What's looking good in September?

Good stuff Pete,beautiful........

 

Pete, do the Lithops live outdoors (and flower outdoors)?

 

Definitely not strongy, they need to be totally dry from about Nov to May, otherwise all sorts of things go wrong.
Some years its June before the old plant shrivelles down and the new one starts to emerge from the centre. They manage to survive on the smallest amount of water and in the hottest part of the greenhouse, there is no way the plants can scorch.

 

Oh, Pete, just saw your living stones ... I've always thought them ugly and never knew they flowered ... abosolutely beautiful!

 

Ah!!!! I now know why I killed the boys' living stones - I watered them!!!!! Ooooops!!!!! :rolleyes: Pete - those flowers are just stunning!!!!!

LOL - my sister went on a cycling/ walking holiday in the Algarve in May - she had a FAB time up in the mountains..... I can ask her for the routes she went on, if you want!!!! :D (only teasing....)

 

Although this Hedychium flavescens started flowering in August, it is geting to its best. The flowers are actually a pale creamy yellow, but my cam can't get the colour quite right. There are half a dozen more spikes to come, and another two just out of shot. The fragrance morning and evening is very sweet and carries into the house. Those flower heads are over 8" across BTW and this year the clump has grown taller than ever with some 'canes' well over 7ft tall.



Not to be outdone, Ipomoea indica carries on getting better and better. Several times this week I've tried to count the open flowers, but have given up after about 200. I can only photograph from this angle since the entire plant runs down to the lower half of the garden for about 15 feet alongside a narrow path. It has been trained and re-trained back along itself several times, so the full length must be in the region of 60 feet or so.

 

Dave P those are beautiful! Did you buy seed or plants?
I have been looking at Ipomoea indica and can't find seed, one place said propagated from cuttings which puzzled me as ordinary Ipomoeas seed so readily! Does it set seed or must I buy a plant?

 

Liz, the Hedychium is propagated by division - it can be grown from seed, but you wait for 3 or 4 years for flowers. Much easier to buy a plant. Ipomoea indica does not appear to set seed in cultivation and seeds are never offered. I strongly suspect that most of the plants available originated from a self sterile clone. It is a perennial species and develops quite an extensive, woody rootstock. It is marginally hardy in the south, but is so fast growing that a rooted cutting in spring can cover huge areas by late summer.

 

Hi folks!!
I was quite shocked to see one of my yukka's (grown from seed gathered in Tunisia in 1998)had left it this late to flower....first time it has flowered!!

 

the little girl, i raised from seed (gathered in my britches) in 2000!!!!
this is one of her sunflowers she has grown

 

Nice yucca steve looks a bit like my aloifolia and the sun flowers looking good too.

Dave P, do you find your ipomoea indica has two distinct kinds of growth? I always used to take my cuttings from twining growth, but last year I used the long basal stems that fan out and spread all over the place.
Consequently, this years plants are making masses of the long shoots that dont flower well, although there is still a good amount of twining growth with flowers.
As yours are virtually hardy, down there, I suppose its not a problem, but when grown in pots the plant spends a lot of energy on these non flowering stems.
Think I shall go back to using the twining growth for cuttings this year.

 

Yes it is Y. aloifolia in all of its glory. Fantastic plant, but treacherous if you allow it to stab you. They call it 'Spanish Bayonette' - small wonder.

Yes mine makes a lot of non-twining explorative stems and these invariably find the cosiest spots to overwinter. They also root exceptionally easily so I always take cuttings from these. However, I find that once potted up and cut back, they develop normally, producing rampant twining stems during summer.

I think the key is cutting them back by at least half in early spring. As you know, you don't need a massive plant to start. A 20cms. high stem with several breaks is all that is necessary for full cover and a mass of flower by late summer.

 

Ahem, I've been prompted to look at the ID of this again. I received it as flavescens and the individual flowers appear to correspond with it, so I've never questioned the name. However, a bit of extra research prompted by someone on another board asking whether it might be H. ellipticum has led me to discover it is in fact a hybrid. It is correctly H. coronarium x ellipticum with a tentative name of 'Corellii'. I've just cut a stem and brought it indoors - the fragrance throughout the house is almost overpowering.

 

Its OK Dave, we didn't notice here. :D
Nice to get the names right though.
I've had to wait till now for my gadnerianum to do its stuff, even though its growing in about the hottest spot in the garden.

 

Yes, there are still more spikes to come on my gardnerianums even though they started well over a month ago. I spent a few minutes transferring pollen from them to 'Corellii' and hope the next few days will be mild enough for the pollen to 'take'. I've got several of my own hybrids I'm working on and bringing that mixture into the equation could provide me with the range of plants I've been looking for.