Image of the day

[McDonough]

I have tried F. pudica along with other frits - and if I am lucky I can just see the tip of the leaf emerging before the slugs eat it all - all the way down to the bottom of the stem so I end up with a hole in the soil instead. It's depressing. I would love to grow frits.

Trond, I feel your pain, when I lived and gardened in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle Washington area, the slugs were like "major wildlife" and it became a constant war to fight slugs.  For areas where one grew the small precious treasures (let's say, like Fritillaria pudica), I would keep a ring of metaldehyde slug bait (thick gray goopy liquid) around that area.  Since the slugs can still travel up to a meter after ingesting the poison, the ring needs to be at least 1 meter away from choice plants.  So, I keep a ring of metaldehyde slug bait around the entire rock garden area, with frequent additional applications of the bait.  Of course the other thing I did, was refocus my efforts on plants that were not as attractive to slugs, so for example, I stopped growing dwarf campanula species as slugs of all species would commit suicide missions to get at a tasty campanula morsel   But things like Rhododendron species grew fantastically there, species I could not even begin to consider back in New England, so it opened up a whole new world of plants to explore in that area.

Back to the frits, I do have to do a daily check on them and pick off lily beetle (they especially love F. pudica), and if left for a week without checking, that little grove of F. pudica can be literally destroyed. 

[Todd Boland]

Mark, the F. pudica in the alpine house are only 4-5 inches, so significantly smaller than yours.

[McDonough]

Flowering now and putting on a display more impressive than imagined, is a rare variegated form of Epimedium sempervirens.  It doesn't have a cultivar name yet, it is just referenced as E. sempervirens "Variegated #1".   This form was purchased in Japan by Darrell Probst in 1997, who says it "cost a small fortune".

What a stunner it is, even more compelling than my photos which fail to adequately capture the intensity and nuance of color of the brilliant new foliage embracing creamy white flowers, all hovering above dark leathery winter-evergreen leaves.  To quote Darrell, the variegation of new foliage is supposed to turn "a swirling collage of white, pink, and light green" which last well into summer.

I'm posting this as the Image of the Day, but will follow up in the Woodlander - Epimedium 2010 thread with additional images.

[Hoy]

Trond, I feel your pain, when I lived and gardened in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle Washington area, the slugs were like "major wildlife" and it became a constant war to fight slugs.  For areas where one grew the small precious treasures (let's say, like Fritillaria pudica), I would keep a ring of metaldehyde slug bait (thick gray goopy liquid) around that area.  Since the slugs can still travel up to a meter after ingesting the poison, the ring needs to be at least 1 meter away from choice plants.  So, I keep a ring of metaldehyde slug bait around the entire rock garden area, with frequent additional applications of the bait.  Of course the other thing I did, was refocus my efforts on plants that were not as attractive to slugs, so for example, I stopped growing dwarf campanula species as slugs of all species would commit suicide missions to get at a tasty campanula morsel   But things like Rhododendron species grew fantastically there, species I could not even begin to consider back in New England, so it opened up a whole new world of plants to explore in that area.

Back to the frits, I do have to do a daily check on them and pick off lily beetle (they especially love F. pudica), and if left for a week without checking, that little grove of F. pudica can be literally destroyed. 

I have for the time being given up frits and other slug foods as it is impractical to use poison where I had possibilities to grow them. Though when I have time I think of building a new rock garden of some sort of raised bed. On the other hand many of the typical rock garden plants do not tolerate the climate here.

I do grow rhodos, have some hundred plants I think, both species and cultivars; and many from seed.
The lily beetle is here too but not a serious problem at home for me yet but at my cabin at the southeast coast it is a problem.
Of course you are right! You have to exploit the possibilities where you live, it's a wealth of plants out there to be grown.

[Weiser]

Here is a little cushion Phlox that grows at 8500' on dry windy summits. It grows as a dense, tight, prickley,  domed mat. 1-1.5 inches(2.5-4cm) tall, and 8-12 inches(20-30cm) across. The flowers are all snow white in it's parent population. The flowers measure 3/8 inch across(1cm).
I belive it to be Phlox covillei (syn Phlox condensata)

[Lori S.]

A beauty, John - great to see plants in the wild!

What an amazing barrenwort, Mark- stunning!  The old foliage is in incredibly good shape.  (I think I have reached the conclusion that even the evergreen ones are not actually evergreen here.)

[Hoy]

Here is a little cushion Phlox that grows at 8500' on dry windy summits. It grows as a dense, tight, prickley,  domed mat. 1-1.5 inches(2.5-4cm) tall, and 8-12 inches(20-30cm) across. The flowers are all snow white in it's parent population. The flowers measure 3/8 inch across(1cm).
I belive it to be Phlox covillei (syn Phlox condensata)

I like this kind of Phlox better than those usually grown here, the big paniculata hybrids!

[McDonough]

Here is a little cushion Phlox that grows at 8500' on dry windy summits. It grows as a dense, tight, prickley,  domed mat. 1-1.5 inches(2.5-4cm) tall, and 8-12 inches(20-30cm) across. The flowers are all snow white in it's parent population. The flowers measure 3/8 inch across(1cm).
I belive it to be Phlox covillei (syn Phlox condensata)

John, that's a beauty, I love the western phloxes... every bit as good as Androsace.  What the dangerously prickly bad-boy to the right of the phlox?  Are you able to grow this in your Sparks/Reno NV garden?

Does anyone know the name of the pink counterpart to the white Phlox 'Tiny Bugles'?  I grow both 'Tiny Bugles', which is tiny and adorable, but I have the pink version of 'Tiny Bugles' in two of my troughs in full flower right noww... would like to get a name on it.  I'll post photos later on.

[Todd Boland]

Stunning plant John!  I wish the western phlox would grow here but I've tried them several times and no go.  I am trying yet again with P. kelseyi this year but I am not holding my breath.

[Weiser]

What is the dangerously prickly bad-boy to the right of the phlox?  Are you able to grow this in your Sparks/Reno NV garden?

The prickly bad boy is a start of Grusonia emoryi (syn. G. stanlyi). It put on one pad last year and made it through it"s first winter without a scratch.
Yes! I do grow both in my garden for now! They are both new starts from last season.

[Todd Boland]

Here is my Primula marginata...just got a new camera and macro lens...makes for very artistic shots with shallow depths of field.

[Hoy]

Here is my Primula marginata...just got a new camera and macro lens...makes for very artistic shots with shallow depths of field.

You certainly got it sharp! I have problems with that using my "new" automatic digital camera. Was easier with my old Nikon.
I have no rock garden Primulas blooming yet but lots of woodland Primulas.

[Kelaidis]

There are just too many things blooming to pick out only one, so I'm including three of my hundred or so faves. We have had annoyingly nice weather (cool sunny days, cool nights) for weeks: the apricots and almonds, magnolias and forsythias have been blooming for weeks (they usually just bloom a day or two before turning crispy black)...aaaah!

The Fritillarias both came from Jane McGary, (still our NARGS editor and bulb expert extraordinaire)...I realize they are an acquired taste. One I have acquired apparently (I think I grow 30 species at last count--not all of them deign to bloom every year). The black one is F. caucasica and the giant speckled one is F. kotschyana from a Hewer collection.

The Junos have been blooming for weeks: this little morsel came to us as I. zinaidae. There are probably 1000 clumps of Iris bucharica blooming at Denver Botanic Gardens as I type this...

Spring: we wait all year for it, and when it's here I'm a nervous wreck trying to keep up...

[McGregor]

Panayoti - I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that spring is just too quick when it finally comes - everything is rushing along - magnolias are just about to break here - camelias are doing well and everything is going by just so fast. And I've just managed to finish a sandbed - pics to follow sometime - so I've had no time to post anything for a couple of weeks with family having got as far as London to fly back to Washington. Just missed flying out Thursday - cancelled flight then canceled again today and now booked for Tuesday - and the skies are as clear as they can be so this is a short moment inside to read what's being posted.

I love the Iris - very beautiful - I've got I. bucharica in flower for the last week - but that one is very nice and so compact - does it set seed?

[Todd Boland]

I agree Panayoti..that iris is wonderful!