What do you see on your garden walks? 2012

Love all of the mats of color! Your garden is a glory of color!
Nice cactus garden! Is that a clustering Pediocactus in the upper center of your bed? What ever it is, it certainly looks happy.
The buns and baby cactus in your last two photos are very nice indeed.

Great show!

You really have a nice garden, Michael! Some plants are familiar but some are not ;) Some do grow in my garden and a lot of them don't ;D I do not think they'll survive either :-\

Thanks, Cohan. Do you want some seeds ;)

Bundraba! wrote:

Here's a couple from 'The Rock': Soapworts and Allysum oxycarpum. Mark; you may want to check your shed (carefully) these A. o. don't smell like skunk!

I can assure you, my Alyssum oxycarpum has flowers that smell skunky; I do believe I can tell the difference when sticking my nose in the actual flowers that the flowers are the source of the skunky scent, versus an aroma that might be eminating from under a shed, it isn't that difficult an observation. There are plant species (I know of some Allium species) where nearly identical plants, but from different known sources, will show different scent characteristics, one will be odorous, and the other will be inodorous.

Thanks all for the nice compliments on the garden walk.

John, yes it is a clustering Pedio. The center rotted, or began to and the thing split!

Tim, it is interesting that the two sections of the garden I posted last are so different and that both "themes" -dryland; and cushion steppe -are obviously to some degree doable here. I can't help but wonder how either would appear on a much grander scale.

You have a nice place, Palustris.How big is your property?  And yes, I recognized most of the species ;)

Here are some pics from my (very untidy) garden yesterday:

I suddenly noticed that the asphodel (Asphodelus albus) had started flowering in a crab apple!
It is the shrubs that dominate: Rhododendrons, Pieris, Enkianthus(and peonies) . . . .

Lori, you certainly have some beauties yourself! And despite your later start you are ahead of me now. Your warmer days have brought you in front in great strides ;)

Here a cold desiccating wind from north makes it almost as cold as February :( As I have said before: We have two seasons, one long spring and one long fall mixed with a few wintry days almost anytime and a few warm days anytime from April to October.

After a couple of false starts from seed batches, I think I finally may have the real Pensteomon nitidus.  I picked up a couple seedlings from our Chapter plant sale, and so far they look like the real thing.  Lori, I hope they look as nice as yours or John's someday. :o 

My supposed Penstemon pocerus seedling is blooming... I am very pleased, even though it is not procerus.

I would be pleased if I had a blue Penstemon! Last year I sowed several different batches of seed but all the seedling looked very similar though. I planted them out but none has started flowering yet.

I once had Penstemon nitidus with Tulip 'Little Princess'; absolutely sublime; both are now gone but the Penstemon, at least, WILL get tried again!

On June 1 I walked in the gardens of others. The first four photographs were taken at Cady's Falls Nursery: The next four at Rocky Dale Gardens; in my opinion two of the finest gardens in the region. The last two were taken from the ferry on my returning approach to Essex New York.

Yes, very beautiful! Would love to take a walk there too ;)

I had a little walk in my untidy garden yesterday, and here are some of the plants flowering now (actually rhododendrons still are the dominant genus).

Allium triquetrum and the native ursinum do a good show in the shady woodland. They are rather common but their white flowers light up the gloomy forest floor.

In a more open place the dark Phyteuma ovatum and the purpur Menziesia ciliicalyx var purpurea grow together and on a dry wall another native, Sedum reflexum, soon flower.

Bundraba! wrote:

I once had Penstemon nitidus with Tulip 'Little Princess'; absolutely sublime; both are now gone but the Penstemon, at least, WILL get tried again!

On June 1 I walked in the gardens of others. The first four photographs were taken at Cady's Falls Nursery: The next four at Rocky Dale Gardens; in my opinion two of the finest gardens in the region. The last two were taken from the ferry on my returning approach to Essex New York.

Hey Michael...I wish I had known you came to Rocky Dale Gardens!! I work there and would have loved to give you an official tour! The next time you make your way across Lake Champlain let me know, it would great to meet you. and I so agree the Rocky Dale and Cady's Falls are the best nurseries in the northeast!!

I may have to ask for seed of A. triquetrum and ursinum, Trond.  I am not too crazy about the angular stem, but really like the triquetrum flowers.  I'll never know if they are hardy here unless I try them.  Do they go dormant in summer?

Thank you, folks ;)
I'll collect seeds, Rick. They have a tendency to stay green the whole summer and are often very early with leaves in spring in mild spells.

Lori wrote:

Hoy wrote:

In a more open place the dark Phyteuma ovatum and the purpur Menziesia ciliicalyx var purpurea grow together...

That's a very striking picture, Trond!

Yes, Lori, you can see all the weeds!

A Penstemon seedling growing where a burgundy form of P. whippleanus and a pink form of P. arizonicus once grew.

A couple of afternoon's ago I walked out and saw this little spectacle and this wasn't the only Escobaria vivipara that decided it was a good day to bloom -like they all got together and discussed the best way to draw in bees.

A little bun cluster: Eriogonum flavum 'xanthum' (reclassified recently I believe), Dianthus haematocalyx subsp. pindicola, and Areneria species 'Wallowa Mountains'.

I wasn't kidding when I said I planted wheat. The blue flower is a very nice big bearded Iris. Now, as sometimes the artists critique of his own work is appreciated, notice the composition of this image -the wheat in the foreground vying with the iris in the center for attention; color, aspect and form. The whole creating an interesting vertical element in the photo. I took one with the Iris off to the side; but not as interesting. Note also the interesting rotation set up by the Penstemon in the first photo and carried through in the blue Aquilegia and other plants behind it.

It's been over a decade since I grew one of the little peas this well giving 2012 distinction as the year the little peas returned to my garden. This one normally lights up the roadside in Northwestern Wyoming and there, is probably capable of producing more than a few 'stop the car!' moments.

Krish wrote:

Today I took pictures of some plants blooming  in the garden. Not as nice as Michaels.

But they are special, just the same.  Very nice, healthy, well grown plants, Krish!

Here primula vialii is always shortlivedbut easy from seed.

Clintonia andrewsiana is in flower now, 50cm (1.6') tall.

Tim wrote:

Now that is a sight for sore eyes Trond! I have tried Clintonia andrewsiana several times but never managed to establish it. It must like the cooler Scandinavian climate. Such distinctive flowers.

It definitely likes it where it is growing now, anyway. I had another plant - much smaller though but still it flowered reliably - but it was shaded out by a rhododendron. I have to keep an eye on this one as the neighbours are greedy and spreading . . . .

Here is the whole plant by the way, forgot to post it. I do like the leaves too! They have spots of shed petals from a rowan tree.

Leaves are very similar to our native Clintonia borealis, except ours seldom grows more than two or three leaves.

Trond, your stylophorum in the pic prompts an observation:  I have always known S. diphyllum to look like this:

Isn't it interesting that such a wide variation in the wild occurs.

Another first in this garden for 2012; I was surprised and (extremely) delighted to find Aquilegia jonesii had suddenly pushed a flower! Ask not what is the blue glow in the center of obscurity: look it over! From seed collected in the Bighorn mountains in 2009.

Last bloomer Rhodo; Rhododendron chionoides backs up a firecracker Penstemon. These Penstemons like the Northeast USA. I have two sorts here and wish to improve seed set so that there may be more in the days to come. PEB's (Penstemon eating bugs) are one of the vial reproaches to my desire. The weather is, of course, another but our summer can be like that on the peaks of the Southwest where these naturally grow: fickle and apt to be wet.

Sempervivum ciliosum is a top rate wall plant IMO. This thing grows on air, and rock too.

And as the rock garden fades into summer: a mini-rose stands guard.

Peonies are a poor choice for acid sand but I plant them anyway. Four miles south they grow splendidly; something for geologists to fathom. Iris 'Super Ego' at hint in this picture is rather better here than the Peony but it is so nice when they get together. All the Peonys in my garden took a huge hit in the "spring" of 2011; they aren't aquatics. I lost, and probably will not replace, some rather nice tree peonies.

At the bottom of the picture is Liatris spicata. It will bloom later. The rock garden is going over but the garden season does not ever go over.

This is Vaccinium oxycoccus 'Wright Peak', a very choice ground covering plant. The Empetrum at the top of the photo is also from the Adirondack Mountains.

Campanula muralis, Thyme; a nicely colored form, and Aruncus aethusifolius.

Michael, you have some exiting plants! I think the peonies do good at your place to ;)

RickR wrote:

Leaves are very similar to our native Clintonia borealis, except ours seldom grows more than two or three leaves.

Trond, your stylophorum in the pic prompts an observation:  I have always known S. diphyllum to look like this:

Isn't it interesting that such a wide variation in the wild occurs.

Rick, this time the variation is more than usual! It is an entirely different species! The yellowflowered plant accompanying the Clintonia is the very weedy perennial Meconopsis cambrica. It is showy when in flower (like now) but sprout like cress everywhere. But I agree, the flower is very similar to S. diphyllum and the leaves too.

I have tried to get Stylophorum diphyllum but it always turns out to be S. lasiocarpum! Here it is with my toes as a meassure.
The seedpods belong to Helleborus foetidus.

Hoy wrote:

Rick, this time the variation is more than usual! It is an entirely different species!

Too funny!  My initial thought was that it was a different species, too.  But when I started googling around, I convinced myself that I would be foolish posting such a suggestion.  Look where that got me...(Where is our blushing emoticon?)

Change is afoot on Cactus Park. The cactuses really steal the show for a time. Opuntia flowers are good for a day but don't detract a whole lot from the new blossoms after they're done. Opuntia is a strong and willing genus here but my garden holds just a scant few; no particular reason for that, I guess, just that there's an awful lot of plants one can collect (and real estate seems to be becoming more and more dear)! It might also be said that Opuntias are rather "standoffish"; a stern hand is useful when dealing with them. But, as other less adventurous gardeners may be settling in to the cool greens of shade gardening; I'm pretty happy right here.

This is Opuntia 'Claude Arno' putting on a decent show; but I've seen it buried in these pink chalices.

I showed the bun cluster in a previous post; the cactus is O. 'Red Glory'

Bailey's Lace Cactus is freer of bloom than the Claret Cup here; at least so far. All of the Bailey's Lace Cactus shown here were grown from seeds produced by two parents. That's right; years ago on a visit to Santa-Fe greenhouses; I bought the pot with two plants in it. They are both still doing fine.

Salvia takes a blue cue from Veronica and carries it into summer. Salvia officianalis (culinary sage), among Artemisia here, has to be among the most unsung of all ornamental perennials. I grew these from seed; how else to get it?

I thought I might use these as ground cover but they respond quite differently to the garden's conditions than Opuntia does. That said: I'm still after "plan A".

Cohan, I like that colour very much as most flowers at this time is yellow or dirty shades of pink ;)

Michael, wonderful cacti!