Flowering now August 2007

[Paul T]

Ian,

Pretty Digitalis in particular.  Lovely delicate colours to it.  That Anemonopsis is rather speccie too!! 

[ian mcenery]

Rob the Digitalis is sort of perennial though I have found perennial foxgloves a bit squiffy, but this is the second year of flowering. I have not found seedlings but have collected seed and have grown it on and will be planting a small group. As they look abit like weeds at first I may have removed them anyway. I will be more careful in future

[Brian Ellis]

An eclectic mix from the garden this morning starting with Kniphofia hirsuta standing at a full 40cm or 1' 4" in old money
Near the back door we have a gentian - it's not rare and I would appreciate anyone naming it as we have had it since the year dot and cannot remember 
Lilium henryi is now in flower as is Black Beauty which I think is Lilium speciosum var.rubrum x Lilium henryi
In the same area I noticed Tricyrtis hirta 'Tojen' beginning to open and a few flowers on Lapageria rosea - none on the white form as yet
I have just noticed the wonderful swept back petals on Asclepia tuberosum and A.curassavica

[Brian Ellis]

I rather like Eryngiums (what don't I like?) and these were popular with the wildlife.  I also have one whose name escapes me with wonderful cut foliage.  One of the Clematis nurseries in Norfolk is run by Ruth and Jonathan Gooch, they have friends in Japan who have bred a clematis and named it after her - Clematis Rooguchi which looks great with Summer jasmine 'Fiona Sunrise' foliage.  My Eucomis are also starting to flower, the first being this Eucomis bicolor.  Also this lovely hibiscus relative Alyogyne huegelii, and a very similar flower on Althaea cannabina - now about 3 metres tall.

[Brian Ellis]

Round the corner is Angelica gigas and a little way away Veratrum nigrum.  I was disappointed with the size of the flowers on the climbing dicentra torulosa but the seed pods are something else, such a wonderful colour that I forgive it!  Still flowering is Polygala x dalmaisiana and right at the back of the border - for good reason as it is a monster plant - is Kitabelia vitifolia.  Another climber in the rain forests of East Anglia  Bomarea edulis which has wonderful globular storage organs (tubers?) underground.  One of my favourites is Berkheya purpurea, a wonderful soft lilac/mauve, I have one with a different shaped foliage which I hope will turn out to be white.  It seems to wander around the garden a little each year presumably from underground runners.

[Brian Ellis]

Also near the large glasshouse is this lovely little petrorhagia saxifraga, the slightest breeze gives movement to the flowers.  Inside are tomatoes, peppers, a few flowers and at the far end, well shaded - hence the dark photos without a flash - the other half's selection of Streptocarpus.  As I was poking about I came across this Clivia miniata in flower for the second time this year.  Equally spectacular is Notocactus leninghausii.  It's such a funny year that the foliage on the Fothergilla major is beginning to assume it's autumn tints, and lastly one for Lesley!

[ChrisB]

Ian,  Thanks for posting your Watsonia pilansii.  I have two orange ones and the one I thought was W. pilansii is, but I'm not sure of the identity of this one. Anyone know by chance?

[ChrisB]

And here are a few more plants including two hellebores that have forgotten what month it is!

[ian mcenery]

Chris there are a lot of Watsonias some of which are hybrids so its difficult to say. In fact I was hoping that someone could confirm my identiciation of pillansii which I bought as "Watsonia" only. Worth every penny though

[David Nicholson]

Some lovely plants there folks. Thanks for posting so many ideas for my own garden.

[ChrisB]

And forgot, meant to include Tweedia caerulea.  Was lovely light in the greenhouse tonight and got a rather nice pic of it

[ChrisB]

Ian,

The one I posted should be either W. angusta or W. distans.  I keep a list of plants I have in case I lose labels in the garden.  I'll take a look on Google images to see if I can identify it.  And I've just realised that the files I've submitted must be too big as they come up much larger than yours on my screen.  Mea culpa.  Must get a handle on diminishing file sizes someday.  I take 6 megapixel pics so I can blow them up if I want to, or crop, so getting them down to post here is a wee problem I must solve.  Love watsonias.  Got a rather nice pink one this year, W. borbonica ssp. borbonica.  Well worth having.  Flowers last ages.

[ranunculus]

Lovely photos Brian.......does Gentiana asclepiadea ring any bells?

[Lesley Cox]

Chris, your pics aren't too big, they're all well within the 300kbs we're allowed. So long as they're "legal", don't reduce them further. Bigger is better.

Many thanks Brian for the Rudbeckia. They're really not my kind of thing but I love those tawny and burnt earthy colours. I hope to find some more `Rustic Dwarfs' somehow, someday, somewheeeeeere (with apologies to "West Side Story.")

There are some stunning others there too, especially the pods on the Dicentra. You'll be sending some to the seed list? And I love the Clematis.

I also love those rather sinister colours of the Angelica and the Veratrum. My black should flower this year, something to look forward to.

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks Cliff for tickling my memory.  I have to admit Lesley that I only grew the Rudbeckia to fill in gaps for when the garden was open to the Hardy Plant Society a couple of weeks ago, likewise the Dicentra needed to zoom up a new arch and make it look less bare