August 2012 in the Northern Hemisphere

[ronm]

They grow incredibly rapidly if the conditions are good ( warm and humid ). Very hungry / thirsty plants when in growth. The problem here is they take a long time to recover from the check of winter and so their growing season becomes very short. In the sub tropics ...no problem,  Anyone who wants to heat an area through winter can grow this Genus easily.

Cheers Davey 

[Tim Ingram]

Very nice ginger Ron - the hardy ones rarely do well with us; too dry in the summer. Another group of perennials that need more summer moisture than we can generally provide are the crocosmias. This year though the summer rains have brought the best flowering for a long time - this is Crocosmia 'Emily McKenzie'; it has been in situ for many years with no division or special care and has a looser and more elegant habit than some.

[daveyp1970]

Tim i could be wrong but that looks like lucifer.

[Paul T]

Lucifer is a good red, isn't it?  Tim's looks like it's orange.  The pics I've seen of the real Lucifer are unmistakeably red.  I've bought it a couple of times in the past and ended up with an orangey red, so I have no idea whether the real Lucifer is actually here in Aus, or whether there are other things going around under that name.  Probably not a bad thing anyway, as I got rid of the others I had, as the Crocosmia are a bit thuggish here.   

The only one I now grow is 'King of the Oranges" (or some name like that) hwich has a massive flower.  Not really enough water in my garden to do it justice unfortunately, but the dry does help keep it under control.    If I had acreage (still waiting for you to offer me your farm for free Lesley!!  ) then I'd grow some of them where I had space.  Fantastic flowers in summer.

[johnw]

A few years ago I gave a friend in the damp south a bunch of tiny bulbils of various Crocosmias we had.  The first two pix are what he has of Lucifer.  The orange one is supposed to be Star of The East. The orange and the yellow are unknown, possibly named ones.  The two blurry shots are a solitary ruby red with dark stems that seems to be a spontaneous seedling and I should have marked its location.  Solfatare has disappeared.  Any ideas?

johnw  - +19c at 8:30

[Paul T]

John,

That dark red with the dark stems is lovely.  Great seedling. 

[Michael J Campbell]

Gloriosa rothschildiana

[ronm]

A couple of days ago I visited Beacon Lagoons, East Yorkshire, a series of inland lagoons, prone to seasonal flooding by the sea, leading to very salty summer water. A rare and unusual habitat in the UK.  A great Odonata area ( but never saw one!  ), and summer home to a colony of The Little Tern, Sterna albifrons. Each year the Terns come here from East Africa to breed in the sand dunes. Unfortunately the eggs and young are almost always 100% taken by foxes . Those that aren't are usually prey to sparrowhawks,  .  Sadly the colony was a long way away from the hide this year so I could only get a poor picture, but it gives a feel.
The Eryngium maritimum were looking particularly nice though this year.

[KentGardener]

What a Snowdrop garden looks like in the Summer.... 

Some quick (sorry - non alpine!) pics from here today.

[Roma]

Fantastic, John.  I love jungly gardens.

[fleurbleue]

Me too 

[Lina Hesseling]

Looks great, John.
We have jungle weather. Pfffff.

Lina.

[annew]

Scollies looking fab, John.

[David King]

This is Kniphofia 'Prince Igor' going full blast in our garden at the moment.  As you can see he is a rather big boy, nearly as tall as the gazebo.  One of my favourites, except sadly, I know that autumn nears when he is in flower.

[David King]

Also in the garden at the moment is this rather nice double Platycodon (Balloon flower).  What is so nice is its blue back.