Right, that’s enough holidaying. Back to school.
(and I’ll try to post about something else in between times otherwise this is going to become the plant ident blog….)
A word of warning – there’s no theme this time and the examples we were given were utter pants, especially since most were bulbs and had mostly turned into sad little droops of slime long before we got to look at them. So one or two I’ve had to re-photograph from my own garden 😀
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Have fun!
Sally Nex 
Sorry if this has come through already, but there were some problems with posting comments. Here goes:1. Chaenomeles x superba ‘Crimson and gold’2. Haven’t a clue3. Erica carnea – I’ve no idea of the cultivar4. Iris reticulata – I’m overwhelmed with the possibilities after last week’s RHS Show5. A Hellbore and ditto re the RHS show!
Hello VP! Yes that RHS show was fantastic, wasn’t it… the Crug Farm plants were to die for. Very nearly bought a hoelboellia (is that how you spell it?) but realised I didn’t actually have anywhere to put it and since one of my new years’ resolutions is NOT to have plants kicking around the patio starving while I find somewhere sensible for them to live, I abstained.Anyway….you were spot on with no. 1 – a particularly nice Japanese quince, I think.3: Erica is right, but wrong species and I need the cultivar too for full marks :D4: Top of the class! And yes there are lots of different types, all exquisite. This is the species though.5: It’s a hellebore, true, but which one?! (it is straightforward, just that you don’t get away with it that easily!)
Yes, I love the red Chaenomeles. I’ve you’d featured a baby pink one, it would have defeated me!3. I have 2 options to go for, so will plump for Erica x darlyensis. I found last month’s article in The English Garden last night which was absolutely no help at all in distinguishing carnea, x darleyenis and erigena.5. Helleborus hybridus (was orientalis)
Is the heather Erica x darleyensis? If so, isn’t there a pink one called ‘Darley Dale?’2 looks like Saxifraga x urbium before it’s woken up properlyThe Iris looks like I. reticulata ‘Cantab’The hellebore looks to contain some of the pink flowered H. thibetanus. If it’s a cultivar name, I haven’t a clue. Nice though!
Now, hang on a minute you two, let me catch up.VP gets the points for no. 3 – it’s Erica x darleyensis: nice guess for the cultivar Nigel but it’s actually ‘Kramer’s Rote’ (what a clunky name – whoever chose that one is clearly somewhat lacking in the poetry department).And more points to VP for the Helleborus x hybridus that’s no. 5 – I always called them H. orientalis but never have been able to keep up with those pesky botanists. I wish it were a cultivar name – the one in the picture is a self-sown seedling that popped up in my garden. How lovely to think it may have something as exotic as H. thibetanus in its ancestry somewhere.Now, over to Nigel – you had me reaching for the plant encyclopaedia as I had this down as Saxifraga umbrosa, and I have to say I thought it was a bit odd as I’d always known London Pride as S. x urbium too. Well – turns out the two are more or less interchangeable. I can’t spot any differences though I’m sure there are some at the botanical level, i.e. ones you can’t see which those pesky botanists (see above) like to point out to you in a smug sort of way. Anyway, to all intents and purposes you got it right 😀 So that’s it, all guessed! I’ll have to make them more difficult next week ;DPS the word verification for this is bowelz…. eeeuuuwwww…..
I think London Pride is a hybrid between S. umbrosa and S spathularis. So I was probably wrong, and it probably is S. umbrosa.The ‘London’ part of the name is nothing to do with Britain’s capital but named after George London, landscaper and nurseryman of the 18th Century. So Noel Coward’s soppy patriotic song was way off the mark. But still nice.
Too late off the mark this time – well done VP and Plant Mad Nige 🙂