Dahlia 'Star Sister'

Dahlia 'Star Sister'

This is one of the charming small growing dahlias which has been flowering its head off for weeks. It is not a flower for picking as the stems have no length but it would make an ideal container specimen which could be brought inside for special occasions. The only down side to it is that you have to go down to ground level to dead-head the spent flowers to ensure continuous blooming.

Ledebouria petiolata

Ledebouria petiolata syn. Drimiopsis maculata

(Hyacinthaceae)

The good folk at Larkman's Nursery in Victoria bought this to my attention recently as they market it as an 'African Hosta'. Unlike the Japanese Hosta this plant thrives in poor soil and with minimal water but it is equally loved by snails and slugs which generally spoil its appearance as soon as your back is turned. At this time of year it produces masses of short stemmed white flowers which resemble miniature Hyacinth but without the perfume. It grows from a series of fleshy bulbs which protrude slightly above the ground.These can be easily divided to form new clumps of plants. I am in two minds about this plant; one could consider it as a "novelty" item or as a serious contender for a difficult garden site of dry shade under trees where not much would grow and where it would be quite at home. Otherwise it makes a terrific pot plant which can be brought indoors when in flower or if you like things a bit dotty/spotty.

Hippeastrum papilio

Hippeastrum papilio (Amaryllidaceae)

Living up to its epiphytic origins ,think Brazilian rainforest growing on rocks or trees, this one has flowered this week in a tiny 4 inch pot with virtually no soil. The tricky thing about growing them in pots is in getting the soil mix right. They love perfect drainage and a light bark/orchid mix. Many of my plants succumb to root rot at the drop of a hat if they are in a largish pot. Snails and slugs adore the leaves and can strip the foliage overnight and as I don't get around to looking at the batch I have on a regular basis this is a common occurrence for me.

Imo: “Japanese Tubers”

 Sato-Imo, Japanese taro, Colocasia esculenta 

The small corms surrounding a central larger one are called Imonoko or child and grandchild. From September to November in Japan the harvest of various "Imo" is in full swing. It's an autumn thing. So why am I doing it now? because I put the task to the bottom of the 'to do list' and as a result many of the tubers or corms had rotted during the winter months. Though they can tolerate waterlogged soil they hate cold wet feet and stagnant conditions.

 

 Divided clump ready to be planted out.

Taro is not hugely popular in Australia, except in the Pacific Islander community, but in Japan various prefectures may grow different sorts with different shaped corms or textures in the cooked variety; with names such as Ishikawawase, the sticky Dodare to the elongated Kyo Imo.The link at the bottom of the page gives a photo description of the many types.

 The other sort I grow is Hasu-Imo or Zuiki which is harvested for the crisp stems .This is Colocasia gigantea.
Those brave enough to eat taro uncooked, as certain Japanese recipes attest, may well experience Egumi, a "mouth feel" consistent with having thousands of microscopic needles stuck into lips, mouth and throat due to the presence of oxalic acid in the raw stems ,leaves and tubers.
Bamboo shoots and Hange tubers (Pinellia ternata) pictured below, also give the sensation of Egumi due to the presence of homogenistic acid, a metabolite of tyrosine, and its 2-glucoside. Budding biochemists can read online the results of experiments by Hasegawa C., Y. Sakamoto and K. Ichihara from 1959  'On the relationship between homogenistic acid and the egumi taste of bamboo shoots and Hange' (Proceedings of the Japan Academy) Among the interesting findings were the observations that soil type and length of time before cooking may affect the presence of these chemicals. Does that apply to other vegetables we eat ? Sweetcorn picked and eaten straight away certainly makes its mark.

 'Hange', Pinellia ternata, in flower now

Imo: “Japanese Tubers”-The Varieties and Basic Knowledge | SHIZUOKA GOURMET

Allium 'Millenium'

 Allium nutans x senescens 'Millenium'

This onion family member (Alliaceae/Liliaceae) has been in flower for about six weeks with its lavender coloured spheres carried on strong stems emerging from a clump of strap shaped leaves which resemble garlic chives, though they are more glossy green than chives in appearance. I am anticipating it will have some 'down time' during the cooler months ahead with the foliage shriveling or turning yellow and needing a haircut at ground level. As this is a cool temperate climate bulb tolerant of snowy winters ,originating from Allium breeder Mark McDonough in the United States, it remains to be seen how it will perform in the coming year. I am hoping it may find a place as a flamboyant substitute for Tulbaghia, the 'society garlic', which has smaller flowers.
2017 update: I am currently sold out of this.

Hymenocallis littoralis

 Hymenocallis littoralis (Amaryllidaceae) 

 This is a fairly common bulb and is a very hardy plant for warm gardens from the tropics to temperate regions. It originates from Mexico and Guatemala and forms a clump of leaves to 90cm or more under favourable conditions. Mine are growing in poor dry stony soil which provides testament to its toughness.They receive the full blast of hot western sun in the afternoon. Ideally however they could be positioned under trees in semi shade or even in heavy boggy soil as they tolerate seasonal, ie summer, waterlogged soils as well as dry.

The flower has a lovely structure. The virginal white flat cupped shaped flower quivers in the slightest breeze while the extended scaffolding structure of stamens have nodding filaments on their tips. However it is the scimitar like outer petals which command the most attention as they change during the heat of the day to tentacles as on a jellyfish as they wilt.
Propagation is by division of established clumps. 

Zephyranthes drummondii

 Zephyranthes drummondii 

A bit of a 'lone star' in more ways than one. I have waited four years for this to flower, or maybe I have just missed it last time as the flowers are said to come out in the evening. One flower and one leaf...no wonder this is not a common plant in cultivation. However it must love it in south east Queensland as it appears on the 'Atlas of Living Australia' growing in a few locations as a 'garden escapee'. This bulb is native to Texas, New Mexico and Mexico and like others in its genus it is stimulated to flower after rain and not just by the occasional watering. The flower is strongly perfumed and I suspect that this is to attract moths which may be flitting about at night. It could be given a place in the garden beside a path or in a rockery with well drained average soil, and, preferably in a spot where it is not likely to be overtaken by neighbouring plants which may out-compete it for light. I suspect that it is slow to increase by division of bulbs for off-sets and that saving seed is an option for increasing this little gem.

 Zephyranthes drummondii | Atlas of Living Australia

Ranunculus asiaticus, Levant Buttercup

I have had this framed silver gelatin photo of Ranunculus for many years. Though I bought it here, it originated from Webster's Photo Gallery of Wellington, New Zealand which was established in 1910, and is still going strong apparently despite changes of ownership over the years. As for the date of this photo it is hard to say, regardless I like it as a reminder of this very, very briefly flowering spring tuberous rooted bulb. 
While the word buttercup is usually associated with water plants, this species originates from dry limestone hills of the eastern Mediterranean to North Africa. I imagine the true species is faced with a short hot spring like we have and has to get the business of being showy, attracting pollinators and setting seed over in a very short space of time.

I planted the shriveled claw shaped 'bulbs' facing downwards about 50 to 75mm deep in autumn and the soil was kept just moist and free of weeds. Some were planted in a large round ceramic pot and others meant for the garden in 10cm plastic maxi pots. Of course the ones in the 10cm pots never made it to the planting out stage, though needless to say both batches are peaking in flower at the moment and looking just fine. Like a lot of bulbs they are used to eking out a living in sometimes inhospitable ground and as long as they get a drink they will still flower well. Ranunculus foliage is lush and parsley like and very attractive, but once the first flower buds appear the leaves shrink back and take a back seat as the flower stems rise up to knee height and the display of brightly coloured flowers begins. The satiny lustrous petals with the central jet black boss in the red and pink varieties or the apple green centre in the golden yellow ones is very appealing. No wonder the variety names include artists such as Picasso and Rembrandt, and, because they have been popular garden flowers for such a longtime it is possible to look back 60 or more years to see the selections which were once sold in the nursery trade.
In the middle of the 20th century it was the "Claremont No 9" variety or 'Huntsman' red, 'Bonnie Lassie' pink, 'Golden Glory' yellow and 'Sunset'  'art tones'. While Leslie Brunning's Australian Home Gardener from 1950 gives the confusing information that there are separate varieties called Turban, French, Persian, Scotch and Asiaticum, mixing common names with species, though his inclusion of a Scotch variety may indicate that the true wild species was once grown. If you visit the online Scottish Rock Garden Club, members still refer to the different colours available in the wild type.  In the 1990's bulb books were suggesting planting the dark maroon and near black flowered Ranunculus with silver foliage plants for a very chic look and perhaps this was a reflection of the revival of interest in the work of garden designer Russell Page who famously mixed black and white tulips in his designs. 
These days it is the compact short stemmed types which make an appearance in Garden Centres at this time of year to be sold as instant  'potted colour'. However for very little effort it is worth planting the bulbs fresh each autumn for a wonderful display of pickable flowers.

Dark red Ranunculus

 Dark red Ranunculus asiaticus

Colette on Hyacinths

The brief spell of spring like weather last week sent my pots of hyacinths into a spin and out they came before really having time to develop a proper stem. 

As I am always interested in how garden plants are described in literature, I thought I would share a perspective on hyacinths held by the great French writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873-1954). In 1947/48 a Swiss publisher, Mermod, commissioned a small book, Pour un Herbier ,the writing of which was based on the weekly bunches of flowers sent to her by Mermod to her apartment at 9 Rue de Beaujolais , Palais-Royal in Paris. At this stage of her life Colette had become severely crippled by arthritis but by all accounts was still a bit of a "looker" with her frizzy reddish hair, alley-cat eyes rimmed with kohl and thin as wire lips painted a brazen hussy scarlet. Particular flowers jog her memory and she recalls hyacinths  in Parisian life during wartime Occupation when florists slyly offered a way to be seditious by selling potted bulbs 'from which there issued forth three gallantly chauvinistic flowers, one blue, one white and one red'. However the hyacinths she received in 1948 tell a different story. 'Today my gloomy privilege has fetched me a bouquet of white hyacinths. Their thick spikes, swollen with water, ooze where cut, like a snail, and bear little bells , heavy and opaque, as white as peppermint candy.' It seems that these 'fat, white, cultivated, well padded little city dwellers' were not really to her liking as they sparked an image for her of younger more mobile years when she was able to enjoy the wild type with their 'blue forest flourish, spontaneous and fragile, in numbers so great, to draw from it the illusion of standing on the edge of a lake'.

It is well documented that Colette received the 'gardening gene' from her beloved mother Sido, who was the subject of a memoir/novella published in 1929. The garden in the family home in the Burgundian village of Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye is described in terms like a French Impressionist painting: 'The warm garden nourished itself in a yellow light with trembling reds and violets, but I couldn't say if this red, this violet came from, if they still come from, a sentimental happiness or an optical dazzle'. It is a garden represented in shimmering heat and light, a dazzle of colour, children and cats playing, happiness (Sido has a 'garden face') rather than details of plants and design. 

a red Anemone

 Last year I planted red Anemone which flowered dutifully in spring. This year the saved and replanted tubers have returned early, flowering their heads off while the batch of new ones called 'misty blue' have still a while to go as they have just developed that parsley like foliage at ground level.
I photographed this red one using different camera settings but can see no discernible difference in the pictures.

Not china pink

Deep blue Hyacinth

How many of us buy seeds or bulbs which are labelled as a particular variety or colour, only to find out later at flowering time they are the complete opposite. These Hyacinth were labelled as "China Pink" and are the first of the season to flower. Not that I should complain as this deep blue is quite a rich colour and there is even a bit of ultraviolet in the mix on some petals.

Haemanthus albiflos - Paintbrush Lily

Paintbrush Lily flower with mini rose 'Orange Honey'

Don't look too closely to this photo as there are aphids crawling around both flowers. They came with the rose of course as it has not been cold enough to kill them off.

What I like about the paintbrush lily flower is the tulip shaped green calyx which holds the mass of white brush like stamens. The leaves of the plant are an attractive feature as well as they look like furry dark green tongues from which the the flower stem emerges.

 This bulb is often accompanied with the words "thrives on neglect' and is also included with cacti and succulents as it has the South African background to tie it in with that group of plants. The wikipedia link below gives more information as to its growing conditions etc.

This post is more about getting the information out there that I have plants of it for sale.

It remains a fairly non commercial plant however and is marketed more as a "curiosity" or a collectable plant, making an interesting addition to groups of plants for low light indoors or shady balconies. It will take some sun but the leaves may burn in strong sun. My trays of it are grown in small pots so it doesn't mind being cramped  and they are kept under a bench.

Haemanthus albiflos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jonquils

It's Jonquil time of year

If you drive through the 'Garden Shire' of Sydney at any time of the year you will find enterprising vendors selling cut flowers at their front gates by the old honesty box system of selecting your bunch from the ones on display and putting money in a tin. I wonder for how much longer, as the old farmlets and acreage properties are carved up, giving way to housing estates and new developments.  A "flowers for sale" sign which caught my eye yesterday was one which offered "Johnquills" for sale. So it made me think of the word "Johnquill" as being a good clue in a botanical crossword or as an alias for the great 17th century botanist / horticulturist John Parkinson who probably wrote his books using a quill pen, and, who introduced the jonquil/narcissus/daffodil into England, brought back to his garden by plant hunter, one William Boels, who found them during a trip to the Iberian Peninsular in search of new plant treasures.

 

An illustration of a double jonquil from Parkinson's Paradisi in Sole from 1656

John Parkinson (1567-1659)

Portrait from 1640 from his book Theatrum Botanicum

What is interesting about the life of "Park-in-Sun", his pun not mine, is that he managed to garden, work as an apothecary/herbalist ,write popular books which have had many reprints, even as recently as 1976, yet retain his faith as a Roman Catholic at a time when it was dangerous to do so. He dedicated his book Paradisi in Sole (first edition 1629) to his gardening friend Henrietta Maria of France who was Queen Consort to King Charles 1, while reminding his readers that the botanical world was really an expression of "Divine Creation" through this poem in the introduction:

Qui vent parangonner l'artifice a nature

Et nos pares a l'Eden indiscret il mesure.

Le pas de l'Elephant parle pas du ciron,

et de l'Aiglele vol parcil du mouscheron.

Australian artist Fiona Hall gives her contemporary spin on the fascinating Parkinson Jonquil story in this video.

Zantedeschia x elliottiana, Calla Lily

 I am beginning to get a bit cautious about putting a cultivar name to a particular bulb or seed which comes labelled as one thing but looks remarkably like something else when it comes into flower. This Calla lily is called 'Hot Chocolate' which is supposed to be a dark burgundy colour but these flowers look very much like another called 'Pot Black'. I need a Kiwi Calla grower to give me a correct ID as New Zealand is the country of origin of many of these wonderfully coloured summer flowering hybrids. The Zantedeschia  species are native to South Africa, so, like a lot of their flowering bulbs, they need a dry dormant 'downtime' such as over winter in this case.  If grown where winters tend to be wet and cold the bulbs can rot unless you have well drained sandy soil. I grow them in pots and at every stage of growth they look remarkable. The newly emerging leaves are pointed spears ,spotted white and edged with black eye liner. As the leaves mature the stems turn red like rhubarb (pictured below) and look terrific when placed in a clear glass vase with either the Calla flowers or those of a different type. If growing Callas in pots, regular applications of liquid fertilizer encourages the production of more flowers with stronger stems. Bulbs are usually available during winter for spring planting.