Northern Hemisphere August 2010

[WimB]

Only Belgians posting pictures here this month! Is the rest of the Northern Hemisphere on holiday?

Here are some plants flowering here now:

Anemonopsis macrophylla
Lobelia cardinalis
Roscoea purpurea 'Red Gurkha' (it's red but if you compare it with the previous Lobelia, it's more of a washed out red)
Syneilsis palmata: nothing really special but it has a pleasant smell.

Heya Wim, planned on posting here a number of times (July, and now August) but things get ahead of me.  It has been so desperately hot and dry, that it "takes the luster off" many plants, some of them wilting terribly, even though I'm trying to keep up the watering.  Even some trees, Magnolia, Halesia, Cercidiphyllum, are being early-deciduous, yellowing, and shedding up to 50% of their foliage due to stress.  Finally had a 30-minute long downpour yesterday when thunderstorms rolled through, which helps a bit.  But even with all this heat and unending sunshine, there are plants that like such conditions, many Alliums flowering, aromatic Agastache, and the hardy Hibiscus; they luxuriate in the steamy weather.

Yesterday, my Anemonopsis macrophylla opened the first blooms, your plants and mine are synchronized! I don't currently have any Lobelia cardinalis growing here, but I don't have to go far to find it growing natively along rivers.  I really admire Roscoea Red Gurkha.

I'm interested to see your Syneilesis palmata, I only grow S. aconitifolia... such fascinating plants, particularly for the spring foliage effect.  Mine flowered in early July, the flowers are as you say, nothing special, but they are very sweet scented, surprisingly so.

Mark,

like I said in the previous message, I hope you don't have to many casualties in the garden. It must be nice for the Alliums indeed.

Weird that our Anemonopsis flowers at the same time. You live more to the south then I do so you would expect them to flower sooner with you, like the Syneilesis.

I received Roscoea purpurea 'Red Gurkha' as a gift but it appears not to be as red as it should be, maybe it's a seedling...still, very nice though. Must be a nice view to see Lobelia cardinalis flowering in the wild.

[TheOnionMan]

Wow, that's tough.
Does that mean you can not use collected rainwater for that either (Assuming you would still have rainwater).

What rain water?

Forecast for next week, sun, sun, and more sun, with a slight chance next Monday of thundershowers, but typically can't bet on those, they are sporadic and highly localized at best, *IF* they even materialize.  On the plus side, the humidity is supposed to blow out tonight, and we get some cooler nights for sleeping.  It is supposed to be less hot the next few days (below 90 F),  but I never believe the estimated temps, it is usually hotter than predicted. 

Must go shoot some Hibiscus pics.  For water loving or swamp plants, they are extremely drought resistant.

[Olga Bondareva]

Only Belgians posting pictures here this month! Is the rest of the Northern Hemisphere on holiday?

Some russian pictures. 

Gentians, my love. 

One of septemfids


G. kolakovskii


G. paradoxa


G. georgei




G. tizuensis

[Olga Bondareva]

G. dahurica


And some more septemfida kinds.

[TheOnionMan]

Olga, simply beautiful!  Since you're a fan of summer gentians, any thoughts about this one growing in my friend's garden?  I visited again just 2 days ago, and even with scorching heat, the gentian looked marvelous, although I did not have a camera with me at the time:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5817.0

[angie]

Olga those pictures of those gentians are breathtaking.

Angie

[David Nicholson]

Beautiful pics as usual Olga.

Just to reassure Wim that we still have flowers to show in the UK here are a few pics from my front garden today. I rushed out just after 1800 in the first dry spell of the day(good job I did because it's raining again now!). Nothing special here I'm afraid, but easily grown colourful stuff that fill the spaces nicely.

I'm quite pleased really about the Hibiscus in the last pic. I took some Forum advice from Arthur last year who every year cuts his Hibiscus virtually to ground level and every year it puts on loads of growth and flowers like mad. Last year I cut down mine too and nary a single flower   This spring it received a steady trim and is full of flowers.

[angie]

Well David if that's nothing special to you I would wonder what you would call special...you have so much colour there, I would be happy to have all those plants flowering in my garden at this time, my Hibiscus still hasn't got one flower open yet .
What is the plant in picture 3 that has flowered already.

Angie

[David Nicholson]

Angie, the leaves are of a small collection of Roscoe I'm building all grown from Seed Ex. seed. This year some of them flowered for the first time so next year the little bed should look nice.

[angie]

Hopefully you will post a picture next year of the Roscoe in flower.

Angie

[TheOnionMan]

A miscellany of plants in flower, although I could fill these pages with Hibiscus

1-2   Agastache aurantiaca x rupestris - self sown hybrids, in various shades of orange, the parents long gone.  These brightly colored plants love heat (good thing, given the weather here), the foliage is wonderfully aromatic too.  Hummingbirds visit the flowers daily, several times a day.  I sometimes park a chair right next to the plant, still trying to get a hummer to land on me.

3      Cyclamen purpurescens started flowering extra early this year, in flower all June and July, looking even better in August.  I'm getting some good leaf patterning and all silvers.

4      Scutellaria incana - from eastern USA, a fantastic prairie-like species, my plant standing upright to 4' (120 cm), no staking required, trim and neat foliage, and just starting to open large sprays of blue skullcaps, to be followed by ornamental reddish-purple seed pods.  Once established is drought resistant and loves the sun and heat.

5      Hibiscus palustris forma peckii - might lighter pink than normal H. palustris, and straighter paddle-shaped petals.  As always, I'm amazed at how drought-resistent these so-called swamp plants are.  Grows 4-5' tall (120-150 cm).

6      Popular hardy Hibiscus cultivar here in the USA, H. 'Blue River II', unique for the huge dinner plate crinkled pure white flower *without* a contrasting eye color.  Grows 5-6' (150-180 cm)

7      One of my one Hibiscus hybrids, from 'Blue River II', with similar huge crinkled white flowers, but with a bright cherry eyes, the eye unusual in its shape of a pentagon, versus a more diffuse round eye.  Also characterized by improved branching, darker than normal green foliage, and longer season of bloom.

8      Hibiscus syriacus - MMcD hybrid to be named, the only one out of hundreds upon hundreds, ex. 'Helene', which is a white with a diffuse red-veined eye, supposedly sterile but makes successful seed very late in the season (fall).  Notice the unusual dimpled-texture to the petals. Large flowered and floriferous, so far appears to be sterile.

9.     Hibiscus syriacus NOT-'Diana' - nurseries around here often sell cultivars of H. syriacus, particularly the 4 US National Arboretum hybrids named after Greek Gods, 'Diana' being one of them, but they're seed grown and often inferior and not even close to looking like the parent.  However, this plant of my particular Not-Diana is a superb plant, starts flowering very late, usually not until mid to late August, but earlier this year, and with a daily profusion of funnel-shaped pure white flowers.  It comes mostly true from seed.  Just starting to fire up its engines this past week, will be splendid for the rest of August and September.

10.   Hibiscus syriacus 'Blue Bird' - I have posted some pics of this previously (but not this particular one).  Knowing that each flower just lasts 1-2 days, it just seems impossible it can keep flowering with such profusion for months on end, but this is pretty much what it looks like each day.  I have a terrible time trying to capture the true color, it is much bluer that the photo indicates. (notice the nice brown lawn).

Another word about our hummingbirds, they LOVE hibiscus.  Each morning I awake to their cheerful squeak-chirping sounds, as they sample near each and every open Hibiscus syriacus bloom near our bedroom window.  They also go for the basil plants in a planter on my deck.  They're curious little critters, sometimes stopping to hover right in front of one's face, just to check you out.

[angie]

OK Mark its a grey miserable night here in Aberdeen and you have now made me more miserable 
My Hibiscus isn't doing anything and to see your last picture Hibiscus syriacus 'Blue Bird'  just makes me so envious, but thanks for showing these lovely flowers I can at least dream that one day mine might flower like yours

Angie

[Gail]

Beautiful pictures and oh to see a hummingbird...

One of my current favourites is Dregea sinensis, a Hoya relative that is surprisingly hardy outdoors here, scrambling over an overplanted arch.  The flowers carry on for weeks and are richly fragrant.

[Paddy Tobin]

Quote: "Some russian pictures.  Gentians, my love.

Olga, I adore your photography. Fabulous images.

Paddy 

[angie]

Gail that's something else...I can imagine the fragrance, do you cover with fleece or anything for the winter protection.

Angie