June 2010 in Southern Hemisphere

[fermi de Sousa]

The 2nd of June and no posts yet? C'mon! Someone in the SH must have some flowers!
Here's a Gladdie that's in bloom now,
"Las Vegas"


cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Hoop petticoat daffs (most likely "Nylon") are also in bloom




And Crocus cancellatus ssp mazzariacus has a new flush of flowers!


I posted this last month (Monday  ) to another thread, Mandragora autumnalis


cheers
fermi

[Rogan]

Soon the Aloes will be in bloom - just wait and see!   

[Lesley Cox]

Darn all here except what was already flowering in March-May and everything covered in mud splash.

[Rogan]

This little "critter" has just started flowering (...if you can call it that!) in my shade house and is stinking the place out    It's tassel can be up to 1 metre in length. Certainly not pretty, but interesting and fun to grow - Aristolochia macroura:

[galahad]

I took a punt and ordered some Hepatica seed from Ashwood.

H. nobilis made it through OK

H.  pubescens and H. japonica were detained.  They released them today when I emailed suggesting that they could be considered varietal forms of H. nobilis

[Ray]

A couple of plants flowering for me now,
Lachenalia viridiflora and
Lardizabala biternata not really rock garden plant but something different.
bye Ray

[Lesley Cox]

Good work with the Hepatica seed Ross.

[Gail]

A couple of plants flowering for me now,
Lachenalia viridiflora and
Lardizabala biternata not really rock garden plant but something different.
bye Ray

Lovely Ray & as you say the Lardizabala biternata is really different.  Is that the plant with the chocolate scent?

[Lesley Cox]

I think the climber with the chocolate scent (and I should know ) is Akebia quinata (chocolate coloured too). I don't know this one of Ray's, at all. It looks nice though.

[Lesley Cox]

On second thoughts, they must be closely related as they are both in Lardizabalaceae. Maybe the Akebia has been renamed? But the flowers don't look quite the same in both plants and the leaves of the Akebia are shorter, rounder. I used to grow the Akebia in another garden. It climbed to 8 metres.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi ray,
I have to grow my Lachenalia viridiflora in pots in the Shadehouse as the red-legged earth mites devour it in the garden
At our combined AGS and FCHS Rock Garden Group meeting last Saturday a couple of growers brought their Massonias for an outing, but I neglected to write down names!
This one I think is Massonia echinata


This is possibly Massonia depressa


Not sure about this one


Also on show was this intriguing Lachenalia rubida (? from Clan William)


And this iris histrio (or was it Iris histrioides?)


cheers
fermi

[Otto Fauser]

Fermi , the Iris on display on saturday night was I . histrio , the one col. near Sofa , Lebanon .
 A few photos from today , taken in the Rockgarden for Australian Plants at Ferny Creek Horticultural Soc. Gardens , which I landscaped and planted .
 Australia does not have any native Erica species - the closest are about 45 species of Epacris - also now in the Ericaceae . Most of them are quite beautyful and valuable ,as they flower now in late autumn and winter .
 In recent years a number of hybrid Kangaroo Paws appeared in the trade , here is a dwarf one (with the cutesy name 'Bush Baby' with native grasses ) .

           Otto.

[Ray]

Hi Gail,could not smell any scent in the flowers.

Hi Lesley,Have both L biternata and A quinata,one flowering in autumn and one in spring.

Hi Fermi.I also grow my L viridiflora in pots not because of the red legged mite but because I find that the early frosts knock it around so as soon as the flower spikes appear I put them under cover.bye Ray

[Lesley Cox]

A couple of years ago I was sent some seed of Iris histrio, from Israel but by way of South America. One came up almost immediately but wasn't there last year, but this week, following the drowning we all got last week, and a sharp drop in temperature, there are a number germinating now. Lovely to see them at last.

We are getting another drenching with even colder temps. Snow ro 300m is predicted for later today (that includes me) and there is more road flooding. I was surprised at how much snow had fallen on the Canterbury mountains when I was up there a week ago. The ski fields are opening already.