Re: Got the Blues

[Lori S.]

Join the club, Trond!   (Except any jungle, I trust, would be vastly more interesting than my yard, needless to say...  )

... Which, nonetheless, brings up an interesting point... When one has the opportunity to visit more than one garden, it is worth putting some thought into the order of visits.  Satisfaction is maximized if each builds on the previous, with the finest saved for last!  Argue it if you wish, but the logic is irrefutable!  

Some more blues... Gentiana paradoxa:

[RickR]

Both are excellent articles, Trond and Cliff!  I do get email copies of the many (maybe most?) of the NARGS Chapter newsletters, including Berkshire's, but I admit I hardly ever have time to read them all.  I think it is very advantageous that chapter editors exchange newsletters.  They get many ideas from each other that each builds on in their own way.  Our Minnesota editor offers to forward copies (of other Chapters' newsletters) that she receives to members who wish them. 

Let me say how truly wonderful it is to host any chapter speakers, from the NARGS speaker tour or otherwise.  Here, chapter members seem to be a bit hesitant to host, thinking they are not "worthy," or just not realizing the great opportunity they are missing.  I keep encouraging them, and I want to encourage any readers here, too.  The wealth of information and experience that guests hold simply pores out in torrents.  You need only open the gate.  I have very fond memories of each of my hostings, and feel a little greedy that I am among the five or so of us that seem to alternate getting the prize.  Let me also emphasize that having a nice garden is not a prerequisite!  With my first hosting, I only owned a dozen or so alpines at most! 

I would expect in some chapters, there is a healthy competition between members, for the honor and privilege of hosting.  Indeed, a contest worth winning!

[Hoy]

Join the club, Trond!   (Except any jungle, I trust, would be vastly more interesting than my yard, needless to say...  )

... Which, nonetheless, brings up an interesting point... When one has the opportunity to visit more than one garden, it is worth putting some thought into the order of visits.  Satisfaction is maximized if each builds on the previous, with the finest saved for last!  Argue it if you wish, but the logic is irrefutable!  

Some more blues... Gentiana paradoxa:

Where's the paradox?

I agree with you Lori, but if you are more than one person paying visits, then you can have more than one opinion! What one person  think is perfect, the other(s) not necessarily agree to.


Many thanks, Rick.

I fully support your message regarding hosting speakers. I have done so a few times myself.

It's the same when it comes to garden visits. A lot of people think that their gardens don't qualify but they forget that most people have quite ordinary gardens and would enjoy looking at similar ones. It shines through if you tend your garden with care and love although you don't have the rarest plants.

[Lori S.]

Where's the paradox?

Oops, sorry - here it is:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_pair_of_ducks.jpg

 

But, seriously, I have no idea what is paradoxical about G. paradoxa.  

[Spiegel]

Join the club, Trond!   (Except any jungle, I trust, would be vastly more interesting than my yard, needless to say...  )

... Which, nonetheless, brings up an interesting point... When one has the opportunity to visit more than one garden, it is worth putting some thought into the order of visits.  Satisfaction is maximized if each builds on the previous, with the finest saved for last!  Argue it if you wish, but the logic is irrefutable!  

Some more blues... Gentiana paradoxa:

Where's the paradox?

I agree with you Lori, but if you are more than one person paying visits, then you can have more than one opinion! What one person  think is perfect, the other(s) not necessarily agree to.


Many thanks, Rick.

I fully support your message regarding hosting speakers. I have done so a few times myself.

It's the same when it comes to garden visits. A lot of people think that their gardens don't qualify but they forget that most people have quite ordinary gardens and would enjoy looking at similar ones. It shines through if you tend your garden with care and love although you don't have the rarest plants.

/Somewhere I once read a well-known garden writer saying that any loved and well-tended garden is beautiful.  I tend to agree because people's perceptions are incredibly varied.  What's beautiful to one is boring to another etc... I might personally make an exception for garden gnomes but I know there are people who absolutely love them.

[Booker]

Very pretty little Himalayan annual ...

GENTIANA SYRINGEA

[McDonough]

Very pretty little Himalayan annual ...

GENTIANA SYRINGEA

Cliff, that's a gorgeous little item, do you grow it?  Does it make the seedex rounds?  What sort of conditions would it need; I'm assuming moist and peaty?

[Booker]

Very pretty little Himalayan annual ...

GENTIANA SYRINGEA

Cliff, that's a gorgeous little item, do you grow it?  Does it make the seedex rounds?  What sort of conditions would it need; I'm assuming moist and peaty?

Hi Mark,
The image was taken today in my garden ... this little gem is growing in a trough/planter in a peaty/gritty compost where it was planted after being purchased from Aberconwy Nursery in early summer. (£3, quite expensive for a tiny annual).  I am very hopeful that it may seed itself in this trough, but it is only tiny at present and will probably produce a miniscule amount of seed. It is not being specifically watered any more than anything else in the garden but our summers are considerably damper and cooler than New England!

[McDonough]

Hi Mark,
The image was taken today in my garden ... this little gem is growing in a trough/planter in a peaty/gritty compost where it was planted after being purchased from Aberconwy Nursery in early summer. (£3, quite expensive for a tiny annual).  I am very hopeful that it may seed itself in this trough, but it is only tiny at present and will probably produce a miniscule amount of seed. It is not being specifically watered any more than anything else in the garden but our summers are considerably damper and cooler than New England!

Cliff, I wish you success in growing that little annual Gentian, and getting it naturalized in your trough.  I'm sure you'd have a much better chance of success in the UK than here.  I like the idea of encouraging small or smallish annuals in a rock garden, to naturalize and help infill and weave together other plants.

[McDonough]

One of the more unusual members of the genus Caryopteris is Caryopteris divaricata, from China, Japan, Korea, growing in mixed forests on mountain slopes and along roadsides; 700-2900 m.  While appearing shrub-like when viewed in flower in late summer (August - Sept/Oct), this species is actually a deciduous perennial, sprouting from ground level each spring and growing to about 5'-6'.  

In late summer it erupts into a cloud of beautiful blue butterfly-like flowers, and those fascinating downward curled stamens and style.  The loose, open panicles of individually large and separate flowers look very different than the clustered inflorescences of the more familiar shrubby Caryopteris species and cultivars; so much so that it fools many people when seeing this plant for the first time.

Beware of the foliage however, pleasant enough to look at, and a good backdrop to the blue flowers, but they exude a rather obnoxious acrid stink when the foliage is brushed up against or bruised.  Pulling unwanted seedlings is similarly fraught with the unpleasant scent issue. However, in the garden no ill scent can be detected unless handled, so don't let this "feature" put you off too much; it remains one of my favorite late summer / early autumn garden plants.  There is a lower growing white-variegated leaf form named 'Snow Fairy' frequently available in nurseries, but I don't grow that form.

http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200019299

PS:  the flowers bear a striking resemblance to the annual Bluecurls, Trichostema dichotomum, see:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=282.msg4076#msg4076

[RickR]

Wow, a Caryopteris I might actually, purposely grow!  If it flowers early enough for you to get seed, Mark, then I should be able to at least get flowers in my climate.

[McDonough]

Wow, a Caryopteris I might actually, purposely grow!  If it flowers early enough for you to get seed, Mark, then I should be able to at least get flowers in my climate.

Rick, I have long since given up on the familiar Caryopteris species and cultivars, they just aren't reliably hardy here.  But Caryopteris divaricata is 100% hardy here, and makes lots of seed (sometimes too many seedlings appear), but I can certainly share seed. I think it would do just fine in your climate.

[Lori S.]

Very pretty little Himalayan annual ... GENTIANA SYRINGEA

What a delightful little plant, Cliff.

That's a very interesting account of Caryopteris divaricata, Mark.  I'd love to try that one too, if you will be collecting seed.

[RickR]

"Too many seedlings" don't scare me.  I have three species of impatiens, Campanula americanum and even Thalictrum thalictroides is becoming a weed.  I still love them all, and don't mind their rambunctiousness.   Yes please, send the Caryopteris seed along, if you remember when the time comes.  Thanks.

[Hoy]

One of the more unusual members of the genus Caryopteris is Caryopteris divaricata, from China, Japan, Korea, growing in mixed forests on mountain slopes and along roadsides; 700-2900 m.  While appearing shrub-like when viewed in flower in late summer (August - Sept/Oct), this species is actually a deciduous perennial, sprouting from ground level each spring and growing to about 5'-6'.  

I grow this species too. It is perfectly hardy here and behave as you tell but grows only to 3' here.