What do you see on your garden walks? 2012

Is there a form of Zauschneria named after Wayne Roderick?  That seems to ring a bell.  Is Z. garrettii hardy?  The nice thing about this one, apart from the color, is that it blooms when most things have finished.

The fun never sets on the garden. These look like chickens (?). Hmmmph! I did the "buck buck buck-caaaaak" just

enough to herd them away from my rockeries... I guess. I can't complain too much; they left me breakfast!

That reminds me, I saw my first sharp tail grouse at Schaefer Prairie a few weeks ago.

Most Thursdays, some in our Chapter head out to the Minnesota Arboretum to tend the rock garden there.  Today was no different.  The arboretum staff helps with some of the maintenance, but we do all the planting.  Today we were brought some needed rock mulch to spread.  I guess I wasn't thinking very far ahead: you only see about half of the garden.

cohan wrote:

Nice place Rick [the arboretum], good partnership btwn the club and staff..

Funny you should say that, Cohan.  We do work on our relations with the arboretum.  We convinced the higher ups that the Head Gardener should go to the every 10 year alpine conference in England.  Our club contributed to his expenses, too.  It was a very good move on our part, and has reaped good benefits.  But...

We used to have a September picnic and meeting at that arboretum every year until about six years ago.  I was program director then, and set up all the meetings.  Six years ago the arboretum changed their picnic shelters policy and we could no longer reserve it for our meeting use, even though most of us were members of the arboretum along with the club itself, too.  The only thing reservable is a room and we aren't allowed to bring food.  Well, we weren't very happy, but that was the way it was and were forced to go elsewhere.

Now, just a few days ago, the staff was asking why we didn't hold meetings there anymore (!)  :rolleyes:

Some miscellany in the garden:

Geranium vlassovianum, a Morningcloak and a nicely colored lily bulblet I found while reloacating Lilium nanum bulbs.
       
             

The aptly named Sedum obtusifolium.  Cuttings responded phenomenally with just a little fertilizer.  The original cutting on the upper right in all pots.  Second pic: a mature plant (mid July), just 4 inches high.  (Echinocereus coccineus in the background.)
       

Tim wrote:

Seriously I wonder at the lack of proper partnership that occurs between professional bodies and highly absorbed 'amateurs' - there should be huge benefits that work both ways, not least in getting more and more people to learn more about plants and consider gardening in more adventurous ways.

Off topic but you might find this interesting; Mind that beekeeping has more advocates than rock gardening and involves a lot more money. I don't know this man and I'm not, at present and to my knowledge, in his situation. Successful amateurs are, too many times, shoved under the rug by pro "wannabees" who have to, at all cost, maintain their "standing". This letter is a warning: it goes on still.

http://kirkwebster.com/index.php/my-apology-to-eas-march-2012

Cimicifuga ramosa is a spectacular encore to another great season in the garden.

Gentiana triflora -they seed around; I hope; more- from a colleague in Sweden (1999) and 'Clara Curtis' daisy.
 

Energy to spare in Dryas grandiflora and Sedum cauticolum in splendid isolation: It makes a nice ground cover too!
  [

An "olde stand-by" Chrysanthemum in The Plunk. This is a blatant admission of impending fall color, pushing it a bit maybe, it still feels like summer.

The season of garden interest is so not over yet!

Colchicums on Cactus Park. Tidyness plus a dry summer means no slugs and a spectacular display of these beautiful flowers.

I was quite impressed enough by the strong splashes of yellow on a Wyoming (Laramie Mountains) roadside that I collected
this plant. I believe I have grown two others in this genus as well, but I don't know what they are. This is the only one that appears strongly stoloniferous. The other two are more tufted and grow to 30 cm or more "out of character". One from a New Mexico roadside (South of Magdalena Mountains but widespread) with a thready divided smooth skinned green leaf and scads of small yellow composite (Packera-like) flowers; the other from the mountains east of Cuba, New Mexico has a very silvery and fernlike leaf. These would appear of "short lived" habit unlike that pictured.

Michael: I am really mystified by your composites from WY and NM: don't recall seeing anything quite like them. I hope you can get a pinch of seed (have lots to trade with): your garden really looks smashing. Our colchicums are at peak form right now too. Cooler nights, but days still pleasantly toasty. The Botanic gardens (where most of these pictures were taken) is really awesome: had to share!

The plants are labeled under the pix: just a few that struck me yesterday on a stroll around work. The grass in the rock garden (Muhlenbergia reverchonii) is the star of the lot!

Those really are awesome, Panayoti.  I can't even see any leaves on the eriogonum, just flowers!

The Calamagrostis brachytricha (Korean Feather Reed grass) is remarkably adaptable, growing shorter in your pic, a little taller in my garden, and 6ft. at a friend's house.  All depending on the environment it lives in, much the same as Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) that grows from 3 to 8ft.

Panayoti; I thought you might know that one straight away! Cohan; thanks for the link. They really are quite showy but maybe considered a bit "dumpy" (a speculation). These seem like the kind of thing agriculturalists might frown upon as weeds; and they are just DYCs after all. However, when a plant asks to be grown; I find it hard to resist some times! As is the case with so many nice small plants from the west; I don't think viable seed is set here. Panayoti; Eriogonum seems a viable genus here; not always easy to grow; and tending to winter burn, but they are resistant to pests. If Eriogonum wrightii sets good seed in your gardens; please send me a pack. It looks like a gem.

I don't mean to forget the white ones!

Orostachys iwarenge is one tough customer! I also have it in a small cast iron frying pan, with a drainage hole poked in the bottom, for over a decade now. It is never fed or watered!

both of these are from seed of a single plant of Escobaria sneedi var. 'leei'. It must have crossed with another Escobaria species. The second photo is a light colored form of Gentiana angustifolia. I used to get terribly envious when I saw pictures of Czech gardens where these grew in huge clumps along side the blue ones. Now after some tense moments (and a few patient years) it looks as though I might finally be growing it well! The plant normally flowers in spring.
 

Panayoti, the Eriogonum wrightii is beyond sensational!  Is there a variety of it called "subscaposum"?  I had this one for quite a few years, forgot to admire and
praise it one year and it left for the garden.

What a sight for sore eyes those gentians are, Tim! I well remember my last visit to Aberconwy (I was headed towards Bodnant and noticed their sign--little suspecting what I was in for!). I am amazed that these grow well for us too--in special soil, of course, and divided regularly.

I think Scutellaria pectinata is often lumped under the other taxon as a subspecies: it is very distinct to my eyes (and only blooms in late summer). I have grown it for a long time at home, but Mike Kintgen has finally really got it going several places in the Rock Alpine Garden, so I suspect it is here to stay.

I notice I missed a few items at DBG, and haven't shown anything from my home either--there's still lots to see!

1) We finally found a spot where Begonia evansiana is really happy and it's in full bloom still (this is the white form--we must move our old but less vigorous pink ones nearby)...
2) The flower on "Devil's Shoestring'--which has been blooming for months--Nolina lindheimeri from the Texas Hill country--amazes me how hardy plants are from down there.
3) Geranium harveyi is usually much larger than this by now, and loaded with flowers--but this year my big plant died and a number of seedlings are showing up around the garden. I keep hoping we are selecting for hardier and hardier forms--one of my favorite silver plants.
4) This is a hybrid Hylotelephium bred at Bluebird Nursery by Harlan Hamernik: he gave us a flat with dozens of seedlings--which I planted at my girlfriend's house. This one has grown without supplemental water during a dry year!
5) Another Jovibarba heuffellii--can one have enough? These have been blooming for months.
6) My garish show of Chrysothamnus nauseosus (dwarf form) with Salvia greggii 'Furman's Red' on my xeriscape at home--I grow nearly a dozen Salvias in the greggii/microphylla group on this slope in every shade of red, pink, rose, purple and even yellow. They are superb garden plants in dry gardens here.
7) A Woodland salvia from the Himalayas that alwasy blooms late: Salvia nubicola.
8)  Zauschneria arizonica at Sandy Snyder's garden--a monster in the genus that can get 4' tall and even wider in a few years.
9} Zauschneria californica in a wonderful tall, willowy form at Mike Kintgen's magical private garden...

Been so busy, and traveling for work, that its hard to keep up, but wanted to chime in here after seeing so many beautiful plants and garden scenes.

Rick:  I really like the Sedum obtusifolium you show us, one I'm not familiar with.  Too bad about the Agastache aurantiaca not returning, even after NOT cutting it back for the winter, I too share similar experience.  This year I have just 2 flowering plants of hybrid A. aurantiaca x rupestris.

Michael, love the photo of Cimicifuga, mine look much the same, not only are the giant floral plumes spectacular, the cotton-candy scented flowers perfume the entire garden.  Naming on these things is a mess, and is one that I completely disagree with; I go by Flora of North America that keep "Cimicifuga" intact, plants that have dry follicles in seed, as opposed to lumping them into Actaea :rolleyes:, a genus whose seeds are borne in berries.  In general, C. ramosa is considered a synonym of simplex, but then again, The Plant List lists 15 synonyms for "Actaea simplex"!  I will stick with calling it Cimicifuga simplex. Michael, do you get wasps on your Cimicifuga plumes?  Here, not only do they attract bumble bees in profusion, but also wasps of many sorts.  Here's my take on Actaea/Cimicifuga:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=1049.msg17758#msg17758

Michael, Sedum cauticolum is an awesome species, great in foliage, growth, and late flowering.  Your photo demonstrates well that is isn't just another sedum!

PK, love the Ajania, these are but lovely Tanacetums from another land ;-)
Muhlenbergia reverchonii is awesome, as is Scutellaria pectinata, holy moly!  I've grown Eriogonum wrightii v. wrightii years ago, easy to grow, mine flowered but didn't even begin to approach 1/20the the size of your luxurious plants, I'm totally jealous. Your inclusion of Hosta tarda demonstrates just how useful and attractive some of the late flowering (and compact) Hosta can be in the rock garden, hazzah.  The image you post of Geranium harveyi re-instills plant lust for this S. African species.  I tried growing it a couple times, each time lasting only a couple years; if only it would persist and produce that gorgeous foliage, who cares what the flowers are like.  I have also failed magnificently a couple times with the other hardy S. African Geranium; G. magnificum.  I'm interested in the late season Salvia; currently growing the light yellow-flowered and sticky-glandular S. koyumae, so I've taken note of Salvia nubicola that you show; always good to learn of another late season bloomer.

Some plants are still in flower - or they have a second blooming

Lonicera henryi - a large evergreen climber but the flowers are not the showiest! Primula capitata(?) is still in flower. Some rhodos rebloom in the fall. The Agapanthus is still flowering forthe third month! I have not dared to plant it out in the garden although I know some forms are quite hardy. Unfertilized seeds show a very red colour to attract birds. (Do anybody want seed - it is a white-flowered species - last picture.)

I have an Ajania still, from the one and only time I visited Geoff Charlesworth's Sandesfield garden. It has been persistent but never encouraging much attention other than "wow; it's still here!". Mark, You are right about the Sedum cauticolum. I imagine it could be used in large drifts in order to color up entire hillsides at this time of year given the proper care. The Cimicifuga is indeed a good bug plant. It is a very busy plant. I notice wasps, hornets, bumbles and honeybees. It seems favored by things that sting! I'm not surprised these critters like it as it does smell delicious. Just a few spare plumes now. Everything is gradually setting up for the cold weather. I like busy plants!

As for taxonomy: Just really cool stuff. indeed I've taken to calling Zauschnerias Epilobiums (only on occasion) and Senecios Packeras. I also know there's been alot of other changes quite recently. Agree or disagree OUR species has come along. It probably sees things it didn't just a few years ago. We even have gene sequencing now! That's like the "new taxonomy"; a nice tool like a stone ax was way back then. It is OK to politely bury the past. It's been going on for quite some time now.....

cohan wrote:

Trond- lots of great colour there :) are you having nice weather? looks a bit sunny..

Sunny - yes, for 3 1/2 day! The weather was marvellous last weekend + Monday. Now we are back to the autumn normal - rain - a glimpse of blue sky - more rain, maybe thunder; windy - calm etc  :-\

Toole wrote:

Shortia galacifolia -- currently 4 blooms this year .
Please excuse the cracked pot --i really need to get this plant into the garden proper somewhere.

Cheers Dave.

It is a cute little thing! From seed?
I had several seedlings some years ago but they died in a very dry spell the first summer I planted them outside :(

Shortia: I have tried this in the garden:Not the easiests thing to grow.. even among the Diapensias: I think. This is a decent case for open science; I think.... but never mind me.

Today is the first day since last weekend it doesn't rain!
Went out to picture some plants not damaged by the heavy showers.

Almost all my Clematis are still in flower. Here are two different kinds:  'Ernest Markham' or a similar hybrid climbing in a Actinidia arguta which threatens to become too big and a heracleifolia type among other weedy plants ;D The heracleifolia hybrids are semishrubs and late flowering.

Corydalis/Pseudofumaria lutea has selfsowed and the 3 months old seedlings flower continuously!

Also the Cyclamen hederacea has just started flowering.

I have two kinds of annual Impatiens. One gets more than 2m/7ft high and the other barely reaches 1m/3ft. They selfseed a lot but the seedlings are easy to remove and I always let a few plants grow to flower and seed.

Lilium rosthornii is very late and the flower colour is very pale this year.

A Malva or something similar is still producing flowers despite the rain.

Cohan, tell me if you want some seed - or acorns ;)