September 2012 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Paul,

Without doubt they are the most serious nuisance I have to contend with. An hour of possums romping over beds of tulips or fritillarias can put paid to the whole crop for that season. I like seeing them, I love to know they are not in danger of extinction, just don't want to see them in my backyard.

After a long haul I am posting two firsts for me.

Paeonia clusii - collected as seed below the Kallergi refuge which is above the Omolos Plain, near the entrance to the Samaria Gorge in Crete.
Cyclamen rhodium - the true plant collected as seed around Profitis Ilias on Rhodos where it grows with Paeonia rhodia. I have had a few goes at this but all the seedlings have been hybrids. This plant is one of 3 resulting from a visit  when a few of the pods looked just looked fat enough.

Cheers, Marcus

[fermi de Sousa]

I think a bit of bee interference is a good thing sometimes. Are the offspring fertile?

Hi Marcus,
I haven't seen any self-sown Babiana seedlings around them but I have to admit I've not really looked hard.
That Peony is lovely and the cyclamen is exquisite.
And I'm told possum makes a nice stir-fry

Some more from our garden,
Narcissus 'Ken's Div 6'
Matador x2
double Campernelle
Kevin's Cross [not sure about what - Julia?]
Dovekie

cheers
fermi

[Paul T]

Marcus,

By coincidence I found the possum nest this afternoon.  They are sleeping in the base of a huge urn (Jardinierre?) I have in the fernery.  I took some pics as they look so cute, but now don't know what the heck to do.  I've checked and my huge Magnolia has 2 (count them....2!!) flowers on it this year.  Normally there'd be well more than a thousand I'd guess.  Now that I know they were living about 4 metres from the base of it I can understand why they've eaten all the flowers. 

Fermi,

I love the Dovekie.  Great shape to it.  Is it a bicolour?  I have a double campernelle flowering here as well, although it is a volunteer in my crocus garden, obviously a little bulb in the mix when I built it.  I'm not sure I still have it growing anywhere else, so I don't mind it having reappeared. 

[Stephen Vella]

Hi Marcus,

that Paeonia clusiana takes me back to 2001 when Mat Murray and I stumbled across a clump in full bloom at that same location you described. That day we wanted to hike down to the gorge but it was closed due to freezing temps in June?? Crete is a very special place.

Thanks for showing

Cheers
Stephen

[Susan]

Marcus,

Thank you for showing the P clusii.  Saw it in flower last year in the Samaria Gorge.  We were there a couple of days after the Gorge was opened for the season, and I only found one plant in flower.

Stephen,

A pity you missed out, it was a fascinating tramp.  Fortunately it was a perfect day. We were told if it had been raining we would not have been allowed to go. It was before the main tourist season so it was not too busy.

Susan

[Hillview croconut]

Marcus,

By coincidence I found the possum nest this afternoon.  They are sleeping in the base of a huge urn (Jardinierre?) I have in the fernery.  I took some pics as they look so cute, but now don't know what the heck to do. 

Paul, you need to check out Fermi's stir fry recipe! Honestly I would make it very unwelcoming for them. Rouse them with a broom handle and push them on their way otherwise you will have them for life.

Susan and Stephen,

Its such a treat to have a plant or two from a place one has visited - bit like receiving a postcard from there everytime it flowers. I have never seen it in flower because I am always too late nor have I seen many seedpods because the goats hammer them so much. That has now started to change now that the shepherds are using dog wire fences to control grazing. I have another treasure waiting in the wings - about 250 seedlings of Dracunculus vulgaris from the area where most have white or marbled spathes. Tony Avent took these fabulous pics from, I am guessing, the same site http://gallery.plantdelights.com/v/Crete/Dracunculus_vulgaris_many_flower_color_comparison_at_stop_28_2_61943.jpg.html

Cheers, Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

While I am still convalescing I may as well keep posting!

Few more pics from a very warm September start here in Tasmania. 21 degrees today with increasing wind as the next front approaches to bring it all back down. Blossom flying everywhere like confetti - will have to watch pricked out seedlings.

Two DBI - but what the Hell are they? Fermi is the first the said same Wanganui Gem?
Fritillaria bithynica - collected as seed on Mt Ambelos, Samos
Cyclamen rhodium ssp peleponnesiacum

Cheers, Marcus

[Susan]

Marcus,

There were a number that had just finished flowering but the seed pods were not developed.  We saw literally thousands of Dracunculus vulgare but only the  common, deep maroon ones.  Those white and marbled ones look wonderful.  Also saw Cyclamen creticum which was a thrill.

Susan

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Susan,

I think they have more of a chance in the Gorge than anywhere else. Apparently the type specimen was collected on Mt Idi and no-one has seen it there for years.

Dracunculus are very prevalent on Crete and HUGE! I couldn't keep the seed cobs in the car with me. I had to stow them in the boot and when the staff at my hotel saw me cleaning them they were appalled!

A few more pics for the day - weather is breaking up with fierce winds.

Fritillaria latakiensis
Fritillaria aff. kotschyana - Jim Archibald collection
Muscari longifolium - I believe this is treated as a ssp of botryoides
Fritillaria pyrenaicae - warm caramel colour

Cheers, Marcus

[fermi de Sousa]

Two DBI - but what the Hell are they? Fermi is the first the said same Wanganui Gem?

Hi Marcus,
the second is more likely to be 'Wanganui Gem'!
the first is a DBI hybrid, I think.
Here's a pic of WG in our garden this week - you had it in your catalogue a number of years ago as an unnamed purple DBI which we got - then found we'd already got it from a few other sources. Robyn Rohrlach sent it to me a few years ago with a bit of its history which is when I finally realised what it was!
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

Yeah, 'Wanganui Gem' raised by the late Jean Stephens in that city we must now learn to call Whanganui ( ) has plain colour on the falls and standards, not the darker patch in the centre. In modern terms it's not a good example of the db iris but is valuable because it is early and also remontant. A certain sentimental value for NZers too.

[Lesley Cox]

I hope your convalescence continues Marcus, it's good to have you posting and for us, to see your plants.

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Lesley,

I hope my unwellness doesn't continue for too long but I welcome your point .

Has New Zealand been hit with flu this winter?

So it appears, given yours and Fermi's opinion, neither of my offerings are Whanganui Gem (have we been getting the name of the plant wrong or the town?) . I never took too much notice of DBIs and didn't note sources or accompanying information. Should have because I have grown to like them a lot.

I am posting a picture of an iris reichenbachii that I would like to have flowering at my place now. It is growing at one of the Fritillaria drenovskyi sites on Mt Falakron. Marcus Ryan took the shot but neither of us could collect any viable seed. Oh well one day.

Also I am posting a picture of what I think is my best hellebore I have ever bred. This is an old picture but the plant is flowering now and is a pod sibling of the anemome-centred picotee I posted earlier.

Cheers, Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Folks,

Finally driven inside by an unrelentling steam train of a gale. Its days like this one wished they lived somewhere else!

Few more posts for September (what a waste spring is down here )

Fritillaria bucharica
Fritillaria stenanthera
Ranunculus ficaria Double Gold

Cheers, Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

God, my grammar is getting worse the more I post!!!