Meriwether Lewisia

[Wallace]

My Lewisia are sprouting.  These are my first.  Any advice ?

[Lori S.]

Hi, Wallace.  Welcome to the site!
What species are you growing, and what conditions are you growing them under now?  
(I don't claim to know much of anything about growing lewisias - have only had them self-seed with no help from me! - but it would be interesting to know about.  More info will almost certainly stimulate discussion from knowledgeable people!   )

[RickR]

Nice to see you here on the Forum, Wallace!  I am practically a Lewisia-know-nothing, but I also have some L. cotyledon seedlings emerging this spring.  I'll be listening for helpful hints, too.

[Todd Boland]

I've grown L. cotyledon, pygmaea, nevadensis and longipetala from seed.  I always use a well-drained media and a surface covering of grit as they are prone to rotting at the collar.  I do not pot them on until they are about an inch across (thin them accordingly).  They are surprisingly fast growers.  While fleshy, do not allow the seedlings to get too dry.  Really, in the big theme of things, they are not difficult to grow from seed....at least the ones I've tried!

[deesen]

Meriwether has only one 'r'   (correction made - MMcD)

I have a Lewisia columbiana rupicola that has a very compact form, almost cushion like, I hope the image below will illustrate that. It came to me as "Southern Mountain Form" and I wonder if anyone is able to tell me more about it. For example are the "Southern Mountains" a particular range of mountains,and where are they situated.

With the retirement of Ron Ratko access to fresh(ish!) Lewisia seed is going to be much like extracting manure from a rocking horse in the UK where there are lots of Lewisia growers.

[Lori S.]

Hi, David! Nice to have you join us here!
 
As a starting point, at least, these sites show the range for your plant.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=LECOR2

This site is fairly detailed:
http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=Lewisia&Species=columbiana&Trinomial=rupicola

[deesen]

Hi Lori, thanks for the welcome and thanks too for the Links.

The little Lewisia columbiana rupicola I pictured actually came to me as "Saddle Mountain Form and not "Summer Mountain Form" (brain was working at a much slower pace than fingers were!!) so no wonder I wasn't able to find any references to it.

Roy Davidson in "Lewisias" does mention it.

"Lewisia columbiana var rupicola...................In 1931 Carl and Edith English collected a new specimen from Saddle Mountain in the northern Oregon Coast Range. In 1934 Carl English published his Saddle Mountain plant as l.rupicola. Roxanne Ferris (1944) reclassified it as a subspecies of L. columbiana and Hitchcock (1964) reduced the Saddle Mountain entity to a variety"

Davidson goes on to say "Both morphlogically and ecologically, however, L columbiana var rupicola might be considered a distinct species. I agree with Davidson it's form and compactness are quite different to any other Lewisa species I grow (I doubt if the Taxonomical community will be quaking in their shoes though! ).