Ranzania japonica

What a cute little plant!  Never heard of it before, but that's nothing new...

Welcome to the forum!  Where do you garden?

Oooh, the much-coveted Ranzania! I can certainly understand you wanting to propagate it - it's lovely.  Unfortunately, I have no advice to offer... but I did want to welcome you to the site (and also to express my envy!  ;))

A visual aid  :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ranzania_japonica_1.jpg

I garden in Barrington Hills, IL, NW of Chicago.  We are Zone 5A.  I have 6 acres, all of which is under cultivation.  My woodland is 31/2 acres, 1/3 of which is planted in native plants and the remainder is native but not necessarily to IL or to the US.

I have three remaining plants I would like to divide so any information about when and how would also be appreciated: Glaucidium palmatum (both white and purple), Anemonopsis macrophylla and Deinanthe (both bifida and caerulea).  I have multiples of all of these.  I do have some Anemonopis I have started from seed.  I hope they will bloom this year.

I will appreciate any information you might have on propagating any of these

A very warm welcome to this wonderful forum, Barb.
Your beautiful garden still draws me back and it has been nearly a year since we were there!  :D :D :D

Hi Barb, a hearty welcome to the NARGS Forum.

Wow, what a gorgeous garden!  I'm glad Cliff caught a photo of it and shared it here; I think we all love to see other people's gardens.  And the house and beautiful setting too, reminds me of a Frank Lloyd Wright prairie style house :o

6 acres under cultivation, my you're ambitious and blessed with lots of space.  I hope you'll be showing us more views of your garden and plants you grow.

As to propagating/dividing Ranzania, Glaucidium, Anemonopsis, and Deinanthe, I don't have much to add, as I do not have enough experience with these most desirable woodlanders.  I wish I had Ranzania (its near the top of my list), I do have a largish Anemonopsis macrophylla which should be divided this year, so I hope to hear other's advice on the subject, and last year I moved my sad Deinanthe bifida from a spot that was way too dry to a better spot, and in the process it just sort of broke into two pieces which I planted separately. From a friend I've had Glaucidium palmatum in a very dark blue-purple form, but it was received in the days before I had much shade and it fried in my hot and dry garden, will look to grow this extra fine plant again, perhaps from seed.

To help others know about your general geographical location and climate, may I recommend adding a signature block to your NARGS Forum profile, then it'll show up at the bottom of any message you post.  See the FAQ topics on Profile options in the "Announcements from Moderators and Administrators" board.  http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?board=1.0

Wetzel wrote:

I garden in Barrington Hills, IL, NW of Chicago.  We are Zone 5A.  I have 6 acres, all of which is under cultivation.  My woodland is 31/2 acres, 1/3 of which is planted in native plants and the remainder is native but not necessarily to IL or to the US.

I have three remaining plants I would like to divide so any information about when and how would also be appreciated: Glaucidium palmatum (both white and purple), Anemonopsis macrophylla and Deinanthe (both bifida and caerulea).  I have multiples of all of these.  I do have some Anemonopis I have started from seed.  I hope they will bloom this year.

I will appreciate any information you might have on propagating any of these

I have started Anemonopsis from seed several times. Seems to be easy so I haven't divided any. This one bloomed the second year from seed - with one flower!

   
Sorry, not the best picture!

I have a huge clump of Glaucidium but I have never dared dividing it either. However, last spring I bought divisions of the white form - seems to be easy to divide according to the owner. The divisions grew on well last summer but too early to say how they  overwintered.

I do grow Deinanthe too but they barely live thanks to slugs >:( So no pictures!

Many thanks to all of you for the warm welcome. And a special thanks to really wonderful visitors, Cliff and his wife Sue.  How lucky we were to have had them as guests and to have been the lucky recipients of his program on the Dolomites.  Our entire chapter (WI-IL) was ready to leave for a trip there with him. His articles for the journal were outstanding.  I look forward to the next issue.

I have started Anemonopsis from seed.  This will be the second year for them.  I find that they germinate late in the summer for me which leaves them a brief time in the ground before the cold weather steps in.  I need to adjust their schedule. If I could divide them successfully, I think I would have mature plants quicker.  I too have a trouble taking good pictures of them.  The flowers hang down so it is hard to photograph them properly. I have started Glaucidiums from seed also.  I changed their schedule this year so they would germinate later as I have damping off problems if I have to keep them under the lights too long.  I am finding some variation in the form of the flowers in my plants.  The flowers of some are better than others so I would like to divide some of them if possible.  I am surprised at the problems with slugs on the Deinanthe.  So far that has not been as issue here.  I will try to dig up some pictures.

Late summer 2010 I used my "scratch n' sow in place" method on seed of Anemonopsis, I hope to get some good germination.  This is indeed a difficulty plant to photograph and do justice to the exquisite flowers... I have taken innumerable crummy shots of this fine plant, not happy with the photos yet. My particular Anemonopsis plant has yellowish green leaves; not sure if there is a soil problem where it is planted, but I would prefer foliage of a better green tone.  Here's a photo from our record drought summer of 2010, mid August, where I poured water on my plant religiously each day... some of the leaf yellowing could have been drought stress last year.

I am showing two photos of a beautiful healthy plant of Glaucidium palmatum that was given to me about 10 years ago, which I quickly killed :'( in less than a year... what a shame.

Claire, would you really consider dividing up Anemonopsis in only it's second year?