June 2011 in the Northern Hemisphere

[KK-Ann Arbor]

some more peonies

Meteor
Louis Kelsey
Madam Cabot

[krisderaeymaeker]

In flower today : Aquilegia einseliana . A very compact specie (leafs only grow 5 cm tall , with flower 15 cm tall)with very nice blue flowers. The spurs are short.

[Magnar]

Oxygraphis glacialis in the gravel bed.

[ranunculus]

Oh Magnar ... now you have excelled yourself!  Magnificent!

[johnw]

Last autumn and winter I posted shots of this Malus sargentii that I am fairly certain I received as seed from the UK about 25 years ago.  I got 3-4 seeds and passed them along to a friend with whom I pleaded to grow the seed.  He did so and the one surviving tree gets better and better by the year. The fruit whilst smallish is very shiny and holds well through the winter.  Should be a splendid show this autumn as I can't imagine any Malus flowering heavier this one is this year.

johnw - sun threatening but another week of rain predicted.

[fleurbleue]

Amazing flowering John 

[Paddy Tobin]

An outstanding tree, John; amazing amount of blossom.
Paddy

[ian mcenery]

a couple of Roscoeas.

R humeana alba (the picture just doesn't do it justice) and cautleoides "Jeffrey Thomas"

[Lesley Cox]

Beautiful roscoeas Ian, especially the white.

Growing Malus from seed is interesting and quite quick. Maybe 10 years ago I sowed a few seeds from a huge, russet red crabapple I picked off the footpath outside someone's fence. The apple was about 6cms in diameter. They germinated quickly and I potted them in large plastic bags and put aside in the nursery then forgot about them really. I now have 3 trees each about 3 metres and with large, pink and fragrant flowers each spring. (5 times now, so they flowered at about 5 years from sowing). I never saw the parent in flower but the children are superb, a pale, a mid and a deep pink but otherwise similar. But only one has fruited and the crabapples are very small and bright yellow, nothing at all like the ones I sowed. They're still in their original plastic bags but as I want to save them I'll have to wrench then dig them and separate them into new homes. I will need muscular male help.

[Magnar]

Very nice plants. Ian. Wish I could once make them live over winter here, but I have never had any luck so far.

[ian mcenery]

Very nice plants. Ian. Wish I could once make them live over winter here, but I have never had any luck so far.

Magnar what is your winter minimum temperature I thought your winter would not be much colder than us but it was your summers that were cooler. I could send you some seedlings of cautleoides "Jeffrey Thomas" next spring PM me if you want to try them. By the way I wish I could grow some of the things you show but we can't have everything

Leslie thanks  I think the alba is nice too

[meanie]

My Roscoeas are struggling to shed their sheaths properly - could it be because I moved them in bud?

A couple of my favourites which have just come to life;

The first is Digitalis lanata - seed collected and sown July/August last year and over-wintered in my "coldframe".

Second one is Mimulus cardinalis - tough as they come and it self seeds prolifically too!

[johnw]

First Nomocharis out and yes Mark I did just notice that aphid!

johnw

[johnw]

I particularly enjoy this Primula sieboldii from a friend.

johnw

[johnw]

Diphylleia cymosa has enjoyed this last 6+ weeks of misty rainy weather.

johnw