What do you see on your garden walks?

[stephenb]

Trond: I did find  and disposed of the free slug you sent in your parcel 

[cohan]

Thought I'd check in to let you all know, things are still blooming in the High Desert!

John, I wasn't anxious you should run out of blooming or other interesting plants In fact, I assumed you were busy gardening

Huge thunderstorm yesterday afternoon with hail and the works.  Fortunately, the hail didn't last too long and not much damage done.
The new crevices on the cliff held up quite well.  I was afraid I'd find plants in a puddle at the bottom but nothing got washed out.
The acantholimons are starting, and convolvulus and Moltkia petraea are continuing to bloom.  We really needed the rain.

Speaking of precipitation, we have had terrific rain the last days here. However the weather has been worst in the eastern parts. Lots of roads closed, railways closed, houses damaged etc.
We had to check our mountain cabin but had to a 2 1/2 hours longer drive due to a landslide damaging 300m of the main road. Arrived midnight (it is not dark but quite good driving light even in foggy, rainy weather).
This is one of the main roads:


No damages at our place but very wet

I always wish I had a rocky property, but I'm glad not to have this kind of run-off!

[Hoy]

Trond: I did find  and disposed of the free slug you sent in your parcel 

Oh, that one? It was meant as a free sample to increase your stock. No, I am very sorry. I did my best to avoid slugs but they are everywhere

[cohan]

Trond: I did find  and disposed of the free slug you sent in your parcel 

Oh, that one? It was meant as a free sample to increase your stock. No, I am very sorry. I did my best to avoid slugs but they are everywhere

I was glad not to have your slug problems today-- I was doing some weeding in places that are not really cultivated, but there either are plants remaining from some old beds, or wild plants, and I am just reducing the numbers(size may be a better term, I'm not digging them out, just pulling off what I can) of dandelions, grasses and clovers, to give the other plants a competitive edge! Anyway, there has been quite a bit of rain the last few weeks, so everything was very lush and damp from rain today, and I was pulling up large handfuls of greenery, and very happy not to have one squished slug in my hands!

[Lori S.]

Speaking of squished slugs (or even not squished), that is some amazingly slippery substance they produce... surely there must be some use for it?  An industrial lubricant, a non-frictional fluid??  Trond, you could be rich if you just find a market for your slug population... or its excretions, anyway. 

Draba kitadakensis; first bloom on Linum aff. cariense, from seed last year; I'm excited to see that at least one of last year's Sedum pilosum will bloom; Asperula boissieri, also from seed last year.

       

[Peter George]

Lori, are you planting directly into the tufa, or into a crevice which includes tufa 'crumbles?' The last 3 look like you're right in the tufa, but they are also too lush (in my experience) for direct planting. But in any case, they are beautiful plants, which I have killed once, but am going to try, try again.

[Lori S.]

Peter, all of those plants are not in the tufa itself but in the soil between the tufa blocks, with tufa bits as a top dressing... the soil is too rich, I know.  (I was instructed/directed at the time to use up a bunch of potting soil, so I bit my tongue and made it as lean as I could with other amendments... This year, it has been noted that "those plants look too big", so as we soon add on to this tufa bed and use a much leaner mix, it should be a lot more successful... without having to go through a big argument!   A small sacrifice to have made...   )  I have been planting saxifrages directly into crevices and small holes drilled in the tufa, and they seem to be doing very well so far...  even the ones grown in larger pots which then had their roots shaken bare and cruelly exposed prior to being shoved into the holes.  It didn't seem to faze them, oddly enough.

I was surprised just now to see a flower on the scruffy little Delosperma that I grew from seed last year (and was surprised to see alive this spring).... Delosperma alpinum - as you can see, it's not a large flower, or a large plant!
   

And another from my extensive collection of plants with virtually insignificant flowers...  
Correction:  It's Arenaria kansuensis, a Chinese species:  Arenaria densiflora - a very attractive cushion (hmmm, wonder if that's supposed to be "densifolia"?) and very subtle flowers... at least the ants like them.
 

[cohan]

Both really cute, Lori! Love the little Delo still looks like its slowly making a little patch of itself..
The Arenaria reminds me of something that grows on hummocks or anthills in the sloughs here--not nearly as compact as that, but similar colouring and flowers in little mounds..haven't yet tried moving any to the yard, but I will...

[Lori S.]

Love the little Delo still looks like its slowly making a little patch of itself..

That's the way it looked last year, even when it was still in a pot indoors... just stringy and odd.  Perhaps the individual rosettes at the ends of the stems have to ability to root in, I don't know.

[cohan]

Seems like they should root-- I thought it looked like they already had-- guess time will tell..

[Spiegel]

Thought I'd check in to let you all know, things are still blooming in the High Desert!

Nice to see the Salvia dorrii, John.  I recall seeing that in the high desert.  It was either in Nevada or on the way to Nevada from Salt Lake.  I recall it being very aromatic.  Is it that way in the garden as well?

[Hoy]

We had to drive up to our mountain cabin to take a look to see if it still was there - and it was.
Friday and Saturday the rain poured down but Sunday and today was sunny and warm. Had a stroll in the meadow surrounding the cabin.

The common catsfoot (Antennaria dioica) grows everywhere and has  all colours from red (OK Lori, PINK) to white and all melanges thereof. Notice the difference between the male and female plants (this species is dioic).

[Hoy]

Although many plants are naturally occurring here in the meadow have I "helped" establish some. Most of them are from places nearby but some are from abroad

Erigeron boreale (I am not quite sure the name is correct) grows in higher mountains not far away. The very tiny meadowrye, Thalictrum alpinum grows naturally in the meadow.

               


Ajuga pyramidalis is common from sealevel to the alpine zone but Anemone narcissiflora (from seed) is a foreigner. However, it doesn't look exactly like the plants I have observed in Switzerland though.

       


Lychnis alpina is common on higher ground and it does tolerate  and probably needs heavy metals in the soil. I brought two plants with me many years ago. Now they are hundreds!
Myosotis alpestris is everywhere and in moist and wet soil is Pinguicula vulgaris common although I have planted it in this spot where it slowly spreads by seed.

               

[RickR]

Really great plants, Lori.  Those flowers don't seem so insignificant to insects!  I'll be seeing the insignificant flowers of Syneilesis intermedia this year, myself.
That Delosperma is so purple... then what is its winter color?

Trond, you mentioned Antennaria dioica being dioic (in America, we say dioecious).  It reminded me that a few days ago a branch broke of my male Kentucky Coffee tree (Gymnocaladus dioicus).  And I had a close up opportunity to examine the flowers...

              

[cohan]

Nice selection, Trond, I think I like them all!
Cute Erigeron; the Thalictrum flowers are very similar to my local species (venulosum? without checking..) but it is maybe 40-60cm at a guess..
Antennarias all over here, too, though none as dark as your darkest..