Image of the day - 2012

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.

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

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!

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...

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.

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...

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....

cohan wrote:

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

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

James wrote:

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.

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

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!)

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

Lori wrote:

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...

cohan wrote:

Lori wrote:

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...

Can't you just press the "star" button?    *****
You can see, I have given it 5 golden (didn't find the golden colour though) stars ;)

Hoy wrote:

cohan wrote:

Lori wrote:

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...

Can't you just press the "star" button?    *****
You can see, I have given it 5 golden (didn't find the golden colour though) stars ;)

*******

Well, glad you "like" it!  :D
Cohan, it starts blooming around mid-May here and has a nice long bloom period, to well past mid-June (judging from the dates on my photos).  It's very attractive in bud too:

I bought this plant some years ago from (probably) Beaver Creek. 

On the wood anemone thread, I mentioned our closest thing to the impressive spring forest floral displays elsewhere is some wet woods displays of Caltha palustris.. If I dug long enough, I might find another image in fuller flower (though these plants in shade do not have as dense  flowering as plants in the open), but this will have to do for now!

BTW, these are on the acreage, something like 50 metres (at a wild guess) behind my house...

Here's a pretty Brassicacaea, Smelowskia calycina, in bloom in the first photo.  The second photo has the attractive foliage of Smelowskia calycina in the foreground, a colourful Rhodiola integrifolia in the center, and Saussurea nuda in bud at the back.

Lori,

Three cheers for your photos.  Every time you post a picture of your garden I learn more and more of it's magnificence.  It makes me feel my place, full of never ending projects, is unworthy in comparison.

I also appreciate your photos of wild plants.  If I can't go to those places, at least I can live vicareously through your photos.

Rhodiola integrifolia is a rare cliff plant in the Driftless area of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.  It also lives on cliffs along or near Lake Seneca in New York.  This is evidence of a much cooler past.  I always wondered why Midwestern and Eastern rock gardeners have not made attempts to get their local king's crown into regional gardens.  It is a beautiful plant.  Not only when flowing in Spring as your picture shows... but also with it's wonderful Fall color.

James

Something of a contrast to those marvellous pictures in the wild from Lori. I mentioned snowdrops a little earlier, and by way of a taster (all the highly expensive named varieties are still to start flowering) here is a picture of the common snowdrop, nivalis, flowering under our apple trees last February. My technique has been to bury nearly ripe seedpods (while still green) and the result is small 'tufts' of seedlings which have flowered in around three years, and produce a wonderful massed effect. These plants are ideally suited to the British climate and really keep our gardening going through the winter, along with hellebores, eranthis and even, at the moment, a few primroses!

Hoy wrote:

Lori, very nice! Seems to be necessary with more than a raised sand bed to grow these ;D

I suspect that might be the minimum requirement in your very wet area, but the propects would naturally be much better here in our conditions.  Having said that, I haven't tried to grow Smelowskia here yet, but I did pick up a seedling of Rhodiola integrifolia at the local alpine plant sale last year.

Thanks for the comments, James.

James wrote:

Rhodiola integrifolia is a rare cliff plant in the Driftless area of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.  It also lives on cliffs along or near Lake Seneca in New York.  This is evidence of a much cooler past.  I always wondered why Midwestern and Eastern rock gardeners have not made attempts to get their local king's crown into regional gardens.  It is a beautiful plant.  Not only when flowing in Spring as your picture shows... but also with it's wonderful Fall color.

James

James, I believe the plant you refer to is Rhodiola integrifolia ssp. leedyi (as opposed to Rhodiola integrifolia ssp. integrifolia, which occurs here).  It is noted as occurring in Minnesota and New York, but if you feel you have seen it in Iowa and Wisconsin, it would probably be worth investigating further, and telling the local plant societies, etc. so that the possibility could be verified.
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=RHINL
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250092046

Note that there is also Rhodiola rosea (and there has been a vast amount of nomenclatural confusion over time between it and R. integrifolia) but it also does not seem to have been recorded from Iowa and Wisconsin:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=RHRO3
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200009865

So, either way, it would certainly be of interest to check out.

Lori wrote:

James, I believe the plant you refer to is Rhodiola integrifolia ssp. leedyi (as opposed to Rhodiola integrifolia ssp. integrifolia, which occurs here).  It is noted as occurring in Minnesota and New York, but if you feel you have seen it in Iowa and Wisconsin, it would probably be worth investigating further, and telling the local plant societies, etc. so that the possibility could be verified.

I have only seen Rhodiola integrifolia ssp. leedyi in New York.  I knew it also occurred in the Driftless Area.  This area includes all the states I mentioned.  However, I did not look up exactly where in the driftless area it had been found.  If they say it only exists in the Minnesota portion of the driftless region, then they are probably correct. 

Irregardless, it is still a plant worthy of cultivation.  Although, the protected status thing would make obtaining seeds difficult.  You would need a permit.  Even if Rhodiola integrifolia ssp. leedyi could not be obtained, I have grown the more common Roseroot from seed.  Roseroot is very similar and also beautiful.

James

James wrote:

I have grown the more common Roseroot from seed.  Roseroot is very similar and also beautiful.

James

Yes, very beautiful indeed!  There are a few photos of it here:
http://nargs.org/nargswiki/tiki-browse_gallery.php?galleryId=97&offset=0

James wrote:

Irregardless, it [Rhodiola integrifolia ssp. leedyi] is still a plant worthy of cultivation.  Although, the protected status thing would make obtaining seeds difficult. 

James

The subspecies in wild Minnesota grows only in very specific maderate cliffs¹, and is known only from four locations (plus three -maybe- in New York).  Its status is endangered in Minnesota and is a Federally threatened taxon. I can't attest to the New York environments , but mimicking the Minnesota environment would be next to impossible in warm climates such as ours. 

¹a very specialized habitat of specific strata where groundwater seeps through the rock and is cooled by air coming from underground air passages in karst topography. This results in a constantly wet, dripping condition, an unusual product of a long geological history.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/rsg/profile.html?action=elementDetail&selecte...

RickR wrote:

I can't attest to the New York environments , but mimicking the Minnesota environment would be next to impossible in warm climates such as ours.  

¹a very specialized habitat of specific strata where groundwater seeps through the rock and is cooled by air coming from underground air passages in karst topography. This results in a constantly wet, dripping condition, an unusual product of a long geological history.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/rsg/profile.html?action=elementDetail&selecte...

So keep it out of direct sun during the hot parts of the year and water it.  I am sure it is not that hard to grow.  It's still a Rhodiola.  

The only reason it is rare is because glaciers came down and wiped out most of the cliffs where it found refuge.  Wait a couple of Millena for erosion to re-carve gorges through the otherwise glacially bulldozed Midwest and this little Rhodiola will spread.  There is a large amount of potential habitat that it either does not occupy, or that just simply has not been searched.  At least this is true of the cliffs along the Finger Lakes.  

I'm surprised there has not been some effort to establish new colonies in the ample unoccupied habitat.  Efforts to establish new colonies would be easy and have a high probability of success.  Collect some seed, sow it on cool cliff faces and see what happens.

James
 

Cohan, your Ribes does look like hudsonianum.  Mine is not a perfect fit but i could not find any other AB species that looks like the one I phootgraphed in SW Alberta.  Lori, do you have any insights? (Moderator note:  See Plants and Gardens - Woodies - Ribes for further on this topic.)

I saw Rhodiola integrifolia for the first time this past July while hiking in the Drywood Mountain area of SW Alberta (just outside Waterton Lakes).  Much small stature than R. rosea but exquisite all the same.

R. rosea is native in Newfoundland and always grows within reach of the ocean spray.  They can be quite robust.  Here is a clump growing near L'anse-aux-Meadows, the Viking Historical site in northern Newfoundland

Todd, natural rock garden perfection in that photo, gorgeous foliage :)

Note:  The discussion about Ribes has been moved to "Plants and Gardens - Woodies - Ribes" where it can continue with the focus it deserves!  :)
Lori

Lori wrote:

Here's a pretty Brassicacaea, Smelowskia calycina, in bloom in the first photo.  The second photo has the attractive foliage of Smelowskia calycina in the foreground, a colourful Rhodiola integrifolia in the center, and Saussurea nuda in bud at the back.

Really great grouping of plants in the second shot :)

Lori wrote:

Note:  The discussion about Ribes has been moved to "Plants and Gardens - Woodies - Ribes" where it can continue with the focus it deserves!   :)
Lori

Thanks Lori! And with the new thread status, I've already added a bunch more photos...lol.. many to come when I remember, including fall colour...

McDonough wrote:

Todd, natural rock garden perfection in that photo, gorgeous foliage :)

I agree as well Mark .

I've raised one or two Rhodiola sps in the past but never been able to get them beyond the first winter :'(

Here's a close up of Lignocarpa carnosula in scree ,seen during last weekends wet soggy NZ field trip ....

Cheers Dave.

A truly amazing little "tree", as well as superb photography! 

What is its actual size?
Does it ever grow leaves?
It looks so fresh.  How old would you guess it is?

Thanks Rick

The plant in question isn't that big ,about the size of a persons palm.

Not sure how old it is ---the foliage breaks off delicately at it's connection with the large fleshy rootstock at the end of each season.....unfortunately i have no knowledge of how many years it takes for the plant to reach blooming size.

Here's a Pic i took a number of years ago of a mature plant ,showing the much divided 'leaves 'and flowers.

One of the specialized scree inhabitants that are easily overlooked because they mimic the colour of the mineral.

Cheers Dave.

From the first photo of Lignocarpa carnosula, I thought it grew like a Pencil cactus, and I was only looking at stem structure.

But the second photo shows that this may not be the case!  Parts certainly look like leaves, but I'm not willing to commit to their identification as such.  Still, the growth pattern was not at all as I had envisioned from the first photo.

A strange plant, indeed.  Thanks, Dave!

Lignocarpa carnosula; that really is a strange plant! I would gladly exchange all my Rhodiolas for one of those! Seems to be a Apiaceae and reminds me of rock samphire (Crithmum maritimum) which I try to establish at my summerhouse.

Toole wrote:

Here's a close up of Lignocarpa carnosula in scree ,seen during last weekends wet soggy NZ field trip ....

Cheers Dave.

What a thrilling plant! and fantastic shot!
Dave's view is fascinating as well-- so many delightfully strange plants in NZ- if only it were warm enough here to grow such things-- if I ever get that Alpine House....

I agree, Lignocarpa carnosula is a strange and fantastic plant, excellent photos too, thanks Dave.

For those left with a hankering for more tasty New Zealand alpine treats, check out this fine topic on sister SRGC Forum:
NZ field trips - Jan 2012
http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8325.0

Ohhh...I want one of those.  So bizarre but fantastic foliage!

Toole wrote:

Here's a close up of Lignocarpa carnosula in scree ,seen during last weekends wet soggy NZ field trip ....

Wow, beautiful plant and magnificent photography!  :o

Todd wrote:

Ohhh...I want one of those.  So bizarre but fantastic foliage!

I'd love to have this one, too! It looks hard to grow in my garden, though... :'(

From another part of the world...Gentianella rapunculoides from the Paramo of Ecuador.

That's a beauty, Todd!  It has quite a different look to it than the Gentianella here.  

I have just looked up paramo:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Páramo
Was that in Cotopaxi National Park?   Must have been an amazing trip!  

With that, and Dave's Lignocarpa carnosula, we are being treated to some real exotica lately!

Todd wrote:

From another part of the world...Gentianella rapunculoides from the Paramo of Ecuador.

This is a gem!
I remember seeing several Gentians, some very different from those at home, when I visited the Paramo of Ecuador in 2000 but not this one!
Sorry - all my pictures are slides :(

Wow, Todd, you are getting around!
I had to look it up as well, found this page:
http://www.ecuador-travel.net/biodiversity.ecosystems.paramo.htm
Were you in the wet zone, or various spots?
Was it just a trip for interest, or was someone hoping to find plants suitable for cultivation somewhere?
Looks like some really stunning places and plants in those zones...

Guess this topic should be moved to the Travels section.  I was in the Paramo east of Quito.  It was wet and cold but the sun broke through in the late afternoon.  I was on a birding trip to Ecuador and we were looking for some high alpine birds.  The birds were scanty but the plants were pretty cool.  Here is a Plantago rigida...not like any Plantago in our area!  It is more like a Bolax (Azorella) and hard as a rock.

I'm amazed at the range of genera that contain species that form hard domes like you show. 

Todd, if you want to treat us to a photo essay of the Paramo of Ecuador (hint, hint  :) ), the Travels section would probably be the place to start it.

Todd wrote:

Guess this topic should be moved to the Travels section.  I was in the Paramo east of Quito.  It was wet and cold but the sun broke through in the late afternoon.  I was on a birding trip to Ecuador and we were looking for some high alpine birds.  The birds were scanty but the plants were pretty cool.  Here is a Plantago rigida...not like any Plantago in our area!  It is more like a Bolax (Azorella) and hard as a rock.

Cool Plantago! Good thing you had a back-up interest if the birding was not so successful :)

Inula rhizocephala - easy from seed, hardy, and easy to grow.  Providing very good drainage improves longevity in the garden.

http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200024064

That's a beauty Lori.....wish I had seen it before I placed my seed exchange orders.

Lori wrote:

Inula rhizocephala - easy from seed, hardy, and easy to grow.  Providing very good drainage improves longevity in the garden.

http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200024064

Nice one, its a genus I've been interested in, though haven't got any yet... how large has it been for you, the flora shows a bit of size range... I like that it seems from the habitat it could take a bit of shade..

That Pantago rigida, Todd: Wow!

Imagine what it would look like flowering!

The plants I've grown of Inula rhizocephala were from the same seed source and have got to about 15cm (6") in diameter, and about 3cm (1 1/4" tall).  I've only grown them in sun.

Lori wrote:

The plants I've grown of Inula rhizocephala were from the same seed source and have got to about 15cm (6") in diameter, and about 3cm (1 1/4" tall).  I've only grown them in sun.

Good to know-- very small! Interesting with some giants in the genus...

Todd wrote:

Guess this topic should be moved to the Travels section.  I was in the Paramo east of Quito.  It was wet and cold but the sun broke through in the late afternoon.  I was on a birding trip to Ecuador and we were looking for some high alpine birds.  The birds were scanty but the plants were pretty cool.  Here is a Plantago rigida...not like any Plantago in our area!  It is more like a Bolax (Azorella) and hard as a rock.

Nice pillow, Todd, did you try?

Lori, I like that Inula better than the one I grow (Inula racemosa) which gets too big! (2.5m tall)

The only Inula I have is I. ensifolia 'Compacta', which is actually pretty good but on the 'fence' for a rock garden.

I think someone sent me seed of an Inula, I think its a big one, but have to look it up..lol I do love the small plants, but a few 2 m ones are cool too-- I have space for them- can't have only tiny plants :)

Here's another small Inula which got to about 5" last year in its second year from seed (which is smaller than my Inula ensifolia), and possibly OK for the larger rock garden - Inula acaulis ssp. subacaulis. It started blooming in late July.

The seeds germinated in about 6 days at room temperature.  Seeds were collected by M. Pavelka from ~2000m elevation at Sipikor Dag, Turkey.

These small inulas are really nice - I've tried rhizocephala but didn't give it the superbly drained conditions that Lori has and must try it again. Todd's picture of ensifolia 'Compacta' looks even nicer - a very 'tidy' looking plant. Like Trond I have only grown the large species, notably magnifica which seeds around. I wonder if anyone has grown the Himalayan species royleana; this is mentioned by British garden writers but I think hardly ever seen in gardens?

Once I believed I had Inula royleana but I soon realized I had gotten more of Telekia speciosa . . . . .  It is a weed here :-\

Lori wrote:

The seeds germinated in about 6 days at room temperature.  Seeds were collected by M. Pavelka from ~2000m elevation at Sipikor Dag, Turkey.

Delightful but Turkey and Newfoundland don't mix!

Myosotis asiatica and Potentilla uniflora(?):

A beautiful place to take a walk!

The Myosotis is very similar to this one from Turkey:

Unknown Myosotis and morning view of Lake Van

James wrote:

I wish I'd seen it in flower.  I am sure it was rather nice.

James   

See here:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=779.msg11305#msg11305

A trough with Alyssum oxycarpum. When not in bloom, the foliage is tiny, tight, and neat, a classic alpine; in bloom the stems extend to surprising length when considering the tiny basal rosettes, expanding into a fine show of golden blooms. In bloom early June, 2011.

Two views of Alyssum oxycarpum foliage in late March 2011.  I bought this as a seedling at a New England Chapter NARGS meeting in September 2010; I'm just going by the name as labelled.

Mark - have you ever come across Alyssum serpyllifolium? I grew this years ago and the foliage was the exact same as you last photos but the flowers were virtually stemless. These little alyssums are great plants, but for most rock gardeners eclipsed by their bigger cousins.

Mark, A remarkable plant! Your last picture of Alyssum oxycarpum shows a very succulent-looking specimen but the first picture when the plant is in flower seems to show a more "normal" plant. Is the plant as succulent as the last picture shows?

A little colder the last day - cold air from east has brought dry and cloudless weather but much colder than we are used to this winter. The remaining sleet and slush has frozen solid. Though, the Crocuses just wait for more sun to open their flowers.

The witch hazel is flowering although the colder weather does that the flowers contract a little.

McDonough wrote:

Two views of Alyssum oxycarpum foliage in late March 2011.  I bought this as a seedling at a New England Chapter NARGS meeting in September 2010; I'm just going by the name as labelled.

Great looking plant!

At one point I grew a number of dwarf Alyssum species, including several choice ones from Turkey, can't remember if serpyllifolium was among those I grew.  I was a bit alarmed with this species when the rosettes expanded and the stems grew taller and more diffuse than I would have imagined, but it was such a nice show for weeks, and then afterwards all the stem growth dried up and faded away, leaving behind the tiny "ropes" of succulent growth again, looking nice for fall and winter.  The silvery ropes of congested foliage remind me of the strange South American genus Nassauvia, specifically N. revoluta, although these are Asteraceae and obviously not related to Alyssum.

The arrangement of leaves on A. oxycarpum is certainly reminiscent in appearance of that of various succulents.  Are the leaves actually succulent at all?  The alyssums I've grown so far have flat, rather rough- and dry-feeling leaves.  I'll definitely keep a watch out for seed of that one - terrific foliage.

Lori wrote:

The arrangement of leaves on A. oxycarpum is certainly reminiscent in appearance of that of various succulents.  Are the leaves actually succulent at all?  The alyssums I've grown so far have flat, rather rough- and dry-feeling leaves.  I'll definitely keep a watch out for seed of that one - terrific foliage.

No, the leaves aren't actually succulent, they just look like they are by their arrangement, they are rough-scabrid to the touch as most Alyssum are.  I'm sure it made lots of seed but I never collected any, nor did I collect seed on much of anything else this year given my non-stop work demands and "working weekends", grrrrr.

That Alyssum is worthy to grow for foliage alone!

Crocus and witch-hazel Trond...you are inflicting pain!  We just got nearly a foot of snow yesterday...winter has finally arrived...now three months to my first blooms.

I agree Todd-- I have a hard time considering any season/place 'winter' that has things flowering! We also have crocus flowering-- at supermarkets and flower shops!

More thoughts of spring...
Draba acaulis:
         
               

Very cool (in more than one sense of the word)!

I didn't know Draba could be so wooly! :o

Well, here's another good wooly one then, Draba ventosa.  :)  It's native to Alberta, in alpine screes, though I haven't seen it in the wild yet.

Ya know, making a longer and longer want list (two more now) has its advantageous.  I can compare my want list to the Seed Ex offerings, for instance, and my order practically makes itself!

I hardly dare show a picture of a snowdrop after talk of deep snow and temperatures down to -30°C or below! Our climate is perfect for these plants and gardeners become quite obsessed about them, for good reason, they really light the garden up through these short days. I am growing many of them under rows of dwarf apples, along with other woodlanders that come on later. The variety, 'Trym', has become quite iconic for the repetition of the inner tepal markings on the outer tepals.

RickR wrote:

Ya know, making a longer and longer want list (two more now) has its advantageous.  I can compare my want list to the Seed Ex offerings, for instance, and my order practically makes itself!

Can't you just return the whole Seedex list and say: I take them all ;)

We have gotten a little colder weather now - the temperature has fluctuated around 0C so the snow doesn't melt. On the other hand there are less cloudy and we risk seeing blue sky :D

Tonight it is expected to be very likely to see Aurora borealis, even as far south as I am :o

Lori, I haven't considered growing any Drabas before but now I am tempted!

Tim, not much snow there! Your spring is more advanced than mine, but that is no surprise, is it ;)

BTW I am going to visit Norfolk in February (on duty, not holiday). Hope we get nice weather 8)

Trond - some good alpine growers in Norfolk, especially of crocus! You are not going to John Innes by any chance? This is where I worked many years ago. A great county, if a little flat!

Don't worry Tim- when its -30 we need to see flowers ;) Fortunately that weather is gone for now- we are back above normal with most days this week above or just slightly below freezing..
I planted some Galanthus in fall, hoping to see some flowers this spring, not sure if they are mature bulbs or not, but they certainly wont be flowering in January here :)

Tim, you are killing me with snowdrop images...maybe in early April I'll see mine.

And Lori, you are killing me with woolly drabas....I can only grow the fuzzless types.  Funny about that...I can grow Stachys byzantina, Antennaria and Lychnis flos-jovis but 'choice' fuzzies are next to impossible.

Tim wrote:

Trond - some good alpine growers in Norfolk, especially of crocus! You are not going to John Innes by any chance? This is where I worked many years ago. A great county, if a little flat!

Not sure I have time to visit anything - I am with 3 of our high school students on a EU funded project from Monday till Friday staying at Holt Hall.

Tim, I agree with Cohan, I love to see the flowers too.  It's just a different "world" here, although I admit a little envy as well!
Quite a ways until spring, but I must say that as soon as Christmas is over and the days start getting even a minute or two longer, I say spring is on the way...
and start sowing seeds.  Helps a little!

Nice snowdrops, Tim!  Well, I suppose there might be signs of life here in another 6 weeks or so, weather permitting.  :rolleyes:

Here's Townsendia parryi in the wild:

Nice Townsendia- the Androsace gives me the scale- big flowers! but I guess anything would look big beside the Andro...lol.. how high would this be?

The Androsace chamaejasme tend to be up to about 5cm tall and the Townsendia is up to maybe 3cm tall... it is kind of hard to sense the scale with these close-ups.  

Phlox hendersonii growing in a trough:
     
             

The Androsace I know reasonably well, though I also know its height will vary; my question wasn't clear though, I was actually wondering what the altitude of the sites with the Townsendia would be?

Maianthemum stellatum var. crassum...the dwarf Newfoundland form.

cohan wrote:

Nice Townsendia- the Androsace gives me the scale- big flowers! but I guess anything would look big beside the Andro...lol.. how high would this be?

Oh, sorry!  That site is at about 2200m elevation on an alpine ridge.

Thanks, Lori- I thought it was probably up high :)

Nice one Todd- how tall is the dwarf M stellatum? It also appears to have broader leaves than most here (plants in shade have broader leaves here, but a much more open, taller form) and less glaucous than plants growing in the open here..

Todd wrote:

Maianthemum stellatum var. crassum...the dwarf Newfoundland form.

I think I have commented on this one before, love it!  Judging from the foliage this plant certainly has Juno Iris ambitions.  Is this dwarf NF form being cultivated?

Todd wrote:

Maianthemum stellatum var. crassum...the dwarf Newfoundland form.

Todd,if you ever get hold of seeds of this one! ;)

I have two other clones of M. stellatum and they are quite different. Does it grow in company with some Empetrum?

Campanula rotundifolia, in the edge of a hayfield..

A very cosy and familiar look! Although it is flatter than most places here ;D

Here are a few pictures of my one of my favorite meadows on the island of Jomfruland:

The dominating species at this time of the year (early summer) is Armeria maritima, Lychnis viscaria and Saxifraga granulata among a dozen more:

Since we are showing meadows, here is a non-native one covered with flax.  I am totally ignorant as to what the flax field crop flower looks like, but these were growing among established grasses and a few other forbes, so I am guessing it is an introduced wildflower type. ???

Nice flowery meadows.  A number of times I tried getting Linum perenne established in my garden, and they failed to persist. But finally got some growing and seedling around.  Now it has become a weed and I'm ripping out hundreds upon hundreds of seedlings; I fear that my allium garden will become a flax meadow in a few more years.  Some pure white forms appeared too.

I recall taking lots of photos of the spontaneous white Linum perenne plants, but most photyos were terrible, taken with my phone camera.  The blue ones vary in shade, mostly light blue colors, not a deep as the ones Rick showed, and a passable photo of the white-flowered one on the right.

Nice place, Trond! More varied than the field I showed, which |I am quite sure is a cultivated one-- many fields here are sown in grasses and/or legumes for hay and grazing for some years, then they will be plowed and put to a grain/seed crop such as barley, oats or canola (rape)- not as much wheat in my immediate area... and then repeat, etc..
So in this kind of filed, there are not a lot of wildflowers as they don't have time to establish before its plowed again- the Campanula will have come in from the roadside ditch, and may be only in a strip along the edge that does not get plowed! Other places we have pastures for grazing that are just cleared of trees, but not plowed, and they can have more diversity..

Rick-- great blue! I suppose someone in Alberta must be growing flax for seed, but I have never seen a field...

Mark, I always forget about flax- there are a few spots I've seen Linum growing wild (down south and in the montane zone; also pale blues) but have not been there at the right for seeds, or didn't look for them.. need to correct that, I'd like to have some seeding around, they probably wouldn't have as easy a time of it here as in your climate, but I could keep them in semi/wild places so they have lots of competition...

cohan wrote:

Nice place, Trond! More varied than the field I showed, which |I am quite sure is a cultivated one-- many fields here are sown in grasses and/or legumes for hay and grazing for some years, then they will be plowed and put to a grain/seed crop such as barley, oats or canola (rape)- not as much wheat in my immediate area... and then repeat, etc..
So in this kind of filed, there are not a lot of wildflowers as they don't have time to establish before its plowed again- the Campanula will have come in from the roadside ditch, and may be only in a strip along the edge that does not get plowed! Other places we have pastures for grazing that are just cleared of trees, but not plowed, and they can have more diversity..

"My" meadow is kind of cultivated as a small herd of calves do graze here every summer. Woody species spreading into the meadow are also removed on a regular basis. The soil is mostly fine quartz sand.

I've seen small patches of flax here in some gardens but not meadows! Although flax (Linum usatissimum)  has been grown here since the bronze age it is not found wild and not grown commercially since 19th century (American cotton replaced it ;) ). Another plant grown for its fibers is nettle (netle or nesle in Norw), a very important fiber plant as the word net (nett in Norw.) and "å netle" (= to sew) show. The latter plant is found wild ;)

Every now and again farmers here grow flax in place of rape - it is far more beautiful to see a field of blue! The field below our garden was planted this way one year and after harvesting the remaining stems were brought together in heaps and burnt. It seemed as though the whole field was on fire! (and my wife thought I had blown up the shed at the bottom of the garden!)... I wish some other linums would grow as well; L. narbonnense has always been a favourite of mine but seems to set very little seed and is very difficult to root cuttings from. Very beautiful silver-blue flowers though.

Hoy wrote:

cohan wrote:

Nice place, Trond! More varied than the field I showed, which |I am quite sure is a cultivated one-- many fields here are sown in grasses and/or legumes for hay and grazing for some years, then they will be plowed and put to a grain/seed crop such as barley, oats or canola (rape)- not as much wheat in my immediate area... and then repeat, etc..
So in this kind of filed, there are not a lot of wildflowers as they don't have time to establish before its plowed again- the Campanula will have come in from the roadside ditch, and may be only in a strip along the edge that does not get plowed! Other places we have pastures for grazing that are just cleared of trees, but not plowed, and they can have more diversity..

"My" meadow is kind of cultivated as a small herd of calves do graze here every summer. Woody species spreading into the meadow are also removed on a regular basis. The soil is mostly fine quartz sand.

I've seen small patches of flax here in some gardens but not meadows! Although flax (Linum usatissimum)  has been grown here since the bronze age it is not found wild and not grown commercially since 19th century (American cotton replaced it ;) ). Another plant grown for its fibers is nettle (netle or nesle in Norw), a very important fiber plant as the word net (nett in Norw.) and "å netle" (= to sew) show. The latter plant is found wild ;)

I know nettles are supposed to be very nutritious, but I didn't know they were used for fibre! Something to look into...

cohan wrote:

I know nettles are supposed to be very nutritious, but I didn't know they were used for fibre! Something to look into...

As you supposedly read Norwegian after all my lessons you can try this site: http://home.online.no/~lenbakke/body.htm

Trond, you seriously overestimate me....lol

cohan wrote:

Trond, you seriously overestimate me....lol

Don't you have google?  ;D

This one has to be admired from below - Codonopsis clematidea!

The access is easier here - Rosa roxburghii

Hoy wrote:

cohan wrote:

Trond, you seriously overestimate me....lol

Don't you have google?  ;D

I use google translate on occasion- it has some limited value for short, straightforward texts- a short list of facts etc, but overall, I find it more likely to produce something more like abstract poetry than any useful information, so usually I don't bother, unless I really can't find the information in a language I can make some sense of myself..lol

Regarding the computer translations, sometimes it helps to know a bit about the grammar, etc. of the second language to make good sense of the results.

I am very envious of anyone who speaks multiple languages. 

I was posting some images of what I decided is probably Gentiana affinis the other day, in my Alberta Wanderings thread; I found some more images of them, later in the season.. more pics here, showing some of the variation in leaf form, and fall colours, ranging from in bloom to nearly, but not quite, ripe seed:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=591.msg14622#msg14622

Sorry being so slow to get back to you regarding the dwarf form of Maianthemum stellatum in newfoundland.  It rarely get taller than 15 cm.  We have the normal form as well which for us might reach 60 cm.  Trond, our dwarf form typically grows among Empetrum nigrum and always within sight of the sea.

Rick, thats some display of flax!

Well, we have been inundated with three consecutive snow storms.  Over 100 cm with winds in excess of 80km/h.  Hard to believe I had open lawn a week ago.  Guess no early spring for me!  I think we have the only snow in all of North America.

Yikes, you sure get the snowfalls out there, Todd!

We are back into a warm spell, with the snow disappearing fast.
Thinking of spring to come, here's a shot of Penstemon nitidus with other spring/early summer flowers in the front yard:

Todd wrote:

Well, we have been inundated with three consecutive snow storms.  Over 100 cm with winds in excess of 80km/h.  Hard to believe I had open lawn a week ago.  Guess no early spring for me!  I think we have the only snow in all of North America.

We heard the East was getting hammered! We have not had significant new snow in some time, but there is still plenty on the ground- piles a couple feet deep where its shovelled around our parking/house etc... lots of bare spots under trees, but open areas mostly still under several inches to a foot... all my plantings are still covered, though some rock garden bits will be showing soon +6 today, -5C monday, then just below or just above most of the week-- still warm for Jan!- but snow will only be melting in sunny places..

Todd wrote:

Sorry being so slow to get back to you regarding the dwarf form of Maianthemum stellatum in newfoundland.  It rarely get taller than 15 cm.  We have the normal form as well which for us might reach 60 cm.  Trond, our dwarf form typically grows among Empetrum nigrum and always within sight of the sea.

Rick, thats some display of flax!

Well, we have been inundated with three consecutive snow storms.  Over 100 cm with winds in excess of 80km/h.  Hard to believe I had open lawn a week ago.  Guess no early spring for me!  I think we have the only snow in all of North America.

Thanks, Todd. The dwarf form should fit perfect into the landscape here ;)

Although we have had strong wind and snow it is not more than 10-15cm but piling up some places. With rain tomorrow I do wonder how I'll get to work!

Lori, you're making me dream sweet dreams with your picture!

More sweet dreams of spring...
Asperula boissieri:

It's been a very satisfying grower, with bloom starting in the first year from seed, and flowering lushly over a very long period in its second year (when this picture was taken).  I started the seeds at room temperature, then, with no germination after about 2 weeks, moved them to the cold room, where germination commenced after another 12 days.  (From that, I'm not sure if chilling is required or not, or if it would have germinated in warm conditions with time.)  The seeds were collected by Mojmir Pavelka from rocky limestone slopes at 2200m elevation in the Killini Mts., Greece.  As one might expect from its appearance, it's evergreen.

Great little plant, and looking right at home in your tufa!

It's magic how the plants seem at home in tufa!

Wish I had access to tufa...I have never managed to keep Asperula alive, but I might have a chance if I tried it in tufa.

Here is a natural crevice garden...Argentina anserina growing in a limestone crack in northern Newfoundland.

Looks good, Todd! I've been trying to figure out whether there are any other (ex) potentillas that can be confused with this species? I've seen it in towns/cities occasionally, and near shores in seemingly dry (growing flat) or not (taller) locations-- Flora of Alberta lists it as being native and having a habitat of lakeshores etc.. is this all the same plant or is there another stoloniferous Potentilla? Is it always native in North America, or in urban situations would be an introduced form?  I'll dig for pics...

Okay, found some, first three are in an empty lot in the town of Sylvan Lake, Alberta; as the name suggests, this is a lakeshore town, though this site is not near the shore, still on flats that might have been shore long ago..

Second set is at the shore of Gull Lake, Alberta.. some low plants, and some in a moist grass area that are taller..

Argentina anserina is the former Potentilla anserina and is common across the prairies... as a kid, I remember seeing it mainly on the edges of mud puddles along the sidewalks!  I've always thought of it as being somewhat invasive but I've never grown it so I don't know how well founded that assumption is.  I've found it sort of amusing that Fraser's Thimble Farms has sold it for many years now (surprising to me but why not, I suppose - though until seeing Todd's photo, I hadn't thought of it as being all that ornamental) and secondly, that they refer to it as hardy down to zone 6.   :rolleyes: ;D ;D  (It would be nice if the natural range of plants would be considered when zone ratings are published!) 

Finally the last place I've photographed this plant ( I think!) in 2007, on the Leslie Spit in Toronto; this is a park and breakwater of reclaimed/built up land ( I suppose there was a spit there that they added to?)- part are still being extended - or were in 2007- with construction /demolition rubble etc.. plants are a mix of native and urban weedy species (and I never did know the Ontario flora enough to always know the difference- I think i will have to post more from this place- there are things I still don't know what they were!), and I suppose some of the natives have been deliberately planted....
These plants are growing in a sandy spot that seemed very hot and dry in mid-summer though it's possible the watertable is not very far below, and likely at other times of year it would be wet....

Judging from the USDA Plant Profile page on Argentina anserina and native range, it grows all the way up to the Northern Territories and Alaska, so hardiness is probably not an issue.  In it native to most of the USA and Canada except south-central and southeastern U.S.  Some good diagnostic photos on the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture web site, but please note, if you search on "Argentina" it will not be found, so browse by genus and look for it under its long-standing prior name: Potentilla anserina.

http://www.plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ARAN7
http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=...

McDonough wrote:

Judging from the USDA Plant Profile page on Argentina anserina and native range, it grows all the way up to the Northern Territories and Alaska, so hardiness is probably not an issue. 

Yes, my point exactly with respect to the "zone 6" rating!  (On that note, another favourite misleading-zone-rating example is for  another northern prairie plant, anise-hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)...  also "zone 6"...  :rolleyes:

Lori- I have some places in the yard where I think it would be a nice addition to the 'lawn' though paying closer attention to the habitat,  now I'm wondering if its drought tolerant as I always thought from city sightings.. When I get some seed or cuttings, I can try it in the dry and wet ends of the property... I've always really liked the plant, especially when its flat, and some are more silver than others, not sure if that's varietal or environmental..

So is the consensus that all the North American plants are native? And are all the stoloniferous Potentilla this species? I didn't find any other candidates....

Mark- if it's growing around here, hardiness is not an issue ;) I wonder if the arctic forms are any smaller?

The zone thing is funny-- I understand there are plants that are less cultivated, and vendors can't say anything more than that they are hardy in the nursery's zone, but for plants native to- for example Alberta, as something I saw in a B.C. catalogue was listed, a zone 4 rating is kind of funny (very small areas of z4 in Alberta) and widely grown plants in zone 2 listed as z 6- Sempervivum is another- funny indeed-- a few minutes on google could give a catalogue writer better info than that!
The Agastache grows near here too...  we are z 3 more or less on the map, these days, but long term still expect some z 2 winters...

After digging up the Argentina/Potentilla images from an old Toronto album, I got the whole set onto Picasa, and started a thread here:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=986.msg14913#msg14913
an interesting 'wild' space in view of the CN Tower...

Potentilla (I prefere that name!) anserina is common in all Norway, also the far north. It is nitrophilic and you commonly find it at the seashores. I am used to two different forms - one with silvery hair on both sides of the leaves - often the biggest - and one with green leaves and hair only on the underside of the leaf. It is so common that I haven't bothered picturing it!

I have only this pic:

Hoy wrote:

Potentilla (I prefere that name!) anserina is common in all Norway, also the far north. It is nitrophilic and you commonly find it at the seashores. I am used to two different forms - one with silvery hair on both sides of the leaves - often the biggest - and one with green leaves and hair only on the underside of the leaf. It is so common that I haven't bothered picturing it!

I have only this pic:

Its often the case that we ignore very common plants, even if they are nice! I tend to overlook Fragraria here for that reason, among others, even though they are quite lovely!

For consideration today, here are the tiny and bizarre flowers of Mitella nuda, a circumpolar native, growing here in an acid/peat bed:

One of my favourites, Lori :) this is one of those that grows everywhere here (out of full sun, that is), including many mowed parts of our property; often quite large patches, though never all by itself, and many times threading through other species; I'd like to put some in a dedicated planting like yours where it can be appreciated :)

Here are some common local settings of Mitella nuda:
first with Pyrola asarifolia in bud, Cornus canadensis emerging leaves, aster and Rubus in the background, among others (very typical mesic forest community!) and a close-up of the same inflorescence with fuzz of poplars or dandelion stuck to it (at times the air and ground, every twig, blade and leaf are full of fuzz of various things); June 06, 2010

Then on a slightly raised strip in  a wet wooded area, with Equisetum, Galium, Rubus, Geum, etc.. June 16, 2010

Another example of en-fuzzed flowers from early June- Corallorrhiza trifida, which I don't remember from my youth, but which has become very common on parts of the acreage and the farm just beyond....

Seems my challenge is to get a nice closeup of Mitella nuda...I've ignored it but it is really quite exquisite.

We have C. trifida in NL but I have never seen it in flower...only in seed.  Thinking on it, I've only seen it in AB in seed...guess I'm not out early enough in the year.

I've always wondered about growing Potentilla anserina. Here it is simply called 'silverweed'. I've never known anyone introduce it to gardens; I imagine it could become pretty invasive! On the other hand it could be good to have it spangling the lawn!

The picture of Lori's earlier on of Asperulain tufa is just tremendous; my tufa project is definitely coming to the fore!

Mitella nuda isn't new to me but I've never considered growing it in my garden till now!

Corallorhiza trifida is common here but do not show up every year. Here's a picture from last summer. This plant did grow in the road.

I found a couple of other pictures with Potentilla anserina. It is from the island of Jomfruland and wide patches of the beach are covered by "silverweed" but not the most silvern type. Seems that those with green leaves tolerates grazing more than the silvery ones do. The plants here are grazed by cows and geese. The more silvern ones to the right isn't grazed as hard as the others. The lone plant is from another place on the same island.

Trond-- the big patch of P anserina is nice!
Tim- I agree you wouldn't want it in a small/choice garden setting, but I'd quite like to have it in my 'lawn' which is just mowed land including a lot of things other than grass already! Agreed about Mitella- the inflorescences are individually stunning, and quite wonderful when you see a patch of them..

Todd- Corallorhiza is not that early here- early June..

We have both Mitella nuda and Mitella diphylla.  I haven't noticed them in flower since I got a digital camera, and never even attempted photographing them with film.  The white, smaller flowering M. diphylla seems to be more common.

I have seen both Corallorhiza trifida and C. maculata in Minnesota, but I have only seen C. maculata in flower. Like, Todd, I've only seen trifida in seed.

We have several other species of Mitella in Alberta- in google images they don't look much different, though I think they are all larger, with differences in hairiness and numbers of stamens etc!I don't think any of them should appear here-- looks like all should be in the mountains...

Corallorhiza maculata is not as common as C trifida is now, but not rare- there are at least two patches just on my 6 acres- much larger and showier than trifida, in larger clusters of stems, unlike the more scattered trifida.... C maculata seems very scarce on the map, but I suspect its underrecorded, based on my viewings around here, and I am hardly seeing any large portion of the suitable habitat!

There is also C striata, which I don't think I have seen, seems farther south on the map...

A few images of Corallorhiza maculata; I will have to try to get some better pics of this this year- it seems to defy me: a dark plant, growing in shady places- so images of light and camera shake, plus stems move easily in the breeze it seems- whatever the reasons, most of my pics are crappy (the one time I found it in sun, my camera had something on the lens and I didn't know, so half my photos that day were sort of 'soft focus')..
Anyway these are one one of the patches on my acreage, first July 09, 2011, in full bloom, not early in the blooming;

then July 14, 2010, same patch- clearly a little past their prime...

It is only one species of Corallorhiza in Norway, wouldn't mind a few more like for instance C maculata ;)

This is not a wild plant but an Iris germanica cv without name:

This is a clump of Lycoris incarnata which started from 2 or 3 bulbs about 9 years ago.
Certainly the most floriferous thing in the garden at the moment (mid-summa)
cheers
fermi

Trond- seed could easily be arranged if you have some suitable soil to dump it on...

Fermi- nice plants at any time :)

cohan wrote:

Trond- seed could easily be arranged if you have some suitable soil to dump it on...

Cohan, what do you think is suitable soil? I have many possible sites ;)

Fermi wrote:

This is a clump of Lycoris incarnata which started from 2 or 3 bulbs about 9 years ago.
Certainly the most floriferous thing in the garden at the moment (mid-summa)
cheers
fermi

Fermi, I could need a midsummer flowering bulb like that but I suppose it isn't hardy?

Quote:

Fermi, I could need a midsummer flowering bulb like that but I suppose it isn't hardy?

Trond I bet you could grow the very similar Lycoris squamigera or Nekkid Ladies! They are hardy here in Vermont and pop up over night in late summer-early fall. The bulb clumps increase well each year.

Growing any orchid from seed is a hit and miss...more especially the Corallorhiza.  You have to have the correct mycorhizal fungi present.  If you already had a Corallorhiza in your garden, you might have a chnace.  Otherwise, the best bet is to at least sow the seeds next to another orchid in the hopes that a suitable fungus might be present.

Hoy wrote:

cohan wrote:

Trond- seed could easily be arranged if you have some suitable soil to dump it on...

Cohan, what do you think is suitable soil? I have many possible sites ;)

As Todd mentioned, and as I'm sure you know, you need fungus in the soil- but this may not be such a problem in your woodland garden... on my property these are on average woodland soil which only has a thin layer of real humus over our usual 'grey wooded' soil which has some smallish amount of organic matter in a clayey soil, with a thin layer of leaf litter on top of that-- so obviously decomposing organic matter, but not any great depth of it! They are mesic sites- not dry, but not wet- home to things like Cornus canadensis, Maianthemum etc...
And this is why I said  to 'dump' it- you could try the Japanese non- sterile orchid germination (building up fungal cultures in plastic boxes- discussed on SRGC) but for this seed, I'd be inclined to just toss it in your woodland in some possible sites and see what happens- I could give you enough pods to be casual with if I catch them at the right time..lol

AmyO wrote:

Trond I bet you could grow the very similar Lycoris squamigera or Nekkid Ladies! They are hardy here in Vermont and pop up over night in late summer-early fall. The bulb clumps increase well each year.

Amy, thanks for the suggestion! I have been aware of the genus but always assumed they were half hardy. Now you have encouraged me to try some! Need to lay my hands on some bulbs, as I want flowers soon :)

Todd wrote:

Growing any orchid from seed is a hit and miss...more especially the Corallorhiza.  You have to have the correct mycorhizal fungi present.  If you already had a Corallorhiza in your garden, you might have a chance.  Otherwise, the best bet is to at least sow the seeds next to another orchid in the hopes that a suitable fungus might be present.
[/quote

cohan wrote:

As Todd mentioned, and as I'm sure you know, you need fungus in the soil- but this may not be such a problem in your woodland garden... on my property these are on average woodland soil which only has a thin layer of real humus over our usual 'grey wooded' soil which has some smallish amount of organic matter in a clayey soil, with a thin layer of leaf litter on top of that-- so obviously decomposing organic matter, but not any great depth of it! They are mesic sites- not dry, but not wet- home to things like Cornus canadensis, Maianthemum etc...
And this is why I said  to 'dump' it- you could try the Japanese non- sterile orchid germination (building up fungal cultures in plastic boxes- discussed on SRGC) but for this seed, I'd be inclined to just toss it in your woodland in some possible sites and see what happens- I could give you enough pods to be casual with if I catch them at the right time..lol

According to Wikipedia C. maculata needs fungi of the Russula or Lactarius or other genera of the Russulaceae to parasitize. Shouldn't be too difficult to find!

Seems that Corallorhiza is a New World genus with only one (C trifida) being circumpolar.
Had been very exiting trying to establish it in the garden ;)

One of the very few Arilbred Iris I grow is one named 'Lancer', and a beauty it is (as if the fragrance).  Thanks to James Waddick for my start of this fine photogenic Iris.  Photo from late May 2011.

Good info, Trond- my knowledge of fungi is scanty, even though there are many here, a major part of the ecosystem, and I look at and photograph them a lot!

Mark- very pretty iris!

Swiping some pix from Stuart's backcountry ski trip yesterday to the Heather Ridge area in Banff N.P., I think these give some indication of the hardiness of northern Rockies alpines... on some windy ridges, they cannot even count on snow cover!

Lori wrote:

Swiping some pix from Stuart's backcountry ski trip yesterday to the Heather Ridge area in Banff N.P., I think these give some indication of the hardiness of northern Rockies alpines... on some windy ridges, they cannot even count on snow cover!

Nice views! At least this winter hasn't been very cold, but the winds must be very dessicating up there! I was just looking at Pyrola/Orthilia in the woods here, many spots exposed, and they tend to look very dried out when they are bare this time of year- and we don't have that much wind inside the bush!

And I wonder why western alpines don't do it Newfoundland!  Ours are currently encased in ice....had 65mm of rain two days ago so the remaining 1-2 feet of snow is pure ice.  On the plus side, my crevice garden seems to be in a wind zone where no snow gathers so they are completely snow and ice free.  I might just have the right place for drylanders!

Todd wrote:

And I wonder why western alpines don't do it Newfoundland!  Ours are currently encased in ice....had 65mm of rain two days ago so the remaining 1-2 feet of snow is pure ice.  On the plus side, my crevice garden seems to be in a wind zone where no snow gathers so they are completely snow and ice free.  I might just have the right place for drylanders!

Todd, when I lived in Toronto, I used to explain the difference in winter (in part) this way- in Alberta, cold and wet are two completely different seasons! (not always exactly true  in fall, but as a general rule..) I'm not as dry as Lori is here, either.. for some things I think need to be drier I am also trying to build more sharply sloped beds for wetter periods; time will tell how well I succeed!

cohan wrote:

Todd wrote:

And I wonder why western alpines don't do it Newfoundland!  Ours are currently encased in ice....had 65mm of rain two days ago so the remaining 1-2 feet of snow is pure ice.  On the plus side, my crevice garden seems to be in a wind zone where no snow gathers so they are completely snow and ice free.  I might just have the right place for drylanders!

Todd, when I lived in Toronto, I used to explain the difference in winter (in part) this way- in Alberta, cold and wet are two completely different seasons! (not always exactly true  in fall, but as a general rule..) I'm not as dry as Lori is here, either.. for some things I think need to be drier I am also trying to build more sharply sloped beds for wetter periods; time will tell how well I succeed!

Here cold (or cool - we never have a proper winter as the monthly mean temperature never drops below 0C) and wet always are the same season. In fact we have a long (half year) spring and then a long fall. No real summer and no real winter.
Our summes are far to cold for many species and our winters are to mild and wet for others :-(

Ah, but Trond- there must be many species well suited to the year round moderation? NZ alpines? things from wetter parts of southern South America? alpine South Africa, and of course many Asian things?

I was thinking more of the North American west coast natives in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia....

Those too of course  ;D

cohan wrote:

Ah, but Trond- there must be many species well suited to the year round moderation? NZ alpines? things from wetter parts of southern South America? alpine South Africa, and of course many Asian things?

Yea, of course! But many of those species have been hard to come by - the nurseries here in west have the same plants as the nurseries in continental east have. NZ plants are almost not to find at all. It is also more difficult to import from abroad as we are not a member of EU. Seeds are the only practical option.

RickR wrote:

I was thinking more of the North American west coast natives in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia....

Plants from these areas have not been more available than NZ ones, you know. The big garden centers all have the same - and most people go for roses and other common, big-flowered shrubs and perennials. Although it is many gardens in Norway it is rather few with a more specialised interest. Only the last few years some more interesting often one-man enterprises of online providers of special plants have popped up.

Trond, I feel your pain in regards to the rather limited number of alpines we can successfully grow compared to many other parts of the Northern hemisphere.  I can get access to some interesting alpines, but they often do not make it here.  I have a plan though.  My crevice garden is small enough that I could place a sheet of plywood over it in winter, keeping the plants dry beneath.  I have inverted pots over some plants in the past and it worked great for protecting the fuzzies.  Why not do it on a larger scale! (yes, I'm desperate to grow westerners and Turkish delights!)

Todd,
Why restrict light?  Would you have access to large double glazed units that are being replaced by local householders?  These could be incorporated into a simple timber frame stretched over your beds thereby giving light, insulation and protection from rain and snow.  The units are also weighty enough not to be lifted across your garden by gale force winds.  Many householders are quite happy to dispose of intact old units as they aren't easy to recycle.
Also try local manufacturers, they often have incorrectly measured or scratched units to dispose of.

Todd wrote:

Trond, I feel your pain in regards to the rather limited number of alpines we can successfully grow compared to many other parts of the Northern hemisphere.  I can get access to some interesting alpines, but they often do not make it here.  I have a plan though.  My crevice garden is small enough that I could place a sheet of plywood over it in winter, keeping the plants dry beneath.  I have inverted pots over some plants in the past and it worked great for protecting the fuzzies.  Why not do it on a larger scale! (yes, I'm desperate to grow westerners and Turkish delights!)

Yes, Todd, I have an idea where and how to build a place for alpines craving drier conditions. However I have to complete some other projects first ;)

Booker wrote:

Todd,
Why restrict light?  Would you have access to large double glazed units that are being replaced by local householders?  These could be incorporated into a simple timber frame stretched over your beds thereby giving light, insulation and protection from rain and snow.  The units are also weighty enough not to be lifted across your garden by gale force winds.  Many householders are quite happy to dispose of intact old units as they aren't easy to recycle.
Also try local manufacturers, they often have incorrectly measured or scratched units to dispose of.

I built my greenhouse of used double glassed very big and heavy windows! A huge job but fortunately I had the neighbor's son  (a champion weightlifter at that time ;D ) to help me carry them!

I know what you mean about plant availability, Trond-- there are a couple of good mail order alpine places in Canada- but you have to have enough money at once to make an order- as opposed to stopping by a nursery or  garden centre and buying a plant or two--and they are not all that exciting around here anyway- a couple have a fairly large number of plants, but tending more to hybrids than species, and grown in warmer places, so you don't even know if they are hardy or not.. I can find a few interesting things by chance locally -but more things for the perennial beds than rock gardens, the rock garden plants available are mostly common or hybrid ones-- so for the really cool plants, its all from seed also- but there is a lot of that around internationally!
Its even more true for my other plant interests- various tender things grown indoors- cacti, succulents, SA bulbs- almost nothing available in Canada (outside private trade and small vendors at clubs in big cities) except unnamed mass market stuff, so its seed there too-- and worst of all is my so far mostly theoretical interest in small cool tropical plants- completely unavailable in Canada, and no seed available internationally even! Vendors exist in U.S. which either just do not ship to Canada, or you need to spend hundreds of dollars to order anything...

With our unusually mild sunny and snowless winter, I expect we'll have a much earlier spring season this year, unless we finally get whacked by some real winter weather.  In one of my troughs, the buds on an unnamed draba are already starting to swell, as are Townsendia rothrockii buds.  Checking photographs from spring 2011, here's my Draba species flowering on 04-09-2011, with the winter reddened foliage of Penstemon  breviculus in front of it.  I bet the draba will be in bloom one full month earlier this year.

A nice sunny-looking Draba there, Mark.  In this climate, where flowers in winter are an impossibility, it's hard to even imagine your unusual season!

Here's a rock garden stalwart, Dryas octopetala:

Lori wrote:

A nice sunny-looking Draba there, Mark.  In this climate, where flowers in winter are an impossibility, it's hard to even imagine your unusual season!

Here's a rock garden stalwart, Dryas octopetala:
[attachthumb=1]

Agreed! We've been having an extraordinarily mild winter also, but there has still been snow on the ground since the beginning of November...lol
Love the Dryas.. I only have drummondii in the garden so far..

While it's fresh in my mind (from just having potted on a bunch of seedlings), here's Aubrieta canescens:

Seeds were collected by Pavelka at 2500m, Bolkar Dag, Turkey, from a habitat of limestone rocks.  It was a great performer all summer last year!

For being such easy to grow plants, I find Aubrieta quite spectacular!
Here's Aubrieta deltoidea 'Blue Indigo', looking huge in contrast to the pink-flowered Dianthus myrtinervius ssp. caespitosus:

Lori, I saw the Aubrita canescens in Wisley's new crevice garden t\last April.  It definitely made my "want" list.  I especially liked the foliage.

We got something like 10-15cm of snow yesterday- one set in the morning (and or Sat night) then another batch in the evening, so we finally had to go out and do a full shovelling again (after which of course the neighbour came this morning with his bobcat and did more clearing...lol).. I took a few shots, but the heaviest snow had stopped already, still kind of fun... the flash on the new camera handles the snowflakes a bit differently- old camera made them look like stars, this one makes them look like moons!

A few shots from today (Monday, that is, it's still 'today' until I go to bed!)
The cat doing his rounds, just ahead of him the driveway after the neighbour scraped it .....
Large and small wild spruce on the acreage...

Looks like you have almost as much snow as I do....yours is fluffy...mine is pretty much ice!

Our snow is only fluffy on top, then there is a crust, since we hadn't had much since early December, and while there was still snow in many places, the surface had melted and frozen many times.. luckily we very rarely get the amounts of snow in one event that you had in Newfoundland and elsewhere a while back-- a major snowfall for us would be 30cm over a couple of days, and that doesn't happen too often..

Cohan, I kinda like the "celestial" shots.  ;)

We just got 3-4 inches of wet stuff.  Our winter has been very, very dry.

Thanks, Rick- I have almost never used flash over the years, but have found this quite fun..
Our winter has not been as dry as many places in North America (mostly thanks to a lot of snow in November!) but not as much snow as last year.. we've still got months to go, though...
Friday, Saturday and Sunday call for snow, periods of snow and flurries, respectively... We are also heading for another cool down- after +6C/43F Tuesday, we have a forecast high of -12C/10F on Saturday...

Not much snow here either (it is at our mountain cabin as the spring is underway at home). The snow that is is fluffy and don't carry even a mouse (a little exaggerated) lest a man with ski.

Spiegel wrote:

Lori, I saw the Aubrieta canescens in Wisley's new crevice garden last April.  It definitely made my "want" list.  I especially liked the foliage.

Likewise, Anne!
Lori, they look great in your rock garden,
cheers
fermi

Thanks, Fermi!

Some colours and textures provided by Sedum lanceolatum, Salix, lichen and rocks:

Was out waddling about on The Catlins coastline yesterday and saw some of Mother Nature's topiary (using plants of Coprosma propinqua ) . The Catlins is an area on the SW corner of the South Island of NZ and it takes full advantage of the Roaring Forties . On land the plants take on a lean and near the beach big wave surfers turn up after big storms .

With a bit of imagination the first picture looks the bison , the second perhaps a troup of gorillas with the largest male in the lead and the third tried to grow tall but then it all went sideways

Great views Lori and Jandals (is it Steve?)
Lori- is that the Sedum in the tight rosettes? I haven't seen the plant for years, and never at that stage..

Steve-- the natural bonsais are quite amazing! seems like they must be quite vigorous in order to get that much growth in spite of the obviously powerful wind..

cohan wrote:

Jandals (is it Steve?)

Yes , I'm Steve . Jandals is my nickname as I'm usually wearing jandals (flip-flops) and yes the Coprosma are strong growers . At this site they were the only shrubs capable of upward growth . Some of the steep ridges were at right-angles to the prevailing winds (SW and NE) so the shrubs one side of the ridge were leaning at 180 degrees to the shrubs on the other side , something like / \ .

Lori wrote:

Some colours and textures provided by Sedum lanceolatum

Does Sedum lanceolatum flower for you Lori?

and does anyone recognise this Penstemon sp ? Picture taken in August Mosquito Pass CO 12500ft . Cheers

Cohan, yes, the tight rosettes are the Sedum lanceolatum. 
Steve, I don't actually grow Sedum lanceolatum - that picture is from the wild (the neighboring eastern slope Rockies where it's a common plant in the alpine-subalpine), where it does bloom well, as in these photos (also from the wild):
   

Steve, your penstemon looks like Penstemon whippleanus.

Steve, I am familiar with windy coastland but the shrubs here usually are quite flattened by the wind and not exotic plants like Coprosma apes ;)

An example is the common juniper (Juniperus communis):

Lori wrote:

Cohan, yes, the tight rosettes are the Sedum lanceolatum.  
Steve, I don't actually grow Sedum lanceolatum - that picture is from the wild (the neighboring eastern slope Rockies where it's a common plant in the alpine-subalpine), where it does bloom well, as in these photos (also from the wild):

Lori, although you say you don't grow this Sedum, I think it is a worthy rock garden plant! It reminds me of S reflexum which is wild but nevertheless I grow it at my summerhouse together with other sedums. (Sorry no pictures of reflexum - have to mend that). so here are some others instead:
Sedum album, Sedum spurium (red), Sedum spurium (white), Sedum unknown gracile.

More natural pruning by wind and cold... kruppelholz alpine firs:

all nice Sedums, Trond; if I've seen a white spurium, I don't remember it... I have a pink one, and I may have seen yellow?

S lanceolatum (Lori can correct me if I'm wrong) is a much less ambitious plant than reflexum, forming just small clumps of not very tall stems, the few times I've seen it(long ago), just scattered plants much smaller than the ones Lori showed even... I really want to grow  S lanceolatum, and have been hoping to find some wild seed, but have not run into the plant in recent years.. I've seen one Alberta vendor occasionally offering it as plants, but have not been able to make an order so far (they had some kind of minimum order); Alplains has offered it as seed, and if I don't find an Alberta source, I will go that route...

Lori wrote:

Steve, your penstemon looks like Penstemon whippleanus.

Thanks Lori

Hoy wrote:

Steve, I am familiar with windy coastland but the shrubs here usually are quite flattened by the wind and not exotic plants like Coprosma apes ;)

Trond-The locals call the Coprosma "Monkey Scrub" because when they grow in dense thickets the only through is over

Jandals wrote:

Hoy wrote:

Steve, I am familiar with windy coastland but the shrubs here usually are quite flattened by the wind and not exotic plants like Coprosma apes ;)

Trond-The locals call the Coprosma "Monkey Scrub" because when they grow in dense thickets the only through is over

Monkey Scrub! I've heard of Monkey Puzzle ;) (In fact it is some big ones down in the town ;D Maybe they should refurbish and plant some Monkey Scrubs  :o)

cohan wrote:

all nice Sedums, Trond; if I've seen a white spurium, I don't remember it... I have a pink one, and I may have seen yellow?

S spurium comes in all colours from white through pink to red but not yellow. The yellow is probably S hybridum or some other yellow flowered species.

Newfoundland has its fair share of wind-stunted conifers too....we call them "tuckamore".  Here is a stunted version of Picea glauca.

It's amazing to see white spruce so reduced in size!

A nice one I grew from seed a couple of years ago - Minuartia erythrosepala.  The seeds were from M. Pavelka, collected at Tahtali Dag, Turkey, from an area of limestone rocks; the seeds germinated in warm conditions in about 8 days.

I wish I could grow these Turkish lime-lovers...between the rain and acidic soil here, it is a lost cause.  I really can't take advantage of Halda, Pavelka, et al.  I need someone to collect and sell seeds from acid-wet zones of the Himalayas!  I'm sure Trond would agree!

Todd wrote:

I wish I could grow these Turkish lime-lovers...between the rain and acidic soil here, it is a lost cause.  I really can't take advantage of Halda, Pavelka, et al.  I need someone to collect and sell seeds from acid-wet zones of the Himalayas!  I'm sure Trond would agree!

Certainly, Todd! Do we start a business? - or arrange our own trip someday?  ;)

Maybe let some of the existing collectors know there is a demand for those seeds-- and they might pop over to the next valley!

A couple of nights ago, I was out around 1AM getting firewood (just in front of the house) and I could hear some snapping sounds not far away- but where the house light didn't reach.. I suspected some of the local wildlife was pruning our apple trees again, so I peered over that way, and could just make out a couple of large ears far above the ground- moose!
In spite of me being out, not more than 10 metres away (maybe less) it continued munching- so I shooed it away, but I didn't hear any sounds of it running off into the bush, and in fact by the time I had put my armload of wood into the fire, it was back at the apple tree, so I went back in for camera and flashlight.. I couldn't really see the animal, but could tell where it was by sound and flashlight glimpses, so I took some blind flash shots- from a distance only lighting up its eyes,

and using the slight zoom on my camera got a few shots.. it didn't take off (even after all the light and flashes!) until I went around the corner of a snow mound onto the part of the driveway it was standing on.. BTW, that snow its so casually standing in is knee deep or more, where its shovelled off the driveway..

Still didn't go far...

Then I took some more photos around the yard, and as I went around the other side of the house, heard another moose, and got a few shots of that one-- this one was no more shy and didn't leave till I chased it..

I suspect neither went far and came back when I'd gone inside.. probably no apples and not much for sour cherries this year again!
I'll put a couple of the other outdoor night shots in my Alberta thread later...

We have at least one resident moose at our BG.....he ate all the flowers off our Sorbus cashmeriana last year and coppiced most of our willow collection!

Sorbus seem to be a particular favourite here of moose/deer-- we have one- I forget if its the American or European, figured it out by fuzzy buds (or not) but already forgot.. anyway, it should be a good sized tree at its age, but it took several decades for it to manage to get some shoots tall enough to be out of browsing range, so it's more like a large multi-stemmed shrub with a tall cluster of stems in the middle... still gets pruned all around in reach (and moose can reach high!) then of course birds eat all the berries they second they are ripe-or just before- nothing has bothered the flowers though.. other Rosaceae like Amelanchier (and domestic Prunus and Malus) are also faves for browsing, as are Cornus.. C sericea is common wild here, and its very very rare to find a single unpruned stem of it in the yard or bush... small wonder many other native shrubs are thorny...

No moose here, just too many deer.  Snowing now and covering the few things I photographed.  They are more than a month ahead.

Forgot the crocus sp which has naturalized over many years and always blooms at the same time as the eranthis.  Anyone know for sure wht this one is?

It's the European Mountain ash that has the fuzzy buds.  The outer bud scales of the American species, at least the two in Minnesota (Ss. americana, decora), are smooth and often sticky.  Inner bud scales are a bit hairy, but not fuzzy.

In late October, I've seen wild Mountain ash in central Minnesota and northern Minnesota, long after leaves have dropped.  The glistening, almost translucent red berries look so scrumptious, but I have never seen any evidence of bird consumption.  Perhaps they will come later in the winter. 

I have no idea if this is true, but I recently read on another forum that bird brains are programmed to look for red berries in the early part of the season, and blue in the latter.  Anyone ever heard of this?  (Todd?)

My hellebores still aren't budging, despite the warm weather.  Ann, how did you get the leaf stems to frame the flowers in the photo so perfectly?  :D

Love the eranthis.  Did you plant them all, or are they naturalizing?

All I have are the early pussywillows, but they are caked in ice now....

Spiegel wrote:

Forgot the crocus sp which has naturalized over many years and always blooms at the same time as the eranthis.  Anyone know for sure wht this one is?

Looks very similar to C tomassianus which I have and it blooms at the same time as eranthis here too. Here's a picture from last year. It is too cloudy here these days so the flowers do not open.

RickR wrote:

It's the European Mountain ash that has the fuzzy buds.  The outer bud scales of the American species, at least the two in Minnesota (Ss. americana, decora), are smooth and often sticky.  Inner bud scales are a bit hairy, but not fuzzy.

In late October, I've seen wild Mountain ash in central Minnesota and northern Minnesota, long after leaves have dropped.  The glistening, almost translucent red berries look so scrumptious, but I have never seen any evidence of bird consumption.  Perhaps they will come later in the winter. 

I have no idea if this is true, but I recently read on another forum that bird brains are programmed to look for red berries in the early part of the season, and blue in the latter.  Anyone ever heard of this?  (Todd?)

Can't believe all bird species are programmed like that - but some sound reasonable.
Here the birds take the white berries of Chinese mountain ash early in the season and blueberries (both American and European) as soon as or even before they ripen. Common mountain ash and relatives (whitebeam) are taken throughout the fall and so are the blue Aronia berries.

BTW I have some nice Sorbus species around here if anybody is interested in seed (have to wait though).

Thanks for the crocus i.d., Trond.  I thought that was what it might be.
Rick, the eranthis has been naturalizing for a while now but some years I've helped it along.  I dig up a small clump while in bloom and place it in the vicinity of the others.  Now it's a large carpet that goes right over the front cliff (that part it did on its own!).  The hellebore is growing in a raised bed and at this time of year I can walk around and choose the best photo op, which was what I did.  Later on that wouldn't be possible.  This has never bloomed here before early April.  This winter has been a non-event depsite the fact that it's snowing at the moment.

Anne- love to see the naturalised spring flowers!

Rick, here the birds take almost any and all berries, usually as soon as ripe, or barely, though there can be occasions when a few berries last longer, either just chance or some difference in the year...
As for colour- Lonicera involucrata has black berries (not supposed to be edible), quite early, and those disappear very very fast, as do Amelanchier alnifolia, blue, and medium early,- usually I can't even pick any for seed -let alone to eat--before they are gone, and there are several stands right in the yard, so I can watch them ripening! Cornus sericea with white berries and wild raspberries with red are eaten, though not quite as instantly, Shepherdia canadensis with red aren't eaten immediately, maybe they like these riper? but within a couple of weeks they are cleaned out thoroughly..
I always marvel at seeing Sorbus berries on the trees for a long time in towns, guess there are less birds there!
Ribes berries seem to be left longer- though maybe that's because they are harder to get at (under leaves, and or dangly strands) for birds than those on some other shrubs? Symphoricarpos stay on for a while, but are all eaten usually before snow... The only fruit left into winter usually is  rose hips...

Trond, I'd be interested in most Sorbus apart from the most common couple of large tree species-- any shrubbier/small tree types, and especially any fruit colour other than orange (for all I'll get to appreciate them before they get eaten...lol) I have small seedlings in the ground of S reducta? a very small one...

Trond, I'll try to remind you later for seed, too.  A friend gave me a Sorbus potoriifolia, which I was pretty excited about, but it didn't even make it through a first winter. :(

Winter has been uneventful here too, until last night when we received 6 inches of wet snow and freezing rain.  I don't like these ice storms.  We never, ever had them until the climate change of the last several years.  Happy to get the precipitation, though.  So now ya'll will have to suffer through some more winter pics...

The bendability of Chamaecyparis spp. (False cypress) always amazes me.  This arcing Chamaecyparis thyoides is really twelve feet high, and will spring back all by itself.

Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)

No damage from the storm at my house, except a couple  broken 3 inch branches on a River birch. 
Pinus strobus 'Wintergold'

RickR wrote:

Trond, I'll try to remind you later for seed, too.  A friend gave me a Sorbus potoriifolia, which I was pretty excited about, but it didn't even make it through a first winter. :(

Winter has been uneventful here too, until last night when we received 6 inches of wet snow and freezing rain.  I don't like these ice storms.  We never, ever had them until the climate change of the last several years.  Happy to get the precipitation, though.  So now ya'll will have to suffer through some more winter pics...

Glad to hear no damage there.. luckily no ice storms here (ever, that I know of).. we've had freezing rain forecast a few times this year and didn't get it, but even if we do, its generally just enough to make highways slick.. who knows what further climate change will bring, though?

It's been a soggy end to summer here - 4 inches of rain in 3 days.
The image of the day for me is this clump of Rhodophiala bifida just having "popped out" of the ground yesterday!

cheers
fermi

Fermi, that's amazing plant.  We were in Patagonia in January and seeing the rhodophiala in bloom was one of the many highlights of the trip.

Wow, look at all those buds :o.  Please show up again when more flowers are open.

Checked out this fine Amaryllid on Pacific Bulb Society wiki, and I see that it comes in a whole range of colors:
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Rhodophiala

Fermi, I guess its good to have the rain as long as no damage/flooding..
Great to have such nice things 'popping'!

Fermi wrote:

It's been a soggy end to summer here - 4 inches of rain in 3 days.
The image of the day for me is this clump of Rhodophiala bifida just having "popped out" of the ground yesterday!
[attachthumb=1]
cheers
fermi

I just ordered some seeds of this on the surplus distribution!  :D Does anyone know of any tricks or tips to germination?

McDonough wrote:

Wow, look at all those buds :o.  Please show up again when more flowers are open.

Mark,
when I got home in the evening a lot more had openned - so this pic was taken about 10 hours after the first!

Amy,
I got some seed from Santo in Argentina and sowed them at the end of spring and they started to germinate fairly quickly - but it was definitely frost-free by then! I sowed the seeds on top of a pot of well-drained potting-mix and then covered with coarse grit/fine gravel
See reply #26 here: http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6490.15

cheers
fermi

RickR wrote:

Winter has been uneventful here too, until last night when we received 6 inches of wet snow and freezing rain.  I don't like these ice storms.  We never, ever had them until the climate change of the last several years.  Happy to get the precipitation, though.  So now ya'll will have to suffer through some more winter pics...
         

Well Rick, I don't suffer as long as it isn't my garden ;)

AmyO wrote:

I just ordered some seeds of this on the surplus distribution!  :D Does anyone know of any tricks or tips to germination?

Amy, I ordered seed from Chileflora and sowed right away. They germinated without any special treatment.

Fermi wrote:

It's been a soggy end to summer here - 4 inches of rain in 3 days.
The image of the day for me is this clump of Rhodophiala bifida just having "popped out" of the ground yesterday!
cheers
fermi

Fermi, I wish I had such clumps just popping out somewhere in my garden!

Fermi wrote:

Amy,
I got some seed from Santo in Argentina and sowed them at the end of spring and they started to germinate fairly quickly - but it was definitely frost-free by then! I sowed the seeds on top of a pot of well-drained potting-mix and then covered with coarse grit/fine gravel
See reply #26 here: http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6490.15

cheers
fermi

Fantastic! thanks Fermi & Trond! And that is the exact way I sow all my seed with turkey grit on top....starting them at room temp. If no germination in a few weeks out to the screen porch they go!
We just got 6" of fluffy new snow and temps in the 20'sf. But tomorrow it's meant to go into the 40's so it won't last. YAY!! I'm done with snow for this year!

Heavy rain and strong wind brought down the top of the Cryptomeria Sciadopitys  :-[  the other day! In the shade of the trees the Corydalis solida is starting flowering. Crocus in the lawn!

Looks like you lost half of the Japanese Umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata).  That is even worse!!  :'( 

Sciadopitys may or may not be easy to root from cuttings (it depends on the clone), but you have lots of material to work with!  Why not give it a try?  Best time to take cuttings in zone 6-7: Feb-March and July-August.  3000ppm IBA.  There is a negative correlation between resin exudate and rooting success.  So, soak the base of the cuttings in water for 24-48 hours to remove most of it.  The highest rooting percentages corresponds with the lowest internal levels of resin. (Dirr and Heuser, Jr. - The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation).

Your snowdrops are bigger than your crocus!

Hoy wrote:

Heavy rain and strong wind brought down the top of the Cryptomeria the other day! In the shade of the trees the Corydalis solida is starting flowering. Crocus in the lawn!

How heartbreaking for you Trond! Lori is right!! Give cuttings a try!

Your sweeps of crocus and snowdrops are gorgeous! I should be seeing something like that I hope tomorrow when I head down to Massachusetts for a NARGS meeting at the Berkshire Botanic Gardens. Taking the camera!  ;)

RickR wrote:

Looks like you lost half of the Japanese Umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata).  That is even worse!!  :'( 

Sciadopitys may or may not be easy to root from cuttings (it depends on the clone), but you have lots of material to work with!  Why not give it a try?  Best time to take cuttings in zone 6-7: Feb-March and July-August.  3000ppm IBA.  There is a negative correlation between resin exudate and rooting success.  So, soak the base of the cuttings in water for 24-48 hours to remove most of it.  The highest rooting percentages corresponds with the lowest internal levels of resin. (Dirr and Heuser, Jr. - The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation).

Your snowdrops are bigger than your crocus!

Rick, I have 3 or 4 of those umbrella pines (of course! Not a Cryptomeria; I know that :-[ :-[)  but i'll try to root some cuttings for fun. They are rather nice trees and easy growers here.
And Rick, you mean my crocuses are smaller than my snowdrops! Some actually are - I have a few rather bigflowered snowdrops and the young C tommasinianus (first flowers on seedlings) have rather small flowers.

AmyO wrote:

How heartbreaking for you Trond! Lori is right!! Give cuttings a try!

Your sweeps of crocus and snowdrops are gorgeous! I should be seeing something like that I hope tomorrow when I head down to Massachusetts for a NARGS meeting at the Berkshire Botanic Gardens. Taking the camera!  ;)

Amy, unfortunately my camera lens is broken so the pictures I get are bad.
Regarding the lost top of the tree it is both bad and good. The good thing is it threw a lot of shade - and now we are getting more sun for some years ;)

Even though I am situated smack dab in the middle of a Megalopolis of nearly 4 million people (the greater Front Range Denver metroplex) I have had deer in my yard most nights for most of the last year...their little pellets are annoyingly in my gravel paths rather than on the garden where they might to better, and my tulips and even crocuses are being nibbled as they emerge: NOT amusing! But so far the iris have been doing OK...I had to post I. winogradowii, which has bloomed for me the very first time: hope it persists!

I have Iris winogradowii seed, from this year's NARGS seed ex, stratifying right now.  I hope they do well.  Yours, PK, is what I am hoping for in the future.  A most excellently grown plant!

Saw a pot of this iris today at the Early Spring AGS Show at Harlow - really a most exquisite plant! A lot of other nice things were on show too including the deep red Anemone biflora, really stunning, this I must try, and perhaps the most beautiful of all, Trillium nivale.

Pix, Tim! We want pix from those amazing British shows...the ultimate Plant porn (albeit soft core)...

Love that Iris, Panayoti!
Trond, congrats on more sun  ;D I wish some trees would lose their tops here, but not those closest to the house!

Hope all members in the U.S. are making out okay with all those tornadoes, and Australians are not flooded, and Norwegians aren't blowing away, etc etc! Some more snow here, -22C yesterday morning, today +6C or more, back down then up again, etc etc..

Panayoti - I'm afraid I can only give you a quick Victorian peep-show! My wife was in charge of the camera and she has a will of her own, but here are a few highlights from the Show:-

Primula 'Arduaine'
Hyacinthella dalmatica
Galanthus 'E. A. Bowles'
Corydalis darwasica
Trillium nivale

The primula I think is quite exquisite and very beautifully presented - I only wish we could grow such things in our dry garden in Kent. There were several hyacinthellas on show, mostly understated but very nice bulbs; this one was the most striking and a glorious soft-blue in colour. Very nice, and it ought to grow for us well. The galanthus is a famous new variety which until recently held the record for price on ebay (I think around £350!) and is very different; a poculiform plicatus (that is the inner tepals have become modified to appear like the outers and lack any green marking). The eponymous E. A. Bowles would have approved. The corydalis, well just moorish! Really great foliage and good habit compared with many species, and that is saying a lot in such a fine genus. And finally Trillium nivale, and there is something about this plant which simply takes the breath away - a beauty amongst beauties.

If you would like a little more then the Kent Show is coming up in a couple of weeks, and also Jon Evans regularly posts much more comprehensive photographic reviews of the Shows on the AGS website, along with commentary. We are extraordinarily lucky to see so many great plants brought together in one place, and there are so many gardeners who just don't know what they are missing!

Kelaidis wrote:

Pix, Tim! We want pix from those amazing British shows...the ultimate Plant porn (albeit soft core)...

Hi Panayoti,
I must say that in the past I have posted a number of images of AGS/SRGC show plants on this forum (usually in the 'Image of the Day' section) and have been slightly underwhelmed by the reaction from some fellow members. It appears that some NARGS members are suspicious that the majority of our show plants are cosseted under glass and are, in some way, less worthy of respect because of this?
I usually post a lot of show images on the SRGC forum and would be very happy to post them here as well if I felt they were welcomed.

Tim, your wife has an excellent taste!!!
I heard she also liked the tufagardens at the entrance. ;D

Lina.

Booker wrote:

Hi Panayoti,
I must say that in the past I have posted a number of images of AGS/SRGC show plants on this forum (usually in the 'Image of the Day' section) and have been slightly underwhelmed by the reaction from some fellow members. It appears that some NARGS members are suspicious that the majority of our show plants are cosseted under glass and are, in some way, less worthy of respect because of this?
I usually post a lot of show images on the SRGC forum and would be very happy to post them here as well if I felt they were welcomed.

Some of the reaction... or any perceived lack thereof?... is probably speechlessness, pure shock and awe at seeing plants grown to stunning levels of perfection!  :o  :o   Shows have not had the prominent place in North American gardening that they have had in the UK, so any photos you can share will be a fascinating insight into a long-standing and traditional gardening culture.  I'm sure all of us feel a bit of disappointment now and then when one's posting seems to draw an "underwhelming" response.  (I myself am frequently reduced to tears and thoughts of paving it all over...   ;) ;D))  As on any forum, only a tiny fraction of participants actually post, while at the same time, there is a great body of people out there who enjoy it all in silence!   Please bring 'em on, Cliff!  

All very beautiful, Tim! I must comment (only slightly tongue in cheek ;) that Galanthus afficianados do seem to have their own standard for 'very different' ;)

Cliff, I will second Lori's comments-- I have also wondered at times if its worth making lengthy postings, based on small number of comments on occasion, but the number of views tends to be much higher than number of comments, so it seems someone finds them worth looking at! To Lori's accurate assessment that there are a small percentage of actively posting members, I will add the guess that regular posters a) sometimes miss a post among the many new ones (certainly true for me  ;D and b)sometimes don't comment when they don't have more to say than 'Wow!' one more time  ;D
Those shows must be quite a delight to attend- the only plant shows I've been to were Cactus and Succulent club shows in Toronto- where the active membership was small indeed, and Orchid Society shows in Edmonton years ago, and both of those were always a great treat.... nothing close enough to be practical now.. I suppose there could be something in Red Deer (nearest city, smallish), but I'd guess if there were it would be hybrid lilies or irises or something...

As I mentioned in the weather thread, spring seems to be on the way, demonstrated by wetter, heavier snow than typical in winter here!
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=930.msg15622#msg15622

A couple of views from last night.. second has Tilia cordata in the centre, my favourite of our very few exotic trees... still quite small (15-20feet), hoping it stays that way, unsure of its ultimate size here..

A mascot for our driveway.. we don't usually have the right sort of snow for snowmen....

Cohan, in the face of yet another impending snowfall, I choose to live in climate denial, and will instead post late-April photos of Pulsatilla campanella as my Photo of the Day offering!  :D :D

Ya know, I don't even remember ever making a snowman...
We were much too busy building snow forts, sliding trails and sliding and having snowball fights.  ;D  When I was growing up, our 4 acre lot had the best sledding hills in the neighborhood. 8)  We were snow fun central!

But the kid in us all never dies.  I am almost 53 now, and if the snow was right, I'd be out there building an igloo again.  (The last time was about 8 years ago.)

Lori- your comment made me go check the forecast- Rocky Mtn House (20miles west) has a snowfall warning (I have to say, the amount of snow that warrants a warning in Alberta makes me laugh every time...) 2-4 cm tonight, 5-10cm tomorrow, 2cm tomorrow night.... Red Deer's (40miles east) forecast has less snow, so we'll see what we get out of it.... figures tomorrow would be a day we have to be on the road earlier than usual ( we work in the afternoon) to go to town before work....

I spent many years fretting about weather..-- and moving back here from Toronto, it wasn't for the weather (apart from a usually sunnier winter!) so I don't even worry about it anymore-- talk about it a lot, but not worry about it!! lol

Rick- it will be interesting to see what the additional snowfall will do to our snowman, his engineering may not be that sound...lol

Booker wrote:

I must say that in the past I have posted a number of images of AGS/SRGC show plants on this forum (usually in the 'Image of the Day' section) and have been slightly underwhelmed by the reaction from some fellow members. It appears that some NARGS members are suspicious that the majority of our show plants are cosseted under glass and are, in some way, less worthy of respect because of this?

There is no denying that the American Rock gardening culture in general is different than the European "style".  And yes, I would say that in comparison to rock gardeners across the pond, interest in show plants is much less of a focus in America.  But as evidenced by PK’s comment, we’re not all shaped from the same cookie cutter, just as the aforementioned European "style" does not accurately label all European rock gardeners.  Add to that the fact that the NARGS forum traffic is around one-fifteenth that of the SRGC forum, and with even less regular contributors. I think it is difficult (to say the least) to judge a post’s “worthiness” by the number of replies it generates here, compared to the SRGC forum.

As for myself, I tend not to post unless I have something to say beyond the goes without saying “beautiful”, “fantastic” and “awesome”.    I guess I should fix that. 

I am a little confused because I do think that the majority of European show plants (at least the excellent ones shown on the forums) are grown under glass.  (Please correct me if I am wrong!)  But I have never thought them unworthy.  It is true that there are less responses on this forum.  Interpolating from this that a post is unwelcome is an embarrassment on our part here. :-[

I think Cliff is right in thinking that one sometimes gets the impression that to some gardeners, growing under glass is 'cheating'.. I guess this comes from the idea that its 'easier' though whether or not that's true  I think depends on what you are growing, and what your climate is like! I think I might have a slightly different view on under glass vs in the open gardening, since much of my gardening life has only been indoors, and in the world of cacti and succulent growers-- for many of whom, the ideal is greenhouse growing (and make no mistake, that priority is no less real in North America than in Europe! friends growing cacti and succulents in Florida and California have greenhouses, shade houses in AZ, farther north greenhouses if you can afford them, or summering outdoors, wintering indoors, under lights, etc etc), and outside ideal climates, outdoor collections will be much more limited.. So,  for me, the ideal way to grow plants is - wherever you are able to do so successfully! On your windowsills or basement under lights, your patio or highrise balcony, greenhouse, alpine house, in the ground, etc

Cohan - your point about snowdrops is well taken! I think the great thing in the UK is our climate which allows us to get out and see each others gardens through the winter, and there is no better excuse than snowdrops! (But they do get taken to an extreme, and of course have a 'value').

I have loved the Shows since I first joined the AGS over 30 years ago, but I have never really participated that much, I have always been more interested in gardening with alpines and propagating them on the nursery. I think the Shows have led to a tendency for fewer gardeners to really garden with alpines here, and that is one reason I like the NARGS Forum so much. But who can resist a beautiful plant in a pot? It is like a beautiful woman! (or am I not allowed to say that?).

Tim wrote:

... But who can resist a beautiful plant in a pot? It is like a beautiful woman! (or am I not allowed to say that?).

Well Tim, you've certainly taken Adonis out of the equation!!!  :D :D

Tim and Cliff and any other show plant poster-please keep those wonderful, inspiring images coming---Thanks

Lori wrote:

Cohan, in the face of yet another impending snowfall, I choose to live in climate denial, and will instead post late-April photos of Pulsatilla campanella as my Photo of the Day offering!  :D :D

Lori...I'm so glad you posted the Pulsatilla campanella photos as I planted a couple seedlings out into my teeny rock garden last year. I so love the look of this one and the nice blue color of it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it made it through this wierd winter!  ???

Tim wrote:

Cohan - your point about snowdrops is well taken! I think the great thing in the UK is our climate which allows us to get out and see each others gardens through the winter, and there is no better excuse than snowdrops! (But they do get taken to an extreme, and of course have a 'value').

I was partly teasing about the snowdrops-- even could see there was something different about the one you posted, and I do know that if you look at any group of plants that have some variability, you get to see and enjoy small differences, and a collection of similar but slightly varied plants can be great fun-- I have quite a number of Haworthia (tender South African succulent) in species coarctata/reinwardtii/attentuata etc which can be very similar apart from some small differences in the number and arrangement of leaves, and markings, and quite enjoy those subtleties  ;D (some people are naming them all as different species based on those minor variations......) :-X

While we are still on the subject, sort of, regarding gauging popularity by number of responses: I'd like to also point out it's ineptness with respect to number of photo views, compared to the SRGC forum.  

Note that the NARGS thumbnails are larger than SRGC's.  It's not a trick with the dark background of the forum.  The thumbnails are more detailed already, and a viewer isn't so "forced" to click on the pic to expand the view.  I have to say that I have enlarged many of the smaller SRGC thumbnails, only to find that the real photo is not what I thought it was in the thumbnail!  I can't say that has ever happened with the larger NARGS thumbnails.

Consider also that the USA is not very well connect to the web compare to most other developed countries.  Oodles of rural communities have no other way to connect but by slow dial up service and the land line telephone.  I am sure we all remember being on a slow web connection at some time, and forgoing opening pages or photos because it just takes too long.  I suspect that this contributed to the decision by the NARGS forum administrators to make the thumbnails larger: so that forumists are not compelled to enlarge the photo to see some detail.  

On the last point- I think Canada has pretty good rates of internet connectedness, and I think even in many small towns high speed internet is available-- Alberta has wireless available even in many rural areas.. however, none of that does me any good, since we have too many trees around for satellite or wireless connection!... So my options (short of building/installing a tower) are only dial-up, or what I now use, mobile internet- basically dial-up on cell networks... fast at times, but very spotty other times, and I pay by the amount of data sent/received... I only enlarge photos on a good day...lol

cohan wrote:

On the last point- I think Canada has pretty good rates of internet connectedness, and I think even in many small towns high speed internet is available-- Alberta has wireless available even in many rural areas.. however, none of that does me any good, since we have too many trees around for satellite or wireless connection!... So my options (short of building/installing a tower) are only dial-up, or what I now use, mobile internet- basically dial-up on cell networks... fast at times, but very spotty other times, and I pay by the amount of data sent/received... I only enlarge photos on a good day...lol

Cohan, that's what I do when I am at my cabin or summerhouse! There I connect via my mobilephone which can be a slow experience at times ;) At home I have fiberoptic connection (although I live in a rural part of the country) -  almost limitless speed . . . .  if I want to pay for it ;D Now I have 25Mb per second (up- and download) Internet and TV and phone simultaneously.

Cliff, I look at and enjoy your and others pictures from the show bench although I don't comment always. Show plants belong to another world - more like art than gardening but that doesn't mean I don't appreciatethe pictures. It's more that I get speechless :o

Many interesting Posts.  I first "met" Cliff Booker because of the wonderful pictures he was posting on the Scottish Forum of show plants.  Definitely a lurker, his picture of Ranunculus seguieri demanded a response.  I learned he was a very good friend of Alan Grainger, with whom I was corresponding and then met both of them for the first time in the Dolomites.  I admired Cliff's Show pictures long before I said so in print, which is probably true of many of us.
As far as greenhouse plants being "inferior" or "cheating" in any way - far from it.  My plants are garden-grown out of necessity, which in my climate is a definite limitation.  I would love an alpine house or "glass house" in which to try and grow plants I could never grow outside.  I say "try" because growing under glass is a skill set I don't possess.  I've seen Patagonian plants  grown in english greenhouses and was awestruck by their perfection.  Since many of these plants have only a passing contact with ground frost in nature, it's doubtful they could ever be found in my garden.  Probably though, if you were able to take a tour of long ago Plant Shows, you would discover that many of the plants shown in them have made their way into people's gardens.  Wasn't there a time when Lewisias were considered rare and considered to be very "difficult" to grow ?  That's probably true of many other plants which first came to people's attention as exhibits in a Plant Show and have now become part of many rock gardens.  True, we don't have many Plant Shows in my part of the country but I know very few people who have an alpine/greenhouse, and that seems to be cause and effect to a great extent.  I admire a well-grown plant (especially in the Fabaceae), no matter where or how it was grown, and truly love to see pictures of them.

Hoy wrote:

. So my options (short of building/installing a tower) are only dial-up, or what I now use, mobile internet- basically dial-up on cell networks... fast at times, but very spotty other times, and I pay by the amount of data sent/received... I only enlarge photos on a good day...lo
Cohan, that's what I do when I am at my cabin or summerhouse! There I connect via my mobilephone which can be a slow experience at times ;) At home I have fiberoptic connection (although I live in a rural part of the country) -  almost limitless speed . . . .  if I want to pay for it ;D Now I have 25Mb per second (up- and download) Internet and TV and phone simultaneously.

Its not actually using a mobile phone, its a special 'stick' which goes in USB port of computer/laptop for internet connection, and uses cell/smart phone networks to connect.. it can be fast at times, but if there is a lot of usage by other people (on their phones, presumably) , or some kinds of bad weather than it can be slow or even impossible to connect..

Many thanks Anne,
A counterpoint to your very reasoned argument in favour of alpine houses/glass is that anyone fortunate enough to own a garden as beautiful and satisfying as yours wouldn't actually want an alpine house at all unless it could, in some way, be integrated naturally into the rockwork, the landscape, the very fabric of your garden.  Anything else would be a travesty in such glorious surroundings.

Apologies if this sounds like a mutual appreciation society ... but you haven't had the pleasure of strolling through Anne's domain!  :D

Cliff. Anne - could I be right in saying that alpine houses tend to go well with smaller gardens; bigger gardens often take too much time already to make and maintain than to also have a wonderful collection of plants under glass, unless you happen to be Peter Korn! I bet though that when lots of gardeners walk round friend's gardens it is that 'bit round the back' where the propagating goes on and there are lots of plants in pots which has a real attraction. After seeing that longed for plant in the garden, it is the excitement of taking away a little piece in a pot. That's why I also love the alpine nurseries so much - they carry this to its logical conclusion.

'The bit round the back'!

Tim wrote:

Cliff. Anne - could I be right in saying that alpine houses tend to go well with smaller gardens; bigger gardens often take too much time already to make and maintain than to also have a wonderful collection of plants under glass, unless you happen to be Peter Korn! I bet though that when lots of gardeners walk round friend's gardens it is that 'bit round the back' where the propagating goes on and there are lots of plants in pots which has a real attraction. After seeing that longed for plant in the garden, it is the excitement of taking away a little piece in a pot. That's why I also love the alpine nurseries so much - they carry this to its logical conclusion.

I don't know if that's true, Tim.  It seems that an alpine house where you could do seeds and cuttings would be an asset in any size garden.  It certainly seems true of gardens I've seen in England that the smaller the garden, the fuller the alpine house - plants taking every suare inch of space above and below the benches and blooming in profusion.

Tim,
I agree I love seeing the "workings" often more than the "finished product"!
;D
An image I am always pleased to see is Cyclamen graecum in our rock garden - especially when it covers itself in flowers!
cheers
fermi

Holy Smokes, Fermi!!!  :o :o :o

That's a Grand Champion if I every saw one!

Something nice which has just finished blooming indoors for me is Ochna serrulata.  I gather this little woodie is rather scorned? in South Africa and Australia - almost a weed.  However, for me it is quite wonderful - both for its interesting yellow drop earring type flowers and the curious black and red seeds that follow.  It is small enough to plant outside in the rock garden in spring and then to repot in fall and bring indoors.  For me it is not very photogenic but it is a joy all year round.  And I believe it has flowered twice during the year.  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

Fermi- brilliant!

Fran- I googled it- seems to have pretty flowers and fruit-- what conditions do you grow it in indoors? is it indoors all year? And how big is it?

Lis, here here, well said :) 

After 14" (35 cm) of snow last week (March 1-2), the first snow of our 2011-2012 winter, the precocious blooms of Colchicum kesselringii looked totally squashed when the snow and ice receded on the warm south side of my house where these are planted.  But today, with temperatures breaking an all time record for this date (3/8/2012) reaching 69 F (21 C), the flowers lifted up rejuvinated by unusual warmth.  The strikingly striped blooms have a light honey-like fragrance. 

I was sent bulbs of this fine miniature spring Colchicum, in two forms, from a friend in Seattle a couple years back.  I'm so pleased to have a bulb species that vies for "first bulb of late winter or early spring", blooming with snowdrops and proving resilient in adverse weather conditions.

No need to "wow" this message ;)

Lis wrote:

OK, I'm going to comment on the comments about comments.

Hmmmmm.

Fact is, while I admire most of the images posted, I don't think you want me clogging the forum with messages all saying 'Wow, gorgeous, gee whiz....' and so on. I love seeing them, but I don't feel the need to comment. Besides, once one person has said 'wow', I consider it said!

I couldn't agree more, Lis ... some Facebook pages contain nothing more than the ubiquitous "Wows and Whoopees, etc. etc."
My original comments (and images) weren't posted to elicit any such flattery, but merely to illustrate how plants are exhibited on the show benches in the UK.  I simply remarked that one or two of the replies seemed to give the impression that 'show' plants weren't as 'difficult' or as 'in character' if they were grown for exhibition. In many instances nothing could be further from the truth.

Cohan - O.serrulata, probably foot and a half tall, is one of those you can keep indoors at room temperature and enough water to keep the soil fairly moist in winter and then either move the whole pot or else plant it outdoors when the weather warms up.  I move it around a bit in the house - when the sun is literally pouring in through the windows by my kitchen sink, that's where it goes so I can gaze at it will doing the dishes -or else it will stay under lights in the living room.  And when it is in flower I move it to a spot where people who come to the house can see and admire.  Haven't had any problem with bugs either - doesn't seem to need a lot of coddling but gives a great deal of satisfaction nonetheless.  With my lack of luck with many of the seeds I order, I'm beginning to concentrate on the ones that are most dependable - in the garden I can always count on Daphnes and Primroses - oh, I do keep trying a few of the tough ones, just in case I get lucky. Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

I remember Ian Young saying that the plants grow themselves and we just find ways of allowing them to do this as well as we can. Those seem very wise words. When you see plants grown really well at the Shows they just look 'right'. But for me the Shows really encourage growing more of them in the garden where many more species can be cultivated and propagated, and also many can be shown to be good garden plants too, and not just primadonnas. (The opposite is also true, viz: that great Cyclamen graecum of Fermi's. For me this will grow but hardly ever flowers in the garden, but does very well with the summer heat of the glasshouse).

Howey wrote:

Cohan - O.serrulata, probably foot and a half tall, is one of those you can keep indoors at room temperature and enough water to keep the soil fairly moist in winter and then either move the whole pot or else plant it outdoors when the weather warms up.  I move it around a bit in the house - when the sun is literally pouring in through the windows by my kitchen sink, that's where it goes so I can gaze at it will doing the dishes -or else it will stay under lights in the living room.  And when it is in flower I move it to a spot where people who come to the house can see and admire.  Haven't had any problem with bugs either - doesn't seem to need a lot of coddling but gives a great deal of satisfaction nonetheless. 

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

Thanks for the details! I don't put any houseplants outdoors-- just not reliably warm enough for tender plants to be safe, and even for those that could take it, they'd bring too many bugs  with them...lol Might try it as a full time indoor plant if I run across seed..

Well it seems that spring has hit in some parts of the world (or fall in Fermi's case).  My garden is still well buried under snow...we had another 3" today. :(

Funny about the comments being made about potted alpines.  I grow several alpines in pots (excluding the troughs).  Lewisia in particular, are all individually pot grown in my garden and overwintered in a frame, sunken in sand.  We alos have an alpine house at work and grow lots of alpines in pots.  I can admit, I actually have just as much difficulty growing them in pots as I do outside.  yes, I can grow some drylanders in the alpine house that can't be grown outside, but overall, I find alpine sin the open are easier...no restricted roots, no watering concerns, etc.  Pot culture is very much an art.  I cannot come close to growing alpines in pots like the UK gardeners do...I am really quite jealous and need to know what I am doing wrong.  I know one problem is that our alpine house freezes solid in winter...that would not be a concern in the UK.  I expect that aspect is my #1 downfall.  I probably do not repot often enough either.

On another topic, I went to a local market today and found potted campanula being sold as a disposable pot plant.  I think it is C. cochlearifolia 'Elizabeth Oliver'.  I picked it up and will plant it in the rockery come May-June.  It's my little piece of spring!

Elizabeth Oliver (or a look-alike) has been sold at our Home Depot now and then for a few years now.  Funny, 'cause usually we in the Midwest are the last to get on board a trend.  Similar to a florist mum, lately they have been selling celosia as an indoor flowering plant! :rolleyes:

Todd wrote:

Well it seems that spring has hit in some parts of the world (or fall in Fermi's case).  My garden is still well buried under snow...we had another 3" today. :(

Funny about the comments being made about potted alpines.  I grow several alpines in pots (excluding the troughs).  Lewisia in particular, are all individually pot grown in my garden and overwintered in a frame, sunken in sand.  We alos have an alpine house at work and grow lots of alpines in pots.  I can admit, I actually have just as much difficulty growing them in pots as I do outside.  yes, I can grow some drylanders in the alpine house that can't be grown outside, but overall, I find alpine sin the open are easier...no restricted roots, no watering concerns, etc.  Pot culture is very much an art.  I cannot come close to growing alpines in pots like the UK gardeners do...I am really quite jealous and need to know what I am doing wrong.  I know one problem is that our alpine house freezes solid in winter...that would not be a concern in the UK.  I expect that aspect is my #1 downfall.  I probably do not repot often enough either.

On another topic, I went to a local market today and found potted campanula being sold as a disposable pot plant.  I think it is C. cochlearifolia 'Elizabeth Oliver'.  I picked it up and will plant it in the rockery come May-June.  It's my little piece of spring!

I wonder if water quality issues play a part with potted alpines? With potted cacti, for example, its been realised by many in recent years that alkaline tap water long term is very detrimental to the plants' health, so people who do not have rain water are acidifying their water and fertiliser with great results..
Nice to get a little potted spring  ;D I've seen similar small bellflowers at florists here, I haven't looked at the species/variety names... I should check them out to see if they could be hardy..

cohan wrote:

Nice to get a little potted spring  ;D I've seen similar small bellflowers at florists here, I haven't looked at the species/variety names... I should check them out to see if they could be hardy..

Cohan, I've yet to come across a Campanula sp. that isn't hardy here, if that helps!  :)

Well, that's encouraging, Lori! I'd have to find it close enough to planting out time ....

Speaking of potted spring, here's a couple from this week here....
Gymnocalycium bruchii (6inch pot)
Weingartia sp (3.5inch pot)

What little beauties Cohan!  I never heard of the genus Weingartia, but I do grow a couple of Gynmocaliciums.

In regards to potted alpines, my water is slightly acidic, not alkaline, so I don't think water alkalinity is a problem.  However, I probably could fertilize more.

cohan wrote:

I wonder if water quality issues play a part with potted alpines?

Ever since Dennis H. (you probably have heard of him, Cohan.  He is well know in cactus circles here.) talked to our group, I've kept that in mind about the water alkalinity.  I've tinkered a little, with white vinegar in the water with my potted collection of alpines, perennials and woody materials, and preliminary results seem to concur.  They all seem to perk up in the same way as when I fertilize when they are in need.

Thanks, Todd; Weingartia is a smallish genus from South America, which some authors have lumped into Rebutia (based on seed characters, I think) along with numerous other genera; others do not agree, of course, and another direction sees Sulcorebutia and Cintia(monotypic, I think) being sunk into Weingartia; also considered close to Gymnocalycium by some.
In any case, for collectors, its a fun genus and pretty distinctive- most being floriferous with yellow flowers much like mine, though there are oranges, maybe a red or two, and some variations in flower size, lots of variation in spination, and a division into two quite distinct sub-genera (this plant is from the easier of the two sub-genera).. I have about a half dozen, mostly unnamed, with several that flower from early spring through fall..

Rick, I think the whole point of the acidified water (well, at least a major point) is the absorption of nutrients, so your observation would make sense; many growers are also adding ammonium sulfate to their fertilisation regime in addition to the acidified water..

cohan wrote:

Rick, I think the whole point of the acidified water (well, at least a major point) is the absorption of nutrients, so your observation would make sense; many growers are also adding ammonium sulfate to their fertilisation regime in addition to the acidified water..

So my subtle hint was not lost.  Good pick up on that, Cohan!

I do have one indoor common cactus that put on a fair show last month, despite its obvious bad care that it receives:

RickR wrote:

cohan wrote:

Rick, I think the whole point of the acidified water (well, at least a major point) is the absorption of nutrients, so your observation would make sense; many growers are also adding ammonium sulfate to their fertilisation regime in addition to the acidified water..

So my subtle hint was not lost.  Good pick up on that, Cohan!

I do have one indoor common cactus that put on a fair show last month, despite its obvious bad care that it receives:

Nice looking Mammillaria, Rick :) I do like the subtle tone on tone cacti as much as the bright ones (sometimes more, depending...); definitely happy with your care to give you that flowering :)

Saw this on my travels recently in a friends alpine house--South American Nototriche macleanii--largish flowers for the size of its cushion.
Yummy  :P :P

Cheers Dave.

Nototriche is the stuff of dreams!  Love to get my hands on one to give it a try.

Cohan, Rebutia I HAVE heard of...I have one myself.  I guess the cacti are going through the same revisions as many plants with a lot of 'splitting' taking place.

Nototriche, largish flowers, to say the least!  I see so many plants here that I have never heard of before, and they are all so interesting.  It looks as though this one is related to hibiscus, and searching on the web, it is a member of Malvaceae (that includes hibiscus).

From Todd's photo in our Wiki gallery, I see that Nototriche macleanii grows in a Calgary, Aberta garden.  It must be very cold hardy!

Very cool one, Dave! Thanks Rick for looking it up to save me the effort, I was wondering!

What a plant - Nototriche - maybe cold hardy but I suppose not humid and moist hardy :-\ Can't hope of growing this one in my garden!
Nice cacti too, Cohan ;) Can't grow those outside either :(

Thanks, Trond- these tender cacti do not go outside here, either! But, unless I lived in the subtropics or tropics, I'd never want to be without plants indoors...

This picture is of Synthyris missurica, one of my favorite natives. The photo was taken a few years ago at Denver Botanic Gardens, where we have had a patch for some time (usually blooms in late March early April): I post it now because it was in full bloom in Seattle where I just went to the AGM of NARGS in Everett. There were some terrific talks about the plants of Eastern Washington, and some terrific displays and a really wonderful plant sale where this Synthyris was in full bloom. You can read a bit more about the plant on my most recent blog (http://prairiebreak.blogspot.com/2012/03/mountains-kittentails-synaesthetic.html) but the real reason I am posting is to say that it was a treat to see quite a few old friends, and especially to meet face to face with Lori Skulski, whose postings on this Forum are among my favorite. I didn't have a lot of time to visit, but we exchanged greetings at least, and she actually conducted the rather exciting election of new board members for NARGS at the banquet. I was delighted that Stephanie Ferguson, Lori's fellow Albertan (and another top notch rock gardener) got an award at the same time. I had not attended a Study Weekend or meeting of this kind (except for those I have helped host) for some time: one forgets how much fun it is to meet with fellow rock gardeners. Although my bank account is suffering due to aforementioned plant sales and an awesome book sale as well.

Panayoti...I'm so glad you told us a bit about the AGM. I've been looking forward to hearing about it! I hope more attendees will give us a review here so we can all see what shenanigans went on!

Sounds like fun, Panayoti..
I've been looking at Synthyris on Alplains list for a while.. its on my shortlist, but I'm not ordering this year...lol

I am so sorry I can't easily participate in any events over there!
Synthyris has been one of my favorite genera although I have actually only grown one plant! It lasted several years before it made an unwanted sortie. I have tried seed several times but not been lucky.

My contribution today is this Thlaspi - I think it is T stylosum - from seed last year. It has tried to flower from January but the wet and shifting weather hasn't been to its liking. I hope the flowers unfold a little more ...

I'm so jealous!  Wish I could have attended the AGM.  But then, it's difficult to get plants into Canada from the US so I'm glad I didn't have the temptation!

Hoy wrote:

What a plant - Nototriche - maybe cold hardy but I suppose not humid and moist hardy :-\ Can't hope of growing this one in my garden!

It didn't survive in our woodland plot either Trond...

Todd wrote:

Nototriche is the stuff of dreams!  Love to get my hands on one to give it a try.

Will keep an eye out for seed for you Todd.

Cheers Dave.

Kelaidis wrote:

This picture is of Synthyris missurica, one of my favorite natives. The photo was taken a few years ago at Denver Botanic Gardens, where we have had a patch for some time (usually blooms in late March early April): I post it now because it was in full bloom in Seattle where I just went to the AGM of NARGS in Everett. There were some terrific talks about the plants of Eastern Washington, and some terrific displays and a really wonderful plant sale where this Synthyris was in full bloom. You can read a bit more about the plant on my most recent blog (http://prairiebreak.blogspot.com/2012/03/mountains-kittentails-synaesthetic.html) but the real reason I am posting is to say that it was a treat to see quite a few old friends, and especially to meet face to face with Lori Skulski, whose postings on this Forum are among my favorite. I didn't have a lot of time to visit, but we exchanged greetings at least, and she actually conducted the rather exciting election of new board members for NARGS at the banquet. I was delighted that Stephanie Ferguson, Lori's fellow Albertan (and another top notch rock gardener) got an award at the same time. I had not attended a Study Weekend or meeting of this kind (except for those I have helped host) for some time: one forgets how much fun it is to meet with fellow rock gardeners. Although my bank account is suffering due to aforementioned plant sales and an awesome book sale as well.

Wonderful plant, will have to try that one. Not very easy to find over here!

Really like the Synthyris - Elizabeth Strangman at Washfield Nursery grew and sold this plant for many years but I never succeeded with it; my favourite is S. pinnatifida, which occasionally is seen at Shows but I think is even more difficult to grow and flower.

A good North American flowering again on my raised bed - Lomatium columbianum. The flowers are even more richly coloured seen close up, and it looks better this year as the bed has had a good renovation and topdressing with fresh grit. (A few new things being planted). Last year the lomatium set seed well, and these were sown in the autumn outside and are germinating nicely now. A few other umbels are on, or going on the bed, including Cymopterus montanus, which was discovered amongst a batch of old seed pots. This looks equally attractive from images I have seen.

Nice raised bed Tim...that Lomatium has lovely foliage.  I saw a couple of species in Alberta but they had yellow-green flowers...not as showy as yours.

Very striking, Tim.  Quite a plant.

Lovely Lomatium, Tim.  May I suggest you try Lomatium grayi?  Will post a picture when it blooms.  Noticed today that the foliage was starting to appear.  Just back from the NARGS Meeting in Seattle where it was very chilly and wet, but the hellebores were spectacular.

Nice Lomatium, Tim.. I had a couple tiny seedlings of Cymopterus planosus last year... hoping they grow.. Alplains has many tempting umbellifers...

Kelaidis wrote:

This picture is of Synthyris missurica... I post it now because it was in full bloom in Seattle where I just went to the AGM of NARGS in Everett. There were some terrific talks about the plants of Eastern Washington, and some terrific displays and a really wonderful plant sale where this Synthyris was in full bloom.

It was a great pleasure to meet you at the NARGS Winter Study Weekend in Everett, Panayoti, and I too wish we'd had more time to chat!  It turned out that there was lots to do with the book sales, plant sales, displays, talks and garden visits there!  
It was terrific too to have gotten to meet and to chat with Peter George and Anne Spiegel... it's so nice to be able to put faces to the names of some of the famous rock gardeners here, and to have gotten to know them a little!
That was the first NARGS event I've attended... it was fun, interesting and educational!

Todd wrote:

I'm so jealous!  Wish I could have attended the AGM.  But then, it's difficult to get plants into Canada from the US so I'm glad I didn't have the temptation!

Not meaning to rub salt in the wound, Todd, but the Western Study Weekend was extremely well organized, with phytosanitary inspections/certificates available for those who needed them!  So, if one could meet the enormous challenge of keeping the number of purchases down to a portable limit, then there would just remain the hassle of wrangling potted plants through cross-continental flight(s)!  I'm sure where there's a will, there's a way!  ;D ;D
Anyway, despite HUGE temptation, I refrained from buying plants (too many seedlings downstairs already!!)  However, don't imagine I got away unscathed... instead, I lugged home about 50 pounds worth of books!

Tim, Lomatium columbianum is wonderful, both foliage and flower-wise, looking perfectly at home in your raised bed.  Glad you showed the seedlings, I never would have guessed that Lomatium seedlings look like that :o  Your post is great encouragement to start paying more attention to North American umbellifers.

Panayoti, love the Synthyris missurica, such a fine blue with deeper blue stamens peeking out.  I'm reminded of my many visits to Roy Davidson's garden while I lived in Bellevue Washington (near Seattle), we both lived in the same town, what a privilege. Roy had a remarkable collection of various Synthyris growing happily in his garden, representing collections from many Western USA locales, often several distinct forms of the same species; I was smitten with the genus from that point forward.  Too seldom this fine genus is grown.

Seems I have to consider Lomatiums too but I have to build a proper place for them firstly. The seedlings look like seedlings of other Apiaceae I've seen but the cotyledons were  a bit longer.

Lori wrote:

Not meaning to rub salt in the wound, Todd, but the Western Study Weekend was extremely well organized, with phytosanitary inspections/certificates available for those who needed them!  So, if one could meet the enormous challenge of keeping the number of purchases down to a portable limit, then there would just remain the hassle of wrangling potted plants through cross-continental flight(s)!  I'm sure where there's a will, there's a way!  ;D ;D
Anyway, despite HUGE temptation, I refrained from buying plants (too many seedlings downstairs already!!)  However, don't imagine I got away unscathed... instead, I lugged home about 50 pounds worth of books!

Well if I was there, I'd probably be bringing back 50 pounds of plants despite all the seedlings I currently have.  So I take it you enjoyed your first NARGS meeting.  I've only ever been to one (CRAGS 1999) outside the one we hosted in 2005.  I've been to a couple of winter study weekends too.  All have been wonderful.  I wish I could afford to attend more but flights are outrageously expensive these days.

Jasminum nudiflorum is generally rated to USDA Zone 6, but a friend in Massachusetts who has grown this Chinese plant for decades, tells me it is perfectly hardy, and about 5 years ago gave me a start of it.  The buds start showing in January, it opens flowers here and there in February, but really gets going in March.  I don't think I gave it enough room in its current location so will probably have to move it, it is a vigorous grower. So, it is probably safe to call it a Zone 5 plant.

Seems like a cool plant, Mark! Does it leaf out after flowering?

Thanks for reminding me of the Jasminum Mark! I had a fine plant once but had to remove it when I made some changes on the house. It didn't tolerate moving (or the neglect due to I was busy) and died. I've always thought of planting a new one but forget it (it is always something new to consider also).

I know it is hardy in Oslo too and there they can have some pretty cold winters.

Didn't survive in my zone 5b I'm afraid.

cohan wrote:

Seems like a cool plant, Mark! Does it leaf out after flowering?

Yes, it has smallish three-part leaves, here's a link showing Jasminum nudiflorum foliage:
http://www.efloras.org/object_page.aspx?object_id=47708&flora_id=1001

Todd mentioned earlier buying a potted Campanula as a florist plant, I saw some today at Safeway (supermarket), but these were single flowers, on C portenschlagiana 'Get Mee' ( I think that's right, I didn't remember the exact cultivar name, but remembered the 'mee' part, and that one turns up on google searches...
I didn't buy one today (I'd already picked up a couple of tropicals I'd been wanting at Walmart) but I'm thinking it might be good as an Easter present for mom, then it can go outside somewhere later on- I've seen references to it in z3, so it should be fine.. not my favourite as an exciting plant- a bit too green and purple, but it should be nice as a pretty plant, just have to think where.....

A brief selection of images from the Alpine Garden Society Show at Blackpool yesterday.  Benches full of glorious plants and some classes that were extremely difficult to judge.  The Farrer Medal (for best exhibit in the show) went to, who else, but the remarkable Geoff Rollinson with his spectacular Saxifraga 'Coolock Gem'.
It is our own East Lancashire national show this coming weekend and we hope we can attract just as many beautiful plants to our hall in Whitworth, near Rochdale.

Some more images from Blackpool 2012 ...

... And a final batch from Blackpool show.  Just a selection of the hundreds of exhibits at the show.

Sensory overload Cliff!  How I wish I could be there.  The UK alpinist are leaps and bounds ahead of us in America.

Why do the plants never look like that in my garden? :o

Thanks Cliff . I think I spotted an ex-pat in there

Booker wrote:

A brief selection of images from the Alpine Garden Society Show at Blackpool yesterday.  Benches full of glorious plants and some classes that were extremely difficult to judge.  The Farrer Medal (for best exhibit in the show) went to, who else, but the remarkable Geoff Rollinson with his spectacular Saxifraga 'Coolock Gem'.
It is our own East Lancashire national show this coming weekend and we hope we can attract just as many beautiful plants to our hall in Whitworth, near Rochdale.

Some amazing plants- somehow that first white mound is especially cool to me :)

Jandals wrote:

Thanks Cliff . I think I spotted an ex-pat in there

You certainly did Steve ... and what a beautifully grown celmisia it is!   No need to ask the name of the exhibitor?  Alan Furness has always grown NZ plants to perfection.

Thanks Cohan ... I wouldn't like to estimate the number of individual blooms on that saxifraga or on the huge Dionysia bryoides exhibited by Derek Pickard.

Fabulous Dionysias and Saxifragas filled to the brim.  Cliff, what is the pale yellow Dionysia, is it a hybrid? (image name = DSC_5506SMALLER.JPG).  Also, whats the Ornithogalum, can't quite make out the name.

I do however have this devilish urge, assuming I had a greenhouse and the skill to grow such challenging plants to perfection (which I don't on both accounts), wouldn't it be whimsical to plant one of those mounding alpines into a square pot, and then systematically keep nipping off the advancing growth in the north-south-east-west directions to coax a square plant.  Not sure why I think of these things, but wouldn't a square mound be awesome?

A pot of Melasphaerulea ramosa blooming in the greenhouse. Only one species in the genus, and easy-peasy under glass ( an apparently in the garden in warmer climates where it can be a pest. As a late blooming South African bulb, it fills a gap between Lachenalia species, and Gladiolus tristis for me. It's so warm this spring, I've moved many of the potted bulbs outdoors, since we've had no frost for a week now.

I've not heard of this one before, very different looking isn't it, rather light, frothy, and delightful.  Matt, can you believe this weather, so warm, almost reached 80 F in Nashua, reached 75 F where I am; but keep a close eye on the weather if bringing out your tender treasures to your patio and deck, we still could get whacked with frost; you know, 80 F one day, 25 F the next morning sort of thing ;)

I liked this one, Matt :) I think I've seen it on SRGC before...

Cliff, I am awestruck and dumbfounded!  How can anyone judge those?

My favorite is the Frit, with the twisty bracts like the sparse branching of an alpine fir, decorated with the red bells of frit flowers.

McDonough wrote:

Fabulous Dionysias and Saxifragas filled to the brim.  Cliff, what is the pale yellow Dionysia, is it a hybrid? (image name = DSC_5506SMALLER.JPG).  Also, whats the Ornithogalum, can't quite make out the name.

I do however have this devilish urge, assuming I had a greenhouse and the skill to grow such challenging plants to perfection (which I don't on both accounts), wouldn't it be whimsical to plant one of those mounding alpines into a square pot, and then systematically keep nipping off the advancing growth in the north-south-east-west directions to coax a square plant.  Not sure why I think of these things, but wouldn't a square mound be awesome?

Good morning Mark,
The Ornithogalum is Ornithogalum sibthorpei, while the pale yellow Dionysia is Dionysia monika.
Your idea for a square mound isn't (unfortunately) totally original as we have seen examples on the show benches over the years ... the judges don't seem to agree about the 'awesomeness'.  ;D    What about a pyramid?  :D

Hi Rick,
The diversity of frit's being exhibited is immense and, whilst this hasn't been one of the best seasons for these bulbs so far, we can enjoy an enormous range of shapes, sizes and colours at our shows.

Very nice plant, Matt.  Certainly new to me.

Matt, your Mela-something is rather a very special plant! Is it bulbous?
I've moved almost all my pots out now, haven't had frost for a month :-\  - But no warm weather either :-\ :-\

Hoy wrote:

I've moved almost all my pots out now, haven't had frost for a month :-\  - But no warm weather either :-\ :-\

No frost for a month!  I've had nothing BUT frost...dropped to -8 C last night and apparently will stay below freezing at least into early April...this has been one of the coldest March months on record for Newfoundland yet WAY ABOVE normal elsewhere in eatern North America.  Just our luck! Normally my earliest crocus and eranthis would be open the first week of April...still under a foot of snow at the moment. I am living vicariously through the rest of you!

The only time I can say I haven't had frost for a month is likely to be July, if I'm lucky....
Its still been warm for us, much of the time, but the last week or so has been cooler- normal (which was +3C daytime, and has now jumped to +5as a daytime normal, but -9 is still normal for night) or a bit less.. this week is forecast for daytime highs of -1 to +8C, with nights from -4 to -15C.. pretty average stuff for us... still lots of snow around, and possible snow 3 days in the week, with tomorrow maybe 2-4 (5-10)cm.. at least we missed the 25cm some parts of the province got the other day- we stayed sunny and cool that day! Probably Faith got that storm?

The first bits of my new Semp planting started to show today, and one other new planting from last year is mostly bare, as is the spot where I sunk my cactus seedlings.. not sure if that's good or not.. most other spots still well buried

I am beginning to feel a bit mean showing all that is going on in our gardens whilst much of North America is still in the grip of winter... but I just couldn't resist this anemone as an image of the day; incredible colour like the chocolate cosmos, how true is it likely to come from seed? The second picture, by way of comparison, is a more natural colour variant of Anemone coronaria. Both ideal plants for balmy Mediterranean gardens!

Tim wrote:

I am beginning to feel a bit mean showing all that is going on in our gardens whilst much of North America is still in the grip of winter... but I just couldn't resist this anemone as an image of the day; incredible colour like the chocolate cosmos, how true is it likely to come from seed? The second picture, by way of comparison, is a more natural colour variant of Anemone coronaria. Both ideal plants for balmy Mediterranean gardens!

Fantastic colour! Never hesitate to show us flowers to give us hope :) In any case, I don't think its most of North America that is still wintry- seems to be only parts of the West and far East-- just me and Todd  ;D even Lori already has Bulbocodium up!

My only signs of serious spring are indoors, here is Ledebouria galpinii ( a small South African bulb), from seed jan 2010, this is first flowering- so far only on one of several plants in the pot, but they are just emerging from a short winter nap..
Also budding is  L socialis, which has less showy flowers..

Tim wrote:

I just couldn't resist this anemone as an image of the day; incredible colour like the chocolate cosmos, how true is it likely to come from seed?

How did this one arise, Tim? Was it from seed you sowed or a bought corm?
Definitely worth collecting the seed and segregating it. I can see "Tim's Chocolate Selection" becoming a popular choice! ;D
Incidentally, the foliage of Anemone coronaria and A. pavonina is just emerging here!
cheers
fermi

No - I bought it Fermi! (At our local Hardy Plant Society sale this March). By coincidence the speaker at the day was John Massey of Ashwood Nursery fame and he showed pictures of anemones naturalised in grass. They supply seed of anemone strains in the summer but I've never seen a colour like this! They must be potentially very good plants in Australian gardens.

I know what you mean Lis, same thing here, the wind was gusting so strong this afternoon (29 F) that it was ripping the buds off Magnolia 'Forrest Pink'.  I fully expected this after all that summer in Burmuda weather.

Before the big freeze, Pulmonaria rubra (showing some flowers aging a comely blue), before the freeze ;)  Although, I think the Pulmonarias will take the freezing just fine.

Lis wrote:

We've gone from +20C to -8C in two days.

You folks are getting the sorts of temperature variations that are fairly normal in Calgary!

I used to tell friends in Florida that we had more of a temperature range in one day than they do in a year.... however, we haven't been warm enough (many days up around 10C/50F over the winter, but doesn't matter when the ground is covered in snow and/or frozen) for anything to grow and be in danger yet this spring!
Hope you folks don't have too much damage....
A couple of days ago we had a day or two of -5C/21F or colder daytimes, with -15C/5F nights... and snowing again now.. we'll be back up to 6 to 9C/ 42 to 48F days and lows -1 to -6C/ 30 to 21F in the next few..... still a lot of melting to go....

Tim wrote:

No - I bought it Fermi! (At our local Hardy Plant Society sale this March). By coincidence the speaker at the day was John Massey of Ashwood Nursery fame and he showed pictures of anemones naturalised in grass. They supply seed of anemone strains in the summer but I've never seen a colour like this! They must be potentially very good plants in Australian gardens.

We saw lovely patches of Anemones naturalised at Ashwood when we visited prior to the Nottingham Conference last year!
[attachthumb-1]
cheers
fermi

That is something to speak of, Fermi! I don't like at all all this talk about freezing temperatures :o The weather forecast says we maybe will have down to 0C Monday or Tuesday next week :-\

This week almost all S Norway has had all time high temperatures for March. Today they hit 22-23C the warmest places and that is a warm day even midsummer!
Here at the coast we don't get that warm weather due to the "cold" sea (it is warmer than normal though). Instead we get a lot of morning and evening fog :( Still the average for this month is +4 above normal and no freezing even at night for 5 weeks now.

Hoy wrote:

and no freezing even at night for 5 weeks now.

Wow, that still amazes me- even though I know intellectually you are so much warmer than us, you are still in the 'north'...lol and we hardly get more than 5 weeks frost free in summer ;)

Fermi, I remember the anemones very well - so colorful and graceful.  Do you recall the "herd of sheep" nearby?

I wouldn't have believed it possible to grow anemones like that without seeing that picture (John Massey showed a very similar one during his talk). There are several plants vying for Image of the Day in our garden at the moment, but I think this Pulsatilla really is the most eyecatching. The flowers don't last long like this, but in combination with that foliage they are a real picture.

Tim, fabulously fantastic furry fuzz!  Everyone looking at this photo, be sure to enlarge it by clicking on it to see frothy filagree of feathery involucre fineness... lots of "f" adjectives.

I remember (as I imagine everyone does) the first time I grew a pulsatilla for myself.  The "fur" was (and still is) so captivating.  But yours, Tim, is far beyond that!  The shade of lavender of the flowers is quite nice, too.  :o

This time of year, although we've had bare ground under trees for much of the winter, elsewhere there has been and still is a lot of snow since early November, so its exciting just to see bare ground in places it hasn't been seen in months, and to actually see a garden plants is quite a thrill! My first a are a few Semps and Jovis showing in my new bed in front of the house, and the large pot appended to it.. a few bits were starting to show a week or more ago, then we had more snow, now there are bare patches again, and I've started to thin the snow on the rest ( it gets dumped there when we shovel in front of the house) and move some of the snow from the front/bottom, where I stuck some bulbs in last year..
first a view from a couple of nights ago, then a few views from today.. I'll try to put a couple more in the semp thread..

Semp bed, night snow
Jovibarba allioni
Jovibarba globifera
Jovibarba globifera
Semp just emerging...

Tim wrote:

There are several plants vying for Image of the Day in our garden at the moment, but I think this Pulsatilla really is the most eyecatching. The flowers don't last long like this, but in combination with that foliage they are a real picture.

Tim, it is worth growing even if the flowering period lasted but one day!

cohan wrote:

Hoy wrote:

and no freezing even at night for 5 weeks now.

Wow, that still amazes me- even though I know intellectually you are so much warmer than us, you are still in the 'north'...lol and we hardly get more than 5 weeks frost free in summer ;)

Cohan, it's the blessing and curse of the sea!
A blessing in winter but a curse in summer! It almost never gets really cold, however, it never gets really warm either :-\

Sensational image Tim ... and so beautifully captured.

Spring has finally made an appearance.  Here are the first flowers (nearly opened) of the season.

Wow, it may have taken a while, Todd, but you're way ahead of my yard!!

Bulbocodium vernum remains the winner as the first flowering plant this year, followed today by a couple of snowdrops.
 

This snowdrop seems to have a yellowish calyx and markings... do you suppose I could claim it was a fancy one and sell it on e-Bay for hundreds of pounds?  ???  ;D

Buds on a Draba:

The Pulsatillas were another group we found enchanting last year in the UK!

The image of the day in our garden has to be this South African Amaryllid, Brunsvigia gregaria, which has just started to bloom - first flower since planting the seedling bulb in this sand-bed about 8 or 9 years ago!
cheers
fermi

Thanks for the kind comments about the Pulsatilla; all plants have that moment when they look really good, but pulsatillas seem to have it more than most! (probably because like peonies they do go over quite quickly). This Callianthemum anemonoides on the sand bed flowers for rather longer and is one of the stars of the bed, but there are a couple of other plants just coming on that will compete with both of these plants - it's a fantastic time of year as these plants start doing their thing!

Todd wrote:

Spring has finally made an appearance.  Here are the first flowers (nearly opened) of the season.

Todd, glad to hear that! It is always the most exciting time of the year whenever it happens ;)

Difficult to believe that something will outshine that Callianthemum, Tim.  Everything here is 3 to 4 weeks ahead of itself despite the
recent cold.  One large trough is in a sunny spot protected from the wind and things are starting to happen already.

Don't know why the pictures of the trough didn't come through.

Douglasia nivalis
Veronica caespitosa and Daphne 'Ernst Hauser'
Douglasia nivalis var. nivalis

(Edited to add searchable plant names.)

Sorry, the last picture is of Douglasia nivalis v nivalis.

Fermi wrote:

The image of the day in our garden has to be this South African Amaryllid, Brunsvigia gregaria, which has just started to bloom - first flower since planting the seedling bulb in this sand-bed about 8 or 9 years ago!
cheers
fermi

I have many times been tempted to try some Brunsvigia but never taken the step. I had to grow it in a pot anyway. However when I see yours  I do regret I haven't tried yet ;)

Tim wrote:

This Callianthemum anemonoides on the sand bed flowers for rather longer and is one of the stars of the bed, but there are a couple of other plants just coming on that will compete with both of these plants - it's a fantastic time of year as these plants start doing their thing!

It is a fantastic plant too, Tim!

Spiegel wrote:

Don't know why the pictures of the trough didn't come through.

Douglasia nivalis
Veronica caespitosa and Daphne 'Ernst Hauser'
Douglasia nivalis var. nivalis

It is here now, anyway!
I understand Douglasia is hardy but does it tolerate winter wet?

The trough is not covered in any way but it also is very deep and has incredibly positive drainage.  I did lose Townsendia jonesii v lutea in this trough after three years druing a snowless wet winter.  Townsendias in general don't seem to last more than 4 years or so except for Townsendia montana.

Well spring was short-lived...currently have a raging blizzard...70 Km winds and 12" snow!  Drift over snowdrops is now 3 feet high.  Guess it will be another couple of weeks before they see the sun again.
:(

Commiserations Todd - we do get strong bracing winds of the North Sea at times but very rarely snow. Lately the weather has been unusually warm and very dry; I think woody plants will suffer in the summer/autumn.

This is probably the nicest Bergenia, except maybe omiensis which is not really hardy. B. ciliata is very early flowering and characterised by these rather hairy leaves, very unlike all other species that I know. The close up is quite pink in flower, but a second clone is closer to white and works well with the leaves of snowdrops. These are tough drought resistant plants which has always surprised me with such bold leaves, but Beth Chatto has lauded them in her dry garden where the leaves turn wonderful colours in the winter.

Tim, I like the commingling idea, the lovely Bergenia and snowdrops looking quite happy together.  It reminds me that this would be an interesting forum topic; plant pairings, like wine and food, certain plants seem to go together well, enjoying a mutual level of growth, location, soil, and spacial needs.

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.

Spiegel wrote:

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:

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.

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 :o 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!

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?!?

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%20comple...

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.

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.

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

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.

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 ;)

Clematis columbiana var tenuiloba

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.

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 :-\

It is in a pot at the moment.

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

Trond, love the golden fuzz on the Pulsatilla!

Rick, love the Leibnitzia!

Rick, maybe the Leibnitzia need restricted root run and would do good in a crevice or rock garden.

Cohan, I hope the flowerbuds survive the weather and the trampling here now without snow cover! Pulsatilla vernalis is "mogop" in Norw. if you want to know ;D

My Leibnitzia has never produced a normal flower, just the non-petal form.  Can't show emerging foliage around here as most of the garden is still under snow.  This will be among the latest spring ever in my area.  The rest of North America has sucked every bit of heat from us!

Here in Southern Idaho we have been cool and rainy, snow is expected this week--again. I did manage to get out and take some pictures in the garden this morning before heading in to the office. Here are my pics of the day.

Phlox sp. almost past its prime.

Astragalus coccineus, just getting started

Jim Hatchett
Eagle Idaho

Jim, glad to see you still have your Astragalus coccineus and that it's still loking fabulous.

Todd, you have my sympathy!

Jim, that Astragalus coccineus is something! What a colour :o

I visited my mum in Oslo today and had a few minutes to spare. I spent the time in the botanical garden at Tøyen. The spring was advanced and some trees, notable the Davidias, had started leafing out.
Here are a few pictures
Adonis amurensis, Erythronium sibiricum and Pulsatilla lutescens flavescens were outstanding among many, many others.

Well, I'm quite excited after seeing 5 little hairy mushroom look-alikes - Saussurea nepalense - have popped up in the garden - overnight?  Was it you Trond who showed pictures of this in its first year which, like mine, didn't look like much?  But now, in its second year it looks very promising.  I'd send a picture but have just bought a new camera and haven't quite learned how to do these things with it.  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

Wow, that lutescens is stunning!  very similar to my flavescens.

Half of my garden is snow-free again...still nearly 2 feet along the back fence.  Despite this, the spring plants want to flower....here is Helleborus Winter Moonbeam

Love that Astragalus, Jim :) I think its rated z5 or 6? but I may try it anyway someday...lol

Trond, the Adonis is wonderful en masse, love the yellow Pulsa, also! I think I have some seed of some yellow ones, I hope!

Todd, don't feel bad- spring is even later for me! (although not abnormally so) I have a couple of spots planted with spring bulbs (just last year) that are bare of snow, but no sign of activity yet! I guess the soil still has not warmed enough... The only plant activity I have seen is a slight greening /opening on a few semps and jovis...

They've changed  our winter storm warning to a snowfall warning-- still 15cm or so, but I guess less blowing snow is the difference, though we are probably on the boundary of those two warnings..

Todd wrote:

Wow, that lutescens is stunning!  very similar to my flavescens.

Half of my garden is snow-free again...still nearly 2 feet along the back fence.  Despite this, the spring plants want to flower....here is Helleborus Winter Moonbeam

Todd, you make me blush  :-[ I made a mistake with that name! Mixed up names in the hurry. It is Pulsatilla flavescens!
Winter Moonbeam is a fitting name, isn't it?

Howey wrote:

Well, I'm quite excited after seeing 5 little hairy mushroom look-alikes - Saussurea nepalense - have popped up in the garden - overnight?  Was it you Trond who showed pictures of this in its first year which, like mine, didn't look like much?  But now, in its second year it looks very promising.  I'd send a picture but have just bought a new camera and haven't quite learned how to do these things with it.  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

Hi Fran, think it was Lori ;) I can't remember I did it . . .but I never know these days!

Hoy wrote:

Todd wrote:

Wow, that lutescens is stunning!  very similar to my flavescens.

Half of my garden is snow-free again...still nearly 2 feet along the back fence.  Despite this, the spring plants want to flower....here is Helleborus Winter Moonbeam

Todd, you make me blush  :-[ I made a mistake with that name! Mixed up names in the hurry. It is Pulsatilla flavescens!
Winter Moonbeam is a fitting name, isn't it?

Trond, call it a senior's moment!

cohan wrote:

Love that Astragalus, Jim :) I think its rated z5 or 6? but I may try it anyway someday...lol

Yes, don't we all lust after it!!!
NB.  Perhaps "officially" rated as you say, but being grown successfully by Stephanie Ferguson here in zone 3... not an easy plant.  She describes the conditions that have resulted in success in Volume 69, No. 4 of the Rock Garden Quarterly.

Two days above freezing and Aethionema oppositifolia has managed to open a couple of flowers.

Lori wrote:

cohan wrote:

Love that Astragalus, Jim :) I think its rated z5 or 6? but I may try it anyway someday...lol

Yes, don't we all lust after it!!!
NB.  Perhaps "officially" rated as you say, but being grown successfully by Stephanie Ferguson here in zone 3... not an easy plant.  She describes the conditions that have resulted in success in Volume 69, No. 4 of the Rock Garden Quarterly.

I don't have the quarterly, but I imagined it would want a carefully prepared site- certainly nothing I have now! I'm sure my fall and spring would be too wet without careful attention.. I'll definitely be thinking about a bed or two for the real drylanders..

Yeah, I hear ya - I've killed the small number I've bought or grown from seed.  According to Stephanie's article, for this one, (despite that we are already in a generally sunny and dry climate) think the sunniest, hottest, driest, best drained spot you can make!

Todd, at least the late snows usually melt fast... and you are ahead of us again!  There are a few Corydalis solida emerging as yesterday's snow melts:

Todd wrote:

Trond, call it a senior's moment!

Well, I'm getting more of them than I like ;)

Todd wrote:

Two days above freezing and Aethionema oppositifolia has managed to open a couple of flowers.

Todd, the leaves are more Sedum-ish than kale-ish! An interesting plant.

Lori wrote:

Yeah, I hear ya - I've killed the small number I've bought or grown from seed.  According to Stephanie's article, for this one, (despite that we are already in a generally sunny and dry climate) think the sunniest, hottest, driest, best drained spot you can make!

Todd, at least the late snows usually melt fast... and you are ahead of us again!  There are a few Corydalis solida emerging as yesterday's snow melts:
[attachthumb=1]

I am afraid I have killed a lot of seedlings :-\  I left them outside when I went on holiday (the forecast wasn't that bad) but I know we have had serious freezing some nights now - first in 5 weeks. . . I do not hope I'm back to square one :(

Lacking a period of real planning and foresight, its turned out fortunate that its simply taking me a long time to get some rock garden beds built, and I've made more observations of my property meantime-- there are huge differences from one spot to another on my acreage in the amount of snow cover, how long it lasts (many weeks difference, could even be a couple months difference for some spots!) --- discounting the deep shade where snow can last far into May, even from some kinds of sunny spots to others, there is a big difference, and this reflects (causes?) huge differences in moisture as well..
I've also realised sharp slopes are important here to prevent water sitting during spring melt....

Lori, I think we are on-par.  Here is my Corydalis solida, along with Galanthus nivalis Flore-pleno, Crocus tomassinianus and Eranthis hyemalis.

Still cool here is Idaho but some of the RG plants are getting into the spring thing. From today:
Erythronium grandiflorum, seed collected in Wallowa mountains in Oregon

Erythronium grandiflorum, from seed collected in the Blue mountains of Oregon ground cover Dryas octopetala

Very nice plants, Merlin! Seems to be seeding around a bit too ;)

I know we do this every year, Todd, but seriously, your garden is way ahead of mine!  ;D  Absolutely beautiful clumps of aconite and snowdrops!

Lovely to see those glacier lilies, Merlin!  They look like they're doing great in your yard!  It's not one I've even attempted in the yard (other than fitfully scattering the odd seed pod around); I imagine it's too dry for them to be happy, given that the places in the wild where I see them in profusion are usually rather wettish alpine meadows.

Racing right along, Todd! The Eranthis is especially nice :)
Not so much as a nub of anything emerged yet, here...lol

Merlin- is that Jim? The Erythroniums are lovely!

Wonderful to see spring colour folks .

Down here things are starting to wind down ...
Arisaema fruit with a view.

Cheers dave.

Lovely Erythronium...that species is very much a challenge in  my area.  dave, i can't think about the garden 'winding down'...I'm desperate for a 'wind up'!

Hepatica nobilis is just about there and the first Pulmonaria montana are just opening.

Perhaps the most beautiful plant in the garden when the flowers open like this - Adonis vernalis. This is slowly forming stronger clumps after sowing seed (from Jelitto) probably seven or eight years ago, and there is slight variation in colour between plants. Although it seems to set seed I have only ever had a few germinate.

Wonderful, Tim!
Re. seed viability, in Dr. Deno's Seed Germination Theory and Practice, he reported that he'd planted over 30 samples of various species and had total failure due to a high proportion of normal-sized and completely normal-looking seed having empty shells.  It was said to be, apparently, genetic defects that lead to defective pollen and pistils, and empty shells.

Tim wrote:

Perhaps the most beautiful plant in the garden when the flowers open like this - Adonis vernalis. This is slowly forming stronger clumps after sowing seed (from Jelitto) probably seven or eight years ago, and there is slight variation in colour between plants. Although it seems to set seed I have only ever had a few germinate.

This species perfectly illustrates the north-south divide, Tim ... yours in glorious flower today, mine just showing half an inch of reluctant foliage above the surface of the compost and still weeks away from flowering.  Beautiful image by the way.

It is delightful to be able to see how spring evolves in other people's garden all over the world. I really enjoy seeing the fine plants that people are able to grow. Spring came with a vengeance here today with temps in high 70's. I see that quite a number seedlings are coming on this year, some from seed sown years ago. I took a few pictures of some plants that are in bloom today(Easter Sunday).
Lewisia tweedyi, this a seedling that volunteered from a group that i had since moved(to their death, as it turned out)

Draba densifolia

Townsendia condensata

Townsendia mensana

An enviable assembly of plants there, Jim.  The townsendias are spectacular - they look right at home nestled in the rocks.

Nice plant, Tiim.  Adonis 'Fukujukai' just finished here. 

Those townsendias really are splendid, Jim.  Isn't it just like lewisias to always want to seed in almost right under a rock.  ;D

Easter flower! Still flowering only indoors here  ;D

Nice! Any scent? Do cacti flower have scent?

Todd wrote:

Lovely Erythronium...that species is very much a challenge in  my area.  dave, i can't think about the garden 'winding down'...I'm desperate for a 'wind up'!

Hepatica nobilis is just about there and the first Pulmonaria montana are just opening.

You are catching up with me Todd! Here (I'm home again) the weather is as it was in December, January and February: Cool and wet. It is almost standstill except for some plants that got a kick in the March warmth which has frozen in the cold nights last week.

Tim wrote:

Perhaps the most beautiful plant in the garden when the flowers open like this - Adonis vernalis. This is slowly forming stronger clumps after sowing seed (from Jelitto) probably seven or eight years ago, and there is slight variation in colour between plants. Although it seems to set seed I have only ever had a few germinate.

Merlin wrote:

It is delightful to be able to see how spring evolves in other people's garden all over the world. I really enjoy seeing the fine plants that people are able to grow. Spring came with a vengeance here today with temps in high 70's. I see that quite a number seedlings are coming on this year, some from seed sown years ago. I took a few pictures of some plants that are in bloom today(Easter Sunday).
Lewisia tweedyi, this a seedling that volunteered from a group that i had since moved(to their death, as it turned out)

Nice plants Tim and Jim! None of those are easy here - that is they are always short-lived. Haven't tried Townsendia yet though.

Jim, loved your photo of Townsendia mensana.  It's one of my favorite townsendias but it was never successful in the garden.  Once saw it in bloom on a trip to Duchesne County, Utah.  It was all over one area, an area that was unfortunately slated for a housing development.  There was also an unknown astragalus growing there.  Wonder if any of the plants are still growing there?

I have several Townsendia coming along, including mensana.  Good hints as to cultivation!  I expect only those used in our alpine house at work will survive our excess wet. 

Todd, I sure could use some of your excess water right now.  It's gray today and I thought perfect for planting, but gave it up.  Everything is dry as a bone and it's very windy.  No real rain in sight and all the plants are almost a month ahead.  I have phlox blooming.  Prime phlox time usually is May 7th to May 10th, but not lately.  Many things are budiing despite deep frosts at night still.

Todd wrote:

Two days above freezing and Aethionema oppositifolia has managed to open a couple of flowers.

Isn't that just exactly the sort of brave and exciting plant behaviour that so captivates us about alpine and rock gardren plants?
The magic of these little, frail-seeming plants to cope and thrive in harsh conditions... and be so darn cute as they do it! Who could resist?

The latest to open ...Iris 'Kathleen Hodgkin"

Hoy wrote:

Nice! Any scent? Do cacti flower have scent?

Some do- especially white ones for night pollinators! If this has  a scent though, I haven't noticed it- I haven't checked, but I'm pretty close when shooting...

cohan wrote:

Hoy wrote:

Nice! Any scent? Do cacti flower have scent?

Some do- especially white ones for night pollinators! If this has  a scent though, I haven't noticed it- I haven't checked, but I'm pretty close when shooting...

I had one night flowering species once, I can't remember scent though, but that makes sense! I have more than once looked for the lesser butterfly orchid (Platanthera bifolia) in the evening following my nose ;)

Moths seem to have a similar taste in fragrance to humans...lol

Well it was the hottest day so far this year...hit 16 C.  The plants are responding to say the least! 

Todd, all i can say is WOW! Those plants are superb. I look forward to seeing more.

Thanks Jim.....the weather is turning Thursday..back to cold and cloudy so the garden will be on hold for a while I'm afraid.  One more warm day tomorrow so we'll see if anything else opens.

I took some quick close ups of some of the Astragalus that are in bloom today. I have to admit that most of these I have not keyed out yet so I don't know their names, all come from wild collected seeds that are chucked into the rock pile. I grow things somewhat spartan(no fertilizer and little to no water and "soil" that is almost devoid of organic matter) so it usually takes a year or two (or three) before these darn things begin to bloom before they go dormant for the summer. More or less variations on a theme.

Great stuff, Todd! Especially fond of the pink Hepatica! as well as pink Helleborus, and how can you not love Iris Kathleen H :)
Jim- fantastic peas- and I think variations on a theme are one of the delights of a garden!

Fabulous, Todd!  The long weekend remained cool here... warmish periods of sunshine and breezes, interspersed with little snow squalls, so there will be no such sights to be had for time!

Jim, terrific astragalus!  It's interesting to see the foliage variations too.

Ah Jim, your Fabaceae are fabulous! (and the stuff of dreams for a an easterner).

Merlin wrote:

More or less variations on a theme.

... But WHAT a theme!!!  I know a gardener in Wappinger Falls who will be besotted!  :D

Jim, what a selection! I have always had a soft spot for all kinds of pea. My first herbarium contained solely native plants of the pea family - 68 if I remember right.

Another glorious day in Newfoundland and more glorious flowers open!  It comes to a crashing end tomorrow when we get heavy rain and then the possibility of snow on Friday.

(plant names added in the body of text for forum searchability - MMcD)
  Iris reticulata
  Saxifraga 'Gregor Mendel'
  Saxifraga oppositifolia
  Scilla mischtschenkoana

Todd wrote:

Another glorious day in Newfoundland and more glorious flowers open!  It comes to a crashing end tomorrow when we get heavy rain and then the possibility of snow on Friday.

A glorious day, what is that? Yesterday I had sunshine for a couple of hours and the temperature reached +9C for a minute.
Nice to see your plants coming though - you'll soon catch me up ;)

Helleborus 'Pink Frost' is shedding pollen so I guess I can say it is truly in bloom now.

Sanguinaria canadensis 'Multiplex' is enjoying the warm sunny weather, presenting a photogenic scene.

McDonough wrote:

Sanguinaria canadensis 'Multiplex' is enjoying the warm sunny weather, presenting a photogenic scene.

So lovely, but so ephemeral.

Mark, you are lucky ;) My multiplex or whatever they are called are completely destroyed by hail and slugs :'(
The hail destroys the petals and the slugs are devouring the mess.

That's suuch a shame, Trond.  Slugs always seem to go for the best plants.

Keep the pictures coming, it's such a delight to see the variety of species as well as the display of excellent plantsmanship. Took a few in the garden today, such as they are.
Lewesia tweedyi at about peak bloom

Eryoginum caespitosum

Trifolium owyheensis

Trillium Chlorapetalum and Asarum hartweggii (both in bloom though you would not know the ginger was)

Astragaulus unknown

Clematis scottii

things are getting ready to take off blooming wise so i will not be able to keep up.

Great stuff, Jim, you have some really choice plants :)

A few more plants from today that i missed.
Daphne of some sort

Erythronium revolutum

Pulsatilla vulgaris, a pretty weed. As soon as the first seed heads are visible the Weedwhip treatment takes care of seedset and keeps the seedlings down to a level that can be managed with Roundup

Wow, nice, Jim!  You're in a pretty dry climate - do you have to give your erythroniums supplemental water, or do they cope without? 

And I'm sure there's lots of people who would envy you those awful weeds...  ;) ;D 

Nice colours on the Pulsas! I'm surprised they'd spread so much in your climate- or are they in an irrigated part of the garden? I have one little patch expanding, but they are just the basic coloured ones..

I keep the pulsatillas around because they give a mass of color early in the spring. The red form flowers about two weeks ahead of the purple ones. I made the mistake of letting them go to seed a few times and they come up all over my yard, you cant usually pull them up because they develop a deep tap root that resprouts when you break it off---so Roundup. The plants in the picture have not seen a drop of supplemental water for several years. The part of the garden that they are in is going to be completely remodeled this fall which will be the end of them i am afraid. 

Daphne x susannae cheriton

One of the weirdest plants in our garden - Othonna cheirifolia. This often gets battered by the winter but surprisingly was unperturbed by the cold snap we had after Christmas when temperatures dropped well below normal. It is a fascinating plant both for its leaves and flower buds, and I don't remember it flowering as freely as this before.

And the leaf arrangement appears to be two-ranked that adds to the interest, too. From the Plant Delights site:
This evergreen native to the African countries of Algeria and Tunisia is still little-known in the US, despite being used extensively by the late UK garden designer Gertrude Jekyll in the early 1900s.

  Not at all a cold zone plant, but apparently good as a summer container plant.

I have tried Othonna here with no success. They dislike winter wet :-\
Maybe I should try at my summerhouse . . . . It is an interesting and decorative plant.

I too tried Othonnia with similar results.  :-[

What does do well here are our native dwarf willow...here is Salix calcicola about to burst in the crevice garden at work.  I collected this one three years ago.

Such perfect catkins, Todd.  It looks like that one is going to outgrow the bed.
It can't be that old...(?)

Todd wrote:

I too tried Othonnia with similar results.  :-[

What does do well here are our native dwarf willow...here is Salix calcicola about to burst in the crevice garden at work.  I collected this one three years ago.

The willow is very nice, the garden scene is absolutely deluxe!

Interesting to see an Othonna in an English garden- I'm used to seeing/thinking of the genus only in tender succulent and caudiciform collections-- if you think this one is weird, you should see some of the caudiciform species  ;D  does this one have any thick trunk?

Great willow, Todd- I'm still hoping to run into some native dwarf spp with seed- tough timing though..lol.. I've only seen them inside national parks where I wont take cuttings... if I were to find some in forestry lands it would be different... Never see them on seedlists, I guess for viabliity reasons....

No the othonna has very ordinary stems - I've seen other species listed in Silverhill's seed list but know nothing about them. Fascinating to hear that it was used by Gertrude Jekyll!

The salix is very attractive; we are generally too dry to succeed with these in the garden but they must be very fine in association with dwarf ericaceous species and dwarf birch - I remember Todd's lecture at Nottingham and those northern landscapes must have a very quiet beauty.

Michael wrote:

Daphne x susannae cheriton

Hi Michael, another beautiful Daphne!

Todd, Salix do good here too but I don't have many in my garden.

Another record temperature today...finding it hard to keep up with the blooms.  Pulsatilla pratensis 'Nigricans' is just about open.

Some pictures from the bulb-fields in the Netherlands. This is the place, where the famous "Tulips from Amsterdam' comes from. I live here 'round the corner'.

A feast for the eyes, Gerrit!  Here, we can enjoy fields of yellow canola and mustard and blue flax but the colour palette in agricultural fields is limited.

Todd wrote:

Another record temperature today...finding it hard to keep up with the blooms.  Pulsatilla pratensis 'Nigricans' is just about open.

Scrumptious, Todd!  I kind of think I now have seedlings of this... after drooling over it so often here and at SRGC!... but will have to check my records.

Todd wrote:

Another record temperature today...finding it hard to keep up with the blooms.  Pulsatilla pratensis 'Nigricans' is just about open.

Very promising, Todd!

gerrit wrote:

Some pictures from the bulb-fields in the Netherlands. This is the place, where the famous "Tulips from Amsterdam' comes from. I live here 'round the corner'.

I'm glad I don't have to weed those beds!

Here's my contribution: A strange Fritillaria meleagris, white but on steroids!

Always fun to see those, Gerrit!

Lori- only canola (and dandelions and the d*** buttercup) for colourful fields around here!

Fields of dandelion work here too!

Here is Erythronium sibericum.  Finn Haugli gave me seeds when he spoke at the NARGS meeting our chapter hosted.  Only one seedling came and it took 5 years to bloom.

Although a field of dandelions can be showy, I prefere Todd's Erythronium!

Dandelions: you would think it was a scourge worse than the Black Plague with surburbanites here. :rolleyes:

By the way, Wim: Taraxacum pseudoroseum and T. albidum are coming along nicely. Thanks.

Todd, is the Erythronium sibiricum still one plant, or has it stoloned out?

No lawns here.  They are all cut meadows and dandelions, buttercups and daisies are so welcomed in the spring.  They don't seem to object to being regularly mowed.

No Rick, still just a single plant.  I have a E. japonicum that is 10 years old and it also just produces a single growth and flower per year.

Thanks Todd.  I asked because the American natives here are so notorious for "non-bloom".

Little plants amidst the mosses and lichens in this special little place (aren't they all!) in the garden are: Primula 'Peter Klein', behind Peter are Gaultheria hispidula, Arcterica nana, and Cassiope selaginoides var. 'globularis'. At the left is the reasonably rampant Lonicera crassifolia and a nice little "weed" here; Dicentra cucullaria. Individually these tiny scenes don't do much for the garden but they are, none the less, precious.

Bundraba! wrote:

Little plants amidst the mosses and lichens in this special little place (aren't they all!) in the garden are: Primula 'Peter Klein', behind Peter are Gaultheria hispidula, Arcterica nana, and Cassiope selaginoides var. 'globularis'. At the left is the reasonably rampant Lonicera crassifolia and a nice little "weed" here; Dicentra cucullaria. Individually these tiny scenes don't do much for the garden but they are, none the less, precious.

This is a precious little scene- the mosses and lichens make it especially endearing :)

Todd, the Erythronium looks lovely- does it have glaucous leaves?

Trond- nice field- is it now? Ours are still many weeks away.. Would T officinale be native to your area, or is it impossible to tell in Europe?

Rick,  I'm sure there must be people out here who are trying for weed free lawns- poor them, must be stressful! My yard has lots of dandelions and durned clover, but also tons of wildflowers.
The primary model out here though is agricultural, and weeds are mainly defined as things that cattle can't or wont eat or things that interfere with crops.... I doubt dandelions are much on the radar as they are excellent forage and too short to hamper field crops much- though I'm sure they are targeted by those who use broad spectrum herbicides on fields. Most uncultivated pastures are mostly left alone here, and are usually a mix of many native plants with escaped forage legumes, dandelions and agricultural tag-alongs etc. Spraying is most likely (though still not the norm) when there are major infestations of canada thistle or that d***** european buttercup (this is the worst to me, since it is sooo aggressive and takes over wetlands which were mostly safe from the escaped forage crops)..

I also have T pseudoroseum seedlings- didn't flower last year, but I have some in the ground now... T (rubidum) faeroense looks fine after a second winter too... (still owe Lori seeds  :-[

Spiegel wrote:

No lawns here.  They are all cut meadows and dandelions, buttercups and daisies are so welcomed in the spring.  They don't seem to object to being regularly mowed.

Dandelions prefere to be mowed. They actually disappear if a meadow isn't mowed for a while! The same if you spray with weedkiller - you get more weeds as they are  the quickest to reestablish themselves!

Bundraba! wrote:

Little plants amidst the mosses and lichens in this special little place (aren't they all!) in the garden are: Primula 'Peter Klein', behind Peter are Gaultheria hispidula, Arcterica nana, and Cassiope selaginoides var. 'globularis'. At the left is the reasonably rampant Lonicera crassifolia and a nice little "weed" here; Dicentra cucullaria. Individually these tiny scenes don't do much for the garden but they are, none the less, precious.

Very nice! I like it!

cohan wrote:

Trond- nice field- is it now? Ours are still many weeks away.. Would T officinale be native to your area, or is it impossible to tell in Europe?

No, it's neither now nor my field ;) I took the picture last spring when we were visiting our daughter who was in the town of Ålesund farther north along the coast.
However, the dandelions have started the blooming now.

T. officinale doesn't exist as a single species! It is a section with about 200 species!  It's several thousand species of Taraxacum (most are agamospermic) in Europe and in Norway as well. However, a lot of them are native but probably not the common road verge and field "weed" which consists of a plethora of species ;)

Here you find a Norwegian endemic dandelion: http://www.rolv.no/bilder/galleri/fjellplanter/tara_dov.htm
and here's another one: http://floragutt.com/Aursundlovetann.htm

Iris latifolia photographed today in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in Southern Spain in the most glorious weather.

That's a beautiful little vignette, Bundraba!  Welcome to the forum!

Trond, I like your woodland full of anemones better than your field of dandelions!  Not to say they aren't both showy.  ;)

Ah, the start of the mountain season in warmer climes, Cliff!  Thanks for posting that wonderful scene!

There are some wonderful plants there - the vignette of primula and cassiope is very fine; beautiful to see plants growing so naturally. The only place I have seen a complete field of dandelions is in Norway (at Geirangerfjord, mixed with the meadow geranium, and they were all in seed!). In the UK such meadows are few and far between.

Most dramatic in our garden at the moment is a plant of Yucca whipplei beginning to flower - a surprise since is only seven or eight years from planting. I am taking a photo every day at the same time to follow its progress and aim to put them together into a short video! How tall will it grow I wonder?

I Hate it when the garden is really starting to pop and my work schedule is so tight that i can hardly get a look. On the theme of yellows i took a few pictures before heading into the office this morning.
Cypripedium parviflorus, Not quite fully open flowers yet but very close. I have several different collections, they flower at slightly different times even when right next to each other. These tend to seed around alarmingly but i don't usually hinder them.

Dryas drummondii

Eriogonum caespitosa with the weed pasgue flower popping up in the middle of it.

Lepidium nanum, almost yellow flower

Another DYC hymenoxys lapidicola, very slow growing in my garden

Thats all the yellows i had time for before the sun came up this morning. will try to post up some of the non yellow a little later.

Merlin wrote:

I Hate it when the garden is really starting to pop and my work schedule is so tight that i can hardly get a look.

Jim, I understand perfectly, typically my garden viewings amount to a speedy dash at dawn just before jumping into the car, and at dusk; it's not fair!  Yes, everything is popping here too, all the more frustrating.  Fortunately, today I'm working from home, and can nip out into the garden every now and then ;)

Excellent portraits of Dryas drummondii (my that's a good clear yellow) and Lepdium nanum.  I have two large clumps of Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens (photo of one clump attached), the one shown below is in a similar state of bud.  I counted over 80 pips emerging this spring on this one, not sure whay it doesn't spread, it seems happy to stay as a rather congested clump.  Never has a seedling show up, I wonder if your western form is more free with seeding, or perhaps your garden is more amenable to seedlings self sowing.

Tim, that is one dang impressive rocket shoot on Yucca whipplei, looking forward to seeing the progression of bloom.  Are you taking an wagers on the ultimate scape height?  I see plants and groundcovers under that geometric mass of dagger spears, how do you possibly weed underneath such a Yucca?

Cliff, always great to see fine Iris flourishing in native habitat, a beauty it is.

Trond- those darn composites don't like to co-operate with our tidy classification systems ;) The first native one looks very cute- if it stays small with leaves like that.. second one doesn't show the plant as well...
I would most love a white dandelion, such as the arctic species as found in Svalbard and elsewhere! I've failed twice with seed of albidens from Wim  :(

Jim- wonderful things happening in your garden as usual :)

Cliff- looks like you are on another lovely trip!

Merlin wrote:

Cypripedium parviflorus, Not quite fully open flowers yet but very close. I have several different collections, they flower at slightly different times even when right next to each other. These tend to seed around alarmingly but i don't usually hinder them.

Eriogonum caespitosa with the weed pasgue flower popping up in the middle of it.

Wow, I gotta say... you've really got some terrific weeds there, Jim!  ;D ;D  Love the photos!

I don't think it is possible for any of us plant lovers to experience plant overload, but then, there is never enough time for them all, it seems, crazy jobs or not!

Everyone's additions are so nice and interesting.  And I'll single out Jim H., Michael P. and Sharon I. because you are all new participants here on the forum: welcome, and really, really wonderful plants and photos!

It is nice to see such a variety of plants that people are able to grow, even in challenging conditions. I have a few more from this morning.
collomia debilis, this is the Idaho form i grow the superior Wyoming form but it flowers much later here. This is the perfect example of the much lamented (by Bob Nold, anyway) cottonwood season, if you have sticky plants.

Arisaema ringens

Clematis columbiana, this is the high elevation(non vineing) type, oddly my normal vine type specimens flower at exactly the same time. I know they are not distinct taxonomicly but they seem very different in a number of ways--except flowering time
 

Merlin wrote:

I Hate it when the garden is really starting to pop and my work schedule is so tight that i can hardly get a look. On the theme of yellows i took a few pictures before heading into the office this morning.
Cypripedium parviflorus, Not quite fully open flowers yet but very close. I have several different collections, they flower at slightly different times even when right next to each other. These tend to seed around alarmingly but i don't usually hinder them.

Can anybody tell why the weather is at its best and the flowering is at its peak when you have to work most?

I would never hinder any orchid to seed around in my garden!

Merlin, does your non-vineing C columbiana set seed?  ;)

Hey Rick; thanks for the special mention and Jim... you've been doing that for a long time! I remember attempting to get a garden visit when I was out that-a-way many years back. I called and even "scoped" the area (I have been known to knock on doors to satisfy garden lust!) but saw nothing of a rock garden. I suppose mapping would make it easier today. It is, indeed, nice to be able to see what's going on out there in rock gardening via this forum and its more accessible than Boise, at least from here!

Merlin wrote:

It is nice to see such a variety of plants that people are able to grow, even in challenging conditions. I have a few more from this morning.
collomia debilis, this is the Idaho form i grow the superior Wyoming form but it flowers much later here.
 

  Jim, I really like your Idaho form of Collomia debilis.  How does the Wyoming form differ?  Is either one long-lived?

Spectacular display Jim....my Cyp. parviflorum are only just breaking the surface.

Todd wrote:

Spectacular display Jim....my Cyp. parviflorum are only just breaking the surface.

Thanks for the kind comment. It's not long to wait for flowers once they cyps have broken dormancy. It's funny, I have some C. parv. that are now in flower and some that are still a ways off (though they are from different collections and probably different subspecies). Another thing that is interesting is how much later the C. reginea go. I was looking at a large clump of this species(C. reg.) that i have that is just about an inch into growth yet there are some seedlings of C. parv. that popped up right in the clump of reginea a few years ago that are now in flower--no chance of hybrids here methinks. I find that in either species the accidental seedlings tend to break dormancy a little earlier than their parents.  Epipactis gigantia is about the same in terms of growth as reginae. Dactyorizas are just now out of dormancy and all the other orchids come later.

Spiegel wrote:

Merlin wrote:

It is nice to see such a variety of plants that people are able to grow, even in challenging conditions. I have a few more from this morning.
collomia debilis, this is the Idaho form i grow the superior Wyoming form but it flowers much later here.
 

  Jim, I really like your Idaho form of Collomia debilis.  How does the Wyoming form differ?  Is either one long-lived?

You know, Anne, i am a bit surprised that Collomia debilis is not more commonly seen in peoples rock gardens--am i missing something? I find this relative of the Phlox(another of my favorites)is one of the really fine native rock garden plants that is easy to grow---cotton woods notwithstanding. the Idaho form is very long lived, i have some clumps that are many years old. the plant dies to the ground in the winter and looks quite dead but comes up every spring bigger and better. what i really like is that it has a very long blooming period that is almost all growing season long. The Idaho form has blue flowers and is quite compact when grown hard and will almost cover itself with blooms in the early season. The Wyoming form is even more compact and has a reddish tinge to the stems and smaller leaves, the blooms vary from red to pink and are exquisite. the wyoming form is slower growing and germination is more erratic than the other types. i also find that the wyoming form is more selective where it will thrive and i have not really figured out why here and not there yet. If there is a down side of this plant is that the blue form tends to seed around maybe a little to much but that is easy to fix, i tend to give them some leeway. The wyoming form seems to be in no danger of taking over my garden anytime soon as it is a bit shy in it's habits. This is a real two thumbs up plant species. I will try to remember to take some pictures of the wyoming form when it comes into flower.

I think your Idaho form of Collomia is really beautiful, Jim.  I've grown the form from the Wallowas and it only lasted a couple of years and died out.  It almost seemed to bloom itself to death one year.  Have you ever tried Collomia debilis v larsenii, a lovely high alpine that I've seen in Washiington near Mt. Rainier?  It grows on very steep, loose screes and makes lovely mounds.  The plants are soboliferous and the anchoring roots can be several feet above in the scree.  Where do you find the Idaho form in the wild?

p.s.  Jim, I think your 11" of precipitation might be a clue as to why collomia isn't found in many gardens. at least in the northeast.  We probably get way too much rain for it and maybe at the wrong time of year as well.

Spiegel wrote:

I think your Idaho form of Collomia is really beautiful, Jim.  I've grown the form from the Wallowas and it only lasted a couple of years and died out.  It almost seemed to bloom itself to death one year.  Have you ever tried Collomia debilis v larsenii, a lovely high alpine that I've seen in Washiington near Mt. Rainier?   It grows on very steep, loose screes and makes lovely mounds.  The plants are soboliferous and the anchoring roots can be several feet above in the scree.  Where do you find the Idaho form in the wild?

The variety trifida (the Idaho form) is found at fairly high elevation in central Idaho(Sawtooth Mountains). It seems to prefer to grow in loose talus type conditions the same as you will find Penstemon montanus var idahoensis (if that is still a valid taxon). It seems that the plant is adapted to being sheered off by sliding talus slopes, thus the vigorous rootstalk.

Somehow I missed those amazing peas of Jim's earlier on. Now if I can halve our rainfall and increase our temperatures... I'll still try anyway! If I am correct Alan Furness in Northumberland grows Collomia very well even in his cooler and wetter climate, and they self-sow in a scree, but they must be even more wonderful in a climate that really suits them.

Yucca whipplei in our garden is growing apace - I will string a few images together when flowering really begins to get going, this is the picture taken yesterday.

I have to ask, Tim.  What are the wonderful blues in the background?

Anne - they are great aren't they. In fact it is Polygala calcarea 'Lillet' which has been a star on the sand bed, self-sowing widely and flowering for ages.

I'd love to see more pics of that yucca, Tim. :o  If you could post them in the "Desert 'Alpines' board, rather than here on "Image of the day", that would be fantastic.

Epimedium vignette, yellow Epimedium davidii "Wolong Selections", white/pink Epimedium x 'Domino', Phlox divaricata 'Blue Elf', a hybrid seedling Pulmonaria.

Several different crosses of the beautiful dwarf Daphne x hendersonii (petraea x cneorum) are growing well on the sand bed. This is perhaps the most striking, 'Blackthorn Rose', named for Robin White's famous nursery. These need a deep scree that stays moist at depth, or do really well in a tufa garden.

Pictures from this afternoon. Its been a cool spring so far. Last spring was similar, the pollinators never showed up so there was almost no seedset for many of the early flowering plants.
Cypripedium parviflorum

Dryas octopetala

Penstemon rupicola

Great views, Mark and Jim- those Cyps are amazing!

Interesting about the pollinators-- I don't have super early garden flowers to compare, but the 'bugs' in general are out here it seems the second the snow melts- or rather, even when there is still snow over most of the land- various flies, moths, spiders etc are very active. I was just out looking at/photographing willow flowers the other day (among our very first things in flower, and among very few species at the beginning, but there are a lot of them) and around good sized plants- a couple/several metres tall by as wide- you could hear the buzzing of bees from a little distance away...

Here's a view looking up into one of those willows, and a closer crop of one of the buzzing pollinators...

Some of my few alpines are flowering now. For instance Androsace sempervivoides and a Brassicaceae of which I have forgotten the name  (Any suggestions?).

Love that Androsace :)

I agree with Cohan, the Androsace is very nice. I have a great deal of respect for those that can accommodate plants of this genus. I have been something like the "Grim Reaper" for all of the Androsace species i have attempted(unless you lump Douglasia in this taxon, which i do not). I took a few pictures this afternoon of whats going in the garden.
Odds and ends blooming

A variety of plants in bloom

Salvia caespitosa

Merlin wrote:

I agree with Cohan, the Androsace is very nice. I have a great deal of respect for those that can accommodate plants of this genus. I have been something like the "Grim Reaper" for all of the Androsace species i have attempted(unless you lump Douglasia in this taxon, which i do not).

Well Merlin, in my case it isn't my skill to praise! I can't be blamed for my climate! However, quite often it is the skilled gardener's labor that is the key for success.

I think you have done well yourself with plants I couldn't easily grow here ;)

Rick, here is a Thalictrum for you! Thalictrum alpinum today on my shed roof ;) It's 5 cm tall.

That's adorable, Trond!  ;D

Thalictrum alpinum is native here too, but I have never bothered growing it....need a magnifying glass to appreciate it!

Arabis flaviflora...a delicate yellow eye on this basic rock-cress

Todd wrote:

Thalictrum alpinum is native here too, but I have never bothered growing it....need a magnifying glass to appreciate it!

Arabis flaviflora...a delicate yellow eye on this basic rock-cress

I use my glasses ;)

Your Arabis isn't much bigger - but much more pretty ;D.

Very sweet Thalictrum! Looks a lot like our local sp, though much smaller..

Jeffersonia dubia...wish the flowers lasted longer...3-4 days and its over.

Todd wrote:

Jeffersonia dubia...wish the flowers lasted longer...3-4 days and its over.

Todd, for me the flowers of J. dubia are weather-dependant, but typically lasting about 2 weeks here given seasonably cool weather.  J. diphylla on the other hand, has flowers notorious for lasting merely a day or two if warm or hot temperatures arrive while deciduous forests haven't leafed out, although in cool weather, these can last 1 week, but this year with consistently cool weather while they were starting to bloom, they lasted about 1-1/2 weeks; unheard of!

It has been warm here this past few days so I guess that is why the blooming season ws so short this year.  My J. diphylla is still in bud yet.

After 3 years of waiting, Geum reptans has finally bloomed...the flowers are huge for the size of the plant.

A true high-alpine, Todd and an absolute joy in flower.  Rarely seen on the show benches in it's true butter-yellow glory - one of my favourite species of the rarified heights. Many thanks for posting.

A cute Shortia in my garden today ...

Todd, warmth, what is that? Here it still wintry air and most plants are after schedule. My sole Jeffersonia has taken weeks to develop its buds - no flowers yet.
Nice Geum!

Cliff, cute little Shortia! (BTW I've got hold of your book - beautiful!)

Many thanks, Trond. So pleased you like the book.

For anyone interested in our new book; 'Mountain Flowers - The Dolomites' by Cliff Booker and David Charlton please follow this link:- 

http://www.colletts.co.uk/wildflower-book/

Androsace pubescens

Todd, the Geum reptans is beautiful and worth the wait.  It's one of my favorite high alpines even though  ut's certainly not in the "bun" category.  I love the seed heads too and the color of the stems.  It's really a gorgeous all-round plant.  Did you grow it from seed?

Very impressive, Michael. Is it for the show bench?

Oh No, I don't show.

Sclerocactus parviflorus

John, I like the news from your little paradise. Sclerocactus parviflorus and S. glauca both look to be well worth trying here in New England (and certainly farther south) as "winter hardy cacti". I have seedlings (one plant each!) from Mesa Garden seed through three winters now. The later looks to probably be the tougher of the two. I'd love to up my odds. Could I beg a few seeds?

If they set seed I will send some. 

Here's a plant you don't see too often...Gentiana striata.  I got this a few weeks ago from Beavercreek...the plant is weak so I don't expect it to survive.

The weather is very wet now. Rain in the forecast for the next two days. I am attaching some pictures taken before.

Krish, the Primula looks more like veris than elatior.

Primula veris:

Primula elator:

Hoy wrote:

Krish, the Primula looks more like veris than elatior.

thanks for correcting Trond.

Good colour, Krish! Some things are growing here now, though we've had some cold wet days too!

Thanks Cohan. The weather has improved a lot. Frost warning tonight. I went outside and took pictures of the different primulas.

more primulas

You're doing very nicely with the Primulas, Krish :) P veris red is very nice! I have an auricula flowering now- a sort of faded plum shade; I think somewhere I mentioned planting two last summer, one flowered in fall and disappeared over winter! just about a foot or less away from the plum that is doing nicely now... I'll be looking for more of them...

Yes, you have some nice primulas, Krish! And I spot something looking like a P elatior next to the denticulata ;)

Hi Trond the Primula elatior is from NARGS seeds i got year before last. I  have planted 5 of them at different sites and all of them are growing nicely.

Ramonda myconi

WimB wrote:

Ramonda myconi

Looks great! Is this in your woodland garden, or what kind of substrate?

cohan wrote:

WimB wrote:

Ramonda myconi

Looks great! Is this in your woodland garden, or what kind of substrate?

Thanks, it's growing in a small trough, substrate: 1/2 peat-based potting soil, 1/4 leaf mold and 1/4 coarse riversand!

An exceptional number of flowers with a very pleasing color hue, Wim.  Bravo!  ;D

Here is a little study in contrasting textures.

Pictured are Eriogomun umbellatum, Yucca brevifolia, Hieracium lanatum, Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa var. coloradensis (larger cactus), Cylindropuntia whipplei (white spined cactus lower center), Penstemon grandiflora
(lilac flowers lower center), Cylindropuntia viridiflora (far left), Crepis bakeri (right side of rock)

An excellent photo for beauty and study, John. :o  I really like it when the photographer lists what is in the picture.  Otherwise, it's just another photo, colorful and interesting and all, but not nearly as meaningful and with a low education quotient.

And the remnant seed heads that peak up from the bottom of the pic are what?
They still make a nice show!

Thank you Rick.

Along the bottom edge of the photo are the reminants of Erigeron compositus, the leaf tips of Agave utahensis var. utahensis, and the pad edges with flower buds of a Opuntia phaeacantha.

Great view, John! Some really nice plants there :)

John, very impressive! How do you weed among the cacti?  ;)

The sun and warm weather the last week have caused a lot of development in the garden. A little cooler now but still sunny. Several rhodos are in flower, among them is Rh bureavii. Also the Wisteria do flower now. However, I never get the impressive flowering you sometimes can see on pictures from more southern latitudes. The last one doesn't grow in my garden though. Mountain azalea (Loiseleuria procumbens).