What do you see on your garden walks? 2012

[Toole]

Managed a walk around the garden very early this morning before the rain set in for the rest of the day. and while a number of the Meconopsis are over this Meconopsis baileyi alba still has a number of buds to come.

Cheers Dave.

[cohan]

Rick- I wonder if any of those affected have enough below ground to recover? I have some SA bulb seedlings I let get a bit too dry recently, watching to see how some of those will recover- or not..

Dave- nice Mec! Rain is a distant memory here...

[Hoy]

Memory of rain isn't that faint although now the colour of the precipitation has  changed to the same colour as the meconopsis! I prefere the meconopsis though

[Hoy]

Today, 2 December 2012: Two inches of snow and -2C. A very late flowering ling strive to flower still while the Saxifrage rests and spares it strength till a spring display!

   

[Bundraba!]

Cactus Park on Friday; Cotoneaster apiculatus seedling; 'Color Guard' Yucca and Satureja.

   

Cactus Park on Sunday (today); Geranium dalmaticum and Sage Brush. It looks like another Champlain Valley winter in progress. Next might be severe dry frost on bare ground -after 50+ balmy degrees expected on Tuesday, of course, but I hope not for the sake of the living things here.

   

[cohan]

Nice Geranium, Michael! Now you and Trond are only about a month and a half behind us 

[Toole]

Guess that means i'm 6 months ahead or is it behind ? you Cohan ........ Grin

Anyway here's a pic looking up into a Codonopsis flower --It would be interesting to see this under ultraviolet light, revealing an insect's eye view .

Cheers Dave.

[Michael J Campbell]

Excellent picture Dave.

[Hoy]

Nice Geranium, Michael! Now you and Trond are only about a month and a half behind us 

Well Cohan, I hope I'm not that much behind you when the spring arrives

Dave, which one is it? Here is Codonopsis clematidea from 2011:

[McDonough]

Quite the coincidence guys (Dave and Trond), that you each have taken remarkably similar photos of a Codonopsis flower, they look like the same species, both very nicely photographed and showing off the intricate detail of the flowers.

[cohan]

Beautiful Codonopsis, Tond and Dave! Realistically, I will always be behind all current members (until we get members in the arctic or antarctic!)  when it comes to climate- so the only thing I can be ahead in is advancing winter...lol
Here are a couple of views from my 'garden'- though all the trees are native, and self sown; Then a view of one of the new rock gardens; I built these up quite a bit (though the underbase is mostly soil, so it will sink for sure) for drainage for plants that like to stay rather dry. The side effect of that is that they will get much less snow cover- especially this particular planting, which is in a drier part of the yard which gets less snow cover to start with. I know snow isn't vital or even good for all plants, but I think some insulation can't hurt when those -30/-40C winds blow, and this site is fairly exposed in one direction, though I'm working on closing that gap  and other exposures around this planting with shrubs and berms!
To the left of the photo, which is north, is a non-rock berm for natives that like it dry (the planting is between two large spruces) but it's somewhat more organic soil than in the rock beds... My hope is that the berm will slow winds and catch snow; The more exposed direction is the opposite way- our driveway comes in from the south-east, and that is the only real gap in our windbreak of trees and/or forest all the way around the acreage.

[cohan]

A couple more rock garden views- these taken at night a couple of nights ago, showing the two rock gardens in front of the  house- these get much deeper snow cover, since they get some of the snow shovelled off paths as well, especially the first one, which has paths on 3 sides, and a winter woodpile on the 4th!...

[Toole]

Thanks Michael ,Trond, Mark and Cohan 

I raised it from seed as Codonopsis clematidea --it has a sprawling growth habit.

Cheers Dave.

[Bundraba!]

Saxifrages gussied up for the season etc. December fourth 2012 was a fine day to be out in the garden. The last photo is a Sclerocactus glaucus seedling good through two winters so far.

           

And these: Dianthus simulans, a wooly thyme and Goldthread: And a tiny Iberis from friends in Quebec that always sets buds in the fall.

   

[Spiegel]

Very colorful, Michael