The Autumnal Garden

6 Dec '06 3:08 pm

Oh Liza, you are making me blush with all your sweet comments about my garden. Our temperature last night was down to 25 degrees F (sadly I don't know how that translates to C, but believe me it is pretty cold). I have one hummingbird feeder still up because I have a lone overwintering hummingbird (pretty rare in these parts) and this morning it was frozen solid. I had to bring it inside and thaw it by running warm tapwater over it.

My spouse and I have been busily building more gray fencing however. I will have to post a picture after we get the last panel in place next to the vegetable garden. It will tie into the covered gate we built in July.

Take cheer, Liza, because, no matter what our climate, spring will come again before we know it.

Faith

7 Dec '06 5:53 am

...that it seems I neglected answering to my Anna and Bambi! It was so stupid of me, not noticing your replies on time. Sorry, girls!

Thank you , because you also loved these beautiful colourful remainings of the garden! Now the most of them are "has been"... But it is stll quite warm for the season..This Global Warming thing...

Anna, I have only four plants of this Penstemon and it is called Hidcot Pink . They say it is quite frost hardy for a Penstemon... Since it is a new comer in the garden , I'll tell you in Spring if this is all true...

Bambi, the cyclamens --- these "wild" ones, like they are called in Greece, because they grow in the woodland --- are my eternal plant love-affair since I was little...I carried these plants in my garden from the Greek woodland..

8 Dec '06 2:58 am

Dear Liza

I have never seen cyclamens grown out of doors in South Africa. They are always house plants. That seems crazy? What do you advise, as I have always wanted to try them...

It can't be too hot if they grow wild in Greece. It might be too wet in summer, so drainage would be important. Sun or shade?

Your orchid photos are amazing. Every year at our spring fair a 'local' orchid society puts on a display and I marvel at the beauty of many orchids and the vulgarity of others. (And the combination of the two as well, just to confuse one! Razz

)

I'm pleased to hear you are pleased with Mozart! I've just acquired him and planted him in the Rosemary Border with the big clump of 5 Ballerinas (I didn't know ballerinas come in clumps! Razz

) and Cardinal Hume. I think the church and the dance worthy companions for Herr Mozart!

8 Dec '06 4:23 am

Dear Jack! I am so happy you trigger me to talk about these lovelies! First of all, they have nothing to do with the large or small Cyclamens you find at the Florists. They are grown mainly up in the mountains of Northern Greece, where the climate is much more humid and fresher throughout the year than in the rest of Greece. And they are only found in this adorable "cycla-'men" -- en francais! --- colour; which is actually a light and tender pinkish-purple. And they are tiny, not more than 10-15 cms tall. Their leaves are either marbly green or dark green.

They are tuberous plants, called Cyclamens coum Miller, or Cyclamens of Cos (:a Greek island). They are mostly happy in Hardiness Zones 7 or 6 ( : -20//25-30 Celcius). And yes, they prefer semi-shade, basically humid, VERY good draining conditions, in a soil containing a lot of humus. Remember, that their natural land is covered by humid, fallen leaves (of Oak Tree families mainly) every Autumn . And they start blooming early December until March.

And I think, they would love to live by your lovely pond, somewhere where I saw there is a great semi-shade! In the garden I have them here under a small pine tree.

Now. I think lovely Mozart is a sort of a darker shaded and taller Ballerina. And they are both Hybrids de Moschata, that is why they look like growing in clumps, their shoots springing from the center. It is a great idea to place all these lovely Roses growing together! Herr Mozart will be extra happy with his Ballerinas!

9 Dec '06 3:05 am

I've only just recently been introduced properly to cyclamens, I have to admit! I had seen them before, of course, but I didn't know what they were called or how they grew, but a friend at work described them to me and I immediately set about looking for some for my garden! However, during our garden clear-up, I did actually discover a little clump of them growing quite nicely under a great big bush-thingy that had completely overgrown. I thought they were rather wasted there, so I've transplanted them to underneath my acer, and when my seeds are all grown-up, I'm hoping to have a nice little carpet of them one day.

I've found that the indoor ones have much larger flowers than those grown outdoors in England, probably because of the cold, I imagine, but the smaller ones are just as beautiful and they're so sweet!

9 Dec '06 4:54 am

Bambi, you know, indoors and outdoors Cyclamens are so different, like Pot Geraniums and perennial/garden Geraniums. While being perennial all of them, only the little ones are truly frost hardy. And even among the short/tiny Cyclamens, the Cyclamen Coum Miller is the hardiest one, which blooms during December-March.

And it could not be a better place for your baby Cyclamens, cause they prefer acid soils like your Acer.

10 Dec '06 1:17 am

Thank you, Liza, for the info - I shall look out for cyclamen and try to 'de-hybridise' them, for we are unlikely to get 'the real thing' here; I'll just look for smaller flowers, closer to species...
PS: Like the new rosy avatar! Smile

10 Dec '06 6:24 pm

Liza, what lovely late November blooms you have...so colourful and still in abundance too! Love them all but pic #21 tops my list - like a large vegetarian burger (in the loveliest sense). Wink

Though I mustn't laugh and think too much of food now as I'm slowly recovering and gaining strength from a serious bout of vomitting and diarrhoea lasting 4 days, and mind you it began with overeating last Monday! Embarassed

Thanks, dear friend for sharing and initiating my first smile for days deprived! Smile

11 Dec '06 8:33 am

Thank you for the name of the penstemon. I'm going to be checking it out at our local nurseries. I just love its colour. Smile

13 Dec '06 8:31 am

Well, that woman gardener you see working on her knees on the left, it happens to be ... me! It is the warm beginning of last November and I am planting my bulbs in the heart border! It is my son Dinos who took this photo -- and sent it today ; he happened to be here with us those days...It is the first time that I see...myself working in the garden...and it feels funny...Really funny, but true.

The Autumnal Garden

Thanks for lavish praise

I am so sorry...

Cyclamens et al

Cyclamens, Mozart, Ballerinas, and other lovely things!

Cyclamens

Cyclamen families

Thanks for the cyclamen info!

What beauties they are!