Image of the day

[McDonough]

I know that feeling so well. I'm hoping that my surplus seed request manages to secure Trifolium macrocephalum which Mark posted great pictures of in the "Trifolium" board. Plus all the other goodies that I didn't get round to last time - like Allium flavum ssp. tauricum - this time from Mark's "Allium Central" website.

My Surplus Seed Order is being sent in today... Malcolm, I hope you didn't snag the last bit of Trifolium macrocephalum, I put it on my list too!  And if you don't get any A. flavum ssp. tauricum, let me know, I can send some... you need to have little orange, red, and pastel sunset shade onions in your garden.

[McGregor]

I hope we both get it - otherwise I hope there's enough in the packet to split it.

And you're quite right about what I hope I'm going to get with the Allium - it just looks so good -wonderful and so summery in the color mix and the mix of sizes.

[RickR]

I had ordered T. macrocephalum as well.  Us three (maybe more?) will have to post if we get them and have enough to share.

[McDonough]

Don't forget, all you working guys, Lori reminded us that Trifolium macrocephalum is available from Alplains, along with some other choice alpine Trifolium, http://www.alplains.com/

Image of the day:  Crocus biflorus ssp. isauricus, started blooming yesterday, beating its earliest flowering by 2 weeks!  It is a wee thing, very cute... so cute that I'm showing several photos.  The sun was strong yesterday, with the glare it was hard not to get washed out photos, but you'll get the idea.

[Hoy]

Very lovely, Mark! I have some biflorus in my garden too and other species as well but they are still covered by 40cm of snow. Some should have flowered by now.

[McDonough]

Very lovely, Mark! I have some biflorus in my garden too and other species as well but they are still covered by 40cm of snow. Some should have flowered by now.

Yours will be up soon enough I'm sure.  What surprised me, is that the ground is still quite frozen in most of the yard and garden, so walking around looking things over this past weekend, the two days unusually warm and sunny, I did not spot any crocus near flowering except Crocus vitellinus, normally always the first to bloom.  Then suddenly these were in bloom yesterday, popping out of the bare ground like magic

[Todd Boland]

If I'm lucky, I might have my first crocus open by April 1...rare for them to be open earlier.  That is a lovely C. biflorus selection.  I have C. biflorus var. tauri.

[RickR]

wonderful crocus, Mark.  Love the markings on the perianth tubes and the backs of the sepals too.

[Todd Boland]

Photo of the day: Rhodiola rosea.  Here is one that enjoys a distribution throughout the northern hemisphere.  Locally, they grow within the kiss of the sea and as you can see, don't require much soil to thrive!

[Booker]

Superb rhodiola, Todd ... and a lovely photograph.

[Hoy]

Todd, I have seen many "rosenrot" (Rhodiola rosea) in Norway. They grow from sea level to the highest mountains. But I have never seen an individual like this!

[Hoy]

If I'm lucky, I might have my first crocus open by April 1...rare for them to be open earlier.  That is a lovely C. biflorus selection.  I have C. biflorus var. tauri.

You know, Todd, you live in VINLAND and I thought the climate was mild there?

[Kelaidis]

Rhodiola rosea is extremely common everywhere in the Altai mountains I traveled last summer in both Kazakhstan and Mongolia. I took a lot of pictures of it, although the one I am appending is rather typical. I found some monstruouse forms and quite a few other Rhodiola spp. on the trip as well, which I wrote about in Ray Stephenson's terrific Sedum Society Newsletter (first half of my piece is in January 2010, number 92; the second half is out in the next issue).

This is being harvested in Russia in large quantities because of its supposed medicinal properties: There's actually a huge literature on its healing and vitality-enhancing properties, and there is quite an industry promoting and selling it (I'm a bit concerned about overcollection over time). Not quite as serious a problem as Rhinocerus horn or Tiger bones, but worrisome.

[Kelaidis]

Just noticed we're a day or two behind on Booker's little project here, so in honor of my son's eighteenth birthday (yes, it is today!) I shall post what I think is the most beautiful and wonderful of all Rhodiolas: actually, there are quite a few gems in the genus, but this one is one I actually grew for many years (as Rhodiola kirilowii--a different species actually). This apparently should be called Rhodiola linearifolia, and I found it in a lush meadow just below treeline in the Tien Shan, just above Almaty (one of the most magnificent days in my life, which I am writing up for the NARGS bulletin)...This grows in somewhat drier spots than most of the R. rosea I have observed. Not for those who don't love orange!

[Kelaidis]

Just found my monstruose image of Rhodiola rosea from Mongolia.

It's really kinda ugly!