November 2011 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Hillview croconut]

Hi, thought I might kick this off with a few stragglers from the spring bulb camp and a very red paeony


Ornithogalum ? collected it accidentally near Sparta. can anyone give it a name?

Muscari ? weisii (dionysus) grabbed seed head walking down from the summit of Mt Ambelos, Samos.

Allium peninsulare, one of my favourite Americans, almost a weed here.

Paeonia peregrina, seed from a woodland grove east of Edessa, northern Greece.

Cheers, Marcus

[Lesley Cox]

The red paeony is a beauty, one of my favourites and it really does wander a little bit in the garden. I find it grows from bits of broken root or tuber too.

[fermi de Sousa]

Thanks for starting off the Thread, Marcus,
and I agree with Lesley about that Paeonia!
It's Calochortus time in our garden!
This one is the first flowering from seed sown 2008 from the NARGS Seedex as Calochortus venustus


Calochortus splendens


Calochortus luteus


Calochortus amabilis struggling through an overgrowth of dianthus!


cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Iris "Thunderbolt"




Some iris in the "creek bed"


Including 2 Louisiana Iris




and a couple in the "bog garden"




cheers
fermi

[WimB]

Very beautiful, that Iris 'Thunderbolt', Fermi.

[David Nicholson]

Lots of lovely colour there Fermi.

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Again,

Lovely pics! Its very heartening to see such lovely plants on the southern hemisphere thread ALL YEAR. We have so many things against us here, first and foremost, biosecurity.

Couple more calochortus (not great pics). and one of Pat's wicked arils, though a crazy colour combo.

Cheers, and a great weekend, Marcus

[Lesley Cox]

I should have had my camera at the market yesterday as we had the community stall (a single stall at no cost, set aside each week so that local community groups, charities etc can provide information and raise funds) from a local Boys' High and as one of the boy's father is a paeony grower, they had dozens of tree paeonies in large pots, in flower and many, many both tree and herbaceous flowers, all for sale at prices which were ridiculously low, compared with nurseries.

Because I had arranged the stall and a good date for them (as is part of my job to do, so nothing extra on my part) the father told me to select a plant I would like. I did, then found it and another in a paler shade, one single lemon, the other double gold) delivered to my car at the end of the market. Even though not the usual prices, they were still over $100 in total so I feel really guilty about accepting them, but am managing to force myself. They are magnificent plants, strong and healthy.

[t00lie]

This is what we awoke to yesterday morning after very strong winds overnight.

Gone by early afternoon i initially thought there was very little damage ,however a check today in the sunshine and i see broken stems of a number of plants ...including Trilliums ,Clintonia and damn it   there is only a short stub left of a nicely forming flower bud of Ranzania japonica ..(Aw well there is always next year).

Luckily all is not lost --Dicentra peregrina is unscathed  --one bloom so far yet to open with 2 small others i can just see above the surface .Will post when out.

Cheers Dave.  

[Maggi Young]

I knew things were getting chilly down there... my brother-in law told me the Dundedin golf course was closed by frost the other morning 

[Anthony Darby]

I couldn't believe it when they had the electric heaters on in St Mark's Church, Remuera this afternoon for the choir's concert! OK, so it was only 16^oC outside, but it felt warmer.

[t00lie]

9c here yesterday --13c today --forecast 23c tomorrow then back to 14c Tuesday --go figure.

Cheers Dave. 

[Tecophilaea King]

If you want something different from the familiar tall bearded hybrids, grow a few of the beautiful and interesting dwarf crested irises species, they're popular as  an adaptable woodland groundcover, a vigorous, abundantly flowering border plant and delightful, exquisite  individual greenhouse plant.
Another  small iris flowering for us are the always  beautiful, reliable Iris innominate/douglasiana species and hybrids that is also available in many different colours.

Iris cristata
Iris cristata alba
Iris gracilipes
Iris gracilipes alba
Iris innominata/douglasiana

[Lesley Cox]

Yes, it's definitely the silly season for weather. On Saturday I wiped 7cms of snow off my car before I could go to work at 5.30am. It was OK out the drive but something of a skating rink trip up the hill. Only 10 mins late though. All gone when I came home early afternoon. Yesterday went up to 17c here and today the TV weather says we'll have 25 but the radio only gives us 21.

Your little irises are beauts Bill. I love all these little species though the MBs have been good and cheering too. Convention on in Nelson at present. Seems as if it might be a fiery one judging from the remits forwarded.

[Hoy]

Lesley, here's what the Norwegian Met says:




And the next week you can see here:
http://www.yr.no/sted/New_Zealand/Otago/Dunedin/langtidsvarsel.html