Alpines in May

[Lori S.]

Members, please join in and show your floral displays or interesting foliage for the month of May!

As it is mostly cloudy today... and as I glance out the window, drizzle and sleet just now!  ... this may be as open as I'll get to see the flowers on Vitaliana primuliflora var. cinerea today.

[Hoy]

I had a Vitaliana for years but a shading shrub put an end to it. Have to try once more - maybe at the roof of my shed!

PS. Here the day has been very sunny but cold with wind straight from the Arctic.

[Lori S.]

Hmm, great idea to get the maximum use from your property!  I may be planting on the roof soon as well.   

[Hoy]

The roof with plants. I will eventually plant more.

[Todd Boland]

That is just too cool!  You must have to water like crazy all summer with so little soil volume.

The Pulsatilla pratensis 'Nigrescens' I grew last year are just about open.

[RickR]

I have some sprouted Pulsatilla pratensis ssp. nigricans seed collected in Sweden from NARGS.  Is this different from 'Nigrescens'?  They germinated quite easily for a stored pulsatilla seed.

[Hoy]

That is just too cool!  You must have to water like crazy all summer with so little soil volume.

I water in May and early June if necessary, not in the summer. I have lost some plants but try to grow species coping with this regime.

[Lori S.]

Rick, from googling, I haven't found any association of the genus Pulsatilla with the word 'Nigrescens'... ?

On the topic of violets, how hardy is Viola canina?  I grew a bunch last year, and am waiting for them to emerge (I hope!)

PS  Lovely weather today... It's snowing sideways in gusting winds to 80 km/hour.   

[Hoy]

On the topic of violets, how hardy is Viola canina?  I grew a bunch last year, and am waiting for them to emerge (I hope!)

PS  Lovely weather today... It's snowing sideways in gusting winds to 80 km/hour.   

Viola canina is very hardy here, growing far north and in sub alpine zone in south as well as in the lowland.
It has snowed in southern Norway too the last couple of days! Not here, we have sun but ice cold air from the arctic barely above 0C and the plants have stagnated.

[Todd Boland]

Rick, it is indeed var. nigricans.....I have way too many plants and can't keep some of their names straight!

[RickR]

Rick, it is indeed var. nigricans.....I have way too many plants and can't keep some of their names straight!

Thank goodness for computers and spread sheets.  I don't know what I would do without my master list.  It is the reason I first got a PC - to catalog my plants.

[Lori S.]

Rick, from googling, I haven't found any association of the genus Pulsatilla with the word 'Nigrescens'... ?
 Oops, sorry - I guess I should have been addressing that comment to Todd, not to Rick.  I did not read carefully enough.

Thanks for the info on Viola canina, Trond.

PS  More fine spring weather - a skiff of snow, ice, and a forecasted high of -2 deg C today.  

[RickR]

You know, weather predictors have always said that my region would be one of the least affected by global warming.  While I consistently have longer falls and this super early spring, I can hardly imagine the still periodic snows that you three are having.

[Hoy]

You know, weather predictors have always said that my region would be one of the least affected by global warming.  While I consistently have longer falls and this super early spring, I can hardly imagine the still periodic snows that you three are having.

The cold weather here now has nothing to do with global warming but with less activity on the sun (fewer sunspots). The weather in Westen Europe is affected by sunspots and lack of them! The last winter has been one of the 10 warmest globally but one of the coldest here for 100 years and the sun's activity hasn't been lower for more than 70 years.

[Hatchett]

I am new here so i thought i would dive right in and try not to make too many mistakes(you know, old dog, new tricks). I took some pictures of some of the plants in my Idaho garden yesterday(may 5 2010). we are still freezing at night so we are not at the peak flowering season yet. here are a few pics. my url for the rest of them is at :
 http://ImageEvent.com/teita/may52010rocakgarden

http://photos.imageevent.com/teita/may52010rocakgarden/websize/5-5-10-8.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/teita/may52010rocakgarden/websize/4.jpg

Jim Hatchett, Eagle Idaho zone 3?