What do you see on your garden walks? 2012

[cohan]

Two more nice irises
Interesting about the waxwings eating petals- that I haven't noticed, though our crabs/apples draw all sorts of other predatory attention- grouse eating fruit then buds in later fall, moose eating all tender stems in winter, etc.... I suppose if they just pull petals it wouldn't affect fruiting?
However, the waxwings do make a strong appearance as soon as any berries are ripe- I went out to harvest some Shepherdia canadensis on the acreage last year, only to hear the waxwings in the bush ahead of me, where they'd nearly stripped every bush to be found (and there are many, in numerous spots); they routinely clear saskatoons (Amelanchier) and Sorbus as well, usually almost immediately..

[Tim Ingram]

I'm with everyone else on the wonderful variety of plants pictured. The pulsatilla is especially nice; I have grown this in the past on the nursery but never had the chance to establish it in the garden - it is very distinctive and elegant.

I couldn't resist putting a picture of the daisies in our lawn - ever since we visited a friend whose lawn was almost all daisies in early summer we have tried to encourage them too. In the sand bed a new range of plants are flowering:-

Penstemon rupicola 'Conwy Rose' (a selection from Aberconwy Nursery in North Wales)
Onosma echioides. These I have always found short lived but hope the sand bed will be more to their liking
Hypericum cerastoides. A reliable and cheerful species. There are many very good alpine species in the genus
Triteleia ixioides. After the spring bulbs have done their thing this really comes into it's own in early summer
Thymus 'Peter Davis'. A striking thyme named for the renowned botanist. It flowers so freely we have trouble getting any propagating material from it!
Astragalus angustifolius. The only one of this huge and diverse genus that we grow at present, although I have young plants of many others coming on from seed. This one though (from Greece) is a good doer in the garden. Others I have found a lot more tricky.

[Lori S.]

Interesting about the waxwings eating petals- that I haven't noticed, though our crabs/apples draw all sorts of other predatory attention- grouse eating fruit then buds in later fall, moose eating all tender stems in winter, etc.... I suppose if they just pull petals it wouldn't affect fruiting?

No, it doesn't seem to affect fruit production (wouldn't mind if it did, as we always have far too many apples anyway).  They just pluck and eat the petals, not the whole flowers or the stamens/pistils.

[RickR]

Surprisingly not flattened by the 3+ inches of rain we have had in the last few days, Allium moly:
              

Phyteuma orbiculare.  Each flower is always subtended by one very long single bract.  
        

        

A species Hemerocallis.I hadn't noticed before the small white protuberances at the end of the sepals that point forward.  How odd...
              

Not a photo worthy of discussion, but I thought I had gotten rid of Penstemon pinifolius 'Mersea Yellow'. It is growing better now than when I tried to grow it!  Second Pic: Pentemon whippleanus (thanks for the seed, Lori!)
        

Clematis integrifolia
              

[cohan]

Nice lawn Tim! One thing I like about our large mowed area (necessary to keep the forest from closing in), while it does have many weeds I'd rather be without- dandelions and clovers etc, I am very happy that its also full of wildflowers- right now lots of Viola adunca, fewer V renifolia, a couple of different Antennarias, some in flower, and Maianthemum canadense in bud..

The Onosma is very charming!

[Tim Ingram]

Thanks Cohan - I'd be happy to establish such a range of wildflowers in the grass. In part of the garden I am doing this with bulbs but it is quite a long term project (also saves on the mowing!).

Rick - is there much variation in Penstemon pinifolius grown in the US? We had a very robust form called 'Wisley Flame'. Here it is one of the most reliable penstemons in the garden but I have had the same poor experience as you with 'Mersea Yellow'.

[RickR]

Rick - is there much variation in Penstemon pinifolius grown in the US?

I nave no idea. 

I have the species, too, growing right next to Mersea Yellow, and it does better, but not by a lot.

[cohan]

Tim, I can't take any credit for our 'flower lawn'  --our yard was never really true lawn- before our first house here was built in the early '70's, this property was just a mostly wooded pasture area on one corner of the family farm- the native vegetation was never removed, though of course it was affected by the grazing livestock (which just passed through this small part of the native wooded pasture on the farm) and the later building and installation etc; over the decades since, the native plants on the acreage have spread to most of the acreage, mixed with grasses ( I confess to mostly not knowing which grasses are native and which are forage escapes or from my mom's early seeding efforts here) and common agricultural weeds..
Since taking over mowing when I moved back (I don't do all the mowing, but I'm the one who says- don't mow there!) I've encouraged the wildflowers more by leaving some areas around trees, shrubs and stumps to become little islands with more full grown plants, and try to enjoy the flowers more by mowing around flowering plants when possible, even if they will be mowed at other times...

Right now, of course, dandelions are hitting their peak, so there is more yellow than anything!

[Hoy]

Tim, I like your flowering lawn too! I have just mowed mine - first time this season 
I also like the Onosma! If it is short lived, does it produce seed?

Rick, surprisingly I could do with some rain! It has been very dry here for some weeks - a dry (cold) wind from north suck the moisture out of everything and the layer of soil is thin.
Both Penstemons are nice. I have started trying new species now 

Here are some of my peonies flowering now.

P rockii, delavayi and delavayi lutea, all from seed.

[Hoy]

A few more: lactiflora(?), mlokosewitschii and obovata(?).

[Bundraba!]

A walk in 'Cactus Park': Photo1: the green leafy thing just above Cerastium tomentosum is Campanula glomerata (which will bloom) growing through Phlox subulata which is past blooming. By now you may be thinking: thugs! But, this; bottom and right planting (The gravel area is newer); has looked pretty much just like this for ten years or more. The Plants are kept in check by furrowing between the mats. Apparently, The Campanula just runs around in there without too much malicious intent. At left is Stephanandra, which could be a problem soon if the scene is not to go much scaled upward!
And, at right there is a Teucrium (not yet blooming) which is dangerously welded into place. Can I trust it to be as nice as the Campanula as it swiftly eats ground?
 
At the bottom of photo2 is Sphaeralcea coccinea.

At the bottom of photo3 is Artemisia stelleriana; at the top is a bridal veil Spirea, the only plant in the photo that came with the house when I bought it many years ago.

In photo4 is Erigeron flagellaris and one of those rather fast Artemisias. The Colchicum will senesce in a not unpleasant way.

John; your "little spot of color" noted here. But the palette will be different and there won't be any Chollas.

At bottom of photo6 are the remnants of an ancient and formerly huge Astragalus angustifolius. Just up is a good Eriogonum from Abajo Peak in Utah; they don't all bloom like this and winter burn is an issue in the Northeast; but big bearded Iris do great in my garden not withstanding that these were photographed just before the storm!

To make short the story, this Iris was being extirpated from its former home as ugly. So here lives ugly (photo7).

Photo8 is an old planting of Allium moly, 'Tiny Rubies' Dianthus, Sedum aizoon (?), and Polypodium vulgare.

Here's a couple from 'The Rock': Soapworts and Allysum oxycarpum. Mark; you may want to check your shed (carefully) these A. o. don't smell like skunk!

Photo10; Convolvulus boissieri blossoms only last for a day, but I've seen this plant fairly covered with them. It will even set seeds here.

[Weiser]

Love all of the mats of color! Your garden is a glory of color!
Nice cactus garden! Is that a clustering Pediocactus in the upper center of your bed? What ever it is, it certainly looks happy.
The buns and baby cactus in your last two photos are very nice indeed.

Great show!

[Tim Ingram]

I second John's comments; those last two pictures especially are really attractive - you can imagine them in the wild. Great to see gardening with alpines like this!

[cohan]

Great garden, MichaelP (nice to have a name Also nice to see the ways the plants interact (especially in a nice established garden like yours) as well as individual portraits..

[Hoy]

You really have a nice garden, Michael! Some plants are familiar but some are not Some do grow in my garden and a lot of them don't I do not think they'll survive either