I know I forgot to post the plant that made me squeak with delight last week. But fear not I have a number of beauties for you this week which I have been grabbing all over the place.
First is the
Chaenomeles, cool name huh? Ok you might know it as the flowering quince or japonica (which at least gives you the origin of where it came from, although to be fair it is also from China as well as Japan). As a kid we had one of these in the corner of the front garden. Whenever I use to jump the wall (fastest route to the door) I always got gabbed by the mean sharp spurs. So one weekend when the folks were away my brother and I cut it to the ground. My parents were not pleased at all but it was a lot easier to jump the wall. It of course came back thicker and stronger.
I am afraid although I have seen at least 3 colours I just managed to snap the pink but the red and white are also pretty.
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| Flower is quite beautiful but those thorns are lethal! |
I expect this could be
Prunus sargentii or sargent cherry again native to Japan it is part of a group of trees at the front of one of my clients. It has burgundy leaves that I have seen lots of people take branches I guess for flower arranging. Having been a florist in the past I too have found free flower and foliage handy on the sides of the road.
So I have taken a trip out to Alpine Nursery in Dural to grab plants and potting mixes for work last week and came across a new
Michelia called
'Fairy'. It is a fairly open shrub/small tree that is laden in flower. Michelia is related to Magnolia, but generally have smaller leaves and flower up and down the branches rather than on the tips like it's bigger cousins. I know it is also pink but I think it is just what happens at this time of year. Each season has its colour.
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| Such a pretty colour |
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| A view of Alpine Nursery |
Finally just one last plant which I am not entirely sure what it is, hoping you might help. It is a bit of a scrappy think. It grows by the road and in rockeries with no water, full baking sun and no attention. In fact the foliage is quite ordinary but the flower is quite lovely and reminds be a little of Christmas bell. If you know what it it I would be most grateful.
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| The foliage is this on tall sticky growth |
I'm really enjoying all the cherry blossum around at the moment, great time of the year - all the expectation of spring.
ReplyDeleteI know they are amazing and so many more still to come it is exciting days
DeleteThanks for becoming a follower of my blog. We have an orange and a pink chaenomeles that we grew from pips from the same fruit years ago and it certainly keeps growing whatever is thrown at it!
ReplyDeleteAS for the mystery plant - it looks like some sort or feral aloe.
Hey Sue, it is a pleasure to read what others are doing. I also had an allotment in London but that does seem a lifetime ago. Impressive that you managed to grow your Chaenomeles from seed, well done you. Aloe that makes sense.
DeleteThanks for visiting my blog on the 15th, this is my first visit to yours and the first thing I saw was the picture of your Chaenomeles….and I briefly thought this must be someone who hasn’t posted for a long while – until I discovered that you live in Australia, and that of course it is spring there right now! I have a wonderful Chaenomeles called Crimson and Gold in my garden which gave two flowering periods this spring, thanks to our weird weather this year. Loved your Michelia, they are now possible to buy in UK, but not considered fully frost hardy so a bit unsure if they will survive outdoors in London where I live.
ReplyDeleteOoo I hope you can get some of the Michelia's (now for some reason all called Magnolias, botanists love to keep us on our toes). I look forward to seeing you crimson and gold next April??
DeleteLast year the Chaenomeles started flowering in beginning of December and continued to end of January with a second flush in late February. It usually starts flowering in January here in London so by April I am afraid there won’t be anything but leaves to see :-)
DeleteAah you know I worked in London for a few years but I am always forgetting which plants come out when. I suppose they should come out in your winter as well as ours.
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