ARS Tasmania Newsletter – March 2017

• Date: 4th March 2017
• author: Lesley Gillanders

IN MY GARDEN

As Summer fades and Autumn draws closer, we can be thankful we have not had to be burdened with the excessive heat other gardeners on mainland Australia have endured. Certainly we experienced a few hot (for Tasmania) days with some damage.
Our Calochortus fimbriatus flowers were a complete disaster. We have only one bulb and we were looking forward to the speckled flowers setting seed as it did last year. Now the flowers are crisp and brown but the bulb should be all right. In 1999 on a trek up Mt Kilmanjaro we saw a pink form of Gladiolus dalenii in flower. Later, we obtained some seed from an overseas garden club which turned out to be an orange form which is quite nice. On a particularly hot day two weeks ago the flowers barely lasted one day. Luckily another patch in a different part of the garden have just opened their orange flowers so we hope to get some seed from them. Gladiolus saundersii are still producing their bright salmon-red flowers with a cream throat. They are in the garden at the side of the house.

To read more of this article and other articles see the newsletter.