PUSHING THE BORDERS

Pete - The Arisaema looks more like A.tortuosum than A.speciosum.

Charlie - can't believe that I'm contradicting you, but not A.cathartica (that has bigger flowers whose top petals flop back on themselves?). Maybe more closely related to A.scottii?


Anyway, a first time bloomer here is Polemonium pauciflorum.................




Choice plant in my opinion. Just hope that it proves to be hardy.

My only experiance of Allamanda here is being given a plant by young Michael B from Madeira and watching it slowly die! below is what I thought was Allamanda cathartica. Where is Chad when you need him!!
Allamanda by charliepridham, on Flickr

charlie wrote:My only experiance of Allamanda here is being given a plant by young Michael B from Madeira and watching it slowly die! below is what I thought was Allamanda cathartica. Where is Chad when you need him!!
Allamanda by charliepridham, on Flickr

A.cathartica and it's floppy upper petals (typically 8 to 10cm across?)......................


It's a rampant climber at OBG and the Eden Project.................


The A.schottii that I posted a photo of is more of a shrub in growth habit.

That said, where is Chad when I need him!

He is on a whistle stop tour of N wales and Ness gardens, hopefully calling in at Crug :)

LongK - my apologies. You are right, the Arisaema was tortuosum - I don't know what I was thinking when I said speciosum. I think I prefer tortuosum - being taller.

By the way I like your Polemonium pauciflorum - never heard of it. Clearly Polemonium leaves but an unusual flower.

Charlie - it really is a yellow Mandevilla. I got it recently from Gordon Riggs in Lancashire. The only place within driving distance that has any unusual stuff. They are cheap and chearful (I got my 45p Clerodendron there). But like many cheap and chearful places they often don't have any labels. However, this one did have a label that said Diamantina Opale 'Citrine'. I assumed Diamantina was a trade name and I also assumed it was Allamanda carthatica. As there was no one there who knew what it was, I bought it as I had tried to grow Allamanda from seed this year - and failed. It was only when I got home and Googled it that I found out that it is the first yellow Mandevilla. It is remarkably similar to Allamanda - though I suspect the leaves are different.

Edit: I have just looked at the leaves in the two pictures and they seem to be very similar too - perhaps Diamantina are having us all on. :lol:

If its a mandevilla it should bleed a white sap - having written that, I have no idea whether Allamanda does as well!

charlie wrote:If its a mandevilla it should bleed a white sap - having written that, I have no idea whether Allamanda does as well!

It's a feature of most Apocyanaceae.................

I am pretty sure its a Mandevilla, having googled this http://www.lannes.pro/en/dipladenia_dia ... itrine.htm. It was a lovely surprise.

It has plant protection rights - not unnaturally. But this raises a question.

1) Am I, as a private individual, by law entitled to take cuttings for friends - for no payment? I am talking of the law - not of the likelihood of the police turning up on my doorstep.

2) Is a recognised nurseryman, say Charlie, entitled to cross breed it with a red Mandevilla to get, say, an orange one. And would Charlie be entitled to register it as a new cultivar, with any royalties going to him?

3) And what if Charlie crossed it with a red one, but the offspring was virtually the same yellow colour. It now has different DNA from the original - so could this be registered or sold freely as a different cultivar?

1, you can propagate not for gain, not sure if you can distribute them to friends? but you can certainly produce more for yourself

2 any crosses grown from seed are different plants and not covered by the original plant breeders rights if that was for a single named clone. (there are different rules for seed strains)

3, whilst it may be perfectly legal to do so, it may cost you a small fortune in the courts trying to prove that it was a different genetic plant, ie the recent fuss over Roseanne versus Jolly Bee geraniums

A few more random pictures
IMG_1897 by atropica2012, on Flickr
Who needs flowers when the new leaves look this good
IMG_1894 by atropica2012, on Flickr
The Euphorbia X pasteurii in the background is in full flower but I think it looks good all year round. Not for the faint hearted as it is 5ft high and 8ft across.
IMG_1896 by atropica2012, on Flickr