Alpines - June, 2012

[Tim Ingram]

A few things flowering on our sand bed at the moment. The oxalis keeps producing one flower every now and again, but what a colour! Except for the thyme all of these were only planted last autumn and have taken to the conditions well. The Leucogynes is planted on the north side of a large block of tufa, with the hope that it might be a little cooler and moister - I am quite surprised that it has kept looking so good through hot dry spells this spring.

[Lori S.]

You have the most amazing plants, Tim!  I'd love to see your gardens... I can just imagine poring over it, inch by inch, to see all the wonders!
I planted out my Lactuca intricata some time ago, and it is tightening up, though it's still hard to imagine it becoming a spiny shrub.

Campanula orphanidea, now blooming... it looks somewhat different than the photos, so I'll have to check out the ID.


Dracocephalum heterophyllum and Sedum pilosum... as I always notice, there's nothing like these close-ups to show where some weeding is needed.    (Well, I tell myself at least it's a million seedlings of Asyneuma limonifolium I'm weeding out, not weeds per se... as if that makes a difference.  )
 

Penstemon virens... lots of seedlings from it, too.  In a very short time, I've realized there's nothing like gravel to catch and hold seeds!

[Hoy]

Tim and Lori, your plants seem to behave! Here's one I have brought up from seed - first flower I've seen although it is many years old and the name long forgotten. Should be a plant for the rockery but are getting too big. Is it the climate?

The leaves are silvery and finely divided. The flower is yellow (I had always thought it would be white) and daisy-like.

   

[Lori S.]

You certainly have a lot of interesting and unfamiliar plants, Trond!  That one looks very nice, even if you think it is a bit large.

Silene pusilla:

[Hoy]

You certainly have a lot of interesting and unfamiliar plants, Trond!  That one looks very nice, even if you think it is a bit large.

Thanks Lori! However, if we both made inventory lists of our rockery subjects my believe is yours would be the longer

[Hoy]

... lots of seedlings from it, too.  In a very short time, I've realized there's nothing like gravel to catch and hold seeds!

Agree! I remember once that I went collecting interesting seedlings in the gravel at the pathways in the churchyard before they were removed

[Lori S.]

Messing around today with a new camera...

Telesonix jamesii v. heucheriformis:


The flowers on Gentiana siphonantha are a really exquisite, rich blue... now, if only I'd get to see them when they're open!  (They do open... I caught a lucky glimpse one sunny day.)  Well, maybe tomorrow, if it doesn't rain most of the day as it did today.


Aethionema glaucescens, a different plant with a little different form than the other one that was recently posted:


Saxifraga paniculata v. minutifolia 'Red-backed Spider' survived the move last September out of the disintegrating "chocolate brownie" trough into a new tufa bed, and will bloom soon...

[Todd Boland]

Wonderful display Lori!  You seem to have a lot more blooming at the moment than I....I have G. siphonantha this year...maybe it will bloom in a couple of years.

Flowering now are Androsace muscoidea (got this from Stephanie Ferguson last summer), Campanula pilosa, lewisia columbiana rupicola and Lychnis yunnanense

[Todd Boland]

A few more...penstemon hallii, Saxifraga Fosters Red, Saxifraga cebennensis and Viola kunarwarensis

[Todd Boland]

last year I grew a bunch of meconopsis...I'm delighted that all three bloomed this year.  M. grandis, M. baileyi 'Alba' and M. 'Hensol Violet'

[Lori S.]

Gorgeous plants, Todd!  Androsace muscoidea is delightful, and I hope my Campanula pilosa looks like yours one day!  I haven't even heard of most of those... love the red-flowered Sax too!  (I won't even comment on the meconopsis, especially the dark one... bah, humbug.   )

[RickR]

Yes, that androsace is very special, and the campanula with its color fading really gives it a different look.  Very pleasing!

[Lori S.]

A cute little Silene/Lychnis/Saponaria that I will have to ID.  Anyone recognize it?


Saponaria lutea:


First bloom ever on Genista delphinensis:


Arenaria grandiflora:


Incarvillea himalayense zhongdianensis:


Asyneuma limonifolium, starting to bloom:


Onosma euboica x2:
 

[Todd Boland]

Could the mystery be Silene davidii?

Onosma rank up with blue corydalis for me!  I managed to get one to survive once through a winter but not since.

[Lori S.]

Could the mystery be Silene davidii?

Good suggestion but I don't think so... doesn't seem to match what I have as Silene davidii/Lychnis kantzeensis (bad photo but only one readily available: