What do you see on your garden walks?

[Toole]

Some nice plants there Tim amd Fermi.

Raised from seed sown November 08-- Dicentra peregrina with 4 flowers so far .

At one stage a few seasons back i had about 25 small seedling plants coming along --yes i was going to rule the world i thought  ,(well at least my little patch down here in New Zealand....   ), but as befalls the 'plans of mice and men' they all, including a couple of good sized parent plants i had coaxed on for a number of years, perished over a winter.....

I'll be more careful this time .

Cheers Dave.

[Hoy]

I do understand you very well! Mice or slugs or whatever pest befells a poor gardener

[RickR]

Yes Dave, you would have "ruled the world".  So sad that not even one survived...
That Dicentra has always been my favorite, though I have never attempted its culture.  Is anyone growing the newer hybrid of it - 'King of Hearts'?

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Not to be outdone (well, trying not to be outdone) by the "down under" participants here who graciously brighten our days up here in the north,

A few conifers to show that it is not completely desolate in the cold:
Left to right:

Thuja occidentalis 'Pumila Sudworth' (Sudworth arborvitae)
Thujopsis dolabrata var. hondai (Northern Hiba arborvitae)
Pinus sibirica (making an uncharacteristically good impression of a Bristlecone pine)
Picea omorika 'Treblitzch' (a dwarf form of Serbian Spruce)
Pinus ponderosa (Ponderosa Pine)
Taxodium distichum (Bald Cypress)
Pinus strobus 'Wintergold' (Wintergold White pine)

        

And:
Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera Nana' (Dwarf Threadleaf False cypress)
Vernonia gigantea - a herbaceous plant showing off at 9.5ft
Picea glauca var. densata (Black Hills spruce) -the neighbor's tree
Picea asperata (Chinese Dragon spruce)

        

[McDonough]

Impressive, from tiny to the giant!  Dave, Dicentra peregrina is fantastic, one of the quintessential alpine plants, as lovely in foliage as in flower.  I've reread your post a couple time, am I correct in understanding the plant in the photograph is current, and not from a past year when your rule-the-world Dicentra demise occurred?   

Rick, you grow some fine (and rare form) conifers (I've never seen, much less heard of, a winter yellow needle form of Eastern White Pine, it's awesome).  But it is the giant Vernonia that if find most striking, totally impressive in seed and with proud non-flopping stems.  My V. noveboracensis (at about 8') flopped over in wild windy weather from a nearly fizzled out hurricane-downgraded-to-tropical-storm.

[Toole]

Yes Dave, you would have "ruled the world".  So sad that not even one survived...
That Dicentra has always been my favorite, though I have never attempted its culture.  Is anyone growing the newer hybrid of it - 'King of Hearts

 Just googled the hybrid you mention Rick --seems it's an easier plant to cultivate.

Impressive, from tiny to the giant!  Dave, Dicentra peregrina is fantastic, one of the quintessential alpine plants, as lovely in foliage as in flower.  I've reread your post a couple time, am I correct in understanding the plant in the photograph is current, and not from a past year when your rule-the-world Dicentra demise occurred?   

Currently flowering Mark --i can view it in it's pot every time i walk out the back door.......

Cheers Dave.

[Hoy]

Rick, I tried 'King of Hearts' last year but it didn't even survive the first summer - I don't know why, maybe I chose the wrong site for it.

Some special conifers you grow! Although I have know the species the cultivars you have are unknown to me.

[Spiegel]

It has gotten cold again after ridiculously warm weather - so warm, in fact, that there were a few flowers on Daphne mezereum album and on Potentilla alba.  I'd send pictures but am having close-up problems with my camera - just in time for our trip to Patagonia in two weeks.  Must find a camera guru.

[RickR]

Pinus strobus 'Wintergold' was even more gold in the winter in its younger years (under 6ft).  Since then, the color change has been more variable and generally less brilliant.  I thought it was just an age thing, until this season.  It has better color this winter than any other in the last six years.  Even so, Wintergold never shows the "sickly" yellow that some pine cultivars do in winter.  Other good ones are Pinus sylvestris 'Gold Coin' and Pinus contorta 'Chief Joseph'.

I did remove three "floppy" stems from the vernonia, and then a few good upright ones to photograph for Kristl.

The seedheads look good in dried arrangements both with and without the seeds themselves:

               

[Hoy]

Rick, do I espy an artist here? Are you the creator of the dried flower arrangement?

Regarding yellow and golden conifers: Those I have seen here often appear "sick" so I haven't planted any but stuck to green and bluegreen specimens. But I admit that some of the yellows make a good garden display in winter, especially did I like P. strobus 'Wintergold'.

Anne, I look forward to see pictures from your Patagonian trip! You have to mend your camera (I am a little envious too)

[RickR]

Rick, do I espy an artist here? Are you the creator of the dried flower arrangement?

Well, I did get an "A" in my college floral arranging class.  Yes, the ones I show are always mine.  And brown is my favorite color... maybe that's why I like dried materials so much.  I have a few related entries planned for the Forum this winter.

Regarding yellow and golden conifers: Those I have seen here often appear "sick" so I haven't planted any but stuck to green and bluegreen specimens.

Especially the earlier cultivars are that sickly yellow hue.  I don't grow any solid yellow conifers.  Wintergold is the only exception in that it is all gold in the winter, but frosty green the rest of the year.

              

I have mixed feelings about this one, as it is rather gaudy looking at the yellow stage for my taste, but the neighbors, especially, really like it.  I do grow several types with yellow accenting, that I enjoy very much.

[Moderator's note:
See the continuation of this discussion in What do you see on your garden walks? 2012:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=1009.0
Lori]