November 2010 in the Southern Hemisphere

[fermi de Sousa]

November has started after a seriously wet October - the growth of most plants will be phenomenal this year!
To start off the month here's the first flower on a seed grown Calochortus amoenus (NARGS 2007)


cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Also flowering for the first time is Scilla natalensis (now Merwilla or something I have yet to memorize!) which I got about 7 years ago from a friend who grew a boxful from seed.




Another Calochortus just starting is Calochortus splendens


cheers
fermi

[Calvin Becker]

Also flowering for the first time is Scilla natalensis (now Merwilla or something I have yet to memorize!) which I got about 7 years ago from a friend who grew a boxful from seed.

It's Merwilla plumbea now Fermi. http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantklm/merwilplum.htm

[fermi de Sousa]

Thanks, Calvin,
I see from your link that I'm only 6 to 9 years behind the times!

Also of South Afrcian origin is this terracotta coloured dimorphotheca ?hybrid?


And this Babiana spathacea


A pink form of Tritonia crocata


Dutch Iris "Thunderbolt"


An Aussie native flower, Velleia paradoxa




Cistus "Bennet's White"




cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

A couple of years ago I cross-pollinated Dianthus "Inshriach Dazzler" and Dianthus callizonus and this is the first of the resultant seedlings to flower,




cheers
fermi

[Paul T]

Nice, Fermi!

Is dimorphotheca a synonym for Osteospermum, or does it just look like them?  Or how far behind the times as I now regarding name changes? 

[annew]

Your garden looks wonderfully colourful, Fermi.

[TheOnionMan]

An Aussie native flower, Velleia paradoxa

cheers
fermi

Fermi, the Velleia is the coolest plant!  Looks sort of Viola-like. Unfamiliar with the genus I looked it up, a member of the Goodeniaceae.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velleia

Have you grown other species?  Are they perennial & hardy?  Do they have flowers in other colors?

[Lesley Cox]

I really like the Velleia too. If I hadn't been told its name I would have been thinking Leschenaultia, also Goodeniaceae.

I like your Dianthus hybrid Fermi. I have an accidental hybrid (a seedling from a batch of deep red alpinus) whose other parent MUST be D. deltoides, one of the dark ones, like 'Steriker' which seeds about here. It is really very good and for now I'm propagating it as quickly as possible. Fully perennial with deep red foliage and brilliant magenta flowers on short stems. Pictures later.

[angie]

Fermi I really like your Calochortus amoenus. Your garden looks like you have lots of colour. What is your temperature at this time of year.

Angie

[Lvandelft]

Did not have much time lately to visit these pages.
I am a bit envious that your winter is already over and ours just almost to start.
So many nice flowers in the SH. It's really cheering me up these dark days.

Dutch Iris "Thunderbolt"

Fermi, this Iris is not in culture here anymore, but I think it belongs to the so called English or Spanish irises (I. xiphium)

the Velleia is very special!

[fermi de Sousa]

Thanks, Anne,
It's a lovely late spring this year because of the recent rains

Angie,
the temperatures are around the high teens to mid 20's (^oC) but it was 3^oC this morning!

Luit,
thanks for that info; I didn't realise it wasn't around over there - are there other brown coloured ones? When I was young I used to buy the bags of "Mixed Dutch iris" in the hope of getting a brown coloured flower like it showed on the picture on the pack! Only ever go blues and yellows!

Mark,
The velleia came from a friend in the autumn so it has survived -4^oC so far, as we didn't have a very cold winter. I've grown other Goodenias but no other Velleias. Goodenia blackiana is a similar clumper but smaller in all its parts.
This one is from your half of the world: Brodiaea stellaris


As is Brodiaea hyacinthina




Although no longer an allium, Nectarscordum siculum makes a fine contribution to the late spring garden,




here it grows amidst "King's Spear", Asphodeline lutea

A colony which has self-seeded over the past 8 years, intermingling with other plants from all over the world!


cheers
fermi

[TheOnionMan]

Nice display Fermi!  I grow those that you show, with the exception of Asphodeline lutea, which I like the look of very much!  In your last photo, the garden is looking very festive indeed.  Here, the season is finally coming to a halt, was 24 F (-4 C) this morning; that nightly freezing trend predicted to continue.

[t00lie]

My Brodiaeas are missing in action Fermi  --hopefully they are still alive ......

A couple of South Africans .
Gladiolus huttonii a bright and breezy thing .
Moraea vegeta .

Primula reidii var williamsii -- wonderfully scented --i keep on lifting the pot for a deep sniff. 

Finally --in a pot of mixed seedlings of Cyclamen repandum--labels show C. repandum 'pelops' and C. repandum rhodense.

Cheers dave

[angie]

Fermi wish we were warmer. Winter comes to soon for me I not finished cutting back all my plants yet, it was a horrible miserable day today so it's great to see all the wonderful plants that you have. Keep them coming.

Dave really like your Moraea vegeta, lovely colour

Angie