September 2012 in the Southern Hemisphere

[fleurbleue]

So nice Epigaea asiatica Lesley ! How do you grow it ? It seems so delicate...

[Lesley Cox]

Yes we're further south Marcus but with very similar climate it seems to me and not so winter cold or summer not as Paul in Canberra.

Nicole I grow the Epigaea outside but in a pot fortunately as it will be on the move in a few months. I first had it from SRGC seed maybe 10 years ago and since then have raised a couple of batches of seed from mine. It seems easy enough in a well drained, leafy/humusy compost with grit and always moist. I'll hand pollinate the flowers above and any others, and if there's some seed this coming summer, I'll send some along. The seed is very fine but germinates well over grit.

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Fermi,

I like these babiana. Used to grow B. pygmaea from Gordon Julian but don't have it now unfortunately. Did you grow these from seed?

Cheers, Marcus


PS Started at 3 degrees at 6am and getting to a max of 19 degrees - a little bit too warm - if one could dare say that!

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Fermi,

I like these babiana. Used to grow B. pygmaea from Gordon Julian but don't have it now unfortunately. Did you grow these from seed?

Hi Marcus,
unfortunately our bees don't seem to discriminate between B. pygmaea and B. odorata, hence the "bee hybrids"! I never even realised that they flowered at the same time till I found that all the seedlings were hybrids!
cheers
fermi

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Folks,

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

I know my next post isn't exactly as one would expect but it is a representation of a lovely plant that's blooming now. I have already posted a picture of Iris Sindpers but here is a couple of pictures of my partner Suzie Jarick's take on this lovely plant. Has it disappeared from SRGC forumists collections?

Cheers, Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

Oops . I'll try again!

M

[Paul T]

I still have it, Marcus.  From you originally.  No flowers this year though as we had such a cool summer I think.

[Hillview croconut]

Hi again,

A few more for today.

Iris aucheri ex Snow White GBG
A scappy picture of Cyclamen repandum
Ditto Cyclamen persicum roseum

Cheers, Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Folks,

You might, if you look closely, see toe nail punctures on the leaves of both cyclamen. These are the marks of b ..... Brush Tail Possums. These creatures are in plague proportions in the suburbs (I think there are more in the towns than the're in the bush) and they have a propensity to get in way of EVERYTHING horticultural. They are not just a menace, they are a serious pest in the nursery, not for what they eat but how much they can reak havoc.

Now I've got that off my chest I'll get back to the much more interesting subject of plants. Does any of the other southern forumists grow some of the forms of I. aucheri that have been offered by Gotenborg?

Cheers, Marcus

[Lesley Cox]

Brush Tail possums Marcus? Oh really? Seems you are having a New Zealand moment.   But no, my sympathies are firmly with you. B....y things!

[Paul T]

I have a 40 foot high Magnolia soulangeana in the back yard, largest one I've pretty much ever seen..... usually a mass of flowers but thanks to a couple of possums there are barely any buds left.  Never had anything like the stripping they've done this year.... it's heartbreaking.  And of course they run over things and turn over pots etc, as Marcus has already mentioned.  I'd shoot them if we were allowed to (and I had a gun). 

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Lesley,

It seems your first settlers deemed New Zealand "Terra Nullius" as far a wildlife goes - we of course over the ditch only applied it to people .

I know you had very active Acclimatisation Societies that were hellbent on filling the place up with exotics (mostly to hunt) but why oh why did some bright spark consider Brush Tail Possums a good thing to introduce (especially when there was no effective predator)?

I recently trapped a beautiful creamy golden coloured one and rang the local wildlife park to see if they wanted it. Nah, didn't want it but they offered to kill it for me. Even though I hate the damn things with a passion I couldn't bear to have this one not be given a fighting chance. So I promptly put the phone down and called another who, thankfully, did wan't it. It is illegal to relocate possums from one's own garden or nursery in Tasmania - something about territorial displacement leading to stress and death. Maybe there's something in it but I don't seem to have any problem attracting more tenants than I want.

Cheers, Marcus

[Paul T]

Marcus,

I think the creamy golden version is the "albino" expression of them isn't it?  I too would have problems disposing of something that was rare like that.  I'm so glad that it has been taken in by a wildlife park so that others can see it as it is so unusual.

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Paul,

Yes I thought that but its not the case. True albinos lack any melanin and therefore their eyes are pink or red. The GBT has brown eyes. Its a rare genetic mutation found only in Tasmania. I did see a photo once, I think published by the late Michael Sharland, who was the writer on natural history here in Tasmania, of a pair of albino brush tails. The guy who came to collect my beast showed me a picture on his Iphone of an albino ringtail possum that someone had snapped on the NW coast of Tasmania. The ringtails are no problem though. They come and eat the gum blossom now in the spring and early summer but never seem to touch the ground. I have seen them walking upright along my telephone wires!

Cheers, Marcus

[Paul T]

Marcus,

Neighbours at one point commented that they had 5 Brushies looking down at them in the evening from the phone line, waiting for them to go inside so they could leap to the house etc.  Despite being so much larger than the ring tails, they have no problem walking upright onwires either.... unfortunately.