October 2011 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Anthony Darby]

I seem to remember cherries having long stalks? These flowers have no stalks. Here are some more pics:

[Hillview croconut]

Hi All,

After a long absence from this forum I have emerged from winter with these two fritillaria pitures.

Fritillaria affinis Yellow Form
and
Fritillaria moggeridgei (8 years from Goteborg seed)

Cheers, Marcus

[Lesley Cox]

Really nice yellows Marcus. I have good germination of the yellow affinis from the local frit group. F. aurea from Pilous took 3 & 1/2 years from germination to flowering.

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Lesley,

Don't know how you did it with F. aurea it is a real foot-dragger with me.

I offer up two of my personal favourites in the dwarf iris clan. Both sourced from Rannweig Wallis some years ago now, the yellow one is a Farrer Medal Winner. Both are non-stop flowerers and I am sometimes concerend they will kill themselves in the process!

Cheers, Marcus

Iris suaveolens purple
Iris suaveolens Yellow

[fermi de Sousa]

Here's a little treasure - I think Cynthia showed it last year,
Kennedia microphylla


The lovely Oenothera acaulis [no, Mark, I haven't forgotten to look to seeds!]

and one I prepared earlier re-opening pink this morning,

The last couple of jonquilla daffs, "Clare"


and "Flo-May"


cheers
fermi

[kiwi]

Nice pics everyone.
Salix magnifica - what other name would be any more suitable?
Cypripedium formosanum
Fritillaria biflora
Arisaema sikokianum

[Hoy]

I seem to remember cherries having long stalks? These flowers have no stalks. Here are some more pics:

Your tree reminds me of Prunus persica 'Double White'!

[Hoy]

Nice pics everyone.
Salix magnifica - what other name would be any more suitable?
Cypripedium formosanum
Fritillaria biflora
Arisaema sikokianum

So you grow Salix magnifica, Doug. I was wondering if I was the only one

Here's a little treasure - I think Cynthia showed it last year,
Kennedia microphylla

The lovely Oenothera acaulis [no, Mark, I haven't forgotten to look to seeds!]
and one I prepared earlier re-opening pink this morning,

The last couple of jonquilla daffs, "Clare"

and "Flo-May"

cheers
fermi

Fermi, Beautiful Kennedia! Is it hardy? - and is it easy from seed? 

It is nice to see your flowers when the snow covers the ground around here! I'm going down to lower elevation this evening

[Anthony Darby]

I seem to remember cherries having long stalks? These flowers have no stalks. Here are some more pics:

Your tree reminds me of Prunus persica 'Double White'!

I thought it might be a peach of some kind, but had only ever seen pink flowered forms? Thanks.

[Tecophilaea King]

Yes, the infamous RENA container ship, stuck on the reef, is fast turning into an absolute environmental, ecological and economic disaster.
We live only 10 minutes away from the Pacific Ocean beach here in Tauranga, but I was devastated by the sight and damage done to the golden beaches, birdlife and impact on the fishing operations. Oil is the biggest environmental problem, covering 17 kilometres of coastline, (expecting to increase to 40 km), with more than 1400 tons of oil still on board the ship which is now starting to break up, with a large crack developing in the hull on starboard, hopefully the authorities will salvage the oil of the ship before that happens. If that’s not enough, now 80 containers have fallen off the badly listing ship, which further pollute the beaches, when they spill their sometimes corrosive contents.  
It will be a big expensive job and will take a long time before the beaches will return to their former beautiful state and the social and psychological impact it has on the environmental disaster in Tauranga.
Just a few pictures taken early this morning.
Bill  

[Maggi Young]

What a ghastly mess, Bill. That will take some work to clean up and heaven knows the amount of lasting damage done.

[Lina Hesseling]

Hello Bill,

What a disaster! I was already wondering who of the forumists live in the area. With these pictures it is very clear how big the consequents are for the environment. This will take a long time indeed to recover.

[Tecophilaea King]

Amongst the debris thousand of packs of precooked burger patties over many kilometers, all the way from Dunedin.
The seagulls will have a ball feasting on this unexpected bonanza from the sea, if only they would know how to open the packets.
Do you know this company Lesley?

[fleurbleue]

Quite sorry for what has happened in your country 

[Lesley Cox]

Bill there's a company at Green Island (nearby) which makes such stuff. It's probably them. They're called Ansco I think. NOT their fault the b....y ship reefed itself though. On the early news this morning they said the beach was oiled for more than 67kms now, and that was then, at first light.

When will it all end? Pike River, Christchurch, now this?