late season interest?

[deesen]

Mmm. I had a Pulsatilla in bloom August 2010 too, another diabolical summer. I don't think it's unusual for Hellebores to throw up the odd flower out of season, I've seen them at the RHS Garden Rosemoor here in Devon, but this one of mine has been in full flower for weeks. Hope it doesn't mean it will now die on me

[Hoy]

it is very common here that early spring flowering plants have an autumn flowering period too. Most of them produce the flowerbuds early fall and are ready for an early blooming next spring. The rather long season and mild fall weather together with the short days make them flower unseasonally.

If you have space you can try this one: Inula racemosa 2-3m (7-10ft) tall!

 



 . . . or this one: Erysimum (Cheiranthus) cheiri.




Thisone selfsow and the seeds that germinate in summer bloom in fall.

[Lori S.]

I know you asked about rock garden plants, Carolyn, but it seems this thread has moved on, so here are some more late-bloomers, mostly common stuff, for the perennial garden  - please pardon that everything in my yard looks ratty from hail damage!

Clematis x 'Pamiat Serdtsa' (x2); Campanula dolomitica; Eryngium planum:
     

Salvia glutinosa, which forms an impressively large plant... its name ("glutinosa") seems self-explanatory from the second photo!
 

A late-blooming Adenophora sp. - a pleasantly noninvasive one, not sure of the species:
 

Ratibida pinnata - our native R. columnifera is still in bloom too in the garden; Eryngium x zabellii:

[Lori S.]

I guess these are sort of rock garden-ish...
Cyclamen purpurascens (x2) - (though I grow them in more of a woodland-like setting); Inula ensifolia; Allium sikkimense (x2);
       

Dalea purpurea - done blooming in the wild, but the mega-specimens in the yard are still in bloom:


(More to follow...)

[RickR]

And now I'll bet you've just spent next spring's hellebore bloom, David...
-- Enjoy them while you can!

I don't know what to think about the pulsatilla, since there is just one (or two) blossoms...

[Lori S.]

Here's a dryland prairie native that would probably be suitable for the rock garden, and is (obviously  ) late-blooming... Heterotheca villosa.  They are in brilliant bloom in Bowmont Park now.  
This plant, from seed collected a couple of years ago at a roadside rest-stop in Saskatchewan, is planted along the sidewalk hell-strip next to the alley... very tough conditions out there, yet this tough plant is coping.

[Lori S.]

Mark, may I request your help to identify this unknown Allium that is in bloom now?  I can get better photos if needed (though I doubt you will need them!!)  Edit: Identified as Allium senescens var. glaucum.  


Here are some more late-bloomers...
Silene schafta:


Dianthus amurensis:


Solidago 'Crown of Rays', being enjoyed by a variety of bees, wasps, flies, and butterflies (a skipper, in this case):
     

[Hoy]

You still have a lot of plants in flower, Lori! And the next week seems to be a good one for more flowers too

Very few small plants flower here now - almost all are huge. Here is Lonicera henryi, an evergreen climber that flower all summer but sparsely and the spent flowers turn into black berries during fall and winter. it is strong growing, last summer I had to remove a shoot that had found its way behind the wall panel from the groundfloor to the top of the roof (8 meters in darkness) where it spread out and flowered.

   


This Euonymus planipes has very nice "flowers" in the fall from a young age.

[Spiegel]

Was away most of August and couldn't wait to get back to check for damage from Irene.  Thankfully, all OK here.
The Cyclamen fatrense is now in bloom.  It's the only cyclamen that has done well here and came form Dick Redfield.
Dick told me some people insist that this is really Cyclamen purparescens, but that never succeeded here and this one does.  Usually the leaves show some marbling but not this year.

[Hoy]

It is a very pretty plant regardless what you call it

[McDonough]

Lori, that's a very good looking clump of Allium sikkimense (worthy of 2 pictures!).  The second Allium you posted is surely a form of Allium senescens var. glaucum; plants in cultivation are very variable as it hybridizes readily with other forms of senescens (and other alliums too if present and flowering at the same late season).  I'm still envious of the Dalea purpurea, it's the only seed variety that you sent me for which I received no germination

[McDonough]

Trond, I love the Euonymus planipes, such beautiful and distinctive red fruits, reminds me of gals from The Red Hat Society:
http://www.google.com/search?q=red+hat+society&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=782&prmd=ivns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=QmRpTs7DMobe0QGfmKXjBA&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CEkQ_AUoAQ
How tall does it grow?  Can it be classified as a "small tree"?

One that I planted about 10 years ago continues to provide a long season of interest and fruiting spectacle, Euonymus sachalinensis.  Here's two photos from a number of years ago, it needs a bit of pruning to best reveal the dangling fruits (red pods with orange "berries" or seeds), and this year I never got around to trimming it up, but it is still quite a show right now.  There are a bunch of "Spindle Tree" Euonymus species that have similar fruiting appeal.  I first encountered E. sachalinensis at The Case Estates, an "extension" of Arnold Arboretum in Wayland, Massachusetts, where it was espaliered to show off in spectacular fashion the bounty of dangling fruits.

[Lori S.]

Thanks for the onion ID, Mark!  Let me know if you want to try some more Dalea seeds.  Other than scarifying them, I have no other suggestions on how to germinate them (as, to be honest, I just chucked the original batch of seeds out along the fence and they came up on their own).  

Beautiful Euonymus!  

[Lori S.]

Rick, have you grown either Euonymus planipes or Euonymus sachalinensis?  Anyone else in colder zones?  I'm looking for some encouragement that these could possibly be hardy in zone 3, needless to say. 

[Lori S.]

it is very common here that early spring flowering plants have an autumn flowering period too.

Interesting... and enviable.  I was going to attribute the general absence of such behavior here (or, at least, in my yard) to a very short season, but I guess you have a darned short season too.   Maybe the difference is related to climate then?  The end of our season is certainly very final, when everything is frozen off.

Cyananthus are later-blooming rock-garden plants.... Most species tend to have blue flowers but here's a macro of a pale yellow-flowered species, Cyananthus macrocalyx, that has been blooming sporadically here since mid-summer: