What do you see on your garden walks? 2012

[Lori S.]

Krish, do you have to support your Clematis recta?  It looks somewhat more upright than mine.  

I have a metal obelisk hidden under the plant.The support is not great. For the last two years I am trying to find some good support that has the top open for the vine to come out naturally .No luck. Looks like tomato cage is the one I should use

Plant supports are a bugaboo of mine!  As C. recta has gotten especially huge over the last couple of years, it's become increasingly necessary to prop it up (particularly since the bank of 'Terese Bugnet' roses that used to form it's reluctant support were taken out last fall).  So, I went out and bought a couple of very tall metal panel supports... which proved to be too tall and obtrusive (will have to try to cut them down to make them useful... somewhere.  Now where did I leave that cutting torch??).  We ended up gathering some of the wood stumps we've been using as naturalistic plant supports and stacking them to support it... I much prefer a natural look anyway, though they are largely hidden by the plant anyway.
C. 'Pamiat Serdsta' has outgrown it's obelisk support (did we use a different, taller one for it last year?).... stems were bent over after the rain, and I had to cobble together an extension from a couple of other plant support hoops.  Oy...  

[Tim Ingram]

Cohan - I find Alchemilla mollis seeds very freely so a spot in a semi-woodland area sounds perfect. I have it under apple trees and in early spring it's tidy and just growing out; by now it becomes very strong growing and I have had to curb it from growing over more choice adjacent plants. The leaves catch the rain beautifully so in the right spot it is great groundcover.

[cohan]

4' for Alchemilla! then I will need to give some thought to where to put it- I may give it a spot I'm developing at the end of a semi-woodland bed, where I can give it a whole end to itself!

Well, again, I think it's completely workable to plant more for the mid-term, not the longest term... otherwise the bed will have plants with big gaps in between for years and years. I think a perennial garden takes 5 years to look established anyway... and a garden is never done in any case.    There is always lots of moving around of plants to be done.

There are a few crocus in my Azorella, so, no, it's not too dense... (not sure any plant is ever too dense to be pushed through by bulbs).  Please let me know how the Acaena do after the winter - I've only ever had little bits come through.  I will certainly try it again, needless to say, if it works out for you.
Well done on the bed construction - sounds like it's going great guns!  You'll have to show us some time!   

Great news on the Waldheimia too!

Good news on the Azorella I may try a couple of those spots..
As far as gaps, I have lots of those, since all of my beds are very young (except those that predate me, which are all badly overgrown...lol) but at the moment, I'm working on so many different areas at once that It doesn't really bother me if some beds have nothing interesting going on...lol I started off buying plants and seeds with no place to plant anything (okay, I'm still doing that!) so now I'm kind of focussing on building without always having a full set of plants to go in them- some general ideas and some specifics, but I'm happy to have areas that may fit what I have next year
That said, I understand what you mean about moving stuff- some things just no way to know how they will really work out longterm-- I have a nice Geranium sanguineum album, next to a Potentilla (Geum? I always forget) Miss Wilmott- okay up till about this time of year, but unfortunately the Geranium only starts flowering a week or so before the Potentilla, which proceeds to flop all over the Geranium...lol...

The rock gardens I've been working on lately are meant for North American alpines that want dryish conditions- and I only have a few seedlings to go in now, though more to sow, and others I've held off buying knowing there was no home for them Next up is a sort of dryland/scree that goes in front of those NA ridges (completely opposite end of the property from the wetter 'Eurasian' ridges)..  I have been taking some photos along the way, and will try to get them posted- nothing to see plantwise yet, but I thought I'd show the method which is probably unorthodox but working for me so far with available materials..
The Acaena has been outside for a couple of winters- doesn't look great in spring, but its there! I'll keep you posted, may have some recent pics, they are only about 2 inches across, tiny tiny leaves..

Tim, your Alchemilla looks great! I read on one blog someone bemoaning the fact that theirs was just surviving, not seeding freely as she expected from English sources- I guess drier/hotter sites... I will put mine in the wetter end of the yard (where, however, my Primula auricula I thought was doing so nicely is wilting every day when its 'hot' I guess it needs even more mid day shade, since the soil is never dry in that  bed...

I haven't done much by way of plant supports yet, but something I need to think about...

[Lori S.]

Delphinium "bees" with bee:


Verbascum chaixii v. album:


Salvia nemorosa 'Snow Hill' - terrific plant, much loved by bees:


Big betony, Stachys macrantha:


Veronica longifolia(?):



Clematis mandshurica:


Polemonium pauciflorum:


Calamintha grandiflora - great plant for dry shade (or anywhere):


Stachys officinalis 'Hummelo' - a plant that's often mistaken for Primula on plant ID sites  :


Delphinium grandiflorum - normal blue and self-seeded variations:

[cohan]

All nice but I find the Verbascum and  Salvia especially striking!

[Bundraba!]

Michael, again I have to say that your garden is fabulous!!  Thanks for showing it to us!  I'd love to have enough space (and moisture) for a tract of queen of the prairie (and all the other delights you show)... wonderful!

Thanks again Lori and also for reminding me (us!) of all the plants I (we!) still need to grow! That's quite a variety of very interesting things you grow and paintbrushes too! Those will grow here some day -just watch! I agree about Azorella; it does not seem to need anything special. I might avoid an overly well drained scree type soil though, unless it is moist.

Cohan; If you are seeing brand new rock gardens and novel techniques on your garden walks; perhaps we may have a look see?

[cohan]

Cohan; If you are seeing brand new rock gardens and novel techniques on your garden walks; perhaps we may have a look see?

Thanks, Michael- the spot at the foot of the semp bed I was thinking of for the Azorella looks gravelly but I didn't amend it too much, so its more our clayey loam than anything else, and I think should be quite moist most of the time; the other spot I mentioned is probably even more moist, so one or the other should suit them

I doubt if I'd describe my rock garden building as 'novel' : probably odd, maybe inappropriate or second-rate would be more likely thoughts...lol- I'm sure I'm breaking some rules that are there for good reason! but from my perspective, the key points are 'made with available materials' (the main part of which means they are built up with sod and soil underneath, with rocks and gravel more on the outside and in the higher, planting layers) and satisfying my own personal aesthetic sense with the rocks (available fieldstone, which here means granite and quartzite mostly, with some amount of sandstone, and small amounts of limestone (the last is mostly small, with much more of it in the gravel than in the stones)..
I am taking photos as I progress, and when I finish the next section in the area I'm working on now (the lower, but still raised, dryland area in front of the ridges, with some below grade boggy/marshy areas), I'll show some of them

[Toole]

A number of Cyclamen coum are out --this one under the edge of small Rhododendron in a double concrete wash tub .

Cheers Dave.

[Spiegel]

Back from my other garden - the Dolomites - and finally over jet lag.  Here are a few pictures to whet the appetite of any plant enthusiast.

[Spiegel]

A few pictures that tell a story.  Thunderstorms heading our way but a rifugio in sight for shelter and a cup of hot chocolate.  This is what makes walking in the Dolomites so wonderful.  If the weather becomes awful, you can spend the night there.  Despite forecasts for no storms etc, weather can be very sudden in the mountains, and the rifugios offer shelter and a place to stay overnight if needed.  I can think of quite a few hikes in the Rockies when it would have been nice to have this option.

[Lori S.]

Beautiful shots, Anne and David!  Can't wait to see more from your "other garden", Anne.

Stachys discolor:


Eryngium alpinum, now coloured up:


Cephalaria gigantea, reaching for the sky:


Verbascum eriophorum, a biennial, unfortunately:


Our native Spiraea betulifolia (corrected name), in the garden:


Verbascum nigrum, starting to bloom:

[Spiegel]

Lori, you really grow a wide range of plants, amazing.
Pictures below taken on a new trail we took this year.

[RickR]

It's all eye candy, every photo....
Or as my friend likes to say: horticultural porn 

As a comparison to Lori's native Spiraea betulifolia in Alberta, this one, grown from wild seed collected in western Russia (but grown in Minnesota).
Spiraea betulifolia

          

Lori, does yours spread much?  Since 1997, mine grows about 2ft high and has spread to 5ft. in heavy clay soil.

[Spiegel]

Continuing along our trail in the Dolomites.

[Spiegel]

And farther along the trail