What do you see on your garden walks? 2012

[Lori S.]

Wow, terrific plants, everyone!

Not much left that hasn't bloomed already...
The progression of Carlina acaulis from early bud to flower:
   

Myriad flowers on Gypsophila oldhamiana x2; Ratibida pinnata; Savia glutinosa x2:
       

Inula ensifolia:
 

A very late Castilleja miniata seedling:

[cohan]

Still looking good, Lori- we've had a couple of frost warnings already, though no frost here, I think..
the wild Castillejas here usually have some bloom until killing frost; there were lots ( though I wont try to name) flowering from the foothills through to high elevations  when we went out the other day...

[Tim Ingram]

Artemisia filifolia is a bit of a revelation - I've never seen an artemisia before that you could say is actually attractive in flower! (I now wait to be proved wrong). This is one I would certainly like to grow. We are slowly changing the face of our front garden and the artemisia would fit well here! So far not much has been planted but there is Salvia apiana (possibly not really hardy enough) and a Sphaeralcea species. It has been inspired quite a bit by American gardens and by a desire to 'break the mould' of the typical British garden, mainly because of our very dry climate here in Kent.

[Lori S.]

Artemisia filifolia is indeed a spectacular plant!

Tim, it struck me that the remnants of the conventional lawn border around the unconventional gravel bed might well be sacrificed one day for other benefits - extensions of the gravel bed gardening space and walkways, while at the same time, freeing up lawn-mowing time for more productive gardening?... Why would I not be surprised if it's in the future plans?    

[cohan]

Colchicum agrippinum

Nice one!

[Tim Ingram]

You are quite right Lori! But I still have to convince my wife. I would really like to do away with the lawn and gradually develop that sort of planting shown in some of Panayoti's pictures - a gravel walkway between the plants. The history of the garden though means I will never capture such a natural and restrained planting, but we are keen to propagate from as many of these plants as we can.

[Bundraba!]

A pine barrens aster; Petrophytum caespitosum in bloom; and Zauschneria more floriferous than ever!


Satureja montana; Hibiscus syriacus 'White Chiffon'; and an Allium, Sedum, Phlox medley.


Suicide Newt! Either I interfered or this newt (eft) was lucky I was up early!

[Lori S.]

Absolutely glorious, Michael!   
Would that be a red-spotted newt?  So much for protective coloration... 

[Bundraba!]

Yeh; protective coloration not so useful in the automobile age. This will probably tell you more than I could from what I know:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_newt
They are quite common in the summer woods here.

[Spiegel]

Wonderful plants, Michael, especially the petrophytum with the zauschneria not far behind.  The last is so welcome at this time of year.

[Kelaidis]

I shall be sure to collect lots of Artemisia filifolia this autumn--it is a very graceful plant. I am very fond of the Artemisias--probably because it was my mother's first name! And I like silver plants (and they like me). I am also very impressed with Michael's Petrophytum--I had some fabulous gnarly old specimens at my old garden, but this garden ithey are still a bit young (although four or five are bloomning). Still beastly hot here--but the cooler nights and shorter days seem to bring out a lot of autumn bulbs despite not having rain...Isaac, do take a turn West!

[Kelaidis]

Finally downloaded some images...alas! Nothing alpiny. My rock garden does have a lot blooming, but not so photogenic apparently as the xeriscape.

1) a view of Westridge--my xeriscape dedicated to North American plants. Mostly wild sunflowers and the backlit tower of Giant Sacaton grass (Sporobolus wrightii).
2) Backlit young Cylindropuntia whipplei 'Snow Leopard'--vicious but indispensible
3) One of my many favorite Muhlenbergias, this one is M. torreyi (fairy ring muhly is the common name)--they are too young to form rings yet--but what a wonderful foil to the cacti! Artemisia filifolia in the background (again)
4) Salvias and annual Cleome serrulata on the xeriscape with morning backlight
5) A better shot of Salvia greggii 'Furman's red' with Nasella tenuissima behind it glowing.
6-9) are a series of shots of Lobelia fulgens x cardinalis, showing it in different angles and two different lights. This is one of the spectacles of the garden, and the other morning I woke up and saw a sunbeam lighting up just it, so I had to go and photograph it, and now you have to look at it! I love brilliant reds in the garden...
10) Aha! there is one more pic--this is our poor vegetable garden, almost completely draped in Ipomoea--Jan Fahs (my companion) refuses to weed it out--it is awfully lovely in the morning. But what about my veggies?

[cohan]

Really nice, Panayoti, especially with the morning light! I like the westridge a lot- I need to do something like this where I can make some larger plants happy, but have to pick a good spot for it, still struggling a bit with issues of scale and proximity between larger plant beds and rock gardens etc...

[cohan]

A few flowers from just under a week ago
Potentilla nepalensis Ron McBeath I have a couple of forms of this species now, and really like the flowers; this one I think I have sited a bit better, and the more upright plants around it (Veronica, Achillea etc) seem to be keeping it a bit more vertical. The other one I have (Miss Wilmott) is sprawled a couple of feet in each direction- I think it might be best planted under an open shrub..



Geranium himalayense The big flush of flowering is much earlier on our extensive patches of this, but there is occasional rebloom; this particular patch has been mowed twice- once after flowering and a couple of weeks later when my friend thought it was supposed to be mowed all the time...lol; The young foliage is perhaps nicer than the flowers, of which I really don't like the colour...



Echinacea- I'd have to go check the rest of the name; supposed to be white, not sure if it will ever get much past this stage this year.. I bought this as an end of season $1.00 plant some weeks back, it was still very healthy, with one bud which has very slowly got to this point..

[Bundraba!]

Wow! Let There Be Light! Wonderful images Panayoti! The sun never sets on the rock garden! Nice to see some proof of this theory.