What do you see on your garden walks? 2012

Thanks, Mark, I'll likely try to keep a piece indoors just in case..
What about soil/moisture? Should I be deliberately trying to keep it dry (once in ground)? I have read that the hardy Delos in general are not dryland plants, but rather alpines, and as such want good drainage, of course, but not actually to be parched..

Nice views, Trond- I am working on some areas like this too-- but except for the mostly wild areas, I need to weed quite a lot or they will still be mostly grass, dandelions and clover!
I have a lot of daylilies here too (as I mentioned before on the forum)- though I'd call them orange-- I still have to figure out what to do with them... no flowers yet this year, that I've seen, though they may come along faster with this recent weather- we've been 28-30C or a little over, and more days of it to come...

Moisture on Meconopsis .

Cheers Dave.

Bundraba! wrote:

Azorella trifurcata, an antipodian and Muhelenbeckia axillaris, another.

Michael
Thought you might like a shot of the Muehlenbeckia's natural environment in Fiordland .
Growing on rocky ground -banks -- stream beds--gravel fans .
While I've photographed it in bloom on a number of occasions while travelling about the South Island i don't think I've a shot of it in fruit.

Cheers Dave.

Touring around the garden in the early morning is rather depressing these days - so dry and when we do water it doesn't seem to stay around long - lots of wilting phlox, burnt up wood ferns and thalictrums and Amazonia didn't even bloom this year although the leaves look OK.  However, amid this devastation there are some survivors - a blue Platycodon is "business as usual" and Anthericum racemosum is quite fantastic.  Surprisingly the Maiden Hair Fern is lovely and Ipomopsis rubra is delivering its wonderful red again.  The one that really surprises me is Zauschneria californica.  In former years, in its high and dry spot, it has barely flowered before giving up.  This year it is full of life with plenty of fat red flower buds.  Beebalm is a washout (I should say dry out) - I think if it were near some big rocks it would do better.  And I've never seen so many marauding chipmunks and mice turning up pots and doing other nasty things to the plants.  This dry time has been a learning time telling me that certain plants MUST be moved to another spot. Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b I guess

Frances, you should invite me over to put shade paint on your greenhouse. Whenever I do mine it rains for ever-or so it seems. We haven't had a dry day this month so far, which followed 24 wet days in June.

Frances, I'd love to see the ones you mention - Anthericum, Ipomopsis, maiden hair fern - they are not so commonly grown here; nice to hear that they are doing well despite the weather challenges.

Good heavens, David, what horrible weather you seem to be having!  Maggi mentioned a little while back that there is nothing but unending rain in her area as well, and yet it continues.  It struck home for me how awful it must be when I saw in the local news that the Times of London published an editorial demanding that it stop raining!!

Nothing so fine here as has been shown in the preceding photos, but it's time again to try to catch up a little...

Lindelofia anchusoides and the very similar Lindelofia longiflora:
 

Scutellaria orientalis v. alpina; Scutellaria alpina; Lychnis chalcedonica cv. with Veronicastrum sibiricum and Persicaria polymorpha:
   

Paeonia cv. with Verbascum ex. 'Helen Johnson':
 

Delphinium nudicaule 'Fox', planted this year; another Scutellaria alpina; Lupinus argenteus:
   

Dianthus monspessulanus has rather messy, irregular flowers but a wonderful scent - perfumey, rather than spicy... and another Dianthus, one that some may find eye-searing  ;) :
 

In the greenhouse - Nymphaea 'Colorado' and 'Helvola':
 

Linum flavum compactum; Lilium 'Pink Pixie'; Dracocephalum purdonii(?); lots of chartreuse and yellow in this photo with Alchemilla mollis, Dasiphora fruticosa and Digitalis grandiflora:
     

Out along the fence - Nepeta nuda, Anthemis carpatica:

Lori your plants look very nice.
I have some pictures taken last week.Non-stop rain for the last two days.

Thanks, Krish!  Yours are very nice too!  

Papaver sp. ex. Tajikistan; Arenaria grandiflora:
   

Ranunculus platanifolium; Geranium pratense ex. 'Midnight Reiter' - nice that the seeds come true, at least in so far as having dark foliage; our native Geranium viscosissimum; Hieracium villosum:
     

An interestingly-coloured columbine, among the self-seeded multitudes; Adenophora remotiflora and Geranium x cantabrigiense 'Biokovo';
 

Erigeron grandiflorus; Erigeron glabellus:
 

Erigeron peregrinus ssp. callianthemus and Erigeron speciosus:
             

Lori:  You really must have a fabulous garden - those lovely pictures you post make me feel like I'm actually touring around with you looking at all the treasures there.  It must be a very large and "concentrated" garden and you must have great soil/tufa and weather (moisture) in addition to your obvious expertise.  Thanks for this almost daily treat - rain or shine.  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

Howey wrote:

It must be a very large and "concentrated" garden and you must have great soil/tufa and weather (moisture)...

Thanks for the kind words, Fran!  It is pretty large - just under 1/3 acre, with no lawn.  Well, I wouldn't say that the soil is great everywhere - when we first removed the grass to make beds in the back yard, we just piled a foot of organic soil/compost on the bed and planted (it was like planting in chocolate cake - no trowels or spades needed  ;D), then added fine bark mulch as a topping.  That was long ago, though.  If I was to redo some beds (which I should do), I'd be inclined to do that again to replenish things.  In the front yard, we just dug out grass in big swathes, then filled in the void with bark mulch immediately after (wanted to protect the many tree roots and not raise the soil level too much)... so there is lots of pretty lousy soil (clay and rocks) tool  The worst is at the far end of the fence line, where things get sparser and sparser along in that direction; the other reason for sparseness is that it's in the upwind, northwesterly direction and the seeds from the rest of the yard don't generally get blown out there to colonize things.  (Ha, there's the secret to my gardening, if there is one... complete randomness - the wind does most of my planting for me.  ;D  Unfortunately, the wind only has the same old perennials to work with... now if only there were some really interesting gardens upwind from me...).  
Re. moisture, we have been having wet springs the last few years, but the norm is to be pretty dry - I tend not to be able to grow moisture-loving plants well at all.

Michael, again I have to say that your garden is fabulous!!  Thanks for showing it to us!  I'd love to have enough space (and moisture) for a tract of queen of the prairie (and all the other delights you show)... wonderful!

Krish, do you have to support your Clematis recta?  It looks somewhat more upright than mine.  These recumbent, not-quite-climbing ramblers (C. recta, C. integrifolia) are always a problem for me - I never have the right support figured out or available (or am too lazy to get it out there at the right time  ;)). 

Lori wrote:

Good heavens, David, what horrible weather you seem to be having!  Maggi mentioned a little while back that there is nothing but unending rain in her area as well, and yet it continues.  It struck home for me how awful it must be when I saw in the local news that the Times of London published an editorial demanding that it stop raining!!

Yes, it's been a God awful Summer in most parts of the UK so far (apart from the Western Isles off the cost of Scotland who have missed it all and are crying out for rain.

Apparently it's all the fault of the Jet Stream which has been positioned to the South of the British Isles and Ireland and forcing out any high pressure systems moving in from The Azores and allowing in all the Atlantic low pressure systems. I live in the South West of England and we get all the prevailing south west winds and systems first. I live around 15 miles from the coast
on the southern escarpment of Dartmoor and the moor also affects our weather. For example, today has been continual drizzle and a heavy mist and 14C whereas no more than three miles to the east of us the temperature was 22C and blue sky.

The forcasters tell us that Jet Stream is slowly moving north and we should be getting some better weather soon. But will they get it right? ???

David- they are talking about English weather on tv on account of the upcoming olympics.. hope some reasonable weather happens!

Great garden showings all!
Lori, do you find the Erigerons interbreed or stay distinct?
Michael, I have some baby Azorellas and need to figure out what sort of siting they need (exposure, moisture, soil and space) any tips?
and Lori, ditto to that advice re: Alchemilla mollis -I only have one plant bought for a dollar, so just wondering how much space to give it in particular..

Cohan, I can't say I've noticed any hybridization among erigerons in my yard. 

Alchemilla mollis is very large here (~4' diameter)... however, it takes some years to get to full size.  Not a fussy plant at all (I think that's what I always say, isn't it?) - I have them in full sun through to mostly shade, in what was once rather nice organic-rich soil through to unamended clay.  And it's normally pretty dry here everywhere (at least after the spring rains) and it doesn't mind.

If you don't mind me commenting on this one too, there's probably no need to allot too much space initially to Azorella trifurcata in our climate.  It's hardy but not a fast spreader and you can always move things out of its way with time as needed.  My old original plant (which I bought, and used to think of, as Bolax gummifera but eventually ID'd) got to 28" x 22" in 8 years... though about a third of it died in last winter's strangeness.  (It is coming back though.)  Full sun, and nothing extraordinary in terms of soil quality (i.e. regular garden soil - I've never grown it in the rock garden) or moisture, seems to suit it fine here.  You can cleave off chunks easily and plant them elsewhere as the mother plants grow.

Lori wrote:

Krish, do you have to support your Clematis recta?  It looks somewhat more upright than mine. 

I have a metal obelisk hidden under the plant.The support is not great. For the last two years I am trying to find some good support that has the top open for the vine to come out naturally .No luck. Looks like tomato cage is the one I should use

Lori wrote:

Cohan, I can't say I've noticed any hybridization among erigerons in my yard. 

Alchemilla mollis is very large here (~4' diameter)... however, it takes some years to get to full size.  Not a fussy plant at all (I think that's what I always say, isn't it?) - I have them in full sun through to mostly shade, in what was once rather nice organic-rich soil through to unamended clay.  And it's normally pretty dry here everywhere (at least after the spring rains) and it doesn't mind.

If you don't mind me commenting on this one too, there's probably no need to allot too much space initially to Azorella trifurcata in our climate.  It's hardy but not a fast spreader and you can always move things out of its way with time as needed.   My old original plant (which I bought, and used to think of, as Bolax gummifera but eventually ID'd) got to 28" x 22" in 8 years... though about a third of it died in last winter's strangeness.  (It is coming back though.)  Full sun, and nothing extraordinary in terms of soil quality (i.e. regular garden soil - I've never grown it in the rock garden) or moisture, seems to suit it fine here.  You can cleave off chunks easily and plant them elsewhere as the mother plants grow.

4' for Alchemilla! then I will need to give some thought to where to put it- I may give it a spot I'm developing at the end of a semi-woodland bed, where I can give it a whole end to itself!
For Azorella, I was thinking about an area I have at the foot of my semp bed , where there are some Crocus and Galanthus- or would it be too dense for the bulbs to push through? if so, then maybe among stepping stones in a walkway- to- be between the Eurasian rock bed I made last year and another 'ridge' to go behind it.. I don't have enough South Americans to have their own area..lol my batch of Patagonian seed yielded very little :( I do also have a couple of bits of Acaena (have to look- antarctica, I think) already in ground, but they look to be slow indeed- though to be fair, I only planted the seedlings in ground last year, so its not much time to get going..)
On a more positive seedling note- Waldheimia tomentosa has a bud :)

Krish wrote:

Lori wrote:

Krish, do you have to support your Clematis recta?  It looks somewhat more upright than mine. 

I have a metal obelisk hidden under the plant.The support is not great. For the last two years I am trying to find some good support that has the top open for the vine to come out naturally .No luck. Looks like tomato cage is the one I should use

I've seen designerish things that could be obelisk shaped and made out of some sort of solid metal struts, but openwork- could be a much nicer look than tomato cage, though much pricier, probably..

There is too much to keep up with in the summer garden and it still looks quite good despite all the rain that David mentioned - we have probably been a bit drier in Kent. Summer growing South Africans like Dierama pulcherrima must appreciate the rain; these are such delightful plants. Teucrium ackermannii looks nice on a raised bed, especially at this stage with many more buds to open. And finally a mix of plants on the patio steps - the astonishing almost black Aeonium 'Zwartkop', with Viola 'Molly Sanderson' and variegated Alonsoa; and behind the curious origanum-like flowerheads of the annual Cerinthe major 'Purpurascens' - this plant caused quite a stir when it first appeared on the horticultural scene a decade or so ago; it flowers over a very long period and sets a lot of large bullet-like seed which is easy to pick up from around the plant on paving. It is a Mediterranean annual from southern Spain, usually not quite hardy enough to overwinter in British gardens from autumn sowings. Behind are a couple of cycads which were completely defoliated in the cold greenhouse last winter, when temperatures dropped very low. It's pleasing to see them grow out again as both were raised from seed!

cohan wrote:

4' for Alchemilla! then I will need to give some thought to where to put it- I may give it a spot I'm developing at the end of a semi-woodland bed, where I can give it a whole end to itself!

Well, again, I think it's completely workable to plant more for the mid-term, not the longest term... otherwise the bed will have plants with big gaps in between for years and years. I think a perennial garden takes 5 years to look established anyway... and a garden is never done in any case.  :)  There is always lots of moving around of plants to be done.

There are a few crocus (or other small bulbs; I'm forgetting what) in my Azorella, so, no, it's not too dense... (not sure any plant is ever too dense to be pushed through by bulbs).  Please let me know how the Acaena do after the winter - I've only ever had little bits come through.  I will certainly try it again, needless to say, if it works out for you.
Well done on the bed construction - sounds like it's going great guns!  You'll have to show us some time!    :)

Great news on the Waldheimia too!

Krish wrote:

Lori wrote:

Krish, do you have to support your Clematis recta?  It looks somewhat more upright than mine.  

I have a metal obelisk hidden under the plant.The support is not great. For the last two years I am trying to find some good support that has the top open for the vine to come out naturally .No luck. Looks like tomato cage is the one I should use

Plant supports are a bugaboo of mine!  As C. recta has gotten especially huge over the last couple of years, it's become increasingly necessary to prop it up (particularly since the bank of 'Terese Bugnet' roses that used to form it's reluctant support were taken out last fall).  So, I went out and bought a couple of very tall metal panel supports... which proved to be too tall and obtrusive (will have to try to cut them down to make them useful... somewhere.  Now where did I leave that cutting torch??).  We ended up gathering some of the wood stumps we've been using as naturalistic plant supports and stacking them to support it... I much prefer a natural look anyway, though they are largely hidden by the plant anyway.
C. 'Pamiat Serdsta' has outgrown it's obelisk support (did we use a different, taller one for it last year?).... stems were bent over after the rain, and I had to cobble together an extension from a couple of other plant support hoops.  Oy...   :rolleyes:

Cohan - I find Alchemilla mollis seeds very freely so a spot in a semi-woodland area sounds perfect. I have it under apple trees and in early spring it's tidy and just growing out; by now it becomes very strong growing and I have had to curb it from growing over more choice adjacent plants. The leaves catch the rain beautifully so in the right spot it is great groundcover.

Lori wrote:

cohan wrote:

4' for Alchemilla! then I will need to give some thought to where to put it- I may give it a spot I'm developing at the end of a semi-woodland bed, where I can give it a whole end to itself!

Well, again, I think it's completely workable to plant more for the mid-term, not the longest term... otherwise the bed will have plants with big gaps in between for years and years. I think a perennial garden takes 5 years to look established anyway... and a garden is never done in any case.  :)  There is always lots of moving around of plants to be done.

There are a few crocus in my Azorella, so, no, it's not too dense... (not sure any plant is ever too dense to be pushed through by bulbs).  Please let me know how the Acaena do after the winter - I've only ever had little bits come through.  I will certainly try it again, needless to say, if it works out for you.
Well done on the bed construction - sounds like it's going great guns!  You'll have to show us some time!    :)

Great news on the Waldheimia too!

Good news on the Azorella :) I may try a couple of those spots..
As far as gaps, I have lots of those, since all of my beds are very young (except those that predate me, which are all badly overgrown...lol) but at the moment, I'm working on so many different areas at once that It doesn't really bother me if some beds have nothing interesting going on...lol I started off buying plants and seeds with no place to plant anything (okay, I'm still doing that!) so now I'm kind of focussing on building without always having a full set of plants to go in them- some general ideas and some specifics, but I'm happy to have areas that may fit what I have next year :)
That said, I understand what you mean about moving stuff- some things just no way to know how they will really work out longterm-- I have a nice Geranium sanguineum album, next to a Potentilla (Geum? I always forget) Miss Wilmott- okay up till about this time of year, but unfortunately the Geranium only starts flowering a week or so before the Potentilla, which proceeds to flop all over the Geranium...lol...

The rock gardens I've been working on lately are meant for North American alpines that want dryish conditions- and I only have a few seedlings to go in now, though more to sow, and others I've held off buying knowing there was no home for them :) Next up is a sort of dryland/scree that goes in front of those NA ridges (completely opposite end of the property from the wetter 'Eurasian' ridges)..  I have been taking some photos along the way, and will try to get them posted- nothing to see plantwise yet, but I thought I'd show the method which is probably unorthodox but working for me so far with available materials..
The Acaena has been outside for a couple of winters- doesn't look great in spring, but its there! I'll keep you posted, may have some recent pics, they are only about 2 inches across, tiny tiny leaves..

Tim, your Alchemilla looks great! I read on one blog someone bemoaning the fact that theirs was just surviving, not seeding freely as she expected from English sources- I guess drier/hotter sites... I will put mine in the wetter end of the yard (where, however, my Primula auricula I thought was doing so nicely is wilting every day when its 'hot' I guess it needs even more mid day shade, since the soil is never dry in that  bed...

I haven't done much by way of plant supports yet, but something I need to think about...

Delphinium "bees" with bee:

Verbascum chaixii v. album:

Salvia nemorosa 'Snow Hill' - terrific plant, much loved by bees:

Big betony, Stachys macrantha:

Veronica longifolia(?):

Clematis mandshurica:

Polemonium pauciflorum:

Calamintha grandiflora - great plant for dry shade (or anywhere):

Stachys officinalis 'Hummelo' - a plant that's often mistaken for Primula on plant ID sites  ??? :

Delphinium grandiflorum - normal blue and self-seeded variations:

All nice but I find the Verbascum and  Salvia especially striking!

Bundraba! wrote:

Cohan; If you are seeing brand new rock gardens and novel techniques on your garden walks; perhaps we may have a look see?

Thanks, Michael- the spot at the foot of the semp bed I was thinking of for the Azorella looks gravelly but I didn't amend it too much, so its more our clayey loam than anything else, and I think should be quite moist most of the time; the other spot I mentioned is probably even more moist, so one or the other should suit them :)

I doubt if I'd describe my rock garden building as 'novel' : probably odd, maybe inappropriate or second-rate would be more likely thoughts...lol- I'm sure I'm breaking some rules that are there for good reason! but from my perspective, the key points are 'made with available materials' (the main part of which means they are built up with sod and soil underneath, with rocks and gravel more on the outside and in the higher, planting layers) and satisfying my own personal aesthetic sense with the rocks (available fieldstone, which here means granite and quartzite mostly, with some amount of sandstone, and small amounts of limestone (the last is mostly small, with much more of it in the gravel than in the stones)..
I am taking photos as I progress, and when I finish the next section in the area I'm working on now (the lower, but still raised, dryland area in front of the ridges, with some below grade boggy/marshy areas), I'll show some of them :)

A number of Cyclamen coum are out --this one under the edge of small Rhododendron in a double concrete wash tub .

Cheers Dave.

Beautiful shots, Anne and David!  Can't wait to see more from your "other garden", Anne.

Stachys discolor:

Eryngium alpinum, now coloured up:

Cephalaria gigantea, reaching for the sky:

Verbascum eriophorum, a biennial, unfortunately:

Our native Spiraea betulifolia (corrected name), in the garden:

Verbascum nigrum, starting to bloom: