What do you see on your garden walks? 2012

[Tim Ingram]

Great how one plant sets off another - the salvia and artemisia. Cacti are a bit more independant though! All I can think of seeing those opuntias is a cowboy standing on one in a spaghetti western - obviously not in flower, he might have noticed it otherwise! Really nice plants.

[Krish]

Right now my garden is kind of dull. not many flowers. These two Iris are from friends. I like both of them

[Bundraba!]

Ha Tim! No cowboy in cactus garden but there was a pretty nice cow skull there for a while. Its that "something" about cactuses that inspires silliness. Recently I've taken to a more subdued approach.

Krish; those look like pretty happy plants: No lily beetle yet? That scourge showed up here for the first time last spring, adding insult to injury. The Dianthus was grown from SPARQ/QARGS seed labeled as D. haematocalyx subspecies pindicola.

As further comment on the "season" here: "Alpines" greatly expand the gardening season. I'm out in the garden two months before "normal" gardeners wake up and still at it more than a month after they pack up. I expect this season to be unprecedented (to my knowledge). It began before mid March with snowdrops etc. and should go into November with bloom/seed on the Ozawa onion (A. thunbergii).

[Howey]

Michael, you speak of the Lily Beetle.  I no longer see it on my morning garden walk, nor do I see any lilies except one white Martagon that seemed to escape them.  At first I just squished them on sight but now have a bottle containing a few of them to take up to an entomologist at the University for research.  Initially, I noticed they were eating each other, so I tossed in a mutilated lily bud and they are still moving around in there.  What buds the bugs didn't get, the robins in the bird bath nearby finished off to get at the bugs.  So, regarding lilies, it's been a disappointing year.  A friend suggested using Neem to get rid of them?  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

[Toole]

Sounds like the Lily bettle is a real pain --i hope it never makes it's way 'down under'.

Spotted this bit of colour in one of the pots today --way too early i'm thinking as the plants of this in the ground here don't normally appear for another month or so.......

Adonis amuriensis.

Cheers Dave.

[Bundraba!]

"All come to look for America".

At one point I took preference over Sedum sexangular as being, perhaps, less invasive than Sedum acre but as particularities fade I'm not sure there's much difference. Sedums can provide (big) color not oft seen in planned ground covers; check 'em out. The blue is Campanula muralis.



Probably not too many advanced gardeners; rock or otherwise; would disagree that foliage and form are the better part of the exercise. Here Areneria tetraquetra meets Areneria 'Wallowa' and a Sempervivum ('Silver Thaw' -purchased on a trip to Maine) is wondering what's next.



A. franchetianum likes America.



Pert and perky just look'n the joint over: Arisaema flavum.



Here on The Rock; Moltkia petraea blue; certainly among the choicest of rock garden plants. I shuddered when this one seeded in on top of a trial Gypsophila aretioides; but I let it be: a fair trade. These are willing, and deeply beautiful plants. Grown from NARGS seed.



Saxifraga cochlearifolia in splendid light.



Iris 'Good Omen' on camera. May all of your gardens sparkle, and so inspire wandering.

[RickR]

Krish, is that Echium russicum that I see?  Mine was done blooming a week ago.
Edit: Nevermind.  I see you identified it as E. amoenum in another thread.

Michael, I really like your Arisaema flavum. Years ago, our Chapter went on a summer roadtrip that took us into Iowa.  We stopped at a really out-of-the-way nursery that specialized in alpines amidst miles and miles of only farmland.  It had a whole greenhouse of Arisaema species, too.  After we had made our purchases, the Chapter was given a dozen or so each of A. flavum, fargesii and candidum.  (He had way too many.)  "See if you can get these to grow up there" he said.  They were very healthy, 1 foot tall plants.  All succumb, but A. flavum lasted he longest, limping through four summers and three winters.

I don't think your photo is Arisaema franchetianum.  http://efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200027201
But it does look just like the "A. franchetianum" that I received from Chen Yi many years ago.  don't have a clue what it really is...

Sedum sexangulare is a weed at our Rock garden at the MN Arboretum.  The staff there grows it as a ground cover right across the walk path from our rock garden.  It does set off nicely the potted bonsai displayed there, though.  Fortunately, the path is asphalt, so the sedum is not a terrible problem.  I think I'd "choose" S. sexangulare over S. acre any day of the year.

[McDonough]

I don't think your photo is Arisaema franchetianum.  http://efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200027201
But it does look just like the "A. franchetianum" that I received from Chen Yi many years ago.  don't have a clue what it really is...

I agree Rick, on both accounts... love Arisaema flavum, tried it a couple times, but have not succeeded yet, and the first Arisaema isn't franchetianum, but a really lovely narrow and elegant dissected leaf Arisaema... I too wonder what it is.  Here's a photo of A. franchetianum from the International Aroid Society; a species with 3 bold and wide leaflets, and a distinctive flower.
http://www.aroid.org/genera/arisaema/franchetianum/15.php

[RickR]

It just so happened that a botany friend of mine from Hayward, Wisconsin visited me today.  He grows lots of things I never would think had a prayer: Meconopsis grows like weeds, Stewartia from seed just planted in the woods(!), a vining polyganatum, Iris wattii, etc.  We got to talking about arisaema and he mentioned that he has had A. flavum for at least ten years!  He is in zone 3, and about 50 miles south of Lake Superior.  Often he benefits from lake effect snowfall, but not all years.  From my point of view, this guy can grow anything, and he is a master at rooting cuttings, too!

[Lori S.]

Arisaema flavum does indeed seem very hardy.  Mine seemed to have gone AWOL last year, though, after 7 years in the garden.  

Now for something completely different... a few of the roses in Stuart's greenhouse.  All are specifically selected for fragrance (as well as for form and disease resistance) - and the fragrance is, indeed, intoxicating!


'Double Delight'; 'Dolly Parton'; 'Sheila's Perfume'; 'Rock'n'Roll';  'Full Sail':
       



And Rosa primula, outdoors - no coddling needed for that one!

[Gene Mirro]

Michael, I think your A. franchetianum is really A. ciliatum.  I have a few that I grew from seed labelled as ciliatum, and they look just like yours.  Also, the photos on Google look the same.

[externmed]

Massachusetts sandy bed still holds some interest.  Acantholimon, Sempervivum, and Lewisia rediviva Sold as v. minor.  This is first year for the latter, but 2 made it through last year and flowered, earlier.
Charles Swanson NE Massachusetts USA z6a "mildish" sunny winter, recently cloudy and cool, 90s F this week.

[externmed]

Here on The Rock; Moltkia petraea blue; certainly among the choicest of rock garden plants. I shuddered when this one seeded in on top of a trial Gypsophila aretioides; but I let it be: a fair trade. These are willing, and deeply beautiful plants. Grown from NARGS seed.

Michael, those "on the rock" garden scenes are outstanding.  Hope you'll post to the Gallery: Rock Garden Scenes.
Charles Swanson

[Bundraba!]

Thanks for the feed back; particularly for the Arisaemas. I'm pretty sure both came from Potterton and Martin many years ago. Both have been in the garden for over ten years. A. flavum has seeded quite a bit and there's lots of wee ones. The other spreads widely by stolons but has also produced fruit. If the seeds mature before cold weather; I haven't seen any seedlings yet. It's a genus I really have yet to explore. As for Stewartia; It took two seasons before seeds germinated.

[McDonough]

It just so happened that a botany friend of mine from Hayward, Wisconsin visited me today.  He grows lots of things I never would think had a prayer: Meconopsis grows like weeds, Stewartia from seed just planted in the woods(!), a vining polyganatum, Iris wattii, etc.  We got to talking about arisaema and he mentioned that he has had A. flavum for at least ten years!  He is in zone 3, and about 50 miles south of Lake Superior.  Often he benefits from lake effect snowfall, but not all years.  From my point of view, this guy can grow anything, and he is a master at rooting cuttings, too!

I believe many Stewartia are hardy, a number of species can be grown in New England without the slightest winterkill over many years.  If I had to pick only two trees to grow, Stewartia pseudocamellia is one of the two (Sourwoord, or Oxydendron arboreum is the other).  It used to be that my tree never started blooming until the very end of June or beginning of July.  But in the past decade, flowering start date has consistently moved up, earlier and earlier, the first few blooms started here on June 8th.  This past week, the maturing tree is heavily laden with large flowers, quite a spectacle in the garden, the ground white from the flowers that drop just after one day, replaced by ever more opening buds.  

This tree is an all-season winner, trim, concise deep green leaves never bothered by buds, smart red leaf petioles, upright conical growth with willowy slightly pendulous branch ends, incredible profusion of late-season bloom, spectacular red-orange-pink autumn color, and beautiful smooth multi-color peeling bark for winter interest.  The only thing this tree lacks, is flowers with a fragrance (they're unscented, although the bulblebees love the tree).  This tree has never seeded around in 18 or so years, whereas other ornamental such as Magnolia, Stryax, and recently Chionanthus, seed around with ease.

Stewartia pseudocamellia
 

Another late bloomer is Magnolia sieboldii (mine is a Korean form grown from Magnolia Society seed).  I mentioned in another topic about Winners and Losers, that when we were hit with a deep freeze to 18 F after several weeks of summer-like warm to hot weather back in March, one of my two M. sieboldii trees completely blackened.  It never recovered and has indeed died, whereas the second tree growing 2' away, didn't bat an eye at the sudden deep freeze, and is growing lustily and producing lots of flowers.  The flowers, besides being exquisite, have a rich perfume, an enticing sweet lemony scent.  Nearby grows Corydalis elata, 18"-24" tall with deep blue flowers that waft an intoxicating sweet coconut aroma, mmmMMMMmmmm good!

Magnolia sieboldii "Korean form"