Re: Image of the day - 2013

[cohan]

It's all relative, David, all relative...lol This should be a short cold spell- yesterday and today, high of -10 tomorrow, and forecast +6 by Tuesday- we'll see! We still haven't had anything below -30C- barely that even- so really nothing extreme for us, and just a medium snowfall yesterday (maybe 12-15cm) no blizzard like many places in the last few days..

John- good phrase! It's among my favourite looks for the trees..

[Todd Boland]

Brian, those images are stunning...I am in love with that Townsendia.

Here is an image of Soldanella alpina growing in the wilds of the Pyrenees, Spain.

[cohan]

Nice one, todd- do you have any idea whether those grasses get tall over the summer or whether they are naturally small or even grazed or something?

[Hoy]

Soldanella montana is a nice plant and one I actually do grow in my woodland.

   


But I fell in love with Brian's two Mentzelia species although they possibly are a little too big for the typical rock garden. Brian, have you tried them in the garden? They seem drought tolerant but do they tolerate more rain?

And of course, the Townsendia is lovely and I like the blue Delphinium too.

After 3 weeks with spring weather up to +9C we are back to the realty of winter - and uncommonly sunny, very cold (that is -6C today!) and no wind. No party frocks on the trees though

In lack of motifs in the garden I dug out this Spruce from last summer:

[Brian_W]

Nice photos everyone.  We recently had a big snow storm, and cohan's photos are perfect.  

John,

Delphinium bicolor ssp. calcicola is endemic to southern Montana and has a similar dormancy as the typical species (although it blooms later).  It is distinguished by its larger flowers, bright blue sepals and petals that lack veins.  

The prickly poppies are one of my favorite plants.  We have A. polyanthemos here, but its not too common.  Last summer I found some beautiful prickly poppies growing in sandy soil.  They were much shorter than A. polyanthemos (but with the same large flowers) and had deeply lobed blue/grey leaves that were covered with fine hairs.  I identified them as A. hispida, a plant that grows in southern Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.  This smaller species would be more suitable for the rock garden.  http://www.wrightmanalpines.com/sites/wrightmanalpines.com/files/A140%20Argemone%20hispida19.JPG

Both Mentzelia species can grow quite tall, but around here M. laevicaulis is usually under 24 inches.  Last summer, I collected seed from M. pumila in the Pryor mountains.  These have lemon yellow flowers and are usually 12 inches tall.  Of course, with the smaller size comes smaller flowers.  http://www.saguaro-juniper.com/i_and_i/flowers/blazing_star/blazingstar_flower2_lge.jpg

A few more:

Stanleya tomentosa weaving its way up through a juniper skeleton:

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w362/townsendia/random%20stuff/318_zps76c8549d.jpg

Clematis columbiana var. tenuiloba

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w362/townsendia/random%20stuff/Clematiscolumbiana3-1_zps363bf539.jpg

Opuntia polyacantha:

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w362/townsendia/random%20stuff/opuntia2-1_zps71a589e5.jpg

Lewisia rediviva in black shale:

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w362/townsendia/random%20stuff/brtblackshale_zps86988d68-1_zpse5a36001.jpg

A "cottonball" during late summer.  I think there are about 7 rosettes hidden under the wool:
(Moderator: Townsendia spathulata "Pryor Mountains Form")

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w362/townsendia/random%20stuff/Cottonball37-4-12-1_zps394ca474.jpg

Fritillaria atropurpurea

http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w362/townsendia/random%20stuff/Fritatropurpurea5-1_zps2c911b24.jpg

[McDonough]

Beautiful photos, in particular, Fritillaria atropurpurea is to die for, great vantage point looking up into the flowers. 

Brian: I added a plant name to the "cottonball" photo so that the name can be searched on the forum; hope I got the name correct.

[bulborum]

Well here some salmon seals which grow in Holland in the dunes
Polygonatum odoratum var odoratum RBGG Dunes Noordwijk
These differs from the more known Polygonatum odoratum var japonicum by having much bigger flowers and berries.
Also the perfume is much stronger
Of-course the names aren't legitimate
but I don't agree with the simple name for both as Polygonatum odoratum
there are to many differences
and they don't exist in an area over 10.000 km

Roland

Editor note: NB. Just adding "Solomon's seal" to allow searching on the common name for Polygonatum.

[cohan]

Re: Mentzelia- the species on the Alplains list right now doesn't have quite the fancy flowers of the big boys, but is still very nice, and at 9cm tall, well within rock garden size!
http://www.alplains.com/images/MentzelInvolu.JPG

Brian, I think you should consider a special thread for your habitat photos- it would be a great resource for the forum for folks to be able to find all/many of your shots in one place- maybe in plant travels, or desert alpines, wherever they seem to you to fit...
The Stanleya is interesting, I've only seen S pinnata..
http://www.alplains.com/images/StanleyPinn.jpg

Roland, nice Polygonatums, I guess these are growing in your nursery?

[bulborum]

Yes Cohen
I found some nice selections

Roland

[Michael J Campbell]

Hepatica  jap asahizuru
Hepatica japonica white
Hepatica nobilis blue with blue anthers.
Hepatica transsilvanica Mrs Elison Spence.

[deesen]

Beautiful Michael, and cracking images too. Same goes for the daffs.

[Hoy]

Brian, beautiful plants everyone of them!

Michael, yours too! Hepatica is one of my favorite genera but I have not started to grow any of the more special ones.

Roland, your Polygonatum is very different from those growing here. Yours have a lot more flowers as you can see, here is the common wild form here:

[Tim Ingram]

Really interesting to see Stanleya tomentosa. This is mentioned by Dwight Ripley in one of his fascinating articles in the AGS Bulletin some 60 years ago, which bring parts of the US flora to life for the reader. I would agree with Cohan about a special thread for those photos - great to see for a gardener from a little island off the coast of Europe!

[bulborum]

Hoy

That's one of the reasons that I don't agree
that all P. odoratum's are the same

Roland

[Spiegel]

Brian, your pictures are wonderful, but I especially like the combination of Lewisia rediviva with the black shale mulch.