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Lily Lion Heart

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Charming July vignettes

This past weekend I visited a few charming gardens in the area of the Niagara escarpment. Below are some of the lovely photos taken. The day was sweltering,  however the air was clean , and the sky that azure blue of summer. What a perfect day indeed!

Primula bullyena- Deirdre and David Tomlinson's garden
 
Green Tree Frog hanging out in a Veronicastrum sp.- Native garden of Darcie McKelvey
 
Echinacea tennesseensis- at home in the alvar at Darcie McKelvey's

 
Actaea sp. ( formerly Cimicifuga)- Darcie McKelvey's garden

Nymphaea sp.- Water Lily pond in the garden of Liz & George Knowles
 
Gentiana sp.- garden of Liz and George Knowles
 
Kniphofia sp.- garden of Liz and George Knowles

Gypsophila aretioides caucasica- scree bed- Liz and George Knowles

Ramonda myconi- 4 basal rosettes carrying seed- scree bed- Liz and George Knowles

Lilium formosanum pricei- This is on my list. Stunning, at full bloom in the scree bed- Liz and George Knowles garden.

Dysosma versipelle- formerly Podophyllum - a rare Chinese Mayapple- immense umbrella like leaves. Liz and George's garden

Lilium taliense- Liz and George's garden
 
Prunus maackii- in fruit- fabulous Cherry Tree from China. The yellow-bellied sapsuckers can kill these trees, as they pound numerous holes in the bark extracting sap.

Sunday 7 July 2013

Toronto Gesneriad Convention 2013

The North American Gesneriad convention played host to Toronto this year. This is the 57th convention to be held. The show was lovely, with many beautiful, and beautifully grown plants. All manner of gesneriads were represented, including many rare, seldom grown genera. The many Streptocarpus cultivars provided a kaleidoscope of outstanding colour, as well as the campanulate Sinningias. I myself grow many gesneriads, with a particular penchant to alpine gesneriads, and gesneriads from China and Brazil.

Sinningia 'Deep Purple Dreaming'

Streptocarpus 'Givence'

Streptocarpus 'Sashen Ka'


Streptocarpus 'Ambra'

Streptocarpus 'Eva'
Streptocarpus 'Escada Magnetizm'



Sinningia 'An's Nyx'


Paradrymonia sp.- grown in a terrarium as it requires extremely high humidity

Gasteranthus anomalus- also grown in a terrarium


Achimenes misera

Columnea 'Indian Feather'

Sinningia 'Flamenco Apricot Bouquet'


Sinningia  'Kevin Garnett'



Sinningia aghensis

Sinningia aghensis- close-up