January 2013 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Lesley Cox]

The south is having dreadful heat these last few days. I'm so sorry about Tasmania's fires and the shocking losses of homes, workplaces and schools in the south east near Hobart with people retreating nearer and nearer to the sea and eventually having to be rescued by boat. Thankfully  it seems no-one was injured or worse. Hopefully this won't be one of the periodic really bad fire seasons for our Aussie friends but at present things look pretty dire with fires in many areas throughout the country.

We haven't had fires but Otago and Southland - the bottom of the country - had very high temps yesterday. I was working and being close to the harbour, the market had a coolish breeze until about 10am but Roger sent a text to say it was already 32C at 9am and before the day was finished, we registered 37C here at home, very hot for our part of the world. Much cooler today and in fact, a cold southerly blowing. I was surprised when I got home to find everything in good condition, having had a watering the night before, so no crisping as such days usually bring especially when accompanied by a nor'west wind.

I still have a few things coming into flower and the three below are a regular large-flowered Gladiolus form called 'Hint o' Mint' and a pure white Japanese Iris, name not known, but beautifully cool on a hot day. Another green is Euphorbia schillingii. One of my favourite species as it grows tall, to a good clump but though it makes seed - and I have some seedlings from sown seed - I've never found a self-sown one, unlike many others which Roger says I'm not to move when we do, such as mellifera and dulcis 'Chameleon.' Actually, the latter is already at 661 and seeding around.

[fermi de Sousa]

I like that Japanese Iris, Lesley, does it set seed?
While Melbourne cooled down to 25^oC yesterday we got up to 36^oC! Which seemed a relief after 40^oC on Friday.
The fires in Tassie seem so uncharacteristic for that cool little Island! I trust that the locals will display the same resilience that those around here did after the 2009 fires.
At the moment people are so much more "fire aware" around here - my workplace actually allowed people to take time off on Friday because of the conditions. I had to work as my "fire plan" is not to be at home if a fire breaks out! Our place is not defendable if a fire comes up the valley. It would be a case of grab the cats and a few valuables and head for the city!
Marcus,
you are too valuable to us to go around playing with snakes!
Otto,
just the one?
Pat,
let me know if I need to do a physio consult by e-mail to discuss foot and ankle exercises
Paul T,
hope you are coping with the heat even if there are a lot less politicians around at this time of year!
cheers
fermi
 

[Lesley Cox]

Thankfully Oz seems to be cooling off somewhat and so are we, the 23 we were promised for yesterday being just 19 and today's promised 19 reaching about 13 so far, with light, cold rain.

I really hope all the missing and unaccounted for people in Tasmania turn up safe and sound soon. When phones, cellphones, Internet etc go down, we are left stranded and it seems almost as if the world has come to an end!

Fermi I don't know about seed on the iris. It's the first flower. I did hand (and of course self) pollinate it but I don't have great hopes as the flower folded very quickly in Saturday's heat and is no more. Most of the modern forms tend to be sterile anyway but some must be fertile or otherwise where do the new ones come from? If by a remote chance there is seed, I'll send it along.

Now you can help me by telling me, is the pic below, an Eremophila by any chance and if so, which is it likely to be?

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Lesley,
it looks very much like Eremophila debile which I grow
cheers
fermi

[Hillview croconut]

Hi Everyone,

John's post conjured up some lovely thought pictures! The immediate danger seems to be slipping away here in Tasmania and its count the cost time now. Lots of shell-shocked people and a lot of sad, burnt out dreams to say farewell to.
 
Its a common misconception held by "mainlanders" that Tassie is some sort of icebox. Hobart has, when I last looked, more sunlight hours than Melbourne. It is on the same comparable latitude as Rome and is slightly cooler because it is stuck out in the Southern Ocean. Thats the problem! We suffer dreadfully from bushfires because we have more forest as a proportion of land mass than any other state and we are situated at a point where large pressure gradients occur and this tends to produce more episodes of massive winds. Thursday and Friday were the result of perfect storm conditions: a very large block of hot, dry high pressure over the mainland and an approaching cold front sweeping up from the Southern Ocean.

Tim, did you live in Tasmania for a while? What were you doing out there on Frenchmans Cap? Did you get to Mount Anne?

John K - Are you going to the Lily Show next week?

While we are on snakes: Thats not the closest call I've had. Whilst on a fishing expedition in my youth I had one fall onto my plate, while I was buttering the bread, from the ceiling of an old hut we were staying in. And on another youthful hunting trip I had one launch a strike at me and grab the cuff of my jeans after my stupid dog had trundled right over the top of him. I think I broke the high and long jump in the same stride - it did the trick - he came adrift. I have seen many snakes in Greece, in particular vipers in the Peleponnese and a beautiful, slender, greeny-grey snake with white markings arounf its mouth. Does anone know what this species is?

Enough retelling of campfire stories!

Cheers, Marcus



 

[Mini bulb lover]

Marcus (the snake charmer of the south),

I was watching the high temperatures in Tassie from here in Melbourne with great interest. I was shocked to see that sub-alpine Cradle Mountain was 32 degrees C on that hot day! Devonport seems to be a cooler area though. They only reached 25 degrees on the day (mind you that temp. is recorded at the airport which is right next to the water). I suppose northerly winds would be cooled traveling over Bass Strait before hitting Devonport on the mid north coast, then warm up again traveling over land down to Hobart and other areas.

[Tim Ingram]

Marcus - I was really lucky to work at the University for six months back in the early 1980's (with Profs. Jim Reid and Ian Murfet). I tried to take off as much time for bushwalking as I could, often with the Hobart Walking Club, which did a trip up Frenchman's Cap (and also a long wet and tiring one to the base of Federation Peak, which was shrouded in mist!). I went to Mt. Anne on my own and was quite chuffed to have got to the top (only beaten by Mt. Geryon in the Labyrinth). The most wonderful trip though was to the Western Arthurs and camping in a cave and watching the sun rise over the mountains the next morning. As you can tell, completely unforgetable memories - the sense of wilderness in parts of Tasmania just calls to you.

[John Kitt]

Hi Marcus,

Yes I'll be at the Lily show just to admire and to get some perspective on how much more I have to learn.

I invested in some of the Matisse varieties (see below) - red, yellow pink and cream - and in a statement of absolute defiance i planted them in the garden.
AND THEY DID VERY WELL! so I have learned a little more.  Yet to see them survive a cold wet winter. 

John

[John Kitt]

I should have said the "bottom" in the background was entirely accidental!!

J

[Hillview croconut]

So John, if i fail as a bulb grower I might have another possible string to my bow as a snake charmer ?

I wonder how many will exhibit at the show given the excruciatingly horrible weather? I won't be. Had a few lovely stems reduced to shrivelled rubbish in a matter of a few hours.

Tim, Mt Anne is a big effort on your own. It makes a lot of difference when one makes the journey there. On a mid-summer, sunny day a few of my friends have done it as a long day walk but I prefer to fiddle about and look at the flowers. Did you go when Geum talboltianum was in flower in the boulder fields adjacent to the acropolis? Also lots of Milligania densiflora along the plateau above Mt Eliza. And scads of Isophysis tasmanica on the mid-slopes of Mt Eliza along with Blandfordia punicea and Dracophyllum milliganii. Yes it is a very primordial sort of paradise - it feels almost like you are glimpsing the prehistoric beginings of nature. Is it similar to the Highlands of Scotland? Never been to the Labyrinth - is that up through Pine Valley - top end of Lake St Clair? People tell me its another fairyland.

Cheers, Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

Perhaps I should start practising by charming this monster? Killed by deer shooters last February and not one I personally would like to encounter!

Cheers, Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

In case anyone is wondering where Tim went - here is a nice picture (not mine) of Mt Anne Looking from the NE.

Cheers, Marcus

[Hillview croconut]

Oh, the cushion plants are (I think) Abrotanella forsteroides and the other steely leaved thing growing in its folds is Astelia alpina. The big woolly things in the background that look like Chewbacca out of Star Wars are Richea pandanifolia.

M

[Hillview croconut]

Just for the record: I can link this mountain to the Archibald Archive. It is from here that I collected the seed of Milligania densiflora that Jim listed on his 2004 catalogue and I think at a latter date, maybe 2006, seed of Geum talboltianum and Isophysis tasmanica

M

[Lesley Cox]

Fermi I think you are right re Eremophila debile. It looks exactly like it even down to the little spikes on the edges of the lower leaves. Mine hasn't flowered yet. I have no idea where it came from! But I have about a dozen.