Callianthemum

Lovely!

Very sweet, but looks more like  a daisy than a buttercup  ;D

In flower here in Lancashire (U.K.) as well ...

I know it's quite presumptuous of me to ask, but if anyone has a few extra seeds later in the season, I'd gladly pay for them. It's almost impossible to get germination on this genus unless one plants fresh seed, and since this particular (and particularly beautiful) member of the genus is almost never grown here in the Northeast US, I haven't been able to get seed anywhere. I have a few C. anemonoides, which is almost as nice a plant, but C. kernerianum is on my wish list, and has been for over a decade.

Nothing presumptuous about it Peter ... we all have our desires and they need to be fulfilled.  I will bear you in mind at the appropriate time.  :D

Cliff, I really like this 'almost' colour!

My 2 favorite genera are the Ranunculaceae and the Asteraceae. Callianthemum combine them, accounting for my particular fondness for them. I will pray for a bumper crop of seeds, Cliff!

The better known C. anemonoides growing on alkaline soils in Austria. Here in a pink form.

Absolutely gorgeous! Thank you.

LucS wrote:

The better known C. anemonoides growing on alkaline soils in Austria. Here in a pink form.

Love this colour!
Is this genus easy from seed? I think Peter mentioned it must be fresh...

The seed needs to be fresh, although some have asserted that you can get germination on older seed using GA3. I haven't tried it with Seedex seed, but maybe next year I will. Some years ago Anne Spiegel warned me not to let the seed sit around for even 1 hour, but of course she must have been joking. I've gotten germination of C. anemenoides from my own fresh seed, getting into the ground right from the plant while still green. I've never gotten any in pots, only in the seed that was sown directly into my garden.

I have achieved reasonable germination from fresh seed from my own plants of C. kernerianum, C. anemonoides and C. coriandrifolium, but the important constituent is FRESH.  Seed-ex results have been very poor (one C .anemonoides in numerous sowings) and, as Peter has intimated, results improve if seed is sown in the soil around an existing plant.
C. anemonoides is usually sold by a number of nurserymen at shows here in the U.K. ... C. kernerianum less frequently ... and the beautiful blue C. farreri remains on my 'wants' list.

Booker wrote:

C. anemonoides is usually sold by a number of nurserymen at shows here in the U.K. ... C. kernerianum less frequently ... and the beautiful blue C. farreri remains on my 'wants' list.

Gorgeous plants!  I grew and flowered C. anemonoides many years ago; this topic refreshes my urge to grow them.

Cliff, you caught me attention with the name C. farreri, I had not heard of that species before, and with blue flowers!  So I had to look it up.

Callianthemum farreri in Flora of China (syn: C. cuneilobum)
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200007547
FOC reports the flower color as: Petals 8 or 9, white with purple spots, narrowly obovate to oblanceolate, 9--12(--15) × 5--6 mm, apex rounded.
...drawing in FOC; also notice the drawing of C. taipaicum, that one looks like a winner:
http://www.efloras.org/object_page.aspx?object_id=40748&flora_id=2

Found a photo of Callianthemum farreri, it's a beauty! :o :o :o
http://web.me.com/aleksanderpacan/RO%C5%9ALINY_SKALNE_w_OGRODZIE_OZDOBNY...
(ps: use the left and right arrows to see other alpine plant images)

Also found a good photo of Callianthemum coriandrifolium
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stationalpinejosephfourier/2052457486/

No rush for me, since no beds ready for this sort of plant  ;D I'll just have to watch for fresh seed--I guess it almost needs to be in private trade, since there seem to be few vendors that sell ephemeral seed fresh and moist packed like Kristl does!
Checking Canadian plant vendors, I see none at Beavercreek; Wrightman's offers Callianthemum coriandrifolium--white flowers, new--and sold out...lol

Well, I have already shown one of these photos, but the plants are so spectacular (and apropos) that I hope no one minds seeing them again!
Here are a couple of C. anemonoides, photographed last May 3rd in Stephanie Ferguson's exquisite garden; the second photo, of a plant not yet in full bloom (or of a younger plant perhaps), shows the interesting foliage nicely:

And, believe it or not, I was so lucky as to have been given a C. coriandrifolium seedling last summer!  (Again, thanks, SF!!)  ...Waiting to see how it's done over the winter...

On the first photo, don't you just love it when the flowers are so packed in and sumptuous that they barely have room enough to open.  One wonders what the foliage looks like below all those distracting flowers ;) so it's good to get a peek at the foliage in the second shot, and wonderful foliage it is.

It is a really splendid plant :) Hopefully yours will be just as smashing-- I guess coriandrifolium would refer to highly divided leaves? Wrightman's said white flowers...

One of my favourites and one I've tried from seed with no success.  Finally have tracked down a source so I just ordered C. coriandrifolium.

Mark, thanks for the link to Callianthemum farreri, what a beauty.  Couldn't make the other link to C, coriandrifolium work.  Callianthemum anemenoides is just starting to push through.  It's doubtful it will bloom before leaving for Nottingham because it's supposed to rain all week.  The rain is welcome but wish I could see it bloom.

Anne, we should try to meet-up during the conference as I 'know' so few who are going.

Todd wrote:

Anne, we should try to meet-up during the conference as I 'know' so few who are going.

Crumbs, Todd, I hope we are ALL going to meet up... there are only 250 or so there, shouldn't be too hard to achieve over the period!

IMYoung wrote:

Todd wrote:

Anne, we should try to meet-up during the conference as I 'know' so few who are going.

Crumbs, Todd, I hope we are ALL going to meet up... there are only 250 or so there, shouldn't be too hard to achieve over the period!

Not all - I am so sorry but I couldn't manage to come :'(

Well Trond, we will have to enjoy ourselves all the more to make up for absent friends.  :)

Oh, I think you'll manage pretty well with all those nice plantspeoples from everywhere ;)

Todd, I'll definitely be on the lookout for you.  As one of the speakers, you shouldn't be hard to find!

How cold hardy are C. armenum and kernerianum?  Wrightman's Alpines in Canada has them for sale this season, but I live in zone 4, sometimes 5, depending on the craziness of our changing climate here in Anchorage, Alaska.

I only have kenerianum here NW of Calgary Alberta. Zone 2b.  It has been hardy for years and saw, under a foot of snow, -33C a few times in the last 2yrs. Seedlings in aboveground seed trays, under maybe a couple inches of snow, survived the same. A few other species are well established in the City at Zone 3. I am presuming the name was accurate when I acquired it. The flowers are greenish white on mine rather than pink.