I know it's not official, but smell the air, it's Spring..
Here is my Magnolia soulangiana.....
It's always reliable and the flowers can be enormous at times..
It always reminds me of the Hall of Horticulture at the Melbourne Royal show.
August...the start of Spring....
We came from July.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1194065/
It certainly feels like spring here, at least during the day: around 25 degree maximums for the next week! The mulberry tree is bursting into bud too. Frost is still a possibility until 1 Sept, the latest date for frost remembered here. (And apparently it gave everyone a shock.) Still, I wonder if August--the 2nd half certainly--shouldn't be considered the start of spring here ...
Here's a Buddleja Spring Promise cutting in flower already. It flowers in the first year of being struck, so anyone who managed to strike cuttings from those I posted out should also have flowers. I now have it growing on both the east and west sides of the back garden, so that heavenly freesia fragrance wafts from one side of the garden to the other. There's no other buddeja that comes close to this one so far as perfume is concerned.
This message was edited Aug 2, 2011 2:45 PM
That single bloom on my B. madagascariensis cutting is taking forever to colour up. Shame about the cat pee smell ...
I am reposting your link, cestrum.....it just cost me $15....lol......thanks for the link though.
http://summerhillseeds.com/
That Spring Promise does smell lovely....doesn't it.
I bought 3 pkts of the Bella Abutilons...yellow, pink and I did like the apricot......even though I have that colour...
Jean, I wasn't game enough to look any further...it's very easy to get carried away on a day like this.
Here is Anthony's Aussie Green and Gold......
It seems to have a lot of petals this year....you can hardly see the green...
I didn't mean to spend your money for you, Dianne LOL
I've got some seedlings of the Bella series that I hope will grow large enough to flower in summer, although they're tiny now. I should have some leftover seeds in my container of seeds, but they're mixed seeds. I posted that link only because I knew you wanted the yellow one in particular--didn't realise you were going to buy all those colours! Well, we can compare the progress of our seedlings.
I must admit, I too am guilty. I just couldnt resist the little dears. I bought the vanilla, yellow and the mixed.
I had to stop looking or I would have bought more. Maybe later.
You know those are going for twice the price on the US eBay .
Lovely daff , Dianne.
Cestrum that white buddlea is so pretty. Mine are just getting going after a savage prune. My large white has to be cut to about 2 foot high or I would never see the flower , it grows so tall.
The yellow is looking really scraggy at the moment but I may give it a prune this year. Bring the top down out of the willow tree.
I planted a new small one this year. forget what color. I must look at the label again.
I am still waiting on my orchids to open. A bit of sun would help.
Jean.
How funny is that....
Jean, you won't regret it...they really are lovely little plants...and between us we will have all the colours.
Then we can encourage cestrum to cross them and make us some new colours...lol
My Cantua is nearly out so I will post a pic when it is....
Well, I hope mine are Bella seeds because the first batch sent to me weren't ... these might turn out to be 3m giants!
Jean is probably best placed to produce the most interesting crosses because she has many different abutilon species, and most of them should flower in the growing season. But perhaps my bees are more productive :-)
I heard a large hint for me to get out and play mummys & daddys in spring. lol
But you have to put on your black-and-gold furry outfit first, Jean :-)
Ah, just found the envelope for my abutilon seeds and it turns out that the dozen or so seedlings I've got going are simply generic abutilon seeds, 'growing to 1 metre'! I did sow Bella seeds too, but only 1 tiny seedling germinated from 15 seeds--a terrible germination rate that makes me suspect the seeds weren't fresh ...
As mentioned before I found the short ones beautiful but very touchy and they dropped dead in the Winter (that was a very cold Winter though) My ordinary ones are about 12 to 15 ft tall right now because they missed their Spring prune this year. I found they grow roots in water accidentally when some sprouted roots in a vase of flowers. The tall V.one I got from my sister in law also died in the really cold Winter, but it was quite old maybe they don't live forever. They are more intense in colour in cooler weather like many blooms.
Here is my favourite Camelia (hubby murdered my other beautiful ones ) luckily this one was not in the way of his new shed.
This is the size of a bread and butter plate and looks lit up from within ...of course the picture does not do it justice.
This message was edited Aug 2, 2011 5:47 PM
I had a good giggle then Cestrum, Imagine me in a furry black & gold outfit flitting from flower to flower, pockets full of pollen down my legs. this is not a size 10 person here. More like a size 16-18.
The mind boggles.
I think the flowers would run for their little lives.
Then again I may get fancied by a European Wasp.
Jean ❀ ✿❀ ✿❀ ✿❀ ✿
❀ ✿❀ ✿❀ ✿❀ ✿ I didn't want to say anything but I imagined Jean running around like fairy sparkles with an artist's brush instead of a wand.❀ ✿❀ ✿❀ ✿❀ ✿
Edited to put link in for Fairy Sparkle
http://www.fairysparkle.com/
This message was edited Aug 2, 2011 6:14 PM
Don't forget the buzzing--you have to buzz as you approach the plants.
Then there's the little dance afterwards ...
Chrissy, you are the one for the fairy dance. I see you flitting here and there with your wand.
I do use an artist brush when pollinating but I think the dancing is best left to the bees.
If I am going to have flowers to pollinate this year ( aside from BB & GHA) I am going to have to watch the real bees as we have so many here.
As well as heaps of honey bees, we have millions of small native bees. They would fit very nicely inside the flowers.
I will have to check on flowers early and tie the bottoms up.
Jean.
Remember those superb abutilons being bred by a US nursery (Monterey Bay Nursery): http://montereybaynursery.com/plants.php?alpha=A
Here's just one example from the many they have:
http://www.clivia.com/A/abutilon_meg_victory1.jpg
Should be enough to spur us all on to putting on our furry suits and doing a little pollination dance :-)
Cestrum this is a pic of one I have in the garden. It has been surrounded by the geranium maderense but is still putting out flowers. The other similar type in the inside garden has yellow petals under the red calyx..
I must go out and check it because it too is surrounded by other plants. Hubby bought it for me but this one is cutting grown from Hamilton Gardens.
Jean
That's very pretty, Jean; the other plants must provide a very pretty groundcover around it.
Not sure exactly what flowers mine have as only two have flowered as yet; fingers crossed they all flower over spring/summer.
Cestrum, the abutilons seem to flower sporadically all year here. I do get lots more flowers in spring but there seem to be some flowers on the bushes most of the year.
Went out to get this pic of the other narrow abutilon
Jean
While I was out there, fought my way in to get a few of the other abutilons. .
I love this one and so do the little honey eaters. It is growing next to the lounge window , so I can see them as they flit around doing their acrobatics to get at the flowers.
The dark orange. I also have a lighter orange somewhere in the jungle.
This one is mostly a cream with pinkish edges but there are a few mostly cream on the plant at times.
I also have a white and a few lighter pinks. I really should get some growing out in the open where they can be seen .
Originally the cottage garden was going to have the abutilons along the back with smaller cottagy plants in front.
Plans dont always work do they ?
Jean.
Both are lovely, Jean.
I think the first one is Vesuvius: see http://www.kartuz.com/pc/50041/7RFPA/Abutilon+megapotamicum+Vesuvius.html
Problem is, other websites list it as Abutilon x hybridum (i.e. not A. megapotamicum): http://pss.uvm.edu/pss123/tpabut.htm
And some websites show the yellow form as Vesuvius too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/metadatician/2708178543/
That second website is an educational one that is part of a course, so I guess it carries the most weight.
Dianne, you will love this one. I found it in the cottage garden . A nice surprise. A closer look and it is like one double growing in another double. Very pretty.
Jean.
All the larger abutilons came from cuttings from a dear old lady who loved her plants. Sadly she passed on and her garden is totally gone so I am lucky to have these. Her original plants were quite large and a lot better cared for than mine. Probably over 15 years old or more.
That's the way a lot of older-style plants are saved, Jean: by people (often passers-by) who take cuttings before the garden is demolished to make way for a new development.
Cestrum, the first one of mine is more orange veined with red and the second is yellow veined finely with red , so not like those in the link
Yes, I am a compulsive nipper of bits everywhere. . My correas I have are gone from where I got the bits, all the abutilons are gone from both places where I also got those bits. Lots of plants are now gone so I guess we plant nippers do a good job in saving things. My white brug is one of those saved too as I am sure the parent would have died by now.
Hubby walks ahead of me in any public gardens as he knows I am going to find something to go in my pocket.
He blames my larcenous ancestors for my habit.
Jean.
I think that abutilons might have the same ID problems as brugs! They hybridise readily and I suspect that those with a similar appearance might end up being called 'Vesuvius' ...
I am not a nipper, I go armed with a tiny pair of secateurs, they fit into my pocket....especially in public gardens or the Zoo....mind you the last bits were B.Knightii last year and the Sanguinea a couple of months ago....I thought that I was retired, from that sort of thing, so I blame all of you Brug nuts for encouraging me to a life of crime...lol
Two of my Vireyas are in flower at the moment...this pink one, looks like a bonsai, it is so gnarled in the trunk....
Dianne, you are a nipper, just an upmarket one with tools . LOL....
A premeditated nipper, perhaps?
Better remember to take those secateurs out of your pocket before getting on a plane!!
This message was edited Aug 3, 2011 5:04 PM
Opportunistic, rather than premeditated......lol
Definitely premeditated , Cestrum. She went out with the secateurs in her pocket with intent to nip. lol
That's not nice, Jean.........just because I always carry them in the car....lol
Tell you a secret , Dianne. I have some in the car boot too, plus gloves.
You never know what you may come across.
Jean.
I don't use the car; I have the dog!
We've taken some *long* walks together :-)