John Jearrard

Now I know where that Harvestman got to! My tennant came rushing into my office at midnight last night in his underpants because he needed rescuing from a Harvestman climbing up his door frame! I dropped it out the bathroom window, and thought it would be OK, but obviously I was wrong! I was very sympathetic!

Its Euphorbia characias 'Silver Swan' a bit taller growing than 'Burrow Silver', which is otherwise very similar. A really great plant. Grows to about 60cm. John.

Looking really good!

Hi Ada, my veinless came from Bay Co, but as far as I can see it is the same as the Walton Co. form. I have also seen it as 'Melissa Mazur', but I'm not sure if that is a particular selection of the veinless form, or coining a name for the whole group. I had also heard that Phil Wilson had selected a special form from seed - any further information very welcome ?

Talking of fireworks - some of my S.oreophila flame (well, blush really) red as they die off. Does anybody know what population they come from (I don't have location data for any of the red ones)? The Sand Mountain forms don't seem to do it, they just turn brown and die.

With many of the other species starting to look a bit tired, I thought some pictures of S.purpurea looking good would be nice. They have had a really good summer! I grow them all in a plastic house, because it keeps them from damage outside. I also get problems with Jackdaws stealing the labels, blackbirds stealing the moss and pecking through the pitchers to get at the flies. I quite enjoy the mix of red old pitchers and green new pitchers that S.p.purpurea often shows. This is an almost completely ordinary form, making a sturdy little plant. S.p.purpurea. Hughes Bight, Newfoundland. This one is quite interesting because of the unusually closed lid. It opens as the pitchers age. S.p.purpurea heterophylla. It is just a really splendid little plant. S.p.purpurea. Upper Peninsula, Michigan. This form, with very slight veining in the pitchers, has been distributed as "semi-veinless", growing in bogs where heterophylla occurs,, and as ever, people have suggested that it is a hybrid (which seems to be genetic nonsense). My plant was very pale, but has coloured up a lot through the year. A curious seedling, derived from the naturalised population at Roscommon, Eire. Almost veinless pitchers. The natural variation in colour of S.p.purpurea is quite wonderful. This is the one that doesn't count - once called S.p.purpurea riplicola, but it is only an environmental variant. Taken away from its native alkaline habitat, it is indistinguishable from S.p.purpurea. S.p.montana. This one is usually assumed to have a closed mouth, but photos from habitat show that it is quite variable. S.purpurea venosa. A tissue cultured clone with a rather atypical lid, but which is growing into a spectacular clump. S.purpurea venosa burkii. The Florida population of S.p.venosa, with paler pinkish flowers. A great many of the plants in cultivation claiming to be S.p.venosa are actually burkii. Typical venosa is actually quite uncommon. S.purpurea venosa. Gulf Coast. This is an example of a plant, obtained as venosa, but given the location, clearly burkii ! S.purpurea venosa burkii. Veinless form. This is a beautiful little plant. I am always astonished that it has enough chlorophyll to survive, but it seems to manage. Hope you enjoy them! John.

Hi Ben, PB57188 was collected by Paul Bonavia, and introduced as H.yunnanense, but it is actually a form of H.spicatum - a distinctive red column in the centre of the flower, curving upwards. It's an excellent plant.

Just as the Sarracenias are starting to look a bit ratty, the Hedychiums start to look fantastic. Hedychium coccineum 'Tara' . Introduced by Tony Schilling in the '70's. Spicy scent, the hardiest of the H.coccineum forms, and one of the earliest to flower. . Hedychium yunnanense. Vigorous. Masses of flowers. Hedychium wardii. The most astonishing (more or less) hardy plant you can imagine. Will be in flower for about six weeks. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Hi Barry - I don't know much about the history of Green Dragon and Petite Dragon, but it sounds as though they would be better described as t/c mutants or sports - 'mericlones' is generally used (at least by me!) to refer to the swarm of slight variants that emerge from tissue culture that aren't significant enough to call 'wrong' but which reduce uniformity in a crop context - irritating, but not particularly significant. (The mechanism of mutation is the same, it's just a matter of degree).

The South African bulbs are not too fussy about the compost, as long as it is free draining. In a plastic pot, I tend to use a peat based compost and add about 25% perlite to keep it open. If you want to use a loam based mix, add plenty of coarse grit or sharp sand, and a clay pot for preference (loam mixes in plastic pots can get very wet and slimy). I don't personally favour bark composts - they break down in an unsatisfactory way.

Sentiment is a perectly good reason for naming a cultivar (or call it historical significance if you want). There are any number of clones of garden plants out there that derive from ancient or historically significant plants. All that matters is that the description makes the reason for the selection clear. On the matter of variability within cultivar names, it is worth remembering that life is all about variability and change (sorry, I don't mean to sound patronising, just that this is the foundation of all taxonomy). There are no fixed unvarying units within plant life, and conversely, there are no flexible evolving names. That is to say, the system for naming works in fixed defined units, while the material being named exhibits continuous (more or less) variation. The two systems can never match each other, they can only approximate eachother. Every taxon exhibits a degree of variation (even "cultivar"). The illusion that you can fix a name exactly to a specific unvarying plant is simple and comforting, it just isn't true. Every name used represents a spectrum of variation. The allowable extent of that variation is a matter of concensus among the interested parties (who may or may not call themselves taxonomists). D.m.'Justina Davis' is great, because it defines what is required from an all green VFT, and says clearly that all the slight variations about can be included under the one name, and at last starts the process of creating workable cultivar names for VFT based on clear descriptions. Now, when someone comes up with a sharks tooth all green form .... an additional cultivar name will be required. Hopefully the description will be equally sensible and encompass all the slight possible variations in the sharks tooth form. The measure of a cultivar is that it should be distinct. Slight variations, that are often more about the eye of the beholder than about significant distinction, get included under the earliest available published cultivar name. As I have said before (ad nauseam) I am in favour of publishing a name and description for any clone that is being distributed. Informal names are creating chaos, and there is no way of checking what was really meant by the name. If it is being distributed, that is to say, if more than one person is trying to communicate about a plant, then they need a common language (name) to work with. People may then decide that the plant is worthless, the name pointless, whatever. The important point is that they can communicate their opinions accurately and meaningfully. And as for Big Mouth and Finetooth x Red, it's not so much a matter of whether thay are the same, as whether they can be significantly distinguished from eachother, or indeed whether there is anything significant about either of them? If there is, we need a cultivar description to tell us what it it. I've quoted it before, but article 10 of the Code of Nomenclature for cultivated plants says: "The international term cultivar denotes an assemblage of cultivated plants which is clearly distinguished by any characters, (.....) , and which, when reproduced (sexually or asexually), retains its distinguishing characters. Note 1. Mode of origin is irrelevant when considering whether two populations belong to the same or different cultivars. " Note 1 is important, it makes it clear that it doesn't matter where various plants originated, if they all have the distinguishing characters of the cultivar, then they are that cultivar (though they may well not all be the same clone). I'm off to bed - and for anyone who now thinks that I am the human manifestation of the devil in taxonomic trousers, I promise to go out into the greenhouse with a tasty fly tomorrow, and shut my 'Big Mouth' !

Moist but not wet through the winter, allow to dry a little between waterings - growth usually starts october/november. At low temperatures they only dry very slowly, so you won't have to water very often. Flower buds usually come up as the temperatures rise in march. Feed gently - not too much nitrogen, when you see flower spikes. Covering with fleece will usually be enough to protect foliage from frost under glass. They will become dormant in early summer. Leave them in the pots, sit them under the bench and forget about them until october. All the best.

A lot of wise things have been said here. Certainly with something like VFT it is easier if named cultivars are single clones, however some cultivar names - 'Justina Davis' springs to mind, have the great advantage of sweeping all the more or less identical clones under a single name. Since none of the alternative names for all green VFT are valid, they should all be scrapped. Unfortunately, CP growers are unlikely to scrap all of their old names in favour of a new one - people are very reluctant to take on new names, especially if they have to lose old names in the process. As regards tissue cultured plants, under sterile in vitro conditions, it is possible for plantlets to regenerate from single cells. Different propagation regimes vary in the extent to which this happens. In microprop, the ideal is that plants are only regenerated from divisions and buds. Unfortunately, VFT produces callus (undifferentiated cells in a mass) quite easily. A proportion of all cells mutate in any given time period. If plants regenerate from mutated cells, you get mutated plants, unlike the original clone (potentially). Tissue culture commonly produces plantlets with a range of slight variations on the original clone - they are called mericlones. For many foliage plants, it is now the commonest way of breeding new cultivars - selecting the best mericlones from a batch. Unfortunately, therefore, tissue culture of the original plant does not ensure that the resulting plants will be identical. If practice, it guarantees that some of them will not be. Some mutations are easily spotted, and can be rogued out, but most result in slight variations that are only slightly different. The longer a plant is maintained in vitro, the greater the range of mutations that accumulates. The problem of all nomenclature is finding ways of grouping the evident variation into categories that are meaningful and useful. This is why a cultivar is not the same as a clone. The key question with every proposed cultivar is "What characteristic(s) make this plant distinct and distinguishable from other plants?" If there isn't a good answer, then there isn't a good cultivar! And if you ask that question about 'Fine Tooth x Red', or 'Big Mouth', or 'Australian Red Rosette' do you get an answer that you are prepared to pay good money for? (it is a purely personal decision). The reason I advocate publishing cultivar descriptions for every plant people want to distribute is that it allows anyone with money to spend to go back to an authoritative description and decide for themselves if there is a good reason to buy it. Those that don't sell become extinct incredibly quickly. If you buy something that isn't described as clearly distinct, don't be surprised when it isn't clearly distinct. Don't blame the Code of Nomenclature, blame the fool with the money!

The Geissorhiza, Lapeirousia and Moraea are all fairly typical winter growing bulbs from South Africa. You will have to try out hardiness for yourself - the Lapeirousia survives here in a cold greenhouse, I haven't tried the others . The problem with the winter growers is that they are in full leaf at the coldest time of the year, and a sharp frost will certainly damage the leaves, and may prevent them from flowering. Treat them much as you would Lachenalia (if that helps at all). As much light as you can, frost protection, dry but not extreme dessication when dormant. Take great care - SA bulbs are extremely addictive!

yes, it's not cheap, it is a rather shameful situation. That's why I still use an old one. Use your local library, or the RHS library if you get the chance.

could I say (in tiny letters, because I don't mean to offend anyone) that the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants is a fairly small, easily read document. My rather elderly copy (1980) is made up of 57 rather short paragraphs that answer all of these problems. 'Article 10. The international term cultivar denotes an assemblage of cultivated plants which is clearly distinguished by any characters (morphological, physiological, cytological, chemical or others), and which, when reproduced (sexually or asexually), retains its distinguishing characters. Note 1. Mode of origin is irrelevant when considering whether two populations belong to the same or different cultivars. ' Dionaea muscipula 'Justina Davis' is distinguished simply by having all green traps. That is the defining characteristic of the cultivar. Any plant, regardless of its origin, which fits that description, is by definition 'Justina Davis'. If you believe that you have a plant that is sufficiently distinct to be worth naming, then you should publish a proper description, explaining how it can be distinguished from 'Justina Davis'. Curious that people are quite happy to accept variability in Sarracenia purpurea f heterophylla but not Dionaea 'Justina Davis'. And just for the record, in his description of Sarracenia flava 'Suspicion', Aidan specifies that the plant is a single clone, and must be propagated vegetatively. Therefore, no other anthocyanin free form of S.flava can use the name. but my best advice remains, ignore the pompous git writing this, just read the code for yourself! (check your local library).

Just for interest, I took a couple of photo's of Amorphophallus titanum when the CPS visited Kew last week. It is probably worth noting the sized, for those planning to grow it in a greenhouse in the UK (that is a standard sized wheelbarrow you can see!)

Now, let me see, which notorious Cornish Nursery hidden away in the woods did I buy a ventrata at a couple of months ago at a discount price, let me think now, who could that have been ......?

Epimedium pinnatum colchicum. Berberidaceae. There are a couple of other very similar Epimediums, but with five leaflets, it is almost certainly E.pinnatum. (It could be E.pinnatum pinnatum, but it is almost unknown in cultivation, so unlikely). Epimedium perralderianum has three leaflets (usually). The hybrid between them, Epimedium x perralchicum, is also quite common, and difficult to distinguish - the spur on the petal (the darker orange structure inside the expanded yellow calyx - your 'wierd corona' - is made up of 4 small spurred petals) curves upwards more on the hybrid. - it is more or less flat against the sepal in E.p.colchicum.

Just a few pictures. (too tired when I posted last night!) A picture of the Palm House in case you don't know Kew. New Nepenthes display due here shortly. The new Alpine house. Sarracenia flava planted in the bog garden ouside the Alpine House. Heliamphora nutans, part of the carnivorous display in the Princess of Wales Conservatory. Next to Roridula gorgonias. And plenty of Sarracenias, in this case S.flava rugelii. Behind the scenes, in the Tropical Nursery, there are masses of plants, but it is really the Nepenthes that steal the show. There are several greenhouses of Nepenthes like this one! Nepenthes albomarginata. Nepenthes ampullaria. Nepenthes bicalcarata. Nepenthes veitchii. Nepenthes ventricosa. Nepenthes reinwardtiana. Nepenthes spectabilis x ventricosa. Hope that gives you some idea of the day. If you get an opportunity, visit!

A really fantastic day, big thanks to everyone who put the work in.

It came from EasyOrchids originally - I think they still list it. www.easyorchids.co.uk

Just a quick picture from the greenhouse, because it has opened today. It is Disa uniflora. It may be a little too subtle for you to see from this picture, but this is the red form!!

It looks like a Cyathea (?) , but I wouldn't dare make a guess at the species. They're not usually too fussy about the potting medium as long as it holds some moisture and is fairly open. Don't let the trunk get too dry and use a weak plant food regularly - when happy they grow really fast.

'Whirlwind' is great, but it is a bit slow growing. Try Sandra Bond, Goldbook Plants, Hoxne, Eye, Suffolk. 01379 668770. She has been specialising in Hosta for the last 25 yrs - grows about 1100 cvs.