Image of the day - 2012

[Spiegel]

Mark, a perfect example of a good pairing would be Dicentra cucullaria and Epimedium grandiflorum in almost any form.  As the dicentra starts to go dormant the yellowing foliage is hidden by the new flower and leaf shoots of the epimedium.  Works quite well.

[McDonough]

Mark, a perfect example of a good pairing would be Dicentra cucullaria and Epimedium grandiflorum in almost any form.  As the dicentra starts to go dormant the yellowing foliage is hidden by the new flower and leaf shoots of the epimedium.  Works quite well.

I agree Ann, this is a combo I'm very familiar with.  And toss Corydalis solida & malkensis into the mix, which pop up everywhere.

I love the emerging foliage on Dicentra cucullaria, this view taken a couple weeks ago:

[RickR]

Emerging foliage of Dicentra cucullaria in the wild (Minnesota).  This was a "hope this picture turns out" kind of photo.  The plants were perched on a wooded cliff ledge, and photo taken with arms and camera stretched high above my head.

               

[Hoy]

Dicentra cuccularia is a charming plant I have tried several times but it is shortlived here - I blame he slugs

This week we are at our mountain cabin on holiday. We hoped for snow but it is even less snow than last Easter which furthermore was 14 days later too The previous 14 days were sunny and mild now it is sunny and cold but no snow.

Pulsatilla vernalis is due to flower whenever the temperature get high enough and the same is Noccaea caerulescens (syn Thlaspi alpestre).
The first picture shows the meadow where it usually is 2 ft snow at this time of the year!

[Lori S.]

Beautiful photos, all!  Another wonderfully furry pulsatilla shot, there, Trond, to add to Tim's beauty from earlier!
Really nice (and serendipitous!) shot of Dicentra cucullaria, Rick - I planted some tiny little rice-grain corms(?) of Dicentra cucullaria many years ago, and I see the foliage every year (1 little clump) but will it ever bloom?!?

[McDonough]

Rick, that's too funny about your precarious cliff ledge "hope this picture turns out" photo.  I must admit to never encountering Dicentra cucullaria in the wild, even though native to Massachusetts.  Interesting to see the distribution of this species, largely central-eastern North America, to learn of disjunct distribution in the tri-state area of Washington, Idaho, and Oregon.
http://www.efloras.org/object_page.aspx?object_id=5377&flora_id=1

John Lonsdale found lots of strong pink forms in southeastern USA, a couple photos available here:
http://www.edgewoodgardens.net/plants_album/the%20plants%20-%20%20complete%20collection/Fumariaceae/Dicentra/index.html

Trond, love the golden fluff on Pulsatilla vernalis!

Lori, I actually worry about D. cucullaria becoming a pest; in autumn the bunches of rice grains, looking like dense banana clusters several inches across, rise to the surface and sit there totally exposed, the rice grains spilling about.  I actually scoop them up and replant elsewhere, or rebury them deeper.  The foliage, while ephemeral, is quite robust and lush, and could smother smaller spring ephemerals like Anemonella thalictroides.  But I do love this plant, and feel fortunate to have it romping about making such finely dissected foliage mounds.  In the photo below, this clump appeared a couple years ago, there's a self-sown Pulmonaria there (well, they're everywhere), a yet-to-sprout seedling Epimedium plant, and the amazing ressurection of a pink-flowered Sanguinaria canadensis that went underground for about 4 years and suddenly emerged and produced a small flower, a small miracle.

[RickR]

About Dicentra cucullaria, I have never seen such "rice grains" of any kind.  I have always wondered about the root structure (and of Dicentra canadensis), but would never dream of digging one up, as they are not that common here.  They are a little larger growing in southern Minnesota, and the pic (also from the Hastings SNA) is about 50 miles south of me.  Where I am and to the north, I have never seen them more than five inches tall, although admittedly, I have only found them in 3 or 4 places.  The thought of them smothering Thalictrum thalictroides is quite laughable here.

[Hoy]

Unfortunately they don't smother anything here Are they easy from seed? Maybe seeds should be sown fresh? Corms are rather expensive.

[Spiegel]

They occur naturally here and the easiest method of propagation is to dig up a clump after it finishes flowering and the leaves die down.  The little bulbils fall apart in your hand and you toss them.  Where they land is where they are planted (just sort of scratched in).  Sometimes the squirrels do it for you.  I used to worry about that  but apparently they don't remember where they bury things and instead of Dicentra cucullaria diminishing, it pops up all over the garden.
I also use this method to distribute Eranthis hyemalis and now have a huge swath of it, most welcome in early spring.

[Hoy]

Then I need the first clump! Actually I have one in a pot. Thought I should try to propagate it before I planted it out

[Michael J Campbell]

Clematis columbiana var tenuiloba

[RickR]

Nice, Michael.  I am thinking my Clematis culumbiana var. tenuiloba is a hybrid.  It vines up to 2.5ft.

              

The Leibnitzia anandria  beat even the Draba lasiocarpa this season.

        

              

[Hoy]

Michel, do you grow your C columbiana in a pot or outside? Clematis is one of my favorite genera

Rick, have you tried Leibnitzia outside? I have them at my summerhouse where they seem to live buy not flower much - not like yours anyway. Maybe they are longing for hotter days

[Michael J Campbell]

It is in a pot at the moment.

[RickR]

Leibnitzia anandria plants are hardy here, and most years I allow a plant or two in the garden.  But I have ever only noticed flowering on one plant in all those years (about 6 years?), and it was a volunteer in the the grass yard, not the garden.  In pots, flowering seems quite consistent. 

In the photos, the one pot with multiple plants is one where the original (not Leibnitzia) plant died and the Leibnitzia and Melica ciliata seeded in.  The flowers have been open three days now, and I have tried pollinating them with a paint brush.  I never see any pollen on the brush, though.

An update on the Clematis ochotensis