February 2011 - Southern Hemisphere

[t00lie]

Tigridia vanhouttei,
Cheers Dave, its a beauty.

No problems Bud

Mine are at the same stage as Pauls.
Although individual flowers don't last long for me you should have others that will come on .

Pleased for the swops.

Cheers Dave.

 

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Lvandelft,

Yes that's its name - it really is something as a foliage and filler plant, looks lovely in amongst the balottas and the artemisias. It does have one drawback - some of its stems are fasciated. Is this a common feature?
Can you tell me the name of the campanula?
The little Geranium "Appleblossom has been with me a long time and I have never thought to progagate it. But this summer I have struck 4 or 5 just in case. It is nowhere near as vigorous as Ballerina but very pretty with its soft, delicate flowers. I bought it from Woodbank Nursery, now sadly closed, from Ken Gillanders, a name some people will know on the Forum.

Thanks for the prompt to my memory - too much jam making!

Rob - thanks for the kind words. I don't remember what I included now. The orders go by in a blur.
Thanks for supporting me it is MUCH appreciated.

Cheers, Marcus

[anita]

Hi,
The temperatures may not suggest it, but we are kicking into autumn in Southern Australia. At least the bulbs think so. The first Easter lilies (Amaryllis belladonna) showed above ground on January 17 and I now have dozens in flower. The pale pink (pictured) that was in the old garden of this 100+ house is always the first to open. I have other cultivars such as deeper pinks and the white Hathor/Haythor that come up several weeks later (no sign of them as yet). Pehaps they’d rather wait until the 40C+ days are over
This year a Vallota lily (Cyrtanthus elatus) that has been sulking in the garden for years decided to bloom. I’m not sure what inspired it, perhaps the fact that we’ve had a little more rainfall than usual here (I’m not being sarcastic despite the rain that has been deluging other bits of Australia we’ve simply gone from nearly 10 years of below average rainfall to just above the long term average).
The hymenocallis are a few days away from blooming. Will try and post. Anita

[Maggi Young]

I do hope that you folks "way down south" know how much cheer your posts bring to those of us still battling dark days of winter weather?  Thanks! 

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Maggi,

Glad you like them. Our turn next to shiver and warm up on your northern summer snaps.

Just a few fairly hopeless pictures of lilies in my garden. I couldn't be bother getting down on my hands and knees to get the best angles.

Lilium henryi, then, a greeny backed trumpet, and finally a L. speciousum hybrid, probably good old Wildfire or a seedling of it.

Cheers, Marcus

[Ezeiza]

Anita, please remember to post photos of your hymenocallises. This is a very complex genus to identify and subtle differences are not apparent.

[Tecophilaea King]

Now that the summer, and high temperatures are back again, quite a few of the larger summer flowering  South African species putting up a colourful display,
Amaryllis belladonna is always a reliable species to flower,  and this “Beacon” selection is one of my better reds to bloom.
Crinum species and hybrids are another genus I like, especially the colourful choice hybrid Crinum “Ellen Bosanquet” and the  pure white Crinum x powellii Album.
Another rare and difficult one to flower is the beautiful Cyrtanthus herrei, that produces pendulous pale orange and green flowers in late summer that rival any display by any other species.
Not to forget the popular Scadoxus multiflora ssp.katherinae, another spectacular species, an ideal subject for the shady garden.

Amaryllis belladonna
Crinum x powellii Album
Crinum “Ellen Bosanquet”
Cyrtanthus herrei
Scadoxus multiflora ssp.katherinae

[Paul T]

Nice, Bill.  I'm guessing that the belladonna and the Crinum are actually dark pink, rather than that electric red-pink that they've come out in the photos (if only they really came in that colour.... you'd need sunglasses just to walk in the garden  )?  That Cyrtanthus is so beautiful too.

[Tecophilaea King]

Nice, Bill.  I'm guessing that the belladonna and the Crinum are actually dark pink, rather than that electric red-pink that they've come out in the photos (if only they really came in that colour.... you'd need sunglasses just to walk in the garden  )?  That Cyrtanthus is so beautiful too.

Paul, yes the Amaryllis belladonna picture was taken late in the day and perhaps a little under exposed, the flowers were already nearly a week old as well and getting darker, but the Crinum "Ellen Bosanquet" was really a very dark rosy-red colour, one of the darkest shades of all the Crinum hybrids.

[Paul T]

Bill,

My camera struggles a bit with red/pinks as well, but I've noticed that with those and the blue/purples your pics come out as much more intense than I guess they are in reality.  I know in the past that some of the pics I was posting were actually a bit bleached because my monitor was actually coming out darker than it should have been, so I had to lighten pics up to get them "true to life" (or at least true to life on my computer  )... when I replaced my computer after a crash I discovered that my old monitor was showing so differently to what the camera was actually taking when viewed on another computer.  I just never realised it until I got a new monitor.  I know that this monitor is pretty accurate, but I wonder how many of us are missing details or getting colours more/less intense darker/lighter because of our monitors without even realising it?  The camera problems always seems to be multiplied on the red/pinks and the blue/purples whenever it happens.    Maybe our cameras just like pastels rather than primary colours. 

Anyway, that's neither here nor there.  Glad you're flowering your belladonnas.... I have a few recalcitrant ones that will not flower for me for anything (some have been in for more than 10 years) and the multiflora hybrids are always later than the straight belladonnas.  I have a dark pink perhaps similar in colour to yours, but mine has much more spidery petals.  It's in a pot, so I don't expect there to be any flowers this year. 

Thanks again for the pics.

[Wim de Goede]

A wonderfull plant Rogan, I want to grow that commercial, how do I get it?

Wim

[cohan]

It's a good seedlist though, Conan - full of interesting stuff to try on your windowsill...  

There are a few interesting things lol

[Tecophilaea King]

A wonderfull plant Rogan, I want to grow that commercial, how do I get it?
Wim

Wim, its good to see you on this most popular, infomative, friendly forum.
We all know you grow a large selection of the most beautiful, rare and unsual bulbs, and we're all looking forward to see more pictures of your exquisite collection of bulbs,
Welcome on board
Bill

[Maggi Young]

Bill, you need to get out of the Southern Hemisphere pages into the rest of the Forum a bit more     ... Wim has been around nearly a year.... see these for instance ...
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5164.0
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=6562.0

[Maggi Young]

I found a rare southern visitor in my garden today.... seemed to be gathering with others of his kind.... wonder if I should be posting this in the Wildlife thread  
.......