November 2010 in the Northern Hemispere

[Paul T]

Rodger,

We have strongly perfumed Viburnum carlesii here, and we don't get cold enough for snow.  When they're in flower in a garden you can smell them quite a distance away.  I wonder if it is just genetic variation and those that are growing in your current area just come from stock that is not as strongly perfumed?  I don't know how cold you get in Victoria, BC though?

[TheOnionMan]

Rodger,

We have strongly perfumed Viburnum carlesii here, and we don't get cold enough for snow.  When they're in flower in a garden you can smell them quite a distance away.  I wonder if it is just genetic variation and those that are growing in your current area just come from stock that is not as strongly perfumed?  I don't know how cold you get in Victoria, BC though?

There might be something too that theory (genetic variation), as I have a seed-grown bush of Ribes odoratum which I believe is the correct ID, that has no scent whatsoever to the flowers, a great disappointment as I grew it after sampling the wonderful fragrance on a bush grown elsewhere, I wanted it primarily for the fragrance, although the floral show is pretty good too.

[Paul T]

McMark,

Isn't that always the way.  You grow something for a particular reason and then Murphy's Law decides that you get everything BUT that particular reason.    Good luck with finding both perfumed Ribes and Viburnum. 

[cohan]

we've had serious frosts already for a couple of months, and snow a couple of times, but didn't last; still the ground was staying frozen in damp shady areas (that describes a lot of property at this time of year, when the trees cast looong shadows).
but, we did have an above normal first half of november, and a few things were still in flower in spite of a few lows below -10C, maybe -16C.
a few shots from nov 07
pics 1,2 these garden violas-self sown, and far from any other violas, in two new beds far apart-are great plants for this climate--flowering last year to long past frost, and again in spring as soon as they were out of the snow and the ground a little thawed, and all summer long..
pics 3,4 a native self sown aster most are finished (pic 5), but the occasional brave one tries a later flowering
pics 6,7 this garden lonicera is oddly impervious to frosts, considering it didn't like the hail in summer at all
pics 8,9 the rugosa flowers had been preserved by the frost, foliage was still looking good..

well, that was the first half of november, things turned around a couple of days ago, from +8C days to -12 to -16days, and -20's nights, along with 20cm or so of snow, more days of flurries, and periods of snow forecast for sunday (tuesday's forecast low -30C, but warmer by next week's end..)

pic 10 -here is that same aster yesterday--the gamble on late flowering didn't work out this year!

i'll put some other shots from that day in germinating now and maybe alberta wanderings..

[Paul T]

Interesting Lonicera, Cohan.  Very nice.

[cohan]

thanks, paul, i don't know what it is, something my mom planted some years ago--something foreign
its a bit slow to really get going in spring, and can look battered in summer from hail, but it does hang on in fall! i'd like to move it ideally, since its almost right in front of my house, and since that's one of the sunniest places on the property, i'd rather have some sort of rockery there! it is nice to see hummers on it though in summer

[Paul T]

Cohan,

Most Lonicera are pretty successful from cuttings, so I'd suggest getting some cuttings going before you move it.  That way you have backup before the event. 

[Maggi Young]

Love the violets- they are such appealing little flowers.

Good idea to try some Lonicera cuttings. I would even try some now .... I plucked a piece off one ( no idea what it is ) flowering a few weeks ago to show someone and afterwards popped it in a little vase....... it's sat there quite happily since then, with the water being renewed regulalry as I bring in other odd blooms to enjoy and the Lonicera has a nice root system. I'll try another piece now to see if it willk root at this tinme of year... but these plants which will root in water are a real boon to the lazy propagator.... even if they might need a little more care to wean them to a pot.

[Lori S.]

Cohan, your honeysuckle is the omnipresent Lonicera x brownii 'Dropmore Scarlet', developed by Dr. Skinner of Dropmore, Man., long ago - a great plant for our area.   I found a site that says it's a cross between Lonicera sempervirens and Lonicera hirsuta.  Other cultivars from this cross are hardy here too.

[cohan]

thanks paul, maggi, lori

maggi--i love the violas too, and we don't typically get hot enough in mid-summer to bother them..i haven't figured out how they reached some of these beds far away from any potted violas and with no recycled soil..the dark one is doing nicely in a quite dry bed just in front of large spruce trees..(the aster is growing wild just at the edge of the same bed, and a partch of Linnaea, pre-existing, is spreading nicely on a large spruce root that  cuts the bed in half...

paul and maggi-- i will take some cuttings, good idea--we are fully frozen now, so i will wait til spring-it may root indoors, but then i'd have to coddle it all winter... last year i took some cuttings of what i presume is a large shrub/small tree honeysuckle gone wild behind my grandparents' old house, i think that rooted in water, though i can't remember if that was one that survived my subesquent lack of attention, if not i'll do it again...
i wonder if our native L dioica would root easily, i will have to try it.. very attractive species (i still have some seed) though it does not have the protracted flowering season of this..

lori, thanks for the name--i thought it probably it would be something common, not too many rarities in circulation around here, though we do have a nice Tilia cordata that i don't think is as common around here.. i've been meaning to try cuttings of that, as i'd like to have a few more...

[Olga Bondareva]

Cohan
We have the same wheather I see.



Yesterday snow fell about 20 sm.  

[cohan]

olga--the flowers are pretty in the snow--but hopefully you were not as cold as we were the last couple of days-- we got to around -35 or a few degrees colder, with days below -20..now it is supposed to rise overnigh to -13 by morning, then a high of -4C, it will seem very warm, and friday 0C-i will be putting on my bathing suit
here is a view of my place today...

[Luc Gilgemyn]

An early Christmas card Cohan !! 

[Olga Bondareva]

we got to around -35

Wow!  -35! Oh no it is much warmer here, only -5 - 0.
Cohan, you are very optimistic man gardening there. 

[cohan]

luc--i was thinking nature was very nice to decorate all the trees for us though now temps are up to -4, and -1 tomorrow, a lot of the snow will fall off..

olga--at this time of year, its hard to believe anything grows here! but there are many nice natives, and more in the mountains, so there are many possibilities, and fortunately, many alpines and others from other places also grow here