Some less frequently seen crucifers...

[Kelaidis]

There is no accounting for tastes, and mine tend towards plants that like me....and crucifers are easily grown from seed, easily accommodated, and I love their brash yellows, pinks and purples (and of course whites)...a few that will be blooming in a few months (and I will be too preoccupied to talk about then) are posted below: The first is Coluteocarpus vesicarius, from Turkey, a plant that seems to be of interest only to plant nerds. But I find it charming. I keep forgetting to photograph the very showy bubble like seed pods that come out in early spring.

The second is a mystery draba that is truly amazing: two plants obtained as D. dedeana don't seem to look at all like the plants I have grown at other times as dedeana. Any hint on what they might be would be much appreciated. They are among the most easily accommodated and MASSIVE drabas in my garden, approaching 8" across and blooming from March to May. I believe they have finally set viable seed, which I have shared around and to the exchange.

Finally, the last is plain old Draba polytricha, which is near the top of my all time faves. I probably have over 30 scattered around my rock garden--and that's probably not enough (I rescued a flat of 32 that was going to be dumped by an eminent rare plant nursery: that's how I know how many I have!)...

[RickR]

I think you could pretty much categorize us all as plant nerds. 
Thanks for sharing these gems!

[Kelaidis]

Thanks, Rick! I guess I knew it was a sympathetic audience...

Three more crucifers: the first is Ptilotrichum spinosum 'Purpureum' (occasionally still called Alyssum!)--that amazing spiny shrub from Spain and Morocco: I am amazed I so rarely see this in Gardens. I would never want to ve without it. Very accommodating.

The second is Aubrieta gracilis--the tiniest of Aubrietas and the best by far. From Greece: rosettes barely an inch across and this amazing flowering. It has made a massive mat in my rock garden and I hate to but have to peel off chunks of it each year. Again, rarely in other's gardens (although I'm always pawning it off on people)...

And third is the supposedly "true" Erysimum kotschyanum, grown from seed collected in Turkey. It is very compact and pleasant. I can never have enough wall flowers...

[RickR]

I thought Coluteocarpus vesicaria rang a bell...  I received it in my NARGS seed order!

I have it slated for 70F germination.  Hope that's right.  I won't be planting it for another month yet.

[McDonough]

An excellent thread Panayoti!  Regarding Coluteocarpus vesicaria, I grew this many years ago, and gave away seedlings to local NARGS Chapter members... it is so rewarding to see plants perpetuated through the years, if not decades, by sharing those plants at local chapter meetings and seedling sales.  My last encounter with this plant is in Peter George's excellent rock garden, spring 2010.  The photo I post shows the plant as the bladder-like pods start to swell in early May, they get much larger and showy, the appeal of this rather rare and unusual crucifer, yet one that is easy to grow.




Ptilotrichum spinosum 'Roseum' harks back to my childhood days of gardening, when as a pre-teen I discovered rock gardening and started growing the usual things I could find at nurseries, dwarf pinks (Dianthus species and hybrids), carpeting Phlox subulata cultivars, and the hugely popular Basket of Gold in several varieties (Alyssum saxatile, later Aurina saxatilis),   So it seemed an incredible novelty among yellow Alyssum to find a pink one advertised as Alyssum spinosum 'Roseum'.  It is indeed Ptilotrichum, an ally of Alyssum, a genus that should be more widely grown, one which I must admit is absent from my garden; have to do something about that.  Here is a picture in Peter George's garden once again, a young plant just budded and ready to flower.

Note:  I have labeled the image as Ptilotrichum spinosum 'Roseum'; Peter please let me know if it came under a different name.  

[Lori S.]

Here's Ptilotrichum spinosum 'Roseum' in full bloom in a trough:


I showed photos of it last summer already, but this one fits the bill of a "less frequently seen" crucifer - Cheiranthus roseus, a very tiny monocarp from high elevations in China.  It is fragrant, as one would expect.

[McDonough]

Here's Ptilotrichum spinosum 'Roseum' in full bloom in a trough:
I showed photos of it last summer already, but this one fits the bill of a "less frequently seen" crucifer - Cheiranthus roseus, a very tiny monocarp from high elevations in China.  It is fragrant, as one would expect.

Your Ptilotrichum spinosum 'Roseum' is gorgeous, such a rich pink... it is the "pink Alyssum".  Good to see a photo of it close hand and in full flower!

[Lori S.]

And a couple of native alpine crucifers... certainly not ones that most of us get to see often.  Not the showiest, though, either...
Arabis lyallii:

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ARLY

Arabis lemmonii:

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ARLE

[Kelaidis]

First off, Mark: sorry for my renaming the Ptilotrichum (if I have...it would take some spadework to find the proper name--and likely one would find there may not even be one): I am prone to paranomasia. It just looks purpler to me than rose.  And as for YOU, Lori, you never cease to amaze me with all the goodies you come up with. That Cheiranthus is simply too cute! And fragrant to boot! I love purple crucifers (especially fragrant ones): a perfect Victorian nosegay. And I have a fondness for matty things like your lemmonii: I wouldn't mind that in my garden at all! I don't think every plant has to be smothered with flowers to be beautiful. I like the more graceful, willowy ones too.

But what is that blue mass in Peter George's  garden? Next to the wonderful podded Coluteocarpus, Mark? That electric blue! He is quite the gardener. We are excited to lure him to Denver next September. I have a hunch he will really dazzle our local yokels (who think they grow everything)...

[RickR]

Cheiranthus roseus - Gosh, Lori, that's the whole plant?

No wonder it is monocarpic!

[McDonough]

Panayoti, nothing to be sorry about; the name 'Purpureum' for a cultivar of Ptilotrichum spinosum does indeed exist, I've only known the plant under the 'Roseum' name.  Checking the Bernard Harkness "The Seedlist Handbook", Third Edition 1980, (remember this "bible" of its day?) I still have two editions that are terribly worn and soiled from pawing through it coming in direct from the garden to look up names), it lists three cultivars;
'Coccineum' - reddish fls
'Purpureum' - purplish fls,
'Roseum' - rare pink form

The RHS Plant Finder online site only comes up with the species, and 'Roseum'.
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/

Found a couple stunning photos of Ptilotrichum spinosum 'Purpureum'
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ptilotrichum_spinosum_%27Purpureum%27_1.JPG
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ptilotrichum_spinosum_%27Purpureum%27_2.JPG

But could these actually be Ptilotrichum purpureum?  It's an accepted species, or is there truly a named color form of P. spinosum.  Then I wonder about the 'Coccineum' cultivar, does it exist.  Found at least one Danish web site where it is listed:
http://www.sverrelunde.com/Planteliste.htm

Ptilotrichum spinosum 'Roseum' available on the Siskiyou Rare Plant Nursery site, and many other nurseries:
http://siskiyourareplantnursery.com/ptilotrichumspinosumroseum.aspx

And last but not least, searching through Tropicos & The PLant List, I see that some Ptilotrichum are now Hormathophylla, and P. spinosum is listed as Hormathophylla spinosa Kupfer  

[McDonough]

Lori, the Arabis lemmonii has really attractive foliage and an almost shrubby look to it, I'd grow that one in a minute.  I see from the USDA site there are 4 varieties.

Found more information the web site of The Burke Museum of natural History (University of Washington), with photos of Arabis lemmonii var. paddoensis which has deeper red-pink flowers, looking very attractive.

http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=Arabis&Species=lemmonii

[Hoy]

Quite a range of plants I would love to grow! But I fear they do not tolerate my climate at home   (or the mainly woodland biotope . . .)

[cohan]

I like crucifers a  lot--every plant in this thread is a winner! Lori, very cool to see the natives, the small number of natives I have seen (and not been able to name up till now with incomplete books) have all been white/cream..

[Lori S.]

Thanks, Cohan.  Here's one I forgot (that I can actually identify, that is  )... not uncommon in alpine screes here but it doesn't seem to be much in cultivation.  Smelowskia calycina is attractive for its gray, pubescent leaves, even when not in flower.
  

It's sometimes affected by rust, as you can see from the distorted flowers in this photo:


There is a multitude of other tiny, native Brassicacaea in the mountains, Draba spp., I think... apparently, to figure out what the heck they are, I will have to take my hand lens and study whether the minute hairs on the leaves are simple, cruciform, stellate, lacking, or......