What do you see on your garden walks? 2012

[Lori S.]

Krish, It looks like you are working with the peat stuff Saxifrage technique I've espoused for years! You are in New England?

Bundraba, Krish is in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, zone 3... a far cry from New England.   

[Hoy]

Lori, of all your wonderful plants I'll say that Pulsatilla turczaninovii takes the prize

Been for a little trip today. First we took the small bat round the island (2.5km x 0.5km), then we took a walk on the only "road" that is on the island. Half of the island was farmed once and have a kind of track for the small tractor they used. Now only sheep graze the meadows. Fortunately they are still on another island therefore we can enjoy the blossom of early summer.

The crab apple (Malus sylvatica) and Crategus monogyna are still in flower. However, it isn't easy to distinguish the wild apple from garden escapes.

 


Geranium sanguineum has just started flowering and so has the weed G. molle. Along the track and on small ridges and banks Saxifrage granulata dominate.

     

[Hoy]

It is always nice to find it although it is rather common, the blue Polygala vulgaris. Polygonatum odoratum has a nice scent, you can discern it from a distance.

      


Also blue violets like this Viola riviniana dot the woods everywhere at this time of the year. The old pastures are still filled with Primula veris but the orchid Orchis mascula is almost disappeared due to the sheep's grazing.

         

[RickR]

What a spectacle that Eremostachys speciosa is!  Like a tiny water fountain with all that white "cotton candy".  Great stuff, Lori, Trond and Bundraba.
-------------------------------------

Penstemon grandiflorus blooms nicely now.  These are from seed collected in Isanti County, central Minnesota.  I really don't see any difference from this locality, though.  They seed into the lawn sometimes.
        

Syneilesis aconitifolia, and S.aconitifolia, Hosta nigrescens, Epimedium seedling, Podophyllum hexandrum, Iris cristata.
          

A yellow leaf creeping veronica, very nice even though I don't know the name.  Thalictrum aquilegifolia.
        

[Hoy]

Nice Penstemon! Seems you have summer Rick! Here it is still spring

Some plants from the "garden" at our summerhouse. Most plants grow as they like here. Almost no weeding

I've planted several Narcissi and tulips. Both the roe deer and the mice like tulips but Narcissi are left. Here are however a rare tulip (an unnamed species) and a lateflowering Narcissus.
Omphalodes verna do spread a little but go dormant later in summer. All the rain this season has been good for the moss!

   


Once I planted 3 different Primula cv here, one white, one red and one yellow. Now they have done some crosses of their own.

      

[Lori S.]

It's lovely to see what's going on in your areas, Trond, Rick and Bundraba!  So glad you have joined us, Krish - looking forward to more scenes from your garden! 

First blooms on Potentilla frigida, wild-collected in the Walliser Alps (NARGS seed):


Townsendia parryi:


Bloom starting on Phlox multiflora:


This is way beyond my limited photographic skills to capture, but these are the airy flower stalks of Androsace septentionalis, where they have been reseeding themselves in a trough!


A bit of bloom on Silene acaulis, also in a trough:

[Bundraba!]

I'm working with different types of rock and different soil profiles. I love crevice gardening! The white garden (Light Bridge;a distant range of spectacular snow covered peaks!) is at the very western end of the Great Cordillera and was built in 2010 (there is no train yet). Sprinkled here and there with little treasures; it will fill up fast! The Yellow daisy is from the Wallowa Mountains and is unprecedented here. Never before has anything like this lived long enough to bloom naturally; and from seed too!

Here's something that could be more widely grown. I have two collections of Erigeron flagellaris -this one is from the Abajo Peak area. It is actually a bit too vigorous grown in a warm raised bed, but given space, it could really be an asset. The other is planted by the road where it doesn't bloom as well but it has space to make a nice compact mat.

Photo5 is a seedling to the effect of Lewisia 'little plum' or some such. It seeds strongly here and they don't apparently vary. L. 'pinkie' is in front. It makes a nice dome of leaves but blooms rarely.

[Lori S.]

Looks terrific, Bundraba!!    Love the different geologic terrains.     Well, I guess the train would add historical accuracy, but I draw the line at a miniature ski slope and resort in every valley... gotta maintain some wilderness!    
What kind of stone is the white garden made of?

Love the daisies... would the yellow one happen to be Erigeron linearis?  I think the provenance would fit.

[Bundraba!]

Lori, E. linearis is one of them but there's another from that region. I've been trying all day to recall it! Probably just a bit of research needed. The stone might simply be called Shelburne Limestone from Shelburne Limestone Co. One very nice thing about this quarry is that they provide a data sheet so we know pretty much what is in the rock; in this case 93% Calcium carbonate. There is a trace of Magnesium, the green schist (serpentine) shows and adds a touch of mystery to this already beautiful stone; and there is some Iron. I've placed it in my very acidic environment; so that and acid rain; I figure it will all disappear in a couple hundred years; fizzzzzz. Pretty cool to think about. On the other side of this quarry is a much grayer stone probably containing more Iron and there are a few striking porphyries of a brick red color. How it all came to be boggles the mind! The Serpentine becomes very apparent just a bit to the east on the upthrust of the Green Mountains. The front rockery is of Plattsburgh stone which is fossiliferous. I don't think the mix of color is everyone's cup of tea -but, for the sake of alpine gardening, that stone just could not go unused! Vermont is, or was, also a big producer of white marble.

[Lori S.]

Lori; I'll have to remember to look for the Pulsatilla with the unpronounceable name!

Well, I always collect seeds, so just remind me!

[Lori S.]

Iris suaveolens:
   

Draba ramosissima:


Rheum rhizostachyum:
 

Erigeron trifida?


Erigeron pinnatisectus:


Lithospermum ruderale:
 

[Lori S.]

Gentiana verna:

[Hoy]

When do you harvest the rhubarb, Lori? I used to make soup of mine. It was a bit bigger though
Nice collection as always!

[RickR]

When do you harvest the rhubarb, Lori? I used to make soup of mine. It was a bit bigger though

Thinking on that a bit, guess a bit (a very small bit) of zing to something like cold cucumber soup might actually be good(!)

An excuse to post this pic: our drought that lasted from September through April finally broke a week or so ago.  You can see how the vegetable rhubarb has responded with the more normal leaf size.  However, still not quite as large as they usually are this time of year...

To the right of the rhubarb is a trough with Coryphantha (Escobaria) vivipara from the Rapid City area of South Dakota.  It bloomed a few days ago.

        

[Bundraba!]

More news from my little Lewis Meadows. My favorite glowing salmon colored L. cotyledon is taking the year off but this
white one is doing well. The situation is sandy, fairly moist and I doubt there is any lime or clay. Cold wet does not seem
to bother them but they suffer warm wet. They'll also grow in a mix of peat and (Plagioclase?) Granite if it is moist. I've
had these for over a decade. Sakuasoh, Aubrieta and Aetheonema in background.