White April

A mix of plants for April all on a white theme. First a Cyclamen that turned up in the plunge - I suspect it's Cyclamen x meiklei (C. repandum x creticum) which vaires from white through pink to dark pink, mimicking anything from C. repandum to C.rhodium to something that looks like C.creticum.

Then Fritillaria purdyi from seed, it took 9 years to flower!

Leucoryne ixiodies, this came as var alba but I think it's naturally white. Smells wonderfull!

Lewisia tweedyii alba from AGS seed.

A couple of Frits

Two for today, F. kurdica (from Iran) and F. hermonis.

Primula allionii

There is usually a some point in the year, usually when I'm pulling dead bits out of a plant, that I wonder if it's all worth it. Then spring comes and I realise, yes, they are worth the trouble.

Primula allionii - one of Brian Burrow's seedlings

Primula allionii Lacewing

Primula allionii Marion

Primula allionii hybrid - I grew this myself as a seedling from P. allionii Mary Berry but I don't think it's pure allionii

for help with ID

Stealing Photos

I shouldn't really have to say this but lifting pictures from my blog, using them for commercial purposes and slapping your own copyright on it isn't really cricket.

Those that do so and refuse to make amends will be named and shamed here. Plus I'll take other action.

Sad really, I like to share my pictures, many are now on wikipedia but I can't abide this kind of dishonesty.

And when you think about it - if you are selling seeds or plants - how come you can't take your own pictures?

Cyclamen leaves Part 2 - Graecum

Cyclamen graecum is famous for having some of the best leaf forms of all Cyclamen. Here are just a few;

First two are Cyclamen graecum graecum - grown from seed collected by Melvyn Jope. 

The third one is just graecum with no further information.

The fourth one is supposed to be C. graecum anatolicum and you can see it's much smaller than the others.

The fifth silver/pewter one is "Rhodope" named after a location in Crete.

The final one is supposed to be the Monte Smith form from Rhodes (anatolicum), again it's tiny.

Cyclamen leaves - Part 1 - Persicum

Just a few examples showing the range of different leaf forms on C.persicum.

Cyclamen intaminatum

Here are some Cyclamen intaminatum. The "pinkish" one turned up I think in the greenhouse sand plunge and was always a mystery because apart from the fairly reliable plain leaves white one the only other plants I had were tiny patterend leaved white ones that never did much - so where this vigourous pinking, pattern leaved one came from I didn't know. Curiously this year I found it had produced a seedling, again in the plunge.

The white ones are the "common" unpatterned leaf form. I put some seedlings out in a trough which has a 39 yo Daphne arbuscula in it.

x Rhodoxis correction

I'm indebited to Jaap Duijs for the correction to this post

http://inspiringplants.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/rhodohypoxis-tangles.html

"In 2011 this x Rhodoxis was named 'Sonja'.
When plants are sold for several years it causes confusion if someone starts to sell plants with fancy new names.
Agefotostock has made pictures of plants of mine and is selling these pictures without my permission.  These pictures are sold to nurseries with fancy names given by Walterblom who is propagating several x Rhodoxis without my permission.

name of x Rhodoxis                                                 fancy name

Hebron Farm Red Eye                                       Summer Stars Peppermint
Aya San                                                                  ,,               Candy
Bloodstone                                                             ,,               Ruby
Jenny  (Otterlo 888)                                               ,,               Pink Blush  or Ruby
Sonja  (Otterlo 860)                                               ,,               Pinkey  

Kind Regards,
                       Jaap Duijs."

A couple of dubious Cyclamen

Over the decades I've grown a number of Cyclamen from various seed sources and inevitably some aren't what they are supposed to be. Some are easy to spot. The pink C. purpurascens that was supposed to be purpurascens album, a hederifolium appearing within a pot of C. cyprium seedlings. Others are a bit harder to tell. Suspicious looking C. rhodense, C.creticum that are probably purer white forms of C. balearicum and so on.

The two above are examples of the ones that are harder to prove. The first is supposed to be Cyclamen africanum album. Never heard of a pure white one before - but it came with a name of someone that would in theory know. The other is supposed to be Cyclamen africanum x hederifolium. Given C.africanum is harder in some forms to tell from some forms of hederifolium how do you know when it's the hybrid?

Anyway, I keep them on in the greenhouse as curiousities.

Rhodohypoxis tangles

Rhodohypoxis Fred Broome of cultivation

Rhodohypoxis Pictus?

x Rhodoxis Summer Stars Pinky Sonja

My Rhodohypoxis collection is in a bit of a tangle for several reasons. For one I seem to have mixed up the labels and can't remember what I originally purchased years ago, and because stocks are often a bit mixed up in the first place.

The first one, Fred Broome is an old cultivar but was described then as being deep pick - what we grow now is more icing sugar pink with broad petals. Whatever the proper name is it's a pretty plant and seems to do well for most people.

The middle plant I had labelled as "Shell Pink" which it definately isn't. Looking at pictures it looks more like "Pictus" which I vaguely remember getting many years back.

The final plant is a hybrid between Rhodohypoxis and Hypoxis which gives a different flower form. I picked this one up at a show and it looks rather fine.

Ramonda myconi

This is the other species of Ramonda I grow, Ramonda myconi. This one is fairly pale, others are much darker and the there are white and pink forms too. I happen to have kept this one in the greenhouse - mainly because I bought a batch of various forms and when the first ones flowered and were clearly not to name I decided to keep the remainder back before planting out. It seems quite happy in the greenhouse and for now that's where it will stay.

Daphne x burkwoodii

Something from the garden this week, Daphne x burkwoodii. It's taken a while to get going and so far it's a fairly open shrub, but on the upside it lets the (Spanish?) bluebells through!

Oxalis enneaphylla x laciniata hybrid

Many years ago I bought a number of South American "alpine" Oxalis, O. enneaphylla, O. patogonica, O. laciniata and a number of hybrids between the two. 

Unfortunately they did poorly in the greenhouse and so I planted them out in various troughs, moved them around but never a flower and they dwindled over the years. This year I've just dug them up (totally the wrong time of year as they are in growth) and potted them in a last ditch attempt.

All have done poorly save one. It was labelled "superstar". It's not and it does not look the same as my reference picture - but I remember sowing seed from "Superstar". For probably five or more years it's lived ignored on the greenhouse floor and flowered really well. This year I repotted it and although it only has a few flowers it does look rather nice.

Of course I will now lose it proving conclusively that Oxalis need to be grown in a dark corner and watered just when you remember it.

Cyclamen balearicum

Above a rather nice form of Cyclamen balearicum. Still young corms but they look promising. This one has the blue green leaves and silver washing that was the typical form in the trade decades ago. I tend to keep these under the greenhouse benching as the sun causes the leaves to roll up. It has a wonderful fragrance!

I only grow one Rhodendron (Rhododendron cephalanthum var crebreflorum)

Only about 6 inches tall, I took a bit of a gamble on trying this as it's supposed to not be so easy in the south of England but so far it's done really well and unlike the plant I had many years ago that I kept in a frame it flowers really well.

Cyclamen rhodium ssp. peloponnesiacum

Top, Cyclamen rhodium ssp. peloponnesiacum in the greenhouse.

Middle, a plant I tried out in the garden. It's been there for several years now and survived which was a bit of a surprise.

Bottom,  the appropriately named "vividum".

Cyclamen pseudo-ibericum

Cyclamen pseudo-ibericum is deservedly popular plant - mainly grown in Alpine houses in the UK though it might be ok outside.

It's also variable and I wanted to show on this post just how variable it is. The first one is probably the one we most often see.

it's Tecophilaea time!

Above the three classic forms of Tecophilaea, the first the type plant T.cyanocrocus, middle var Leichtlinii and finally var Violacea. I had to do a colour adjustment on the latter because my camera shows it alot bluer than it actually is. Still not got it quite right I think.

I've built these up over 20 years from single bulbs and their flowering is a brief highpoint in the greenhouse. Obviously I've managed to increase them but so far despite seting a far amount of seed I've failed to get any raised from seed.