Phacelia sericea

[Kelaidis]

I am not surprised Phacelia is short lived for most people: there are only three perennial species I know of in the genus and dozens of annuals: I believe none of the perennial species are methusalahs.

Phacelia sericea is not purely alpine: it grows in the steppe areas of Northwest Colorado alongside cacti. That gives a hint (along with the fact that the bulk of its congeners are from hot deserts) that the plant is essentially a xerophyte.

No wonder it rots in wet climates! You will have to protect it somehow from excess water in the dormant season to succeed, and even then don't expect it to live forever!

The loveliest forms I have grown are from the Olympic Mts. of Washington: the rosettes are dazzlingly silver. The typical Colorado form is pretty nice. A single flower head produces thousands of seed, so there should be no problem in getting enough seed!

This is a common plant throughout much of the Western Cordillera...I'm surprised it's not commoner in gardens.

[Peter George]

It's not common in many gardens because most of us who don't garden in the dryland west prefer to grow plants that are reliably perennial. I've never kept it more than one winter, and as beautiful as it is, my garden space is better utilized by other beautiful plants that live a bit longer. I've had it sited right next to Eriogonum caespitosa, which has been in the garden for 5 years, and the Phacelia croaked sometime over the winter while the Eriogonum was in full bloom the next spring. As you point out, it must be REALLY xeric.

[cohan]

I've admired this plant (in photos, not in person) for some time, Jane's and Panayotis' notes are very enlightening.. I'll definitely be trying seed of this one sometime!.. I don't mind shortlived if it provides seed as Jane's do ..
While the purple is showier, Jane, I do think the white makes a great contrast-- and I am always drawn to plants with the 'wrong' colour for their genus

[Lori S.]

Hmm, interesting observations.  It's certainly been short-lived in captivity for me here - can't say about in the wild (although the big plant on the way up to Elbow Lake would be memorable enough to keep tabs on...)  It doesn't seem so strongly xeric up in this area... Todd's photo shows it on a river floodplain, and I see it most often at higher elevations on scree slopes that have water running underneath, even keeping company with Epilobium latifolium.

[Todd Boland]

Backing up Lori...whenever I've seen Phacelia sericea in Alberta, it has always has wet-feet at least...river beds, seepage areas, etc.  I never thought of it as xeric per se.

[Kelaidis]

I remember river beds in the Altai carpeted with Orostachys spinosa, which also grew on rocky hillsides in the steppe: river beds may be periodically inundated, but the surface of a river bed can get mighty dry (hence the carpet of xerophytic Orostachys rather than grasses, say, or mesophytes)...their roots would never penetrate down to the wet levels.

Phacelia sericea has obviously adapted to regions of much higher rainfall: it's not a xerophyte in that sense. But I'll bet you that anywhere you see it the surface three or four inches would be extremely well drained and often dry.

In Colorado it's almost a joke how abundantly it grows on road verges at higher elevations (like penstemons): we often speculate on how rare it must have been prior to humans creating vast habitats for it. I often see it growing in rock crevices, however, and rocky screes--usually in full sun where they are well drained. I have never seen it in nivale settings or alongside the likes of Rhodiola rhodantha, which likes wet feet. Rhodiola rosea var. integrifolia can grow very dry.

I still maintain it is (at heart) a xerophyte.

[Gene Mirro]

Here it is growing on Mt. Washburn in Yellowstone Park at around 8,000 ft:



They were big plants, like garden lupines.  I believe this form is v. ciliosa, but I'm not sure.  Note the Mertensia on the right.  These were growing on a steep hillside.