What do you see on your garden walks? 2012

Second wave Rhodies: This low growing white one was likely purchased on sale at a local big box store.

Photo2 is R. 'Aglo' as seen by Gentiana acaulis.... never mind the colors. Well; heck; you only live once.

Photo3 is of the smallest Delphinium I know. Initially there were three from central Montana south facing slip scree. Bugs,
slugs and ignorance consumed two. Though all three of these are still very much in effect, a marked decrease in the last may be putting the other two in check. This plant has two (living) children.

Photo4 is Telesonix jamesii. It has bloomed and may again this year. Like others do, I wonder if it would cross with a Heuchera.

Photo5 is Androsace villosa and Polygala calcarea. The Polygala is the more adventurous of the two in this garden. The Androsace has yet to really get going.

Anne; congrats on the Blue Broom. I'm working on (killing?) my third one this year!

Bunderabi, you show some very nice plants here!
But the species name of the Delphinium is?

I much prefer the weedy blue foreigner, Echium vulgare, to these Echium russicum.  But I had to try them to see what they were like.

The Iris riechenbachii are blooming:

There is just something about Shooting Stars that captivates me, especially the alba form of Dodecatheon media.  The flowers seem to float in the air like butterflies.

Rick, I am amazed your Echium is open at the same time as your Dodecatheon.....my former does not bloom until August yet my Dodecatheon is now in bud.

Here is a scene from my woodland garden.

Todd wrote:

Rick, I am amazed your Echium is oipen aat the same time as your Dodecatheon.....my former does not bloom until August yet my Dodecatheon is now in bud.

Here is a scene from my woodland garden.

Yes, all the photos were taken yesterday.  The echium is in the hot (temperature wise) garden.  The dodecatheon is in a much cooler garden, although I don't have a nice wet-moist place for it.  I didn't grow the Echium russicum from seed.  They came from the huge Friends School Plant sale http://friendsschoolplantsale.com/.  I collaborate with the organizer/director/buyer.  He is now on our NARGS Chapter board, too.  Henry was just visiting my gardens a few days ago, and he brought me a nice piece of Corydalis nobilis.  

Todd, love the dark hellebore in your photo. :)

I should have bought a C. nobilis when I had the chance!  Lori, you are pretty much smack on with me, although my P. unifolia is not open yet.

Cohan, that woodland garden gets morning sun but afternoon shade.  It can get pretty dry in summer as the large Philadelphus there sucks every bit of water.

Some more from the woodland section of the garden.

And from the rockery

What beauties you all show! Here things don't grow - or are damaged by strong winds. Yesterday we had the second gale in three days. It's more like late autumn or winter weather.
I managed to sneak out an hour yesterday between the storms to take a few pictures and look for damage.

An edible mushroom but toxic if you don't prepare it correctly (Gyromitra esculenta). This dicentra (Ichtyoselmis macrantha) does good in the shade of the trees so does the Hylomecon vernalis (syn japonica). Corydalis nigro-apiculata grows among small shrubs and is completely hardy often starting growing midwinter without damage.

The first peony to flower is P. mairei. It is almost at schedule but all the rest of them are very late this season. Many rhododendrons have suffered in the strong winds and lost buds and flowers. Some are completely defoliated too from the hurricane last winter. However quite a few manage to flower still, here is Rh cinnabarinum Roylei. The banana plant does actually grow (in a pot) outside in the cold weather but the leaves are damaged although it sits in the most sheltered place I have!

Wish I could grow cinnabarinum in Newfoundland...orange rhodies are so rare!

Wonderful primulas, Todd.
Bundraba - I have killed several Erinacea pungens while waiting for them to bloom.  This is my first success.  Patience pays!  Have several more in the garden still in the non-blooming stage.  They do seem to take a few years to settle in and do their thing.

I don't know if this is east to west west to east or whatever. There is a bit more work and less doting as the fecund season approaches.

Photo1 is Sakurasoh grown from NARGS seed. Aubrieta is in the background.

Photo2 is Lewisia pygmaea I bought mail order years ago (probably SiskiyouRPN). It has seeded about joyfully. In fact there are other Lewisias seeding in here: my little Lewis Meadows -which I hope to  expand upon!

Photo3 is our native Anemone quinqufolia, a delicate thing that grows in the mountains near by.

Photo4 is Trillium cuneatum. I got it from Potterton and Martin years ago.

Photo5 is the very dainty Sand Myrtle.

Photo6 is R. 'Scintillation'. Never before has it bloomed! Global warming? Yes!

photo7 is Areneria (Minuartia) obtusiloba native to the Rockies. This is a top rate Sandwort.

Photo8: Great gobs of 'Blue Ridge' Phlox! Imagine this carpeting an acre of woodland? Its one of two plants I got from Logee's (1995?) before I knew there were dedicated sellers of alpine plants. The other was Muehelenbeckia axillaris, which I still have too.

Photo9 -just for fun.

photo10; It's just a wonderful magic carpet ride, a color cosmos, sublime admiration.

cohan wrote:

Lots going on in all those pics :)
Trond- not too bad considering the conditions you mention!

Yes, fortunately I have always some spots that is not exposed so much to the elements  ;)
Nice weather today but rain and cold the next 3-4 days :(

Bundraba, you have a impressive wide range of plants! I'm envying you the 'Blue Ridge'!
Does the Anemone quinquefolia set seed? I'm interested in swapping ;)

And Todd, here are some more rhodos, not all orange though ;) Labels lost long ago as usual.

I just have to squeeze in a few more....

Photo1 is one of the treasures of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Unlike our puny little local Houstonia, this one is hefty and takes full hot sun well. I see the NARGS annual meeting is down there next year. This wondrous region is fully worthy; enjoy it.

Photo2: This blooms and sets a few seeds most years but never have I seen it like this (there's just gotta be a reason!). Seed goes on the exchange as Packera ex. Red Mountain Montana. I became intrigued by these on my first (plant) visit to the  Rockies; every mountain range seems to have its own one. I seek those that are stoloniferous rather than singular so that they may be made good and perennial. I'd also like a good orange! This is one of the finest small silver foliage plants in my garden -if not THE finest. It may be P. paupercula that is native here, so this is not entirely without precedent. There's also Pediocactus in the photo.

photo3 is a little Pussy Toe (Antenneria) that I found on Bald Ridge. It is a cushion former. The leaves have a distinct diamond shape. It grows among the likes of Eritrichium howardii and Astragalus kentrophyta so I don't expect easy and immediate success, but who knows? A. umbrinella is the only name I've seen that might be it.

Trond; yes variety is a good deal of the fun. It makes for an interesting garden and each plant is so interesting too in how it responds to various conditions etc. I sometimes think that after getting to know a plant well -I know its native environment too -even though I may have never been there. A small bed of Lewisias, for example, can nearly transport one to a High Cascade ridge, if one gets right down into it

Krish, It looks like you are working with the peat stuff Saxifrage technique I've espoused for years! You are in New England? That vertical placement might get ya though. I find it hard to keep really slow growing things from anchoring in properly, at least without a ledge to sit on; or some batter to the wall. Good luck!

Iris typhifolia
       

Dracocephalum ruyschiana
       

Ptilostemon afer and Echium russicum
       

I noticed the developing seed pods of Saruma henryi today.  They are interesting, too.
       

Clematis ochroleuca
         

I had forgotten to post the open Clematis ochotensis.  It bloomed 20 April:

Notice the peculiar bent edges of the petals.  I really like that.  The flower color is actually a shade darker than the photos.

Rick, the Draco is native of Norway although I have never seen it! I like the flower of both your Clematises. At home only the alpine types have started flowering. (I am at my summerhouse now - long weekend due to the "National Day"  May 17th.) I like the Echium too. Have seen pictures of it from the steppes. And Saruma - I've given up growing it due to slugs :(

Echinocereus viridiflorus; Orostachys minuta and a Cryptantha from the Wildcat Hills in Nebraska. Two of four flowered this year and promptly both rotted! The two remaining are smaller and in somewhat different culture.

Lori; I'll have to remember to look for the Pulsatilla with the unpronounceable name!

Lori, of all your wonderful plants I'll say that Pulsatilla turczaninovii takes the prize ;)

Been for a little trip today. First we took the small bat round the island (2.5km x 0.5km), then we took a walk on the only "road" that is on the island. Half of the island was farmed once and have a kind of track for the small tractor they used. Now only sheep graze the meadows. Fortunately they are still on another island therefore we can enjoy the blossom of early summer.

The crab apple (Malus sylvatica) and Crategus monogyna are still in flower. However, it isn't easy to distinguish the wild apple from garden escapes.

Geranium sanguineum has just started flowering and so has the weed G. molle. Along the track and on small ridges and banks Saxifrage granulata dominate.

It is always nice to find it although it is rather common, the blue Polygala vulgaris. Polygonatum odoratum has a nice scent, you can discern it from a distance.

Also blue violets like this Viola riviniana dot the woods everywhere at this time of the year. The old pastures are still filled with Primula veris but the orchid Orchis mascula is almost disappeared due to the sheep's grazing.

What a spectacle that Eremostachys speciosa is!  Like a tiny water fountain with all that white "cotton candy".  Great stuff, Lori, Trond and Bundraba.
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Penstemon grandiflorus blooms nicely now.  These are from seed collected in Isanti County, central Minnesota.  I really don't see any difference from this locality, though.  They seed into the lawn sometimes.
       

Syneilesis aconitifolia, and S.aconitifolia, Hosta nigrescens, Epimedium seedling, Podophyllum hexandrum, Iris cristata.
         

A yellow leaf creeping veronica, very nice even though I don't know the name.  Thalictrum aquilegifolia.
       

Nice Penstemon! Seems you have summer Rick! Here it is still spring ;)

Some plants from the "garden" at our summerhouse. Most plants grow as they like here. Almost no weeding ;D

I've planted several Narcissi and tulips. Both the roe deer and the mice like tulips but Narcissi are left. Here are however a rare tulip (an unnamed species) and a lateflowering Narcissus.
Omphalodes verna do spread a little but go dormant later in summer. All the rain this season has been good for the moss!

Once I planted 3 different Primula cv here, one white, one red and one yellow. Now they have done some crosses of their own.

I'm working with different types of rock and different soil profiles. I love crevice gardening! The white garden (Light Bridge;a distant range of spectacular snow covered peaks!) is at the very western end of the Great Cordillera and was built in 2010 (there is no train yet). Sprinkled here and there with little treasures; it will fill up fast! The Yellow daisy is from the Wallowa Mountains and is unprecedented here. Never before has anything like this lived long enough to bloom naturally; and from seed too!

Here's something that could be more widely grown. I have two collections of Erigeron flagellaris -this one is from the Abajo Peak area. It is actually a bit too vigorous grown in a warm raised bed, but given space, it could really be an asset. The other is planted by the road where it doesn't bloom as well but it has space to make a nice compact mat.

Photo5 is a seedling to the effect of Lewisia 'little plum' or some such. It seeds strongly here and they don't apparently vary. L. 'pinkie' is in front. It makes a nice dome of leaves but blooms rarely.

Lori, E. linearis is one of them but there's another from that region. I've been trying all day to recall it! Probably just a bit of research needed. The stone might simply be called Shelburne Limestone from Shelburne Limestone Co. One very nice thing about this quarry is that they provide a data sheet so we know pretty much what is in the rock; in this case 93% Calcium carbonate. There is a trace of Magnesium, the green schist (serpentine) shows and adds a touch of mystery to this already beautiful stone; and there is some Iron. I've placed it in my very acidic environment; so that and acid rain; I figure it will all disappear in a couple hundred years; fizzzzzz. Pretty cool to think about. On the other side of this quarry is a much grayer stone probably containing more Iron and there are a few striking porphyries of a brick red color. How it all came to be boggles the mind! The Serpentine becomes very apparent just a bit to the east on the upthrust of the Green Mountains. The front rockery is of Plattsburgh stone which is fossiliferous. I don't think the mix of color is everyone's cup of tea -but, for the sake of alpine gardening, that stone just could not go unused! Vermont is, or was, also a big producer of white marble.

When do you harvest the rhubarb, Lori? I used to make soup of mine. It was a bit bigger though ;D ;)
Nice collection as always!

Hoy wrote:

When do you harvest the rhubarb, Lori? I used to make soup of mine. It was a bit bigger though ;D ;)

Thinking on that a bit, guess a bit (a very small bit) of zing to something like cold cucumber soup might actually be good(!)

An excuse to post this pic: our drought that lasted from September through April finally broke a week or so ago.  You can see how the vegetable rhubarb has responded with the more normal leaf size.  However, still not quite as large as they usually are this time of year...

To the right of the rhubarb is a trough with Coryphantha (Escobaria) vivipara from the Rapid City area of South Dakota.  It bloomed a few days ago.

More news from my little Lewis Meadows. My favorite glowing salmon colored L. cotyledon is taking the year off but this
white one is doing well. The situation is sandy, fairly moist and I doubt there is any lime or clay. Cold wet does not seem
to bother them but they suffer warm wet. They'll also grow in a mix of peat and (Plagioclase?) Granite if it is moist. I've
had these for over a decade. Sakuasoh, Aubrieta and Aetheonema in background.

RickR wrote:

Hoy wrote:

When do you harvest the rhubarb, Lori? I used to make soup of mine. It was a bit bigger though ;D ;)

Thinking on that a bit, guess a bit (a very small bit) of zing to something like cold cucumber soup might actually be good(!)

Hope you did understand; I would never eat a gem like Lori's Rheum. However mine is - or rather was, I've dug it up to make room for something more precious - huge. Rhubarb is excellent as soup or juice if you are thirsty ;)

Bundraba, your rock garden is marvellous!

It's been a while since I posted...been busy putting in a new shade garden and painting the deck.  Here are some of my current woodlanders.

And some more.

And from the rockery