The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - on a mild day of sunshine and showers...
Oh dear, as time goes by I find I am repeating myself. In early January I usually visit the National Botanic Garden of Wales at Llanarthne in Carmarthenshire – partly because entry is free all month.
And for a second year I am sharing my pictures, first from the Great Glasshouse and later from the outside garden. Here is last January’s glasshouse blog post.
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - Leucadendron (thanks to South African gardener Diana Studer - Elephant's Eye - for the identification)
Nothing ever stays the same in a garden, and I have to say I thought the Mediterranean plants within the glasshouse looked a bit tired this year, compared to last. However, as well as missing some blooms, I still found many other flowers I hadn’t seen this time last year.
When I first published this I asked for help with identification. Thanks to Diana Studer (Elephant’s Eye) in South Africa and Katie (NatureID) in California for their help!
I don't think I saw this one last year - thanks to Katie (NatureID) in California for identifying Mimulus aurantiacus or sticky monkeyflower - see her comment for more info...
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - this grows on a wall by a water feature...
Katie (NatureID) identifies this as Arctostaphylos or manzanita, a member of the Ericaceae (heath) family and says there are 120 manzanitas native to California...
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - Banksia, I think...
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - Helichrysum, I think
This plant climbing all over a metal walkway has been identified by Kathie (NatureID) as Hardenbergia, aptly named happy wanderer, a member of Fabaceae (legume/pea/bean family). It's native to Australia but also grows well on the coast of California..
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - more Helichrysum
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - I suppose this is Helichrysum, too...
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - another Banksia
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - Callistemon, I think...
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - Leucadendron
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - Leucadendron
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - a bit like Kniphofia (red-hot poker) but the fleshy leaves suggest otherwise - thanks Diana for telling me it's an Aloe and thanks Katie for suggesting its Aloe arborescens...
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012
This luminous white daisy is a Dimorphotheca jucunda, formerly classed as an Osteospermum (thanks Diana)
Thanks to Diana for recognising the Erica - on further investigation I think this elegant plant may be Erica arborea...
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - a close-up of that last one...
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - Protea cynaroides, king Protea... not as wonderful as at this time last year (thanks for the ID, Diana)
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012 - general view...
The Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in early January 2012
The Squirrelbasket 
The one you start with, the cherry bracts is a Leucadendron (protea family). The ‘fleshy Kniphofia’ is an Aloe. Luminous white daisy Dimorphotheca jucunda (used to be called Osteospermum til the taxonomists got hold of it). I would guess the elegant black and white Erica might be Prince of Wales? The disappointed pink bud is a king protea, cynaroides.
And I’ll sweep all my unknowns into an Australia/NZ basket. Altho there might be some Californians in there too?
Thanks for all that – I will add it into the captions. I knew someone out there would be able to help 🙂
I did almost spot the “Osteospermum” as I remember calling it once, but I find Osteospermum Whirligig more immediately recognisable…
And yes, there would be a lot of Australia/NZ and Californian flowers among the pictures as they are some of the “Mediterranean” areas featured in the glasshouse.
Also thanks for your “blog-hoard” mention the other day over on Esther’s gardening blog.
The creamy yellow one you didn’t see last year is Mimulus aurantiacus, formerly known as various spp. of Diplacus, (sticky monkeyflower) in Phrymaceae (lopseed family), formerly Scrophulariaceae (figwort family). It’s a CA native with many different forms and colors, not to mention classification confusion.
The white bells is an Arctostaphylos sp. (manzanita) in Ericaceae (heath family). We have 120 native manzanita spp./ssp. here in CA!
The multiple purple flowers that climb all over the walkway is a Hardenbergia sp. (aptly named happy wanderer) in Fabaceae (legume family). It’s native to Australia, but it grows really well here on the coast of CA.
I, too, have thought flowers of Aloe arborescens (torch/kranz aloe – I may have the sp. incorrect) look a lot like Kniphofia uvaria (red hot pokers). Surprisingly, they’re now considered part of the same family Xanthorrhoeaceae. Both are native to South Africa, and are also widely grown here on the coast of CA.
Your brown toilet scrub brushes with angular leaves look like Banksia to me. They’re definitely past their prime. Makes me want to visit the Australian section of our local UC Santa Cruz Botanical Garden to see how the flowers are faring this winter.
I’ve featured all the above named plants on my blog, except for Banksia, and that’s why I think I might know what they are. I hope this helps. It’s fun to see CA natives grown for show in a glasshouse halfway across the world.
Thanks for all that, Katie! I am now following you on Twitter.
I always believe in learning something new every day and thanks to you (and Diana in South Africa) I have learned MANY things these last couple of days…
I had sort of recognised the legume and heath families in those couple of shrubs, but it’s great to have a detailed ID, as well as for the flowers I had absolutely no idea about.
I will now watch your blog with interest…
Best wishes 🙂
Beautiful photos..thank you for sharing your daytrip with us…only one I even related to was #4..looked like lily of the valley..but I’m probably wrong…the way in which your site is presented makes us feel like we were there with you at the Great Glasshouse in Wales.. I can almost smell the rain..
Thanks for stopping by to comment and for your kind words.
At the moment it is very drizzly here in Wales, and it’s so permanent I guess we forget how to smell the rain!
Best wishes for 2012 🙂