November 2007 in the Southern Hemisphere

[fermi de Sousa]

paul,
it was on Murray's list as "Russell Manning" so I'm not sure if he named it such or it was sent to the Seedex as such. If it was sent as "RM" I wonder who sent it? Who was Russell Manning? Perhaps the Wyllie Wyfie would know?
cheers
fermi

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Wow, the Southern hemisphere is buzzing isn't it ? 

Lesley : 

Dave : no kiss for you, but many thanks all the same 

Another great show Fermi ! Love these rainlillies.

[Paddy Tobin]

Oh Susan,

Ranunculus lyallii is one of those simply fantastic plants. A friend who had been to New Zealand a few years back gave a talk to a local garden club and show photographs of it at the time. I managed to get a plant shortly afterwards but unfortunately it did not do well with me and died. What a pity.

At least I can still enjoy your photographs. Many thanks. Paddy

[Susan]

Paddy, I have to say that it took me 20 years  to get it happy enough to bloom consistently for me. I had it growing in various parts of my garden. We are at over 1000 feet (300m) and I wonder whether altitude has a bearing on its happiness rating.   It also only seems to start to flower when it starts to creep around and at the moment it is starting to 'monster' surrounding plants. 

Susan

[Lesley Cox]

That was sweet of you Luc, I can do with many of those. Here's one for you too.

Fermi, the Habranthus has been around for at least 30 years, probably more, as 'Russell Manning.' But who or what or where he was, I've no idea.

Here are a couple of pics from the weekend. Roger and I went across the Lammermoor Range, to Linnburn Station to see my son and grandson. (Their wife and mother is taking a week's holiday in Oz at present, so it seemed a good chance as R and C don't get on.) There wasn't enough flora along the road to call it a field trip but we did see some very nice Aciphylla aurea, all males, oddly, which I've rarely seen as they seem to flower quite early (now) and I don't usually get to the mountains until well into the new year. There must have been females somewhere but the skyline one, last in this batch, was the only one I saw. Raoulia australis was also on the roadside but all were quite old and scruffy, not the lovely smooth mats I'd prefer to photograph.















Sorry, I went a bit overboard here but the male flowers are so good, compared with the female. They seemed to open in layers like one of the shelf fungi and were very decorative, a warm, creamy shade.

[Lesley Cox]

Lots of pink-flowered things out at present. Saponarias are very good - as always - and I have some seedlings from S. pumilio which show promise. I left taking pics until too late and they're past their best now but some are identical to pumilio itself while others are a little smaller flowered, several flowers to a very short stem (pumilio has a single flower) and wide open flowers of a peachy colour. They can only be hybrids with S. lutea which is near to pumilio in a raised bed. The peachy seedlings are all identical to each other and I'll be interested to see their habit as they grow. Their leaves are imtermediate between the two species. About a dozen seedlings, all from the single pod gathered last summer but one.

In the meantime, here's S. `Bressingham Hybrid' on the corner of a limestone trough.


At another corner, Dianthus callizonus.


Allium unifolium is an excellent species, making a great clump in the garden. This one will too, when I get it planted out. In the meantime, the strappy foliage (to the right) is very tatty. Though supposedly one-leaved, there are several to each bulb.


Always try any batch of seed labelled Iris x Chrysofor or 'Chrysofor.' This is I. chrysographes x forrestii, 2 species within the Sibirica Group and all the seedlings are interesting and/or beautiful. I love every one. This one grows to about 50cms tall and is a lovely veined and speckled combo of plummy purple and deep lemon.


And the last for today, Myosotis capitata, a NZ native but from the islands of the southern ocean, not the mainland. In close up it almost looks like Myosotidium hortensia, the Chatham Is. forget-me-not but it is just 4 or 5 cms high and speading to a low small mat. I should have seed later if anyone is interested. Although it is short-lived, it's easy to replace by seed and to grow on.




Also very pleased to see that there is some seed on Phacelia sericea, a purple-flowered silvery plant shown earlier (October 2007 in the Southern Hemisphere, page 5).

[Paddy Tobin]

Another great day's posting from the Southern Hemisphere. Many thanks to all.

Susan, reading back on your comments on Ranunculus lyallii I think what you say about altitude is very relevant. It seems to like it cool with a misty moisty atmosphere. Great plant.

Lesley, that little myosotidium is beautiful, a wonderful plant. And, you can never post too many aciphyllas. Another great plant, treacherous but beautiful.

Paddy

[Rogan]

My favourite plant at this time of the year, Ranunculus lyallii.

Seeing Susan's wonderful picture of Ranunculus lyallii reminds me of our very own R. baurii which occurs naturally in the Drakensberg mountains. R. baurii has magnificent, large (20 - 30cm) 'spoked' leaves resembling a nasturtium-gone-wrong. It bears masses of chrome-yellow flowers and loves growing in and beside cool mountain streams at high altitude.

Susan, please tell us a little more about your R. lyallii.

[Rogan]

A good horticultural friend of mine (- no longer!) described the first flowering of my X Hippeastrelia hybrid (Hippeastrum x Sprekelia) as 'porn' It is rather bright I admit, but very beautiful and unusual I think - we've all got at least one embarrassing plant in our collections, don't we? 

[Paul T]

Rogan,

LOL  It is bright, but then again most Hippies and Sprekelias ARE bright!!  That I think is a slightly different flower form to some of the crosses I have seen, but that makes sense as some I imagine inherit more of one parent than the other.  If it flowers as well as Sprekelia then it's got to be good. 

[Staale]

Like Rogan I would like to urge Susan to give us more information on R. lyallii. It looks lush and great. However, living in a rather demanding climate, if it is a NZ native, I doubt it will like the conditions around here (I can't even get the all-over-the-place NZ bronce carex to survive).  On a lighter note I do have both Iris forrestii and chrysographes. Seeing Lesleys lovely picture makes me plot a plan to place them closer together, to see if they volunteer any hybrids. Maybe even give them some help with a brush.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

Forgot to mention..... love that Iris.  And the Myosotis is stunning!!!!!!

[Paddy Tobin]

Rogan,

Another brilliant ranunculus - your R. baurii. The foliage seems to be the better part of the plant? The patterning reminds  me of that seen on some saxifrages, very attractive indeed.

Hippiastrum? Eye-piercing red, indeed. An irritant to the retina! But, such is the world of flower colours and fashion of colours comes and goes with us and it may be that shortly that particular red will be all the rage. Colour snobbery is a waste of our time.

Paddy

[ranunculus]

Wonderful to see people discussing Ranunculus....is the world finally coming to it's senses?

[SueG]

Lesley
loved the iris cross - will have a go at that next year and the Myosotis - (another) one to look out for
Sue