August 8, 2006

June 2006

Ah, flaming June! Just after rain, rain and more rain and low temperatures at the end of May, we are now into hot very sunny weather. Worse still, much of the soil has dried out at least on the surface and has set like concrete in many places. One is back into watering, many plants, even well established ones show considerable signs of stress during the middle of the day.

Maianthemum tatsienense	Mahonia x media 'Charity' ripe fruits	Sorbus randaiensis BSWJ3202 flowers	Fatsia polycarpa young leaves	Iris pseudacorus from Japan BSWJ5018
Maianthemum tatsienense - nice foliage, pity about the flowers. On the Asian Flora website, the flowers are larger and has purple streaks. Maybe this has been incorrectly identified. It does raise the question of whether it should have ever been brought into cultivation - it should have been left in the wild or represented in a Botanic Garden somewhere. Sorbus randaiensis BSWJ3202 - another interesting problem. I asked Bleddyn how this had been propagated, the answer was from seed from a plant growing at Crug. I suspect that Sorbus will cross-pollinate with any other Sorbus grown at Crug and there are plenty of them grown there. So what have I got here - I doubt whether this is 'pure' Sorbus randaiensis BSWJ3202. This is very irritating! So when you buy anything that one thinks is of wild origin, you need to ask whether this is been grown from wild collected seed or seed collected from the nursery and then think what you are buying. Tetrapanax papyrifera 'Empress' looks as though it is dying. Young growths started to develop two weeks ago, now these have collapsed and unless it beaks lower down the stem, it will die. What caused this? I suspect that it is not as hardy as some suggest! Better news for the Schefflera taiwaniana BSWJ7096, there are new leaves and the plant is is good condition. Sarcococca balansae is putting up new shoots from the base of the plant. This is a spectacular plant with very large leaves. It looks as though it is perfectly hardy in this garden The garden is now at this time of the year characterised by foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) and red campions (Melandrium dioicia) which self-seed. These are only removed when they compete with cultivated plants. Both Cornus kousa var. chinensis and Embothrium coccineum 'Lanceolatum' group have been amazing. They are now large shrubs or small trees depending on your definition of these. People passing even remark on their beauty. The white bracts of the Cornus are as yet unblemished as our weather has been sunny with little wind. The honey bees have worked both of these as well as the Neillia tibetica nearby. The Neillia has been particularly stunning, unfortunately only at its best for a few days. Towards of the end of the month, we have had several days of very high winds and rain. The wind has been particularly serious and several plants are now leaning to one side because of this.
Hibbertia scandens	Iris foetidissima	Schefflera taiwaniana new growth 2006	Jasminum parkeri	Zantedeschia aethiopica
Geranium aristatum	Rhododendron 'Martha Isaacson' 2006	Rhododendron 'Tortoiseshell Orange'	Digitalis purpurea	Silene dioica
Euphorbia cornigera	Nectaroscordum siculum	Tamus communis	Embothrium conccineum Lanceolatum Group fallen flowers	Cornus kousa and honey bee
'Gardening is the purest of human pleasures' - Frances Bacon.