A Sense of Place

It's been a miserably cold winter, and any sign of the survival of plant life is welcome, but I was amazed to see just how well this little colony of Sempervivums had survived. In fact they looked pretty damn good. A granite alpine trough containing a little golden Chamaecyparis, Sempervivums, Sedums and other perennials. Three different varieties of Sempervivums emerge from the snow  in excellent condition. 

There is a fine line between the enjoyment of observing the plants that we love and rabid Plant Lust . You know how it is, we see a picture of a plant and just have to have it; perhaps it's new to us or it has been a nagging yearning spread out over many years. This was the case for me, I've wanted to grow ( well really, more honestly, wanted to have) Narcissus cyclameus for many years, it is the lovely parent of the cyclamaneus hybrids that many of us grow and love. The obliquitous  N. 'Tete a Tete' as well as 'Jetfire and 'February Silver' all have the reflexed perianth of their N. cyclameneus parent. Although these hybrids are readily available in nurseries,  it has taken me years, here in Canada, to source their lovely parent; finally last Spring I found some bulbs for sale at Beaver Creek Nursery in B.C. and over the last few days, the first flower has opened and several more are on their way. Narcissus cyclameneus * There is a site called Plan...

When I was in Montreal over  Christmas, I saw this wonderful art installation near Place des Arts. It was a dull afternoon so these pictures give only a hint of the effect it has at night. It is made up of hundreds of reflectors which at times pick up the coloured lights surrounding the site. Suddenly they picked up the red light and turn into a field of poppies.

Inspired by Helen Battersby's recent post in Toronto Gardens  I thought I would answer her question "Are their any things you love and hate in your garden". In my case it's snails, I've always loved them, in particular the lovely ones with striped shells; they used to be quite rare in my garden so I always turned a blind eye to them when I came across them. More recently the population has exploded and has taken a toll on many plants turning them into delicate lace.  Now I won't hesitate crush them under foot. A cast metal snail found in Bankok slides across one of my alpine troughs. I have a number of chinese copies of japanese Netsuke... quite a few of these are in the shape of snails. The real thing seen here sliding across the glass in my front door.

We are in the latter part of October when the temperature is starting to drop and the days starting to shorten, but still plant life continues to thrive. Here are some of the plants that are now in bloom in the garden and greenhouse. Crocus speciosus. Haemanthus albiflos. Cyclamen hederifolium. Nerine humilis Pelargonium 'Mini karmine' Geranium wallichianum. Saxifragia fortunii Pink Form. Anemonehupehensis v. japonica Erodium 'Natascha'.

I had only seen these flamboyant members of the Iridaceae family in photographs, so it was exciting to see them in their own habitat on my visit to South Africa this September. They grow in arid parts of the Western Cape and brought out of dormancy by late winter rains. Mostly I saw F. crispa which seem to have endless variation in colour and pattern in the flowers. For more information about Ferraria see http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Ferraria Long shot of Ferraria crispa showing foliage and flowers. Stripes and dots are common on the flowers. Colours vary from mostly dark brown to... mostly yellow.

I am showing some pictures of the colony of Pelargonium triste I mentioned in my earlier post. I was unsure if this would interest anyone other than myself, but here goes. A long shot of the colony and six variations of the flower. A large colony of Pelargonium triste at the Darling Wild Flower Reserve.