Northern Hemisphere July 2010

[johnw]

John, beautiful Magnolia sieboldii.  My goodness, 100 self-sown seedlings!  It's a dang weed!!!  I've let my membership in the Magnolia Society lapse, but our local magnolia guy, Stephen Cover, runs the seed exchange, and several years back I received seed of the Korean form of M. sieboldii.  With all of the warm (hot) weather we've been having, I have two seedlings that I planted out last year that are practically leaping out of the ground, putting on so much growth, about 3' (1 meter) tall right now.  Thanks for showing this, something to look forward to.

Mark - Glad you have a few there. You're right they grow like the dickens.  Mother plant went out as a 2 footer and was 12 feet in 3 years.  I will try to take a shot of the mother tonight.  The progeny are very good and one fellow got a double. The centre on the mother is quite red while some of the seedlings are almost black / purple.

Keep us posted as you should have flowers in the spring.

johnw

[johnw]

A minute-flowered Fuchsia thymifolia from Cistus Nursery is just about to give a real "show", hundreds of buds are getting ready to open, all nightmare to photograph.  One won't be decorated the Royal Albert Hall with this one.  It flowers well into November.

johnw

[Tecophilaea King]

Hi Folks, I was wondering if someone on this forum could help me aquiring/locating some Crinum species seed, and as always, I am more than happy to return the favour with seed from our extensive collection of bulbs.
For more info look under SEED WANTED or SEED EXCHANGE  forum.
Thanks,   Bill

[WimB]

Some plants flowering here today:

Fuchsia procumbens
Gladiolus imbricatus
Lilium candidum
Notocactus mammulosus
Primula sikkimensis
Rhododendron sp. (anyone care to guess which species this might be?)
Viola hederacea

[Maggi Young]

Hi Wim, your wee azalea is perhaps a R. kiusianum or  maybe one of the hybrid Kurume types (R. obtusum and R. kiusianum) though they tend to be larger.

[johnw]

Rhododendron sp. (anyone care to guess which species this might be?)

Wim  - Given the late flowering and narrow leaves with prominent hairs I'd say that is nakaharai or a hybrid thereof.  The plant will be prostrate or almost so.   There are two selections in the trade 'Mariko' and 'Mt. Seven Star'. The latter is a paler colour than yours, sort of a salmon/orange.

johnw

[arilnut]

Here are some Hibiscus blooming now.

John

Copper King
Lord Baltimore

[WimB]

Hmmm,

I bought R. kiusianum a couple of years ago but I don't remember where I planted it. It could be R. nakaharai too, since I bought that one too. I'll have a look at distinguishing features.

[TheOnionMan]

1   Allium prattii - ex. Chen Yi (misidentified as A. aciphyllum)

2   Anthericum ramosum - superb summer blooming plant, very neat refined disease-free foliage, masses of white starts atop 3' (1 meter) stems for a long period in July-August.

3   Lots of alliums in the garden now; approaching peak.

4   Bloomeria crocea var. montana - hardy southern californian member of the Alliaceae.  Blooms for 4-5 weeks June-July.

5   Lilium formosanum var. pricei, with some alliums in my "allium garden".

6   Monarda punctata (spotted beebalm) - a fantastic underappreciated native species, with yellow spotted flowers and even showier colorful bracts, pink shading to white in my plants. Web photos reveal it is quite variable in color, flowers from light yellow to dark orangish-yellow, bracts can be red, green, buff, or yellow.  Best treated as a self-sowing short-lived perennial or biennial.
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=MOPU

7-8 Hemerocallis 'Toy Trumpets' - I have a love/hate relationship with daylilies (mostly hate), but there are some hybridizers working on more refined types, looking more "species like", such as this hybrid from Bob Sobek, a local daylily breeder here in Massachusetts.  I welcome the slender vertical accent, neat basal foliage, and small waxy yellow trumpets with bronzed sepals.

9   Marshallia grandiflora (Barbara's buttons) - an excellent small genus of composites (7 species) from southeastern USA, with late blooming white or pink flowers, suitable for the rock garden.  This is an endangered species.
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=MAGR7

10  Rhododendron (deciduous Azalea) 'Late Date' - arborescens x prunifolium, just starting into bloom now, and the scent... oh my, so richly perfumed.
http://www.rarefindnursery.com/index.cfm/action/productdetail/product_id/2547.htm

[Graham Catlow]

Mark,
A nice selection. I particularly like the Hemerocallis 'Toy Trumpets'. I have been looking for a yellow that is similar to that one. Like you I like the neat basal foliage and vertical accent.

I have never seen Lilium formosanum var. pricei with so many flower heads. Perhaps I have only ever seen young ones.

Graham

[cohan]

nice stuff, everyone!
mark-very fancy monarda! marshallia is interesting too..

[Gerdk]

Just from today

1. Campanula choruhensis - raised from AGS seeds 2008
2. Viola hispida - a selfseeded plant
3. Viola hallii
4. Mitraria coccinea
5. x Rhodoxis hybrida - one of the Hebron Farm's colour variants

Gerd

[angie]

Hi Hans

Some really nice plants in your garden . I  like your Littonia modesta and also your Euphorbia diamond frost.
I also have a lot of plants in pots which I pop them into the greenhouse or polytunnel for winter protection.
I have 3 Australian grass trees( Xanthorrhoea ) which I was a little worried this year as the winter was really long and hard...the two large ones have done okay but the smaller one didn't look good but with all this sun its starting to grow again. I hope one day they might get a flower...Oh I better say that I am not a greedy person( having three of the same plant ) one was my late mums and one was my sisters who left me all her unusual plants when she died. 
Hans you must be kept busy watering your pots as it takes me ages and we get a lot more rain than you do.. still I think its worth the time and effort to be able to grow the more tender plants.
I thought the same as Gail it was a fruit on your Zamia not a flower...something I have never seen before.
Great stuff Hans.


Angie

[Hans J]

Hi Angie ,

thank you for your friendly words ...each psychatric doctor would say that I'm crazy 

No problem with sending you later seeds from my Littonia -I have each year seeds ( my plants are also grown from seeds ex AGS -it has flowered after 2 years )

The most of this plants are in winter in our garage or in cellar  no room in my greenhouse !

Good luck for your Australian Grass !

...watering ....our plants are not spoiled 

The Zamia is easy for me - in summer outside on our terace and in winter in our living room ( side by side with Cycas revuluta )

Hans

[olegKon]

1.Not at all an alpine - Oenothera glazioviana
2.Zigadenus elegans (to the right) with Zigadenus nuttalii (to the left). Have measured it for Maggi this year - 105 cm (Z.elegans)