June 2011 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Anthony Darby]

Bit busy at the moment, but I couldn't resist finding time to snap Gladiolus flanaganii, one of my favourites for the wonderful colour.

I used to have it but lost it last winter. 

[Pete Clarke]

Thanks for the new information Diane. Hopefully somebody will give it a name soon then?
My plants have grown and flowered well this year and set alot of seed.

[Maggi Young]

So, Pete's pic labelled ex GK4698  was incorrectly called  ex 5128 in the text of his post?
So, this plant of Pete's is an un-named new species Calandrinia ex GK4698   Have I got that right?

[Diane Clement]

So, Pete's pic labelled ex GK4698  was incorrectly called  ex 5128 in the text of his post?
So, this plant of Pete's is an un-named new species Calandrinia ex GK4698   Have I got that right?

Yes, the picture label is correct, but in the text Pete has mixed it up with the Parnassia number.
Pete's Calandrinia is GK4698 and has been distributed in AGS seed exchanges as Calandrinia sp orange GK4698  and Calandrinia aff caespitosa GK4698.  Anyone requesting it from AGS seed exchange over the last three years has had a note in the packet with further information.  I have been in communication with Martin Gardner (the original collector of the seed) from Edinburgh BG and John Watson over the past few years to try and get it identified as John always reckoned it was a new species. 

[Pete Clarke]

My apologies everyone. Diane is correct, I was thinking Parnassia when I typed. (A senior moment ocurring, I need to worry?)

[Zdenek]

I love the Scutellaria. It looks quite close to S. orientalis?

Yes, Lesley, it is quite similar to S. orientalis.

[Maggi Young]

My apologies everyone. Diane is correct, I was thinking Parnassia when I typed. (A senior moment ocurring, I need to worry?)

I wouldn't worry, Pete... if I stressed about that sort of hiccup I'd have drowned myself years ago......

[Maggi Young]

I love the Scutellaria. It looks quite close to S. orientalis?

Yes, Lesley, it is quite similar to S. orientalis.

Such a pretty plant... makes me feel guilty that the only Scutellaria I grow is S. scordifolia 'Seoul Sapphire'   This nice plant was named by Graeme Butler of Rumbling Bridge Nursery when it was given an Award of Merit by the Joint Rock Committee some years ago. It seems to have made its way across quite a lot of the world now, when the number of nurseries offering it are seen. Some seem to be making an error in their descriptions though... it would NEVER make 120cms tall, as one link claimed! More like 15-20cms!

[Gunilla]

Some pictures from today

Arisaema speciosum
Dactylorhiza maculatum
Campanula thyrsoides

[Maggi Young]

Fine plants, Gunilla.... and Maggi is looking really well too. She is a good looking girl, I'm proud to share  her name   

[Lesley Cox]

I'm interested that you can grow Scut. scordifolia Maggi. I've had it a couple of times and lost it to quite light frosts. I love the deep indigo colouring of it.

The other Maggi is beautiful all right, and so WHITE on her white parts. My two are filthy at present, everything outside wet and muddy. Cain like a swim (but not a bath) and Teddy hates a bath, maybe because the dog shampoo Roger bought for him is lavender-scented. First thing after a good clean, is a roll in the mud or dust, depending on the weather.

[ChrisB]

A few pics taken yesterday in my garden:

Aquilegia longissima
Dactylorhiza seedling x 3
Diascia anastrepta grown from my own closed pollinated seed (sent some to SRGC this year too)
Erodium 'Princesse Marion' obtained last year from Lamberton Nursery, it blooms and blooms....

[Paul T]

Chris,

Wow!  The Dacts are glorious.  If only they'd seed about here.

Thanks for the pics, they're a wonderful display.

[ChrisB]

Paul, they settled in here and now come up everywhere, in the lawn, cracks in paving, almost every pot I've got and even in the pond!  Yikes.  I'm awash with them.  They seem to adapt to every possible condition.

[Paddy Tobin]

Oh, Chris, I am so madly jealous - but in a good and pleasant way. Paddy