filled up with JI2 and grit sand. The top coat is pea gravel.

I have just about finished the soil replacement. There are still some gaps in the planting to be filled as I decide what to do next.

Much of the area is now well drained and suitable for rock and alpine plants. The lower east area remains quite damp all year, (there must be a spring somewhere close or run off from the hill beyond the garden), so I incorporated more ericaceous compost and plants to suit.

The photos:
Because it was difficult to photograph the whole garden well I have taken some general views in this first selection, and the second selection is of areas starting at the west of the garden and moves eastwards.

There is generally something in flower from early spring up until July but not much after that.

I hope I haven’t over done this simple request for a view of the Rock Garden

Graham

[Graham Catlow]

Second selection

Graham

[angie]

Graham your garden is so lovely and the last picture is wonderful... you certainly haven't over done the rockery pictures, its always a pleasure looking at your garden and seeing what you are growing. Keep them coming.

Angie

[David Nicholson]

Exquisite Graham, I envy you your eye for design, and your space!

[Lesley Cox]

A super rock garden indeed, with the plants happily nestled against the rocks. I thought there was sand laid on some of the paths but it seems to be a Raoulia?

[Graham Catlow]

'Whatfield wisp' and most others are very easy from cuttings. Wish we had the magenta version here. It's a stunner!

Do you find the Asteranthera quite hardy Graham? Seems yours is out in the garden in Edinburgh!

Hi Lesley,
I can send you some seed of Whatfield Magenta if you wish. I don't know how well it sets seed as I usually prune all the flower heads off as soon as they have finished.

The Asteranthera has been outside for many years. We had a really harsh winter this year with weeks of frozen snow and as you can see it has survived really well. Probably its best flowering season. It grows on a rotting tree trunk and has travelled along the trunk from one end to the other. It appears to be dying back as it moves along the trunk. I suppose it is utilising the nutrients and when they are gone it is unable to flourish.

Graham