What do you see on your garden walks? 2012

[cohan]

Lots of colour still, Lori! We also have the Euonymous, at its finest of the year in seed! which I've mentioned is sprawling around in an apple tree, now as tall as I let the apples get, which is as high as I can reach with semi-long pruners..
I'm jealous of the oak- any oak! and the Silene looks very nice, not least for the late flowering...

[Hoy]

Today is the first day since last weekend it doesn't rain!
Went out to picture some plants not damaged by the heavy showers.

Almost all my Clematis are still in flower. Here are two different kinds:  'Ernest Markham' or a similar hybrid climbing in a Actinidia arguta which threatens to become too big and a heracleifolia type among other weedy plants The heracleifolia hybrids are semishrubs and late flowering.

Corydalis/Pseudofumaria lutea has selfsowed and the 3 months old seedlings flower continuously!

Also the Cyclamen hederacea has just started flowering.

I have two kinds of annual Impatiens. One gets more than 2m/7ft high and the other barely reaches 1m/3ft. They selfseed a lot but the seedlings are easy to remove and I always let a few plants grow to flower and seed.

Lilium rosthornii is very late and the flower colour is very pale this year.

A Malva or something similar is still producing flowers despite the rain.

[cohan]

I planted a few seedlings of one of those annual weedy Impatiens, from my cousin who had hundreds of them coming up, but I guess I chose the spots poorly and nothing came of them...lol
The leaves on that Cyclamen are excellent! Very nice Lily flower too..

[Hoy]

Cohan, tell me if you want some seed - or acorns

[fleurbleue]

Hoy, what is the name of your purple blue Impatiens ? A very nice one I did'nt know !

[cohan]

Acorns? what kind do you have? I don't think many oaks are hardy here, but really I'd only want any that stay small- I don't want any more shade..lol

[Tim Ingram]

We had an especially fine sunset tonight with a rainbow and low warm light, and many of the plants seem to join in with rich colours and cyclamen flowering. The pictures don't really do it justice, the whole garden was bathed in a golden light!

[RickR]

Tim, your gardens never cease to tantalize...

Hoy, what is the name of your purple blue Impatiens ? A very nice one I did'nt know !

Yes, I thought that one was particularly nice, too.  As a point of information, Impatiens species apparently do not cross easily.  Just last Saturday, Nick Turland, from the Missouri Botanical Gardens and one of the speakers on the NARGS speaker tour, presented two talks at our Chapter meeting.  (He is also co-director of the Flora of China Project.)  He says impatiens are not promiscuous at all. 

I also had dinner with Nick that evening.  It was just him, one other Chapter member and me.  What a treat to have so much one on one time with such a man! 

[cohan]

Great views, Tim- the first border especially shows a rich tapestry of texture and colour

Rick, interesting about Impatiens..

[Hoy]

Hoy, what is the name of your purple blue Impatiens ? A very nice one I did'nt know !

Nicole, sorry, I have no name. Got seed from Chris Chadwell some years ago. Do you want seed?

Acorns? what kind do you have? I don't think many oaks are hardy here, but really I'd only want any that stay small- I don't want any more shade..lol

Cohan, no oak stays small here! Maybe except those that freeze back or are damaged by strong winds and tough weathers!

[Kelaidis]

Your autumnal colors, Tim and Hoy, are enchanting. We have a little bit of fall color starting--and I expect it will accelerate this week when temps drop near freezing at night: there is even the possibility of snow. Typical Colorado weather! Meanwhile, there are lots of plants still blooming and even the annuals are glorious...

1) Bulbine abyssinica has been blooming all summer--and still has fresh flowers on it! This is a high Drakensberg collection and totally hardy.
2) This dwarf Chrysothamnus nauseosus is growing in the meadow just west of my house: that's my girlfriend, Jan, in the distance. This is thriving despite the hottest year on record, and one of the driest of recent summers. Probably seeded from my garden.
3) Crocus cancellatus (slightly out of focus)--one of my favorite autumn species.
4) Eriogonum allenii was still attractive, but since seed was beginning to fall, I harvested it right after I took this picture (you can see the edge of the seed bag on the left.) That's a good 3-4 months of bloom!
5) A miniature form of Harpochloa falx from High Country Gardens. A hardy South African grass.
6) I( think I posted a picture of this Muhly last time--but this is a better picture of it in the Rock Alpine Garden. The most spectacular ornamental grass we grow (Muhlenbergia reverchonii)
7) and two pictures taken at different times and angles of my patch of Muhlenbergia torreyi, the Great Plains fairy ring muhly that forms huge fairy rings in the wild on slopes.
9) I have finally got a good yellow form of S. x jamensis to grow for me in my dry garden: this blooms for months and combines well with other xeriscape perennials and succulents.
10) A closeup of the pink Schizostylis coccinea--I believe 'Mrs. Hegarty', which I love. Wish it didn't need it so moist!

[fleurbleue]

Hoy, I would be very glad to receive some  Impatiens seeds  !

[RickR]

Panayoti, is the Schizostylis coccinea hardy for you?  I like the pink much better than the intense reds. The wandering curls of the three part stigma is quite interesting and attractive. 
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What do you get when you cross Melica ciliata with Bouteloua gracilis?
--- Harpochloa falx...  (at least that's what it looks like to me. )

[cohan]

Cohan, no oak stays small here! Maybe except those that freeze back or are damaged by strong winds and tough weathers!

Well, freezing back is likely here  though my property is sheltered from the worst winds...

[RickR]

Picea omorika 'Treblitzch' and same, taken from the other side with the fall color of a dwarf Balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus) and past their prime (!) flowers of Lespedeza bicolor.
          

The Yeddo Euonymus (Euonymus hamiltonianus var. sieboldianus), rivals the best euonymuses for fall fruit, in my opinion.  Very nice for inside the house, too.
          

               

Admittedly not the best pics here.  The green leafed American Smoke tree (Cotinus obavatus) makes its fall color change over from the deep maroon to bright orange-red.  The Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), at least in my yard, holds the old needles on the trunk form many years.  Other brown needles in the pic are normal fall senesence, as the needles only last for 2-4 years.
          

Forsythia mandshurica 'Vermont Sun' (Mandchurian Forsythia) has almost round leaves, uncharacteristic of the genus.  On the sunny side of the bush, yellow fall leaves get a red blush.