Image of the day

Rick
Seed will be avaliable on the APS seed exchange. I sent some last year and again this year.

Another outstanding alpine Penstemon is Penstemon davidsonii var. davidsonii. This photos was take in August at an elevation of 9700'. The plant pictured was located about fifteen feet away from the P. speciosus plant in my previous posting.

Penstemon newberryi ssp. newberryi!! ;D

You all have inspired me! I have started buying Penstemon seeds! Hopfully some plants will tolerate the climate here!

Hoy
There are many species to choose from and I am confident you will find more than one that will thrive.

I predict that once you get started you will want to add many more. You will be another victim of "Pent. fever". It causes an addiction known as "Penstemania" ;)

You probable know this but here is a link to the American Penstemon Society's web sight.

http://apsdev.org/welcome.html

Weiser wrote:

Hoy
There are many species to choose from and I am confident you will find more than one that will thrive.

I predict that once you get started you will want to add many more. You will be another victim of "Pent. fever". It causes an addiction known as "Penstemania" ;)

Weiser,
I know! I constantly suffer at least five manias. I always end up with more seedlings than I can handle.
I grew some species years ago and particularly one very fine low-growing blue-flowered, I don't remember the name. It was swamped by bigger neighbors before I took action.
Thanks for the link. I was not aware of it although I knew such an society existed.

Great images everyone!  I wish i had seen more alpines while in South Africa but it was too early.  the Fynbos was spectacular with all the protea but they are not exactly alpines.  I've attached a pic of a Helichrysum I saw in the Drakensberg.

Senecio is a multifarious genus!

Vitaliana - I once grew some species but they disappeared after about 5 years. Have to try again!

Todd, I am waiting for more pictures from S. Africa!

I really miss seeing fields studded with these beauties. They are quite common across the Northern Great Plains.

Booker wrote:

Lovely image, Lori...

VITALIANA PRIMULIFLORA

Hmmmm .... I wonder where that photo was taken, Cliff.  It looks very familiar.

Skulski wrote:

With winter having just set in here... with a high of -17 deg C tomorrow and about 10cm of snow so far... here's a reminder of spring.
Pulsatilla patens in a Calgary park.

Lori, you can almost feel the warming sun in that Pulsatilla photo!
[I have ten inches of snow...]

No snow here yet, it's been relatively mild, but we turn to a week of nights dipping into the low to mid 20s Fahrenheit.  The drought this summer resulted in almost no Arisaema seed set, except for tried and true A. amurense, and on just one plant of A. sikokianum (see photo).  I usually just scratch these into spots around the woodland garden, but the seed isn't quite ripe yet.

Your pic also just reminded me that I never did harvest the berries from Arisaema franchetianum.  I hope they are "planted" now, too.

Arisaema franchetianum

I have already dispersed the seeds of my Cobra lilies, not a day too early. Clear cold weather (-2C nights,+6C days) has made the topsoil hard and frozen (the warmth of the days are not enough to thaw the frozen soil of the nights, at least not in my W and NW facing garden).
Last year we had wet and mild weather at this time, now we have had the opposite weather for some weeks. No snow yet.

One of my seedsown unknown Arisaema plants.

Lori
Nice image! Makes me want to go scrabble up that outcropping and get a better look (probably not a wise idea).

Thank goodness I don't have to deal with hail anymore! When I lived in ND it was not uncommon to have it hit at least once a year.

John, I think it is a good idea, grovel on my knees looking for plants! That kind of cliffs are heavens here if you want to find interesting plants.

Here is Haplocarpha nervosa.  Super mini gazania-like alpine from Sani Pass, Drakensberg...should be hardy.

Helichrysum confertum.....super mini and again, from the top of Sani Pass.  THIS one I'd like to try!

Todd, both of those Sani Pass alpines look awesome, I wonder if Panayoti is growing these at DBG.  How many pics did you take, enough I hope to keep us entertained all winter.

Cliff, what plants make up the main yellow and blue colors, and the pink color dotting the scenery?

Todd, Nice plants! I remember seeing lots of Helichrysum in the East African mountains. Some grew to big shrubs. The pictures show some of the Helichrysums we encountered on Mt Kenya.
Cliff, Your pictures always make me dreaming of summer!

Booker wrote:

Many thanks Mark and Lori,
Unfortunately I have been too busy to sort, catalogue, investigate and name all of the diverse and beautiful plants that we saw in the Gargano ... ANOTHER job for the winter months!  :D

Here are some more images captured at the same time.  I suspect some of the plants are simply 'green manure' species that have encroached from local fields?

Nice plants Cliff, your images sent me off to Flora Italiana trying to figure out what the blue-flowered plant is, surely a borage, but which one, there are many listed in the flora, possibly Alkanna tinctoria http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/alkanna.htm
...but also reminds me of other possibilities like Anchusa, Lithodora.

Yellow flowers are probably a Coronilla.  The light pink one looks to be Crepis rubra, which is found in the Gargano region of Italy, the deep pink one a Silene.

The vegetation on Mt. kenya is unreal!  I saw helichrysum from sea-level to the top of the Drakenberg...Africa seems to be THEIR place!

Todd wrote:

The vegetation on Mt. Kenya is unreal! 

Maybe we should arrange a meeting there! Unfortunately I don't know what kind of birds you find there, but you'll probably encounter different monkeys, elephants, African buffaloes etc.

Booker wrote:

Hi Mark and Lori,
Crepis rubra and Silene colorata are spot-on.  Definitely not Lotus corniculatus, Mark is probably correct with Coronilla.  I must investigate the blue further when time allows.  Thanks for your interest. Much appreciated.

An interesting link here:- http://photos.v-d-brink.eu/Flora-and-Fauna/Europe/Italy-the-Gargano/1082...

Great link Cliff, I went through the whole gallery looking for the mystery blue Borage, did didn't find a match, although a nice couple photos of Anchusa azurea.  I've been through some of Marijn van den Brink's photo galleries, always a joy; the Gargano looks floristically rich and interesting.

Cliff, something for you?

The blue is probably Alkanna lehmanni, the red maybe Silene colorata and the yellow Lotus cystoides!

http://www.ukwildflowers.com/Photo_diary/Gargano/Web_pages/gargano_2009_...

Mark, are you hit by the sunrays?

Hoy wrote:

Cliff, something for you?

The blue is probably Alkanna lehmanni, the red maybe Silene colorata and the yellow Lotus cystoides!

http://www.ukwildflowers.com/Photo_diary/Gargano/Web_pages/gargano_2009_...

Mark, are you hit by the sunrays?

Trond, that looks like a match.  That species of Alkanna shows up in the online Flora Italiana site as Alkanna tinctoria, specifying synonyms: Alkanna lehmanii (Tineo) DC. and Alkanna tinctoria Tausch subsp. lehmanii, so our guesses turn out being the same :D  
http://luirig.altervista.org/schedeit2/ae/alkanna_tinctoria.htm

I could go with the Lotus ID as well. That's another good link Trond!

And yes, it is sunny here, the sun moves so fast ;D

McGregor wrote:

Image of the day usually shows plants but this is the view out of the window this morning. Unusually early snow (some winters we get none). Started last night when I was doing a talk 30 miles away across the hills (we're in the coastal plain). Took an hour an a half to get home - but its pretty this morning.

Pretty sight but I know exactly how this weather is! Could have been here. What kind of tyres do you have? Do you change for winter weather?

Love your winter scene! I am drawn to the contrasts of color in a fresh snow covered garden!
My wife has questioned my sanity on occasion, when she sees me kneeling in the snow to get a better look at the details. ;)

Weiser wrote:

Love your winter scene! I am drawn to the contrasts of color in a fresh snow covered garden!
My wife has questioned my sanity on occasion, when she sees me kneeling in the snow to get a better look at the details. ;)

Sounds perfectly normal to me.  Happy Thanksgiving

Love the photos. Reminds me of when I grew this years ago in North Dakota. I don't remember why I lost it. I think it died one cold and brutal winter with no snow cover and near Arctic temperatures.

I am reminded of my first sight of Edelweiss (1972!) in Austria! An unforgettable Interrail tour with a friend (Paid NOK410, then = $56 for one month travel with trains in Europe)
Usually Edelweiss is a shortlived plant here.

McGregor wrote:

After my picture of snow Trond wrote

Quote:

Pretty sight but I know exactly how this weather is! Could have been here. What kind of tyres do you have? Do you change for winter weather?

No we just skid around for a few days and then pretend it won't happen again - some years it doesn't!

Get hold of "snow socks", , they are very easy to use.
http://www.dinside.no/97067/kom-deg-frem-med-snosokker

Sphaeralcea munroana