Image of the day

[McDonough]

Updated Image of the Day: this year perhaps due to some combination of weather conditions, Helleborus niger is changing to a strong pink color, more so than in previous years.  Here's the photo link taken just 4 days ago, and two photos taken recently.
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=24.msg1123#msg1123

[Hoy]

Mark, your H. niger seem still to be in good shape! Mine are at their final stage. But others, among them several H. orientalis seedlings, are coming in full stride now.

I would have liked to be able to stay home these days enjoying the garden.  With no freezing temperatures for the last three weeks, even at night, plants develop fast. The maximum yesterday was 13C and the night temperature 10C. Alas, tomorrow we head for the mountains and snow for a week!

[McDonough]

Today's Image of the Day highlights an excellent dwarf Tulipa species, T. vvedenskyi, worth growing just for the fantastic squiggly serpentine silver foliage, but the flowers are red hot as well.  It is shown here growing on one of Phil Pearson's high-fire clay pots (Phil is proprietor of Grand Ridge Nursery in Issaquah, Washington), this pot still intact and unbroken after being exposed outside for 25 years.  This Tulipa was planted out in the garden a few years ago, always appearing each spring although some years it doesn't flower.

Curiously, last May 2009, I spotted a bright red flower about 100' downhill and away from my solitary planting of T. vvedenskyii, and to my surprise, it looks like a vvedenskyi hybrid seedling

[RickR]

Very cool!  I ha some seedlings germinated last season of these.  I hope they are cold hardy enough.

For our American inquisitive minds, regarding the pronunciation of the "vv" in the epithet, if the slavic language from which it comes is like Slovenian (also a slavic language), I can offer this morsal: when a "v" is followed by a consonant (and there is seemingly no vowel in the syllable to pronounce) then the "v" is pronounced "oo" as in moon.

[McDonough]

Very cool!  I ha some seedlings germinated last season of these.  I hope they are cold hardy enough.

For our American inquisitive minds, regarding the pronunciation of the "vv" in the epithet, if the slavic language from which it comes is like Slovenian (also a slavic language), I can offer this morsal: when a "v" is followed by a consonant (and there is seemingly no vowel in the syllable to pronounce) then the "v" is pronounced "oo" as in moon.

Rick, so how would you phoeneticize "Vvendeskyi".  I tried looking at some web pages on Russian alphabet to English equivalencies, assuming that A.I. Vvedenskii, contributing author to Flora of the USSR, is indeed Russian (for which this Tulipa is named), but found it too confusing.

[RickR]

Um . . . it's pronounce just like the original name would be, with an "i" on the end.  (How's that for a cop out.)  Actually, it is one of the few steadfast rules in botanical latin - if the botanical latin is a latinized version of a name of a person or place, then the pronunciation of said name is preserved.

But I would think the "vv" would be
oo - w...
The second "v" would be a "w" in American English.

[Todd Boland]

Does anyone know anyone of Russian descent?  When I first saw this spelled, I thought is was a 'w', not two 'v's.  I have the species, purchased from Ruksans....no sign of it yet.

Mark, that niger is wonderful...mine never turns pink.

[McDonough]

Um . . . it's pronounce just like the original name would be, with an "i" on the end.  (How's that for a cop out.)  Actually, it is one of the few steadfast rules in botanical latin - if the botanical latin is a latinized version of a name of a person or place, then the pronunciation of said name is preserved.

But I would think the "vv" would be
oo - w...
The second "v" would be a "w" in American English.

That was the part I don't know about, how to begin pronouncing Mr. Vvedenskii's name; so based on what you suggest, it would be pronounced
oo-wed-den'-ski ?  Thanks for the "vv" or vee-vee tip 

[McDonough]

Mark, that niger is wonderful...mine never turns pink.

Just took a quick stroll in the garden with umbrella in the pouring wind-driven rain, and the Helleborus niger is darker pink still... will try and get a final pic.  I typically get a lot of seed from this plant, I'm happy to share seed, although not sure if the pink coloration will hold true in seedlings or not.

[RickR]

I'd like to try some fresh seed, Mark.  Hopefully, one of us will remember when the time comes . . .

I do have a fellow employee, Lena, who is a Ukrainian immigrant. (That's pronounced Lee'-a-nah, from Olena, and not Scandinavian.)  Of course, she speaks fluent Russian too.  Tomorrow I think my shift will overlap with hers and I'll ask.  I am constantly asking here language related questions.  There are so many similar words in Slovenian, Russian and Ukrainian, but most have a slightly different slant to the meaning.  Very interesting, at least to me.

[Hoy]

Nice tulips, Mark. I have not dared to try this one and that's not because of the name!  (Aren't the es pronounced ye by the way?) Few tulip species like my wet climate and I don't like to grow in pots.

Regarding the red niger, isn't the  red color a sign of it been pollinated  and age? Many Ranunculaceae have this trait.

[McDonough]

Regarding the red niger, isn't the  red color a sign of it been pollinated  and age? Many Ranunculaceae have this trait.

True enough Trond, but while it always takes on a pink color at late anthesis, never has it shown such deep color as this year.  Here's one more photo of my Helleborus niger, taken in the pouring rain and gale force winds yesterday... sorry it's a bit out of focus (the plant would not sit still).

[Hoy]

You are right, Mark! The color is extraordinary. Looks more like a lenten rose in color. I have seen similar color change in some windflower (Anemone nemorosa) here. Some years they achieve deep red flowers (or what you will call the color) other years not so. If I move them often the color fails to develop altogether!

[Todd Boland]

Mine might turn a slight pink but that one is stunning!

Checked out the bulb frame at the Botanical garden today....Scilla miczenkoana in full bloom.  Mine outdoors is nearly open too....maybe by early next week it will be open along with some crocus if we get the 4 days of 8-10 C they are forecasting.

[RickR]

A simple Scilla sibirica looking especially dapper.  March has been so unseasonably warm and dry here . . .