Garden Visits - what inspires you!

[Lori S.]

I find it very inspiring to see the wonders that alpine enthusiasts are growing here!  From the garden of an extremely fine local alpine gardener, here is a fabulous specimen (though not the only one!) of Callianthemum anemonoides:

[Booker]

That is a sensational example, Lori ... a certain Farrer Medal at any Alpine Garden Society national show.

[Spiegel]

Lori, that's  a beautiful plant at any time but the floral display is absolutely sensational.  Must be an amazing gardener!

[McDonough]

I find it very inspiring to see the wonders that alpine enthusiasts are growing here!  From the garden of an extremely fine local alpine gardener, here is a fabulous specimen (though not the only one!) of Callianthemum anemonoides:

There's too many flower buds on that clump for the flowers to open, maybe some of the flowers should be snipped off
Fantastic specimen.  I grew this plant back in the 1980s, it had 1 flower... woohooOOOO.

[Peter George]

I would LOVE to know the specific cultivation techniques this secret gardener is using to flower this plant that.....stupendously! I have 2 C. anemoides, which flower sparsely each spring, and produce a few seeds which have yet to produce any progeny. Could you give us some secrets?

[Lori S.]

Lori, that's  a beautiful plant at any time but the floral display is absolutely sensational.  Must be an amazing gardener!

Yes, you're absolutely right!

I would LOVE to know the specific cultivation techniques this secret gardener is using to flower this plant that.....stupendously!  Could you give us some secrets?

I'll see what I can do, Peter.

[Hoy]

I am joining the choir! I would love to grow such plants like that but it is, I presume, near impossible where I live now. On the other hand, I hadn't grown plants of that quality anyway.

[Booker]

My best callianthemum this year ... growing in a pan for the shows.

CALLIANTHEMUM ANEMONOIDES

[Spiegel]

Awesome as usual, Cliff.  Are you planning to show plants at Nottingham?  I'm looking forward to attending my first big AGS Show!

[Booker]

Hi Anne,
If fortune smiles on my garden and weather conditions allow then I would like to have a plant or two on the benches, but certainly no promises (I am too long in the tooth and too pessimistic for that)! 
I hope you will be AMAZED by the scope and quality of the plants on display?
... And it isn't TOO long to wait now!  Have a safe journey everyone.


ERANTHIS 'GUINEA GOLD'
DIONYSIA 'MONIKA'
PRIMULA TANTALLON
SAXIFRAGA 'LOUIS ARMSTRONG'
SAXIFRAGA IRANICA
DIONYSIA F2 HYBRID

[Spiegel]

Sensational plants!  Are these from shows or are they yours?  Wonder if any could be grown in the open garden, maybe the eranthis and the primula?

[Booker]

Oh that they were mine, Anne ... just random (but fine) examples from Blackpool Show 2010 ... but certainly representative of the quality to be seen at each of the Alpine Garden Society and Scottish Rock Garden Club national shows. Upwards of six or seven hundred plants at many of these events.

[Booker]

Three more images to inspire and titillate!

PRIMULA ALLIONII ANNA GRIFFITH
SAXIFRAGA KAREL CAPEK
CYCLAMEN COUM - THE FARRER MEDAL WINNING PLANT EXHIBITED BY MIKE AND CHRISTINE BROWN

[Hoy]

The plants are very fine, more like gems and jewelry than plants! I don't think I ever should manage to grow anything like that.

[McDonough]

The plants are very fine, more like gems and jewelry than plants! I don't think I ever should manage to grow anything like that.

I agree Trond.  And for most North Americans, such miraculous domes of impeccably well-flowered alpines are as far away as the UK plant shows themselves, because few gardeners here have greenhouses, let alone alpine houses, and there are no plant shows to aspire to.  Sure, local NARGS chapters might have a "plant show" at their meetings, but they're really just informal "show and tell" sessions.  For most North American rock gardeners, it's all about growing great plants in the ground and in troughs too, but outside and fully exposed to the elements; it is fair to say few will ever grow a pristine-domed impossibly dense-flowered Dionysia in their life time, it's just not in our vocabulary here, such visions remain floral eye-candy.

What inspires me is seeing plants in gardens that expand and surprise one's expectation.  I meant to follow up on this thread with several other garden visits, but the gardening season itself outpaced my intentions, so some of these will be posted in the gardening off-months.  One local garden astounded me, as it does anyone who visits, is the garden and nursery of Jan Sacks and Marty Schafer, well known Iris hybridizers; let me share a peak into the visit. I have always thought of Primula sieboldii as shade plants, and they seem reliable enough in such woodland situations, but Jan and Marty grow them in full sun, where they formed amazing broad swathes of flowering perfection.  Not only that, they're hybridizing this group of primula, and what I was seeing were their own seedling offspring, many unnamed, but some have been introduced brandishing fun names like "Smooch" and "Rock Candy".  Some varieties were growing in masses a meter wide in each direction, a sight to remember, an inspiration that is achievable.