A Summer visit to the Strathboggies.
A tufted Goodenia? sorry we have tried to find the name of this little plant that grows on Joy and George's farm, but we couldn't find any reference to it. It grows in a very damp depression in winter that fills with water and dries up in summer, it is also a very sunny area. The plants grow to about 10cm a very dainty tufted little plant, with grass like leaves.
Dipodium variegatum I thought these Orchids were all the same until you take the photos and look them up and they are all named differently. I apologise if they are not correctly named.
Dipodium roseum growing along the road side in light bush.
Dipodium punctatum all three orchids above were all in Dipodium punctatum, but have now been separated out with their own names. I do not think we saw Dipodium hamiltonianum but there was a very pale one, but my photo did not turn out very well so we may have come across it as well.
While we were sitting on the verandah pondering life with a cup tea and coffee, when in flies this beautiful praying mantis, who kept swivelling his head to watch me taking his photo. There were many flying around, at first I thought they were small birds until this one landed on the tea pot. You need to click on photo to see him properly.
In our Garden.
Marg's Calceolaria "Gold Crest" from AGS seed, from the Bunfight several years ago. The Calceolaria's need to be kept under surveillance all the time, as aphis get in the little rosettes and kill the plant very quickly. Of course they do not like it too hot either.
Campanula scheuchzeri from Czech seed 10/2014 along with the first Cyclamen hederifolium flower. This Campanula is starting to make a clump after the first few years, I thought it would die because it was so slow to do anything, it would die down, and I would think that was the end of that, but up it comes every year getting stronger each year. Of course with all of our regulations on seed imports now this seed seller will no longer send seed to Australia, so disappointing.
Erodium variabilis "Bishops Form" in the Crevice garden.
Moltkia petraea from AGS seed a lovely little shrub only reaching 20cm if that, very suitable for the rock garden. It needs good drainage and some shade during the day.
Polygonatum zanlanscianense an import from China. A very tall woodland plant easily a meter and a half tall, so needs some support from near by shrubs, and a cool moist position. A bit hard to provide in the weather we have been having.
A beautiful Primula mollis from Archibald seed does not mind our hot weather and has not turned a hair on 36-40deg celsius days, of which we have had many. It wilts a little when dry but after a good water, up it springs again, it has flowered well this year and set seed which I will send off to the seed exchanges.
Growing in China and Japan, John Richards in his book on "Primula" does not speak kindly of it, but he may have not seen it growing properly. But any Primula that will grow in our heat has got to be good, it was admired by a Japanese visitor recently who had not seen it before.
Very recently Jon reminded me of the International Rock Garden site on the Scottish Rock Garden Club page srgc.org.uk/logs/index.php/log=international . There is a wonderful article on a garden with 3 glass houses and the most wonderful plants that I have ever seen, growing in it. It is the January issue and the garden is in Peebles, Scotland. I know we all look at the Bulb log by Ian and Maggi Young but the International Rock Gardener E-magazine is excellent too.
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