October 2010 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Tecophilaea King]

The nursery in Hamilton, full of glorious Pacific Coast irises.

[Paul T]

Beautiful, Bill.  I wish I had that resource to draw upon.  Very hard to get here in Aus, unless you have a seed source. I really must do some crossing of mine again, to see the results.  If only I had more room!  

Thanks so much for showing us these beautiful blooms.  Some of the ruffling on some of those is absolutely amazing.

[TheOnionMan]

The nursery in Hamilton, full of glorious Pacific Coast irises.

Thanks Bill for the nursery view, and the many overhead close-ups...   Amazing group of Iris.

[Lesley Cox]

Bill, can you tell me which nursery please? So I can get in touch? Thanks.

[fermi de Sousa]

Bill,
that is an amazing co9llection of hybrids.
Fortunately we have our own version here in Australia as Heidi Blyth (daughter of Barry, who is well known in the Iris world) has been specialising in PCI under the name "Sunshine and Dirt". She had released a number of her hybrids via a mail-order catalogue but has now decided to only sell via markets and other events (like the Mt Macedon Plant fair in September). We bought a few last winter and hope to see some blooms soon.
The first blooms on a couple I grew from seed are in bloom this week,
a seedling of "Big Money" looks similar to its parent


And this one was grown from seed from Diane W in Canada,


cheers
fermi

[Tecophilaea King]

Bill, can you tell me which nursery please? So I can get in touch? Thanks.

Lesley, you probably know the lady, Mary Barrell from Cambridge not Hamilton as I mentioned before.

[fermi de Sousa]

A dwarf pelargonium called "Mallee Magic" has been flowering for the last 2 months since we bought it at a Market,




Notholirion thompsonianum has produced a flower spike this year,


One of our last tulips is Tulipa maximowiczii, though not the most brilliant form,




cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Bill, yes I do know Mary quite well. Let's face it, when you've been around as long as I have, you know EVERYONE! I'll drop her a line or two in hope some of her irises mightfind their way south. The climate here suits them very well.

[Lesley Cox]

I bought a little Eutaxia last week at my market. No species name with it but I'm assured it is small and relatively prostrate. The flowers are red and yellow and nicely perfumed. Of course if I'd picked the ones with lots of flowers I could have shown a picture for ID but I took the one with lots of cutting material instead.

[Paul T]

Fermi,

That little Pelargonium is brilliant.  I remember seeing it flowering when I was there a month ago, so it is a definite long term flowerer.  Never seen it other than at your place.

Fermi,

Was that the guy who was selling a few PC irises at Mt Macedon, or was there another one that I missed?  I bought a couple, one of which (Europian Mist) is in flower at present unless the snails took it out in all the rain today.  I photographed it yesterday though, thankfully, before all the rain.   Still on my camera, so nothing to post as yet.

[Tecophilaea King]

This interesting genus has unique flowers shaped like a starfish, usually with a frilled edge to the petal.
The most unusual shape and coloration of the flowers make this genus worthy of more attention.
In most species the flowers last but a day or two, but they are produced in profusion over a fairly extended period of time.
Ferraria crispa
Ferraria foliosa
Ferraria uncinata

[Brian Ellis]

Fascinating flowers Bill, I think I might quite like them

[Tecophilaea King]

Fascinating flowers Bill, I think I might quite like them

Brian, that's the quickest reply I've had for a while, you must have been watching me downloading the pictures

[Tecophilaea King]

This stunning Allium shubertii is one of the most popular Alliums in the garden with a volleyball sized, loose, spidery, rose/purple flower filled with star shaped florets-each on stalks unequal in length; looks a bit like a bizarre spaceship with many antennas.

[Brian Ellis]

Fascinating flowers Bill, I think I might quite like them

Brian, that's the quickest reply I've had for a while, you must have been watching me downloading the pictures

I've just been looking at this fascinating family on the PBS site.  They are amazing