Image of the day

[Hoy]

I haven't been to the Dolomites but I am dreaming of trek there some time.
And Todd, I forgot to say it is from Mt Kenya, Kenya.
I have never been so cold as when lying in a wet sleeping-bag high up in the mountain under the equatorial stars waiting for starting to walk early in the morning! But the vistas and the otherworldly (yes, exactly the right word!) plants made up for cold nights. (I am used to sleep  outside in the winter here in Norway, but my sleeping-bag got soaking wet and took time to dry.)

[Hoppel]

Image for today: Anemone narcissiflora in Maritime Alps - maybe it is not my favourite plant but in nature it looks fabulous in high alpine meadows - photo taken on 2000m on limestone ridge. It takes me back there to warm summer in our black-and-white too long winter. 

[Lori S.]

What a beautiful sight, Michal!  Thanks for posting it.

[Hoy]

This Gladiolus we found growing in almost pure volcanic rock a few places on Mt Kenya. Don't know the species. Anybody who has suggestions?

[Kelaidis]

I love all these Kenyans! I don't have a copy of Goldblatt's Glads north of S Africa, but I have a hunch this would be in there: what a wonderful color! Sunbird pollinated, I suspect.

My image is closer to home: Paeonia cambessedessii blooming with Gentiana acaulis in my home rock garden. This plant is my pride and joy: obtained five or six years ago from Arrowhead Alpines: it flowers so early that the flowers last for several weeks. It's a little bit too big for a classic rock garden, perhaps. But I am really bad at rules.

I always arrange a little party at my house when these are in bloom...it's fun to hear the little yelps as people walk around the bend and see these...

[Todd Boland]

Panayoti, you're killing me with that peony!

[Booker]

Magnificent combination, Panayoti ... thanks for posting.

[McDonough]

This Gladiolus we found growing in almost pure volcanic rock a few places on Mt Kenya. Don't know the species. Anybody who has suggestions?

Trond, I posted links to both of your photos to the Pacific Bulb Society group, and I have an answer for you, it is Gladiolus watsonioides.  See the following two responses, there are some cultivation clues.

Response from John Grimshaw, Gloucestershire, UK:
This is Gladiolus watsonioides in its finest form, once known as G.
mackinderi. It is one of the outstanding plants of Mt Kenya.
 
I am currently selecting images for my talk 'Switchbacks Yes, Suburbs No:
Alpines in Tropical Africa' which I'll be presenting at the NARGS Western
Winter Study Weekend in Medford, Oregon, on Saturday March 6th - more
details available from:
http://www.nargs.org/images/stories/wwsw/west10home.html
Gladiolus watsonioides will be one of the plants I'll be speaking about.

Response from Ernie DeMarie, Tuckahoe NY:
It is Gladiolus watsonioides, which I remember well from some material a prof
brought back from a trip to Kenya and gave to me back when I was doing my thesis
work (on pelargonium species tissue culture) at Cornell. I grew it there and at
NYBG for many years, it never really goes dormant in the sense that it does not
like to go bone dry for long periods of time.  It makes scads of cormlets and is
self fertile.  In a cool greenhouse it tended to flower in summer.  A very
pretty plant and not terribly difficult to grow.

[Todd Boland]

In keeping with the Gladiolus theme, here is G. saundersii growing at our BG in Newfoundland.  It is proving very hardy and reliable, blooming in September-October.

[Todd Boland]

A closer view to show the exqusite markings.

[Kelaidis]

Aaaaah, Todd. You warm the cockles of my heart with the Gladiolus saundersii. It brings sweet memories of the Drakensberg back to me. I have seen this quite a few places in Lesotho, although my first encounter was in March of 1997 with Jim Archibald on that magnificent place, Joubert's Pass, in the Witteberg spur of the Drakensberg. We saw both G. saundersii andG. dalenii growing along the road. It was a particularly tall, stunning form of dalenii. , which we thought we found in seed as well: the seed all turned out to be saundersii when grown on. Oh well!

There are probably a few dozen wonderful Glads in the Drakensberg, but my favorite South African glad has to be G. alatus, that grows in vast colonies in the West Cape (probably not very frost hardy). It does have some look alike cousins that make it up to the colder karoo, so we can dream, perhaps, of one day taming this. Although it does run at the root (tut! tut!) This picture was taken on a field trip out of that enchanting town of Franschoek.

[IMYoung]

This image is from the "cover" of the second issue of the online magazine International Rock Gardener....

main page here:  http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/index.php?log=international

Bringing rock gardeners from around the world together......

Cover photo  is by Zdenek Zvolánek of  Iris rosenbachiana f. nicolai  ´Cormozak´ in his Czech garden.

[McDonough]

This image is from the "cover" of the second issue of the online magazine International Rock Gardener....
main page here:  http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/index.php?log=international
Bringing rock gardeners from around the world together......
Cover photo  is by Zdenek Zvolánek of  Iris rosenbachiana f. nicolai  ´Cormozak´ in his Czech garden.

Ian and/or Maggi, that's a stunning Iris and a stunningly crisp photograph, indeed an image for the day... a welcome sight on this cold gloomy snowy-rainy day. 

[IMYoung]

cold gloom snowy-rainy day.

You having that kind of weather too, eh? Horrible, isn't it? Thank goodness for sunny flower pictures to transport us to a better place!

ZZ is still having too much winter, as well.... I think we're all a bit fed up of it in the Northern Hemisphere, right now!

Glad you like the photo... it enlarges well for the pdf., I posted a reduced version here.

 PS: It's Maggi aboard at the moment, by the way....after midnight here and the Boss is  fast asleep  

[RickR]

That is a fantastic a pic of a fantastic form!  I have seed of Iris rosenbachiana.  Let's hope for the best . . .

Mark, you are just way to creative with the avatar function here.  I suppose I could at least get a crayon and color mine in.