A beautiful day at Colesbourne

Galanthus elwesii var. monostictus 'J. Haydn'
- the best of the 'composers'

Dogwood and willow stems

Salix caprea 'Colesbourne' - a free-flowering,
very early pussy-willow, found here.

Will Fletcher's lines of raked leaves snake
 round the paths like an art installation.

Lonicera 'Winter Beauty'

Galanthus plicatus 'Colossus'

Berberis - unknown species/cultivar.
The berries are a superb feature all winter, and must be
very nasty to avoid being scoffed by the birds.

A taxonomic spoof



Wild Aquilegia vulgaris, Yorkshire Dales, June 2008

This amusing spoof was posted recently to Alpine-L, the Electronic Rock Garden Society (to join, visit http://mailman.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/alpine-l) and is reproduced here by kind permission of its author, Mark McDonough from Massachusetts. Take it only with the humour it deserves, and please note that I (JMG) take no responsibility for the propagation of the word 'thusly'...


Revision of the Genus Aquilegia - Highlights

============================

Wild Aquilegia canadensis, Pennsylvania, April 2009

All red-flowered "Columbines" east of the Mississippi have been reduced to a new monotypic genus Canadensuilegia canadensis.

All red-flowered "Columbines" west of the Mississippi have been reduced to a new monotypic genus Elegantuilegia elegantula.

Demiaquilegia becomes the new genus holding all of the dwarf European species (bertolonii, discolor, etc.)

Hemiaquilegia becomes the new genus holding any species with flowers half-hidden within the foliage (laramiensis) or with hemispherical flowers (fragrans).

The pre-existing genus Semiaquilegia becomes Quasiaquilegia, to make room for Semiaquilegia caerulea (the new name for A. caerulea), named thusly because it grows halfway between the east and west coasts of the
USA.

The real Semiaquilegia ecalcarata,
catching willow seed on its sticky glandular hairs, Oxford,  June 2010

Aquilegia jonesii must now be called Nanaquilegia jonesiaquilegia, a monotypic genus native to the Northern Rockies.

All dwarf Japanese species with glaucous foliage and blue flowers are now within the new genus Flabellaquilegia.

All dwarf Japanese species with glaucous foliage and white flowers arenow within the new genus Flabellalbaquilegia.

Any "Aquilegia" grown from garden collected seed is assigned to the new genus Hortaquilegia.

An indubitable "Hortaquilegia", Aquilegia States Series 'Kansas'

All common European columbines are now within the new genus Vulgaquilegia.

Aquilegia itself becomes a monotypic genus, holding only a single species. Previously known as A. vulgaris, the new name by which the single Aquilegia species must be called is Aquilegia pseudoaquilegioides. A subspecies that seeds around too much has been proposed as "ssp. vulgaris".

All new "aquilegia" species named hereafter shall be within the new genus Postaquilegia.

The genus Paraquilegia is considered null and void, and synonymous with Duplaquilegia "Nora Barlow" (syn. Malaquilegia).

A new-to-science species was found in Wasilla Alaska, it is known as Saraquilegia palinii. It is reputedly very difficult to grow and quits growing half way through the season. Regardless of its non-flowering, the plant pops up all over the place.

The mysterious Aquilegia kuhistanica & all other nursery-conjured species become Phantasmaquilegia stanica-stanica.

This revision takes precedence over all other Aquilegia taxonomic treatments.

Just kidding,

Mark McDonough

Aquilegia vulgaris 'Greenapples'

*************************
PS

Carrie Thomas, holder of the National Plant Collection of Aquilegia, and proprietor of Touchwood Plants, had this to add, in the same fantasy spirit:

"My 'Aquilegia hybrids' Collection (covering red, pink and yellow doubles) is undergoing the validation necessary to become recognised as the new taxon of Doublaquilegia volcanica-fantasmagoricalii.

I understand some expert taxonmists are unhappy with the hyphenation within this specific epithet and/or its length. Therefore it may not be valid. Until the acceptance of this (or rejection) it is nevertheless a useful working name."

The final word went to Paige Woodward, of British Columbia: "Aquilegia s.l. to is too often confused with Aqualegia, the water plant."

Firstlings

Eranthis hyemalis 'Zitronenfalter'

The weather this week has been mild and wet and progress in the garden has been dramatic. Snowdrop shoots are spearing up and different cultivars are opening by the day. That is good to see, but I was also pleased to see today that there is a smattering of flowers on two lemon-yellow selections of Eranthis hyemalis. Despite their different orifgins - 'Lightning' was found in Pennsylvania while 'Zitronenfalter' is from Germany - it is remarkable that the should both flower early in the season, long before any other Eranthis is visible. They're really more or less indistinguishable in appearance, but there is a gene for double flowers in the 'Lightning' strain, so it's probably worth keeping them apart.

The first Cyclamen coum flowers have also opened this week, bringing a few sparks of colour here and there. It is funny to get excited about a few odd flowers when in a few weeks there will be sheets of them, but after the prolonged frost and snow any flower is welcome - and perhaps a posy of winter flowers is more delightful than a bouquet in summer.

Snowdrop Mania: a BBC Radio 4 programme on snowdrops

A nice selection of Galanthus nivalis

A BBC Radio 4 programme produced and first broadcast last year, entitled 'Snowdrop Mania', with well-known enthusiasts speaking to the presenter at the Galanthus Gala last year, was re-broadcast yesterday. It can be heard on http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00r33y5/Snowdrop_Mania - hopefully all over the world.

Back into the garden

Berkheya multijuga

For the first time in what seems like months I've had chance to get into the garden and carry on with cutting down - at least for two hours in the afternoon. It enabled me to get all the old hellebore leaves removed, and the most offensive of the standing perennial stems (i.e. almost all). There's a lot more to do, but the garden looks very much better for it. What is nice, on getting down among the plant bases, is to see all the signs of new growth that are developing - progress has been rapid in the past frost-free week. Hellebore buds are coming on well, and the first curves of Eranthis stems are visible, backing out of the ground. A few pictures of new growth and burgeoning buds are below.

Hellebore leaves, on and off the plants

Euphorbia cv. (reversion from 'Blackbird')

Corydalis anthriscifolia - how did these leaves cope with -15?

Saxifrages

Primula 'Amy Smith'

Weather statistics

Colesbourne Park lake, 19 December 2010

The BBC website is currently featuring a piece on the cold weather in December, in which various chilly statistics are supplied: that it was the coldest December in the past 100 years; the second coldest in central England since 1659; the average temperature across the country for the month was -1^oC; it was the third sunniest and driest December on record (the sun was evidently elsewhere, certainly not here). The journalists and readers of such erudite literature as the Daily Mail seize on such statistics as proof that global warming is not happening, but another statistic provided is that 2010 was, globally, the second warmest since 1979. The difference between weather and the climate seems to be difficult for some people to grasp.

Gardeners are inevitably interested in the weather, but without making records it is remarkable how quickly one forgets what climatic conditions occurred when. I measure the rainfall as diligently as I can, and given the time to do so by prolonged rain today, I took the opportunity to tot-up the 2010 total. It confirmed what the river is clearly saying, that rainfall in the past year has been very low. Here are the figures recorded from the rain gauge on my lawn for the past four and a half years:

2006 (Jul-Dec)    547.2 mm


2007                  1024.7

2008                  1079.0

2009                    774.7

2010                    630.0

Mean rainfall for the past four full years is 877 mm (35.1 inches).

A gratuitous but warming view of succulents at Kirstenbosch, September 2010



Snowdrop Christmas cards

For some strange reason people have a habit of sending me Christmas cards featuring snowdrops, and this year there was a bumper crop of them. The images used range from lovely to hideous - here, in random sequence and without identification by sender, is a selection of them - one or two others are visible above. The really dreadful snowdrop ornament visible was found in a free box outside a garden centre in the Hamptons last summer, having found no purchaser. I can't imagine why not...


'Frosty Snowdrops' (i.e. with glitter...) - in aid of Age UK

 

'Spring' - in aid of Hope House Children's Hospices

'Snowdrops with books' by Anne Cotterill

'First Light - Fresh Snow' - in aid of the RHS

'Frosted Snowdrops' - this came in two formats,
in aid of the Alzheimer's Society
and St Richard's Hospice

in aid of Self Unlimited

in aid of Oxfam. Flowers and foliage stuck into the 'snow'
(probably from a freezer drawer...)

 

'S. Arnott' from Avon Bulbs



in aid of Parkinsons UK. More stuck-in flowers...

Galanthus elwesii planted in quails' eggshells,
photographed at the 2010 snowdrop day at Kalmthout Arboretum
by Tomoko Miyashita