PUSHING THE BORDERS

OK,

One more go.

Much more widely grown.




Chad

Luma?

Spot on; Luma apiculata.

Although several web sites say it is scented it isn't.

At least not compared to the spring flowering Amomyrtus luma.

How about;

Well it looks like an Allium, and what is particularly irritating I think we have some of it but I am not sure which one !

It a Cornish wild flower, and like 'Whistling Jacks' has been shown to be a single clone spreading vegetatively and not by seed.

Incidentally, even having read 'the' taxonomic review I'm not sure what formal name we should use for 'Whistling Jacks'. Anthony Hamilton shows it is a clone, but seems to leave it as Gladiolus communis subsp. byzantinus having just shown it isn't!

So we have a Cornish Allium, and again it's formal name is problematic.

Any offers for an English or formal name for it?

Chad

Trouble is if you try and buy Gladiolus communis subsp. byzantinus you get pale mauve insipid flowers according to the many folk I have dug up ours for, (We have always known them just as "Jacks" ) my wild flower book has a sand leek which looks similar Allium scorodoprasum but its not unlike roseum which is the one i was thinking of.

incidentally, Jacks don't get a mention, just G. illyricus which is apparently very rare and found only near the New Forest!

Allium roseum is a lovely thing, but I haven't risked it in the garden, I suspect like A.triquetrum it is ineradicable!

This one is Babbington's leek and is a form of the wild leek progenitor Allium ampeloprasum. Both it and roseum have bulbils in between the flowers.

Like the 'Jacks' gladiolus it is now known to be a clonal hexaploid and therefore of very low fertility if selfed, behaving in gamete production like a functional triploid so the chromosomes don't pair off properly.

It used to be called Allium ampeloprasum var babingtonii, but although it isn't published I think it has to be a cultivar now. That would make it Allium ampeloprasum 'Babingtonii'.

When it was thought to be a subspecies or variety it was 'endemic' to The British Isles [Cornwall, Eire and The Chanel Islands].

I think current opinion is that it is an escape from monastic gardens.

Certainly the bulbils are useful in the kitchen as a mild Allium flavour in cooking.

I agree with your customers, getting hold of 'Whistling Jacks' means avoiding the dutch suppliers. It took me several goes and finally I bought a pot in flower to be sure I had the right thing. Thankfully it bulks up rapidly, which reminds me it is time to lift and spread it around the garden a bit.

The next one is a hardy [at least here] perennial.




Chad

Cuphea ignea?

Can I do one? Not this year's pic but it could have been as it flowers a lot.

Spot on with the the Cuphea.

Delighted for you or anyone else to keep this going.

Especially with something that I don't recognise!

I will work on this.

Chad

Don't recognize it Paul is it something in the Ranunculus family?