Image of the day - 2012

[Toole]

Moderator note:
With a new year comes a new thread!  Here is the first post in "Image of the Day - 2012", which continues on from:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=24.1560
Edit by Lori

Nothing in flower here either but with each day a second or two longer now, here are some mountain scenes and some local alpines to make us yearn for spring!  Happy New Year, all!

Lovely pics Lori

Lori, your pictures always make me feel guilty - guilty of sitting lazy in the sofa instead of getting out there where the diamonds are to be found  

I know how you feel Hoy ...well sort of   Here i'm stuck finishing off a job for a client spraying with a knapsack around 5000 newly planted natives ,all the while i'm itching to get back up into the hills --anyway regardless of the work situation i've decided i'm away botanizing next weekend.

Here's a wee beauty-- Brodiaea terrestris with thick looking almost succulent like petals .Enjoying the dry warm conditions of the last 3 weeks .

Cheers Dave.
  

[Tim Ingram]

Lovely deep colour in that Brodiaea. We are still unusually mild - normally the really cold weather sets in in January. This plant is not in the first flight of alpines, Draba paysonii, but is already full of flower buds.

[Booker]

A glimpse of summer from me ... a Spanish Swallowtail in the Picos de Europa.

 

[Lori S.]

Very nice photos, everyone.  
Tim, Draba paysonii is one of 30 or so Draba species that occur here... studying the characteristics of the hairs on the leaves through a hand lens to identify them is far beyond me!  Your photo reminds me that having some captive examples of the native ones for comparison might be a good place to start at least!

[cohan]

Lori, your comments on Draba echo my impressions of scanning the Flora re: the few I have photographed in the wild (re: Alberta Wanderings thread).. in the garden it seems would be a much easier place to study them, assuming one were to get characteristic growth...

[James McGee]

Does this count as 'rock gardening'?  I grow a number of Mexican Pings in a terrarium.  It gives me something to look at during winter.  I have quite a collection of little bonsai pots with Pings in them.  I have some growing quite nicely in angular aquarium pebbles.  This is a better drained mix than one would normally use for cactus.  If you have ever seen pictures of Pings clinging to cliffs in Mexico then you would not question their ability to survive dry conditions.  I put them outside and the rain tore them apart.  They apparently cannot handle rain.  They seem to like the humidity of the aquarium.  They must get most of their moisture from the dew of coastal fog in nature.

James      

Moderator Note:  for searchability and for NARGS forumists to know what "pings" are, the reference is to the genus Pinguicula.
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=638.0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinguicula
Mark McD.

[Tim Ingram]

In the UK at this time of year, all the rage is for snowdrops. American gardeners probably can't understand what we are all going on about! Even with our mild winter so far though they are still to do their thing in our garden (I do grow quite a few but not of the early flowering varieties). So back to a proper alpine and the common but very attractive rosettes of Saxifraga cotyledon. This is tucked in at the base of a lump of tufa and those leaf margins are so attractive! Some snowdrops to come in a few weeks time...

[cohan]

James, I do like Pinguiculas; I was under the impression that (some?) of the Mexican spp  were quite wet during the growing season then dry in winter- are yours dry all year?

Tim, I think snowdrops are quite nice, but have a little trouble thinking of them as a major focus of attention...lol-- however, blooming so early (totally impossible here to think of anything flowering in mid-winter except indoors!) I can see an appeal... Nothing here will show any activity till late April/May....

[James McGee]

James, I do like Pinguiculas; I was under the impression that (some?) of the Mexican spp  were quite wet during the growing season then dry in winter- are yours dry all year?

When the water in the bottom of my terrarium dries out, I give them more.  I think they like the humidity.  I did not mean that they like it dry in the sense of cactus.  Although, the species that have really small leaves when dormant do need a period without watering.  I was trying to convey their adaptability to various growing media. 

I tried some divisions in potting soil, because I had it handy.  They covered the surface of the pot without sending down roots (if that's even what they are) into the media.  The potting soil must have been too moist for them. 

They would probably creep across the glass in the bottom of my terrarium if there was not standing water present.  Whenever they grow over the edge of the pot all the way down to the standing water they start to rot.  Preventing this from occurring is about the only thing that compels me to divide them.

Even though I given them water every week or two, that aquarium gravel cannot store much moisture.  They would probably be just as happy on a bare rock if I tried it.


James

[cohan]

Very interesting! I had a friend in FL who was growing them for some time, though I don't think she has any any more... I'm pretty sure she grew them in plant drainage saucers, though I don't remember her medium- something simple- she usually has commercial stuff plus perlite.. So basically, yours are growing just as epiphytes- lithophytes I guess, with little moisture taken in by the roots? I'd like to try them again sometime (killed a little offset or two some years ago) but there is a long list, so I'm in no hurry..lol

[Hoy]

I tried some divisions in potting soil, because I had it handy.  They covered the surface of the pot without sending down roots (if that's even what they are) into the media.  The potting soil must have been too moist for them. 

They would probably creep across the glass in the bottom of my terrarium if there was not standing water present.  Whenever they grow over the edge of the pot all the way down to the standing water they start to rot.  Preventing this from occurring is about the only thing that compels me to divide them.

Even though I given them water every week or two, that aquarium gravel cannot store much moisture.  They would probably be just as happy on a bare rock if I tried it.


James

Interesting! When I visited Kilimanjaro I found that many of the plants in the rain forest had roots creeping at the surface of whatever they were growing on and not penetrating the soil or bark. Here is an example, (very bad picture) a Streptocarpus sp. and some ferns. They all had roots growing at the surface (it is not easy to see in the picture) making a net of woven roots.

[James McGee]

Here are some pictures showing various pinguiculas growing in aquarium pebbles or calcinated clay.  The largest one is P. gigantea.  The one with the most rosettes is P. laueana.  The last one is just a few small rosettes forming at the base of a leaf which had fallen off a mature plant.  I think this one is P. agnata 'true blue'.  These are all divisions, which is the reason they are so small.

James

[Lori S.]

A classic rock garden plant, Gentiana verna, native to Europe and Eurasia, that seems to grow fairly happily here in the crevice bed with no special care.  

        

(Apologies for the slightly fuzzy picture, but it's one of the few I have that captures the intensity and tone of the blue colour accurately!)

[McDonough]

Wow, a marvelous "bun of blue", love it!

[cohan]

A classic rock garden plant, Gentiana verna, native to Europe and Eurasia, that seems to grow fairly happily here in the crevice bed with no special care.  

(Apologies for the slightly fuzzy picture, but it's one of the few I have that captures the intensity and tone of the blue colour accurately!)

Great colour How early does this flower for you?
I can always tell if I've just come from Facebook-- I'm trying to find the 'Like' button..lol its one of those things that at first seems dumb on FB- but its actually great on forums where you want to express appreciation for something, without any long message...