Image of the day

Hoy
I found it at 8,500' (2590m) on damp seeps.
These were growing at  Lake Winnemucca in the Sierra Nevada Range. Companion plants were Primula suffrutescens, Cassiope mertensiana, Kalmia polifolia ssp. microphylla, Salix arctica, Caltha leptosepala ssp. howellii, Dodecatheon alpinum, Saxifraga aprica, Rhodiola integrifolia, Mimulus primuloides, Lewisia nevadensis, Pedicularis attollens, Phyllodoce breweri and many other gems.

Nice one Charles!  Keep an eye out for that particular Crocus, to see if it continues to develop doubled flowers in future years.  I have a couple spring flowering crocus that make extra petals, and with one in particular, it has shown the same trait for the past two years, so mabe it is genetically fixed.  Often these extra-petal aberrations appear in some years and return to normal in subsequent years.

Still have tons of broken branches to cut up and dispose of from the freak "Halloween Snow Storm of 2011", and now this past week back to days in the high 60s and one day reaching 70 F... a crazy autumn in New England.

Weiser wrote:

Hoy
I found it at 8,500' (2590m) on damp seeps.
These were growing at  Lake Winnemucca in the Sierra Nevada Range. Companion plants were Primula suffrutescens, Cassiope mertensiana, Kalmia polifolia ssp. microphylla, Salix arctica, Caltha leptosepala ssp. howellii, Dodecatheon alpinum, Saxifraga aprica, Rhodiola integrifolia, Mimulus primuloides, Lewisia nevadensis, Pedicularis attollens, Phyllodoce breweri and many other gems.

Thanks, John, what a mix :o The buttercup had very nice company, couldn't make it better in the garden.

"Late" evening! The sun sets early now and it get dark at 6PM. However, with sun from a cloudless sky and no wind at all the life is good!
Pictures across the fjord today.

Beautiful scenery Trond!

I posted these gentians on the SRGC forum so i akm duplicating here.  Still blooming in the garden are Gentiana'Kingfisher' and G. ternifolia 'Dali'

Todd wrote:

Beautiful scenery Trond!

I posted these gentians on the SRGC forum so i akm duplicating here.  Still blooming in the garden are Gentiana'Kingfisher' and G. ternifolia 'Dali'

Wow, what a beautiful blast of blue, the striping on 'Kingfisher' is particularly smashing!

I posted these gentians on the SRGC forum so i akm duplicating here.  Still blooming in the garden are Gentiana'Kingfisher' and G. ternifolia 'Dali'
[/quote]

Wow! So beautiful!
I've got both of these too, but small and not blooming size yet.....it's so nice to see what I can look forward to next year...perhaps. :)

Trond such calm water, the reflections of the sky on the surface are outstanding.

Todd your gentians are wonderful.

Todd, I have never managed to grow any autumn-flowering Gentians like that! They live for a year or two and then dwindle - I don't know why but keep trying. . . .

Weiser wrote:

Trond such calm water, the reflections of the sky on the surface are outstanding.

It is not always like that!

Things are awfully quiet on the Forum front: I'm not quite ready to throw in the trowel...planted a dozen plants or so and have more on the docket tomorrow. We are having a delightful sunny respite after two weeks with 8" snowfalls that panicked us a bit (as they always do)...but back to Indian summer. I am amazed at how cheerfully the crocus, some colchicums and even cyclamen have taken the snows. Here are two shots of our current champions: Crocus medius is magnificent right now.

Panayoti, still enjoying your pics of Crocus medius here there and everywhere, surely a species that I must intropduce to my garden. The storter stemmed flowers look as if they might be more weatherproof than many autumn crocus.

I've given up on C. medius as all we get here are virused ones.  Still no sign of my C. speciosus..they are late but never this late!

Trond, we are dark by 5:00 pm!  What time does your sun rise?  Ours rises around 7 am.

The sun rose here at about 09:30 yesterday in the SSE and set at about 13:00 (the hills get in the way). The moon rose at 17:00:

Stunning images...but a short day!  And still getting shorter!

Mark, one for you.  I have this Allium thunbergii.  Its very dwarf compared to my Ozawa.  Could it be virgunculae?

Todd wrote:

I've given up on C. medius as all we get here are virused ones.  Still no sign of my C. speciosus..they are late but never this late!

Trond, we are dark by 5:00 pm!  What time does your sun rise?  Ours rises around 7 am.

It is pitch dark now as I write, the local time is 18:09. Today the sun rose 08:26 and set 16:17 but it gets dark about an hour later.
The moon rose 16.39 but I can't see it yet - it hasn't climbed  the hill in east yet and it is cloudy too.

Lori wrote:

It's amazing to see gentians still in magnificent bloom so late in the season, Todd! 
Stephen and Trond, when I am depressed about how short the days are here, I will have to remember that they are even shorter where you are.  :o :o

A flowery subalpine meadow in Banff:

And I am looking forward to the spring and even more to the long days of summer :D 8)

The Banff flowering meadow isn't now, Lori?? I wonder if I ever live long enough to visit all places I want :-\

A new gentian purchased this year...G. veitchiorum.  A single flower managed to get open.  The black cardboard helps against the rather busy natural background.

Gorgeous photographs, stunning gentian!

Gorgeous indeed on the gentian: all our gentians are long past seed! And most of our Crocus speciosus are done--shows how variable the seasons are.

I noticed the virus on the C. medius as soon as I posted it: oh well! That was the Botanic Gardens patch. Mine at home look better! Our intense sun does seem to suppress viruses somewhat: I've noticed some speckling ont the leaves of Iris bucharica decades ago which I eventually realized had to be a mosaic virus. They seem to have "cleaned up" in time. Diseases act differently in different regions.

Crocus goulimyi....growing in the alpine house at work.

Not a floral knockout at the moment but a first-time bloomer..better late than never.  Dracocephalum wallichii grown from seed this past winter.  Hope this late bloom does not mean the plant will kick the bucket!

Seems to be a blue time, Todd ;)
I have tried several Dragon's Heads but not D. wallichii. I like it!

I didn't realize it Trond but you are right...I seem to have a lot of blue flowers open at the time.  Well here's anotheer...the last of my Crocus nudiflorus.

Yeow!  We rarely hit -20 C even in the dead of winter.  The coldest I've been yet is -1 C.

Jandals wrote:

The lads were out walking in the hills near Mt.Cook this weekend and we had a good time even though it isn't a good flowering year . There are postings in the travel section of the SRGC forum . We had keas for company and they are very cheeky parrots

To see some of the remarkable native New Zealand alpine flora, here's the link to the discussion on SRGC Forum:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8116.0

Lori wrote:

After a couple of -20 deg C nights, any lingering vestige of the summer is long past here.   (And so you don't have to ask, no, the following photo is not current, Trond.  :rolleyes:  :D)
 
Just a pleasant vista in Banff, featuring Pedicularis contorta:

Not current you say? I can't believe that! You are south of me and even in the mountains we still have no snow (except at the peaks). I am crossing the mountains tomorrow on my way to Oslo. However the weather forecast predicts a gale tomorrow and a foot of snow on sunday when I return. If you don't hear from me you know the reason ;D
BTW Pedicularis is one of my favorite genera!

Remember my holiday wish Jandals ;)

There don't seem to be too many postings of late. I'm about to go to California for a few weeks, and probably won't be contributing much then, but since I have been sorting and labeling images from this past year, I thought a short retrospective (more like "images of the year") to give you all a glimpse of the terrific year we have had in the garden (as well as the mountains)...the mountain shots shall have to wait. So here goes a short revisit of my past year...

1) Corydalis malkensis dancing with Draba hispanica in the Rock Alpine Garden
2) Corydalis shanganii ssp. ainii (finally got it thanks to Odyssey Bulbs! Great operation that)
3) I believe this is C. s. ssp. shanganii: must more graceful than mine (growing at DBG)
4) Dactylorhiza majalis, loving my bog
5) I think I got this stunning erigeron as E. algidus: doesn't quite match the description. Whatever it is, it is the most beautiful of its genus and seemingly easy to grow.
6) Narcissus 'Sun Disk': one of the few hybrid dwarf daffodils that likes me
7) A trough full of fleabanes: Erigeron compositus 'Red Desert' (tiny white) and "Erigeron nanus" in purple. (Not sure of the latter's ID)
8) Penstemon fruticosus in my home garden

Enough for now!

Congratulations Panayoti, your post marks the 100th page in this "Image of the day" topic.  You show some fine plants here, more than making up for the irregularity of posted images of the day.  The topic "Image of the day" is the top viewed topic on NARGS Forum with 34729 views as of this date, I too check out this topic regularly with enthusiasm. Whatever your Erigeron "algidus" is, it's a wonderful plant.

Thanks, James, for your kind comments....and Mark too! Didn't realize I was centernarian! Already.

The Dactylorhiza came from England: Several British nurseries used to sell them to us. Forgot the name (will let you know when I remember).

Penstemon fruticosus has many forms, and I have seen quite a few in eastern and midwestern rock gardens over the years: it is more of a mesic plant. I would plant it with saxifrages and dianthus...which I suspect you grow already well?

Thanks again! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving...

Those corydalis are truly awesome!

Stunning images PK!  BTW, do you mind if I repost them in the NARGS image galleries?

Dear Todd!
    What is mine is your's: I am VERY grateful for all you do for NARGS. You NEVER need to even ask (for one thing, I will never remember what I said you could do anyway!)...
    Fondly,

Panayoti

You're the best PK!  Thanks from NARGS for being one of our best supporters!

I like Monarda, been wondering about the new compact varieties. The only one I'm currently growing is Monarda punctata (spotted bee-balm, dotted horsemint).  It has a wide range and is quite variable; I like those that have yellow flowers.  This one hasn't shown any signs of mildew in the past 4-5 years that I've grown it.  Can be shortlived, but mild self sowing has kept it around.  In the second image, there's a mud dauber milling about.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=MOPU
http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_mopu.pdf

I love those annual monardas as well (suprised to hear that puncatata can be perennial). I just realized I never photographed my big clumps of M. pectinata I finally got going around my garden. I hope THEY self sow!

Kelaidis wrote:

I love those annual monardas as well (suprised to hear that puncatata can be perennial). I just realized I never photographed my big clumps of M. pectinata I finally got going around my garden. I hope THEY self sow!

I don't know M. pectinata so I googled, looks quite attractive in some forms, I like the linear foliage:
http://www.opsu.edu/Academics/SciMathNurs/NaturalScience/PlantsInsectsOf...

The M. punctata plant shown in the two photos above were from 2010.  Here's a photo of the same plant taken mid July 2011.  Whether it sticks around for a third year is anyone's guess.

Cliff, a wonderful meadow!
Lori, I do understand why you like that photo - I would like to walk there ;)

From places I have walked:

Really awesome photos! I would so love to hike there! Where were these photos taken Lori & Trond?
Here are few taken a couple years back on vacation to Wyoming & Utah. What a blast!!  ;D I can't recommend Capitol Reef enough, there were so many side canyons to explore around every bend in the access road. Loads of Castilleja and other natives that I didn't know.