What do you see on your garden walks? 2012

[cohan]

Nice views, Trond- I am working on some areas like this too-- but except for the mostly wild areas, I need to weed quite a lot or they will still be mostly grass, dandelions and clover!
I have a lot of daylilies here too (as I mentioned before on the forum)- though I'd call them orange-- I still have to figure out what to do with them... no flowers yet this year, that I've seen, though they may come along faster with this recent weather- we've been 28-30C or a little over, and more days of it to come...

[Hoy]

Trond, your Tanacetum? looks like Matricaria, except that is an annual...

Rick, I am pretty sure it is a Tanacetum. I got seed from Chris Chadwell and think(!) I remember the name. It is very similar to T niveum although that presumably is a perennial.

I think I have finally caught up to you Trond....Hemerocallis fulva is just starting in my area too.

Todd, I am sure you have!

[Hoy]

Nice views, Trond- I am working on some areas like this too-- but except for the mostly wild areas, I need to weed quite a lot or they will still be mostly grass, dandelions and clover!
I have a lot of daylilies here too (as I mentioned before on the forum)- though I'd call them orange-- I still have to figure out what to do with them... no flowers yet this year, that I've seen, though they may come along faster with this recent weather- we've been 28-30C or a little over, and more days of it to come...

Cohan, I am too lazy to weed much! Grass and Leucanthemum are problematic, but not clover or dandelions

[Toole]

Moisture on Meconopsis .

Cheers Dave.

[Bundraba!]

I'm ever impressed by the intricacies of texture and detail that our little subjects provide and am amazed by it every time I go out into the garden. Is there a rock garden anywhere where such delights are not fully loved and admired? Here's some of the best of it in my garden right now: Gypsophila aretioides and detail; Draba rigida bryoides; Minuartia obtusiloba and Vitaliana; Azorella trifurcata, an antipodian and Muhelenbeckia axillaris, another.




I become even more aware of this potent green life force as cool weather approaches and the plants really begin to settle in. Can't you just feel the energy in these little green rock eaters? Words cannot describe.

Below: Low humidity, temperatures in the 80's and no rain for days. Our climate is beginning to show its satanic side. I've heard it said that treated (city) water is not good for alpines but it's looking like that or nothing. Here's a couple of surprising holdouts from markedly different habitats both are growing right in the eye of the sun: Androsace muscoidea and Loiseleuria procumbens. The Androsace has the glancing blow on a north side the Loiseleuria does not.



I've actually been consciensly watering the re-jiggered cactus garden in the belief that these things will grow better if the roots are not grounded in dust, at least for an hour or two on many hot afternoons. There's great suffering among the rock Primulas and many of the Saxifrages.

[Hoy]

An interesting collection you have there, Michael! I am familiar with Loiseleuria as it is a native and very common in the mountains here. It always grows on the most exposed ridges and gets full share of the weather! I did grow Azorella too,  and it seemed to really like the wet coastal climate where I live but was ultimately crowded out by large shrubs. The others are completely new to me

Loiseleuria procumbens in the wild, taken a couple of years ago:

   

[stephenb]

Although not current (it will be 2 months before I will see this scene here) here's a picture of what I have as altissima and citrina growing side by side, no guesses as to which is "altissima"  

[Bundraba!]

Just a couple I snapped yesterday evening: Pretty light on this PeeGee Hydrangea in grass: Head high garlic scapes! And -a good crop for acid sand though if I want to eat them at all I must settle for "slightly under-done".


Trond; I've seen Loiseleuria put on more than an inch of growth a season if all is just right. The hot sun stresses them. I'm just kind of amazed how heat resistant they really are!

[Toole]

Azorella trifurcata, an antipodian and Muhelenbeckia axillaris, another.

Michael
Thought you might like a shot of the Muehlenbeckia's natural environment in Fiordland .
Growing on rocky ground -banks -- stream beds--gravel fans .
While I've photographed it in bloom on a number of occasions while travelling about the South Island i don't think I've a shot of it in fruit.

Cheers Dave.

[Bundraba!]

Michael
Thought you might like a shot of the Muehlenbeckia's natural environment in Fiordland .

Fantastic! Thanks Dave. I've seen a pretty good show of blossoms here. If it made fruit or seed; It was not showy but the shiny olive green foliage is unlike anything else in the garden.

[RickR]

Native plants here - Ratibida pinnata and Campanula americana
        

Our newest ivasive thistle in Minnesota - Onoporum acanthium (Scotch Thistle).  I had been letting it grow where it came up, since I didn't recognize it as a weed or a desireable until now.  At least I think that is what it is...
              

And a slug of unknown Arisaema spp.
The last little bugger a friend identified, but what did I do with the name

        

        

        

[Howey]

Touring around the garden in the early morning is rather depressing these days - so dry and when we do water it doesn't seem to stay around long - lots of wilting phlox, burnt up wood ferns and thalictrums and Amazonia didn't even bloom this year although the leaves look OK.  However, amid this devastation there are some survivors - a blue Platycodon is "business as usual" and Anthericum racemosum is quite fantastic.  Surprisingly the Maiden Hair Fern is lovely and Ipomopsis rubra is delivering its wonderful red again.  The one that really surprises me is Zauschneria californica.  In former years, in its high and dry spot, it has barely flowered before giving up.  This year it is full of life with plenty of fat red flower buds.  Beebalm is a washout (I should say dry out) - I think if it were near some big rocks it would do better.  And I've never seen so many marauding chipmunks and mice turning up pots and doing other nasty things to the plants.  This dry time has been a learning time telling me that certain plants MUST be moved to another spot. Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b I guess

[deesen]

Frances, you should invite me over to put shade paint on your greenhouse. Whenever I do mine it rains for ever-or so it seems. We haven't had a dry day this month so far, which followed 24 wet days in June.

[Lori S.]

Frances, I'd love to see the ones you mention - Anthericum, Ipomopsis, maiden hair fern - they are not so commonly grown here; nice to hear that they are doing well despite the weather challenges.

Good heavens, David, what horrible weather you seem to be having!  Maggi mentioned a little while back that there is nothing but unending rain in her area as well, and yet it continues.  It struck home for me how awful it must be when I saw in the local news that the Times of London published an editorial demanding that it stop raining!!

Nothing so fine here as has been shown in the preceding photos, but it's time again to try to catch up a little...

Lindelofia anchusoides and the very similar Lindelofia longiflora:
 

Scutellaria orientalis v. alpina; Scutellaria alpina; Lychnis chalcedonica cv. with Veronicastrum sibiricum and Persicaria polymorpha:
   

Paeonia cv. with Verbascum ex. 'Helen Johnson':
 

Delphinium nudicaule 'Fox', planted this year; another Scutellaria alpina; Lupinus argenteus:
   

[Lori S.]

Dianthus monspessulanus has rather messy, irregular flowers but a wonderful scent - perfumey, rather than spicy... and another Dianthus, one that some may find eye-searing   :
 

In the greenhouse - Nymphaea 'Colorado' and 'Helvola':
 

Linum flavum compactum; Lilium 'Pink Pixie'; Dracocephalum purdonii(?); lots of chartreuse and yellow in this photo with Alchemilla mollis, Dasiphora fruticosa and Digitalis grandiflora:
     

Out along the fence - Nepeta nuda, Anthemis carpatica: