What do you see on your garden walks 2014?

There's nothing to see but snow here!  In the current warm spell, the front yard is clearing, but the snow is the deepest it's ever been, after a record snowfall in December and then fairly regular additions since then.  

Here's a little nest I found yesterday that had fallen out of a spruce tree, possibly that of a chipping sparrow.  The body of the nest is made of very fine grassy fibers and soft strips of bark mulch.  The outside incorporates a few strands of wooly thyme:

I can't walk in the garden now, the snow is waist deep, but have been enjoying bird activity with multiple suet hangers and my deck picnic table shoveled of snow and transformed into a large bird seed platform.

Nice to see spring exists somewhere and looking good.  Recent photo from the UK of Galanthus in flower underwater were not that positive (Weatherunderground).

Here in New England still under a foot or more of snow with near record low temps. -1F (-18C)  Our loss is Norway's gain?

Charles Swanson MA USA z 6a

Your loss is our gain - I think you are right, Charles! But if I remember rightly you had a mild winter and spring last year, and we had a very cold one! In fact we have had 3 cold winters/springs in row now before this last one which is very warm.

Although the winter is much warmer than normal in the mountains too it is still snow there as this picture shows, taken Friday 28 Feb. :

And these are from my garden today (almost sun!)

But mild winters also means that the slugs are live and out as these damaged Katharine Hodgkins show:

Spring in France garden !!!

And many flower yet ! 

Some of the Cardamines are early spring flowers like this Cardamine glanduligera.

Nice to see flowers, Sandy and Trond!  Our snow was almost gone after a warm spell, but now it's back again... so much for spring!  I had one Bulbocodium vernum bud visible on Wednesday, buried again now... phooey.

That Cardamine is lovely.  Not something I've ever seen here.  I'll have to look for seeds.

I agree with you Lori, the Cardamine glanduligera is a lovely plant. Under what conditions does it like to grow Trond?

Here Spring is well underway ( although it only started officially two days ago ! ), and parts of the garden are coloring up nicely, 

I hope all of your gardens will soon emerge from winter also, 

[quote=Lori S.]

Nice to see flowers, Sandy and Trond!  Our snow was almost gone after a warm spell, but now it's back again... so much for spring!  I had one Bulbocodium vernum bud visible on Wednesday, buried again now... phooey.

That Cardamine is lovely.  Not something I've ever seen here.  I'll have to look for seeds.

[/quote]

Lori, I'll look for seeds when the time comes!

Hope the spring soon finds its way to you also.

Ron, here Cardamine glanduligera grows at the same conditions as Anemone nemorosa and that clan.

Seems your spring is a little ahead of mine The oxlip has just started flowering but the cowslip hasn't showed yet.

The leaves of Cardamine glanduligera look superficially a bit similar to Anemone nemorosa and it likes the same growing conditions.

Still just snow here.

We'll be looking forward to the bounty which will burst out of the soil in your garden when the snow eventually leaves, Mark

In our garden there are sporadic splashes of color provided by bulbs such as Cyclamen graecum and Colchicums and Amaryllis belladonna cultivars,

cheers

fermi

Still mostly a foot of snow left here,but (unusual for us) the ground underneath has already thawed. So I expect a quick melt down, once warm weather comes.... if it ever does!

Nice cardamine, Trond.  Unfortunately, I haven't gotten any results from the cardamine seed (different species) you sent me.  They were certainly healthy seed.  I am thinking this winter will be extra favorable for ephemerals here.  If get a chance, I will try to hand pollinate the wild Cardamine laciniata and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks, Trond!  

Both of your gardens are looking spectacular, Fermi and Ron - though reflecting opposite seasons.  It's so nice to have participants from the southern hemisphere to enliven this site through "our" winter. 

[quote=Hoy]

Ron, here Cardamine glanduligera grows at the same conditions as Anemone nemorosa and that clan.

[/quote]

I found Cardamine heterophylla at a plant fair yesterday, ( unfortunately no C. glanduligera ), so I'll be giving them a try Trond. Thanks for the pointers.

Surely Spring must come soon for you Mark ?

Mark, you'll soon catch up when the warm weather you usually have returns!

Fermi, nice autumn flowering bulbs!

Rick, sorry for the un-germinating seeds. When thinking of it I seldom find seedlings; the only exception is C, heptaphylla of which I find a few each year. Also the native C. pratensis self seed of course (it is a weed!). The last one easily grows from leaf cuttings too.

Ron, I have not tried C. heterophylla but several others. If you come across others like pentaphyllos, heptaphylla, enneaphyllos, waldsteinii, try them!

Enneaphyllos is the earliest one. It is already done for the year.

Thanks for the recommendations Trond. I'll certainly keep an eye out for them, 

Euphorbia x martini is brightening up a shady corner nicely here.

Warm weather in the last week brought out lots of spring flowers.  Hellebores are just past peak, trilliums are hitting their stride, and the first erythroniums are showing color.  Primulas and other early bulbs brighten up the whole garden.

The picotee hellebore came from JJ Flintoff years ago, before hellebores became the rage.  Trillium kurabayashii has taken over large sections of the front garden.  Pseudotrillium rivale comes in various color forms: 'Purple Heart', white, pink, pink spots, and a tiny one nicknamed 'Bird's Beak' by Betty Lowry.  Erythronium americanum is always the first to flower.

Wonderful plants Claire. What a lovely collection you have.

Thank you for pointing out that Trillium rivale should now be Pseudotrillium rivale. I had missed that 2012 change.

So nice to see Erythronium americanum leading the way again.

From Afghanistan, Iris bucharica.

Claire, you have a wonderful collection of Trilliums (including Pseudotrillium). It was interesting to see one of your Pseudotrillium rivale with four petals.... I wonder if this is just an oddball flower, or if the trait would appear more regularly in seedlings from that bloom?

Claire, your Pseudotrilliums are beautiful! I have some seedlings from your seeds now but no flowers yet!

I also have a patch of Erythronium americanum but although they spread they don't flower. What do they lack??

Ron, nice irises. I tried I. bucharica some years ago but they didn't last long.

Discovered these in bloom on a walk in the garden this morning!

Biarum davisii - garden gnomes

cheers

fermi

Fermi, the Biarum certainly are cutely bizarre!  I assume the foliage is out in spring?

Hmm, I had Iris bucharica for a while too.  Have finally gotten around to ordering it again this year, and planted in better drainage, perhaps it will hang around longer.

Our snow is nearly gone since it started warming up on Friday - just some icy ridges here and there... and finally some signs of life.  Robins have just shown up this week, rather late to our yard this year.  (Just as well - I hope they stayed somewhere warmer until now.)  

At long last, Bulbocodium vernum in the front yard; the bleached and rabbit-chewed flower on top was about to bloom before it started to snow again a week or so ago:

Some promising buds in a trough that I replanted last summer - Pulsatilla vernalis and what is supposed to be Townsendia nuttallii (not sure if the leaves are correct for it):

Astragalus loanus still hanging in there, even the wimpy smaller seedling, which seems to have taken hold: 

A couple of Glaucium flavum aurantiacum have survived the winter; another in a different bed looks crispy though: 

Eritrichium howardii  with green growth starting:

Pulsatilla patens buds:

Looking pretty dreadful but alive - Calceolaria biflora:

Hi Lori,

yes, the foliage emerges after the flowers. Here are the flowers the following day

cheers

fermi

What a curious little plant Fermi - only seen this at Shows. And nice to see the Astragalus loanus and Eritrichium howardii​, especially the latter as it begins to show signs of new growth. I grew this quite a few years ago and it is just like Edraianthus pumilio over winter, hardly a sign of the resting buds.

This a trio in pink at the moment, three good plants for a raised bed: Thalictrum orientale, Matthiola scapigera and Ptilotrichium spinosum.

Hello, All,

Sorry to be slow in answering your nice comments on the trillium -- I just got back from two weeks in Greece.

You have good eyes, Gordon, to spot the four-petaled trillium.  I hadn't noticed that before.  I will look around and see if there are others.

I have grown and bloomed Iris bucharica for several years now.  It has spread and makes a nice early show.  I'm growing it under a deodor cedar on a south-facing bank.  A strange location but it satisfies the iris.

As for Erythronium americanum, it is situated in a very sunny spot that stays fairly dry in the summer.  It comes up, blooms, sets seeds if I hand-pollinate, then disappears for the rest of the year.

...Claire

[quote=Cockcroft]

I have grown and bloomed Iris bucharica for several years now.  It has spread and makes a nice early show. [/quote]

Enviable, Claire!

A bit more spring-like here... between bouts of snow, anyway.

A few crocus popped open this weekend; Pulsatilla vernalis in bud; buds on Synthyris platycarpa; water hawthorn (Aponogeton distachyos) in the greenhouse: 

And here's a traffic-stopper... Arabis androsacea  ;-)  Well, it's early...

The Arabis​ is delightful Lori - full of buds and growing well in tufa. We have it in the sand bed but so far I can see no flower buds this year. Several plants that are flowering: Iris pumila 'Dozzey' (from the Czech Conference & Garden visits last May), Dianthus 'Conwy Star' (a superb hybrid from Keith & Rachel Lever at Aberconwy Nursery), and Pulsatilla rubra 'Eva Constance'.

A few flowers worth looking at in the garden as we wind down towards winter,

Narcissus viridiflorus

Oxalis palmifrons

Narcissus obsoletus

cheers

fermi

Lovely to see all the colour in your gardens folks.

Fermi what a great patch of Narcissus viridiflorus , foliage of my pot full are just coming through the soil, whether I can get them to flower in this shade garden is another matter........

Narcissus  obsoletus is a stunner.

Cheers Dave.

[quote=Cockcroft]

......

As for Erythronium americanum, it is situated in a very sunny spot that stays fairly dry in the summer.  It comes up, blooms, sets seeds if I hand-pollinate, then disappears for the rest of the year.

...Claire

[/quote]

Thanks Claire. My plants are in a shady area beneath some shrubs. Maybe I should move them (the Erythroniums I mean).

[quote=Fermi]

A few flowers worth looking at in the garden as we wind down towards winter,

Narcissus viridiflorus

Oxalis palmifrons

Narcissus obsoletus

cheers

fermi

[/quote]

Fermi, your winters are probably warmer than our summers!

Nice autumn plants, I especially like that Oxalis! I have read that it is hard to flower in the garden but you seems to have no problems with it.

Lori, I like that Arabis androsace! When does it flower at your place?

They are just starting to bloom now but will be in full bloom through to mid-May or so.

Pulsatilla patens; first Hepatica nobilis; crocus and Puschkinia:

Lori, is the spring on time at your place or later than "normal"?

Some plants from the garden yesterday.

Cardamine heptaphylla is one of the Cardamines still in flower. An unnamed Erythronium in the wood.

Some rhodos are already finished but several are in bloom now. Here are 3 of the dozen or so in bloom yesterday.

Osmanthus X burkwoodii is a charming shrub which perfumes the garden. An unnamed Oxalis species with huge flowers.

Spring is 2 or 3 weeks late here, I'd say.  Oh well, things catch up quickly... or will when it quits snowing!  It snowed all day yesterday but melted today.

Physochlaina orientalis, from seed last year;:

Spring has been springing in the Great Basin for the last month. Here are a few high lights. I hope you enjoy them.

Enjoying them very much, thank you John. Hope you can post more.......

Very nice, John! I do enjoy them all but that Polemonium is splendid! Does it get big?

I have built a new rocky place in my garden where I will try cacti. I have planted some already. They have been there for about a month and looks good so far.

The place is not finished yet.

For the first time in my garden: Calanthe discolor in flower! It survived last winter but that was actually no match except for the wind and rain.

Hoy  Polemonium Confertum is one of the high elevation species found in the central Rocky Mountains. It grows at altitudes ranging from 9,000'  - 12,000'. At these high elevations it reaches around 6" tall. In my 4,500' elevation garden it will get 8-10" tall. 

Wonderful photos, John!  Polemonium confertum used to put on a good show for me but is down to a couple of sprigs that I keep hoping will revive!

[quote=Hoy]

I have built a new rocky place in my garden where I will try cacti. I have planted some already. They have been there for about a month and looks good so far.

The place is not finished yet.

For the first time in my garden: Calanthe discolor in flower! It survived last winter but that was actually no match except for the wind and rain.

[/quote]

Wow, that rock garden is looking great, Trond!  

The orchid is amazing.   Admittedly, I know nothing about orchids - to me, it looks like something that should be too tender even for your zone 8-ish!

Corydalis solida 'George Baker':

I had also bought one 'Beth Evans' (pink) but they all seem to have turned out to look the same, as above.

The meconopsis are starting to bloom.  Meconopsis delavayi and one of the fertile blue group.

[quote=Weiser]

Hoy  Polemonium Confertum is one of the high elevation species found in the central Rocky Mountains. It grows at altitudes ranging from 9,000'  - 12,000'. At these high elevations it reaches around 6" tall. In my 4,500' elevation garden it will get 8-10" tall. 

[/quote]

Thanks John!

[quote=Lori S.]

Wow, that rock garden is looking great, Trond!  

The orchid is amazing.   Admittedly, I know nothing about orchids - to me, it looks like something that should be too tender even for your zone 8-ish!

[/quote]

It survived last winter which was very mild, and it remains to see whether it will take a serious winter!

Hi everyone

I am following the active forum everyday and enjoying all the garden pictures.In saskatoon the weather is still very cold with snow on and off.The plants are just poking out.I have some pictures  from my garden. They are not that great compared to others.

krish

the first picture is Aquilegia jonesii .The small plant is in a trough ,survived 2 winters. Last year it had three flowers. I tranplanted another seedling  closer to this one and that is also coming up.

The second one is Bulbocodium vernum. They are a week late this year .

Third one is Erythronium sibericum  I got as a small bulb two years ago from Frazers. It is still small. The reason being that I have transplanted it to the new place since It was suffering in its old site.It looks Ok now. Hope it multiplies .

Here is the Erythronium sibericum

Editor's note:  Hi, Krish.  Thanks for trying again!  You will get it with a little practice.  

You can edit any posting by clicking the "Edit" box at the bottom of the posting - it allows you to change text or photos.  

In this particular posting, you have uploaded the photo successfully from your computer.  You can tell this was done, because you can see the little thumbnail version of the photo In the "Embedded Images" area underneath the text box.

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Then scroll down to the "Embedded Images" area and click the "Insert" button for that photo.  Then you will see the photo appear in the text box where you told it to go.   (This is what I've done to make your photo show up.)  

Also, here are instructions for adding photos to messages - first, "Embedded Images":

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Great to hear that spring has sprung there, Krish!  It started snowing last night and has continued all day here!

Looks like your erythronium photo didn't get uploaded - please try again.  You can just go to your posting and click the "Edit"  box at the bottom to upload the photo from your computer, then "Insert" it into your message.  You'll get the hang of it!   :-)

HI Lori

thanks.

Lovely Erythronium, Krish.  Very different leaf colouration from Erythronium dens-canis (the only one I grow) - no sign of buds on mine yet, but I was pleased to find one of the seedlings that I noted a couple of years ago, some twenty feet or so away from the original plant, still present.

A bit of a damper on things here...

Looks cold, Lori.

But your plants survive, I hope!

Some plants from yesterdays walk.

Corydalis buschii and an unnamed blue one.   A branch of Clematis alpina is flowering in the dense shade under the yew.

Geranium tuberosum and a Euphorbia.    Pieris 'Forest Flame'.                               Ranunculis amplexicaulis

Many rhododendrons are now in flower. Here are some of the smaller ones:

Seedlings. The first one is from seed from the botanical garden in Oslo the second one is from Bergen.

Two species but I have forgotten the names and didn't bother to try and find them!

Wow, your garden is looking fantastic, Trond!  Here from the opposite end of the gardening spectrum, I'm glad to report that our snow has melted... ;-)

At this time of year, such lushness can only exist in a greenhouse here.  In DH"s greenhouse, Nymphaea 'Colorado' and 'Attraction' have their first blooms; the tender roses have beautiful fresh foliage - e.g. Rosa 'Sheila's Perfume': 

Outdoors, here is Pulmonaria altaica and a cute seedling of Cortusa matthioli; Anemone blanda; Paeonia anomala:

More Pulsatilla patens;  Jeffersonia dubia; Primula elatior ssp. meyeri; Primula marginata 'Sheila Denby':

Thanks Lori!

It may look better than it is, I do not show you the weeds! The lushness is also great for snails and slugs. I hunt and kill 50-100 almost every evening

Your garden looks very interesting and special too!

Is the rose 'Sheila's Perfume' and the Primula 'Sheila Denby' named for the same person?

[quote=Hoy]

Is the rose 'Sheila's Perfume' and the Primula 'Sheila Denby' named for the same person?

[/quote]

I doubt it but it's not something I would know about!

Jeffersonia dubia:

[quote=Lori S.]

Hoy wrote:

Is the rose 'Sheila's Perfume' and the Primula 'Sheila Denby' named for the same person?

I doubt it but it's not something I would know about!

Jeffersonia dubia:

[/quote]

Well, I didn't expect an answer either . . . .

Nice Jeffersonia! I am still waiting for mine to achieve any greatness.

I never expected to see Primula aureata in my garden, but this little seedling appeared out of nowhere with its maiden bloom.  I can't find any record that I ordered the seeds.

I've grown a lot of nomocharis from seed over the years, but never had a white one before.  Another maiden bloom.

This candelabra hybrid has Primula japonica as one parent.  Perhaps P. cockburniana added some farina to the mix?

Lori-Love that Jeffersonia! Ever since learning about it here in the forum, it has been on my want to grow list. I have tried it from seed once, but think the moist packed seed rotted in transit before arrival (from the last seed exchange). I haven't found it in any local nurseries either... will have to try again. 

You do show the neatest stuff, Claire.

 - - - - especially that Primula aureata!

I wondered about these Fritillaria meleagris, since they were a no show last year.  But they are back!

Taraxacum pseudoroseum and Mertensia alpina

Corydalis nobilis

Leibnitzia anandria volunteered in a pot of Phyteuma orbiculare seedlings

Draba polytricha still in its original seeded pot from last season.

Wow, Claire!  The only "odd" seed that germinated here seems to be a moss rose... you've sure got a better class of weeds there.  ;-)   Fascinating plants, and it's neat to see the hybrids and variations popping up.

Gordon, here's an update on Jeffersonia dubia - I can send you seeds later on if you PM me with your address.

A seedling from last year of Pulsatilla ambigua/turczaninovii(?); last year's seedlings of Primula denticulata:

Pulsatilla halleri ssp. slavica 'Alba'... or so the seed packet claimed?  Hmmm, I'll have to pull out the new Pulsatilla book and compare; Primula allionii x auricula 'Aire Mist';

Corydalis solida; Pulsatilla halleri:

Claire, your weeds are really remarkable! I have ordered Primula aureata seeds several times but nothing germinated. Maybe I should just have thrown them around!

Nomocharis is always eaten by snails and slugs and disappear quickly.

Rick, nice plants! Do the pink dandelion spread around? What's your Jeffersonia like now by the way?

Lori, that Jeffersonia dubia truly is amazing!

Just a few from my garden walk yesterday.

Not so many showy perennials now but the rhododendrons are in full flower. Here are two (can't remember the names as usual) near the house.

The dainty unknown Oxalis do better and better!

I remember how you "complained", Lori, that you Jeffersonia was never so spectacular,  but this year it has sure out done itself!

My nice multipetal form is still healthy, but still recovering (apparently).  Since it was so vigorous before, I am surprised at how slow it has been bouncing back.  I've been finding a lot of seedlings (from my other normal J. dubia) under my Salix ealeagnos shrub/tree.

The Taraxacum pseudoroseum hasn't flowered enough for me to let seeds just flit away in the breeze.  I've collected everything and given them away.  By the way, Trond, the Impatiens sp. seed you sent me all came up this spring, after I planted them last spring!

Iris lutescens 'Campbellii' and Uvularia grandiflora

Deinanthe caerulea and Peltoboykinia watanabei

Seed pods of Calycanthus floridus still linger, and Salix schraderiana is the very last willow to bloom (May 1), after all the others are done.  Well, I guess excluding the fall blooming species.

Last fall I had culled a bunch of rejects from my lily hybridizing and the bulbs looked so yummy.  I had put them in a bucket in the garage to save and eat, and subsequently forgot about them.  They began sprouting in late winter, so I covered them with an inch or two of soil and grew them on for kicks.  I snipped off all the non-blooming sprouts and this is what they look like now:

What?  Me? Complain?  :-)     Yes, my Jeffersonia dubia has developed into a lovely plant.  I started moving seedlings around last year.

Chionodoxa and Iris reticulata; Tulipa tarda; Tulipa cv.; Tulipa urumiensis (or what is sold as it, anyway):

Trollius laxus; some Fritillaria meleagris not yet ravaged by lily beetles; Hacquetia epipactis:

Lathyrus vernus 'Gracilis'; Muscari latifolium:

Lori, your pictures are great.  I love seeing your plants -- your garden is so much later than mine, I get to enjoy the early spring plants all over again.

I researched where I might have received the Primula aureata seeds.  I think they came from Betty Lowry, who ordered several kinds of primulas from the ACE expedition and also from various collectors of wild seeds.  All of her seeds, stored in the refrigerator, were ordered in 1994-1995.  I tried a few a couple of years ago, when this primula germinated.  Many that were sown in January of this year have also germinated.  I guess primula seed stays viable a lot longer than I expected.  And no, Trond, none of the primula seed was scattered around; it all went in carefully prepared and tended pots.

Does anyone know how to find the list of plants that were collected from the AGS China Expedition of 1994?  Several on Betty's list are "Primula sp." and I wonder if folks learned later what they actually were.

Brunnera 'Jack Frost'

Another pic of Peltoboykinia watanabei, one week later.

Deinanthe caerulea and Dienanthe 'Blue Wonder'

The Jeffersonia diphylla seeds you sent me, Mark: the seedlings are starting to show their non-rounded  leaf edges.

The lily on the left is a seedling hybrid of L. tsingtauense.  Below J. diphylla, normal foliage.

Syneilesis aconitifolia emerging.

Beautiful plants Rick and Lori

Thank you, Claire!  I'm glad our long winters can at least help someone relive springtime... it's a magical season, indeed!  

I've posted your query about the plant list from the 1994 AGS China Expedition as  a separate topic, where I hope it will attract some attention.  I could also post it at the SRGC forum, if you wish (if you don't participate there yourself)?

Looking great there, Rick.  What a wonderful little forest of Syneilesis - looks like an invasive of trolls!   The foliage on your Peltoboykinia is beautiful.  The seeds you sent me germinated very well, but I think I lost the seedlings to my own lack of care, letting them dry out (doh!)

It is a lot of colour in the garden these days but the flowers don't last long due to the warm and dry weather we have now.

Here are 3 plants which have opened the last days.

Eomecon chioanthum, a Rocoe species and a blue Corydalis, maybe elata. Some of the blue ones are very similar.

The Syneilesis "forest" is quite dense.  I wonder what this jumbled jungle is going to look like next week!

Saruma henryi is blooming at a normal time this year.

Some veronicas survive in unexpected environments.  Here find V. schmidtii in my limestone driveway, and V. oltensis in heavy clay.

Veronica prostrata 'Heavenly Blue' and V. peduncularis  'Waterperry'

An unknown aurea leaf carpet type.  Really nice.

Iberis saxatilis Pygmaea is quite a gem at only 8.5cm wide.

A nicely eclectic selection Rick.

Penstemon nitidus:

Wow Lori, quite spectacular!

Taken in dim light, so not so detailed:

Allium maximowiczii 'Alba' and an Aquilegia kuhistanica decendent.

Antennaria rosea ssp. confinus and Iris sintenisii ssp. brandzae, and the Polyganatum verticillatum(?) behind has flower buds for the first time in six years from a one gallon pot!).

Campanula moesiaca buds seem to almost glow.  Polyganatum 'Snow Egret'.

Scilla litardierii.  And I never noticed the lobes on the petals tips of Sisyrinchium.  Sisyrinchium montanum var. montanum.

Nice Penstemon, Lori! 

You have a lot of stuff you too, Rick! I'm especially jealous on the Syneilesis and Saruma you showed. The slugs forbid me to grow those.

On my shed roof: Scutellaria alpina. A safe one to grow and flower!   New to me: Biennial Corydalis linstowiana from seed this spring.

Allium cristophii is always photogenic; as is Baptisia 'Purple Smoke'.

In the rock garden, Aquilegia desertorum is new to me. A nice one!

Lovely plants, all!  This time of year is magic here - the air is deliciously fragrant with the scent of chokecherry and apple blossoms.   I wish it would last all summer!

I love that mix of yellow with burnt orange on the columbine, Rob.  Thanks for posting, and I'm looking forward to seeing more!

I'll try to remember to post back here once in a while. Always something new, though not always in the rock garden. By the way, notice the plants behind the columbine? Yet another stand of P. hirsutus! Which looks quite pretty this time of year, but I wish it weren't quite so prolific. If I don't watch it, the entire rock garden turns to hairy penstemon in a few years...

A pairing in our messy "rock garden annex" area, with (to the best of my knowledge!) Scutellaria orientalis ssp. oreophila, Salvia nemorosa 'Marcus', Sedum sieboldii, Sedum dasyphyllum var. glanduliferum, and Raffenaldia primuloides. Nice to see they all survived - three months ago the area was piled high with five feet of compacted snow.

Looks lovely!  

An interesting plant from seed last year... Salvia nutans:

Viola canadensis:

Looking forward to see the colour of that Salvia although the shape is nice also!

I have some seedlings of what I thought were Viola canadensis. The flowers look is the same as yours Lori but the leaves are much narrower. Do you know whether the leaves can vary?

Fuchsia magellanica is in flower now and that is the earliest I have seen here. Usually I have to wait till July/August.

I've never seen Viola canadensis with narrow leaves, only with quite broad, heart-shaped ones.  A couple of references I'm looking at say "ovate to reniform", pointed at the apex, and may be over 3" wide.

Here is a picture (out of flower at the moment) but you can see the leaves. I got an email telling me it could be Viola lanceolata, which seems plausible.

The roses are very early this year. Some have already passed the summit but others are in full flower now.

Here is the first flowers on a seedling of a species rose, Rosa webbiana, from China. Grown from Chadwell seeds planted a couple of years ago.

It has to be moved next winter because it soon outgrows the space here in the kindergarten.

A nice rose. Is it fragrant? Once-blooming?

Unless I'm wildly mistaken, and some toothy-leaved invader has filled the spaces, Scrophularia macratha ("red birds in a tree") seems to have wintered over, and is taking on the upright form it should have (as compared to the very lax, recumbent stems of the plants when I bought them late last summer - that's what indoor growing does.  A lot of nurseries keep plants indoors here, due to hail danger, I guess.)

An odd yellow-flowered Ranunculus(?) I planted(?) last year - must figure out what it is:

Dracocephalum nutans; Lithospermum ruderale; Verbascum atroviolaceum - a compact, shiny leaved species; Phyteuma charmellii, in bud:

Pulsatilla vulgaris - these big old plants are magnificent, especially in seed - only a few still in bloom; Anemone canadensis, which I have still not got rid of (this year, maybe); Doronicum orientale; Pleurospermum szechenyii:

Clematis alpina - seedlings of what was supposed to be 'Pamela Jackman' though wasn't (turned out to be a double, rather than a single flower):

[quote=Hoy]

Here is a picture (out of flower at the moment) but you can see the leaves. I got an email telling me it could be Viola lanceolata, which seems plausible.

[/quote]

Very interesting foliage.  Definitely not Viola canadensis.

"Anemone canadensis, which I have still not got rid of (this year, maybe);"

Good luck on that one, Lori.  Anemone canadensis showed up one year and looked so lovely in the seed pot that I planted it out, not knowing what it was.  Five years later, I finally dug the last of it out.  Round-up is not a product I use in the garden but I made an exception in the case of R. canadensis.  Its thread-like roots sprout at every node.  That's a shame, because it's a beautiful brute.

[quote=Lori S.]

A nice rose. Is it fragrant? Once-blooming?

[/quote]

I suppose it is once-blooming and I have not yet detected any fragrance, neither during the day nor in the evening.

Regarding Anemone canadensis I once tried it in my woodland. Had a lot of it in a bed  here at home and moved it in spring. It lasted but one season. Slugfood.

Fortunately I planted a piece of it at my summerhouse where it behaves very well and spreads a little where it is allowed to do.

Crab spiders like to hide in the flower:

[quote=Cockcroft]

"Anemone canadensis, which I have still not got rid of (this year, maybe);"

Good luck on that one, Lori.  Anemone canadensis showed up one year and looked so lovely in the seed pot that I planted it out, not knowing what it was.  Five years later, I finally dug the last of it out.  Round-up is not a product I use in the garden but I made an exception in the case of R. canadensis.  Its thread-like roots sprout at every node.  That's a shame, because it's a beautiful brute.

[/quote]

Yeah, isn't it?   Mine showed up on its own too.  Given that it's out in the hell strip (dry, lousy soil) between the fence and the sidewalk, it was even rather nice for a while having something that was happy to grow there.  At the same time, I'm a huge sap for letting it stay because I knew it was wildly invasive... no one's fault but mine.

By "getting rid of it", I really meant "starting the multi-year war against it and, possibly, eventually, by devoting every weekend to it, getting rid of it somewhere within my lifetime", LOL!    

Dactylorhiza, Eremurus and Epipactis are all doing very nicely this year. Credit goes to our warm moist springtime, 

There are advantages to being a lazy weeder

I was weeding yesterday and found two Saruma henryi seedlings: the only two I've ever seen.  I don't know that I would have noticed them, had I not let them grow to a recognizable age.  They aren't anywhere near the parent plant.  They have an interesting growth pattern. 

There are two glabrous cotyledons, then two hair oval leaves (juvenile leaves?) that at least appear to be arranged opposite.  And then growth explodes with the true leaves and form.

Iris graminea and friends, Thalictrum aquilegifolium, Pulmonaria 'Silver Streams', Gentiana tibetica, Lilium michiganense, Impatiens glandulifera, lots of weeds.

Abelia mosanensis  is hardy here with a most wonderful fragrance.

Back on June 5, I found this caterpillar on Antennaria rosea subsp. pulvinata (formerly Antennaria neglecta var. gaspensis according to Flora of North America).  It was 3 mm long and produced a strong web "roof" for protection as it lived in the growing points.

It has turned out to be a Vanessa sp.  June 19, it is now 4 cm.  Surprisingly, they have not done much damage at all to the plants.  It makes me wonder what they are eating!

[quote=Longma]

Dactylorhiza, Eremurus and Epipactis are all doing very nicely this year. Credit goes to our warm moist springtime, 

[/quote]

Nice, Ron! I have two or three orchids in flower now but the dry weather isn't to their liking so I don't show them!

Rick, the Saruma seeds are probably dispersed by ants?

I don't like caterpillars in my flower bed so usually I kill them as soon as I see them - except those I recognize as butterfly larvae.

Have a lot of butterflies in the garden now - when the wind isn't too strong. The warm and dry weather seems to be to favored by them as long as they have food.

The Kiwi plant (Actinidia deliciosa) also seems to like the weather. I have never seen so many flower so early in the year! Hard to picture though - high above my head and hidden in the foliage.

Another blue Corydalis is in flower in the shade of the shrubs.

[quote=Hoy]Rick, the Saruma seeds are probably dispersed by ants?[/quote]

I've always wanted to check that out with the saruma seed... if they have elaiaosomes or not.  But I've only gotten this far...

This is fun: Astragalus sp., wild seed from Utah.

More stuff in the garden:

Coryphantha vivipara - flowers bloom for two to two and a half days.

23 June

24 June

Thalictrum dasycarpum, male and female.

Not sure if this is significant, but on my plants, there is  a difference in foliage: male and female.

Penstemon cobaea

Penstemon cyananthus

Saxifraga crustata hybrid, Aquilegia saximontana, Symphyandra armena (or Campanula....)

From Western China Notholirion bulbiferum. 

[quote=Longma]

From Western China Notholirion bulbiferum. 

[/quote]

Very nice Ron .

Shot out yesterday for a quick trip to Maple Glen ,a 25 acre private garden, to view the their Galanthus display .Although peak flowering will be towards the end of the month I managed to find a few clumps in bloom.

Ah yes, I can just barely make out a few in bloom there... LOL!  Looks wonderful!  

Spring again in your part of the world and the start of summer here.

[quote=Lori S.]

Ah yes, I can just barely make out a few in bloom there... LOL!  Looks wonderful!  

Spring again in your part of the world and the start of summer here.

[/quote]

Nice to see spring flowers again but I am prepared to wait a few months still to see them in person!

I've wanted to grow and tried Notholirion in my garden but never successed with it. Think the slugs have it on their menue.

I have not tried Penstemon up here at our mountain cabin but maybe some would make it like this Castilleja (miniata?) flowering for the second time now.

The native and very hardy rose Rosa majalis is nice this year too.

Brodiaea elegans, These are really powerful attractors of hoverflies and other pollinating insects, 

Triteliea laxa does very well for us in amongst the grasses of our 'wild' garden, 

Ron, your "wild" garden, is it moist or dry? I am looking for some summer flowering bulbs to grow amongst grass in a usually dry (in summer) place.

Do you have other bulbs you could recommend for such a place?

Well done with Castilleja miniata, Trond!   They produce copious seed, so I hope they persist and spread for you.

Beautiful bulbs, Ron! I wonder how hardy Tritelia laxa would be?  A quick search suggests zone 6...  hmm, maybe I'll just stick with Ixiolirion tataricum, if I can get a good stand of it going.

Here's one  of those "nature red in tooth and claw" things... a crab spider, not very well camouflaged in this Veronicastrum sibiricum, yet well enough, evidently, to capture an unwary(?) bumble bee:

[quote=Lori S.]

Well done with Castilleja miniata, Trond!   They produce copious seed, so I hope they persist and spread for you.

[/quote]

Thanks Lori - I also hope that they spread, but not too well! I think you are the seed source, BTW!

Are they self fertile so one plant is enough?

Do you find Castillejas easy Trond, I wonder if I might get away with them here in Devon? Lovely by the way.

Back in May I cleared a small area, 1.5 mtrs width x 4 mtrs length , near the aviary to accommodate an increasing number of pots of seedling Hellebores and Trilliums and one or two other genera.It had previously been home to a couple of shrubs , Forsythia and Rhodo), which had outgrown their space ,requiring regular pruning to stop them encroaching onto the lawn.    

Unfortunately I had forgotten that the edge of the garden was infested with Ranunculus ficaria which are currently in leaf.Rather than applying a herbicide such as Amitrole by paint brush, I've decided that as it dies back by early summer it can stay.Hopefully the Hellebore seedlings can cope with the competition this season ,after that they will be okay .   

[quote=deesen]

Do you find Castillejas easy Trond, I wonder if I might get away with them here in Devon? Lovely by the way.

[/quote]

Well David, the one in flower is/was easy enough! I just sprinkled seeds where I wanted them to grow and where I thought the habitat was right. I got at least two plants and has grown quickly as you see.

I've also tried Castilleja in pots both with and without companion plants and the seed germinate easily enough and the seedlings grow OK in pots but when I plant them out they disappear. Maybe they'll put their heads up later.

Can't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to grow them in Devon, David!

Dave, I have too much of Ranunculus ficaria in my garden and I think they are able to suffocate small seedlings. Where I have planted more delicate plants I let the Ranunculus flower a little before I remove all parts above ground. I have two kinds of of it, one type set seeds and the other type increase by bulbils in the leaf axils. The latter one is the worst to spread.

One of the winners from the enormous amount of extra rainfall I've had this season: Gentiana tibetica and Gentiana septemfida

Oops!  Almost missed seed collecting - Iris reichenbachii and Draba rigida var. bryoides

Anthericum racemosum and Ruellia humilis

Deinanthe 'Blue Wonder' and Deinanthe caerulea

Accidentally pulled up some Thalictrum thalictroides tubers.  Aconitum lamarkii

Hakonechloa macra 'Albo Striata' and Jovibaarba heuffelii

Manfreda virginica.  Flowers are quite out of the ordinary.  The stamen filaments always seem to have these uniform bends initially, that straighten as they age.

Trond, the Impatiens species seed you sent me in early 2013 didn't come up until this year. Well worth the wait.

One of our native asters, Symphiotrichum sericeum, and Rudbeckia subtomentosa 'Henry Eilers'. Colchicum x agrippinum

Hystrix patula, Aconitum lamarkii.  Thalictrum coreanum produced seed this year for the first time in nine years.  It is a dioecious species and I only have one clone, but this year it must have produce some perfect flowers, according to Aaron Floden (his best guess).  It interesting that the same thing happened in his garden this year, too.

Looking fantastic there, Rick!

Seems you have some nice flowering going on Rick!

Glad at least some of the seeds I have sent you germinated!

How tall are the Impatiens plants?

I also have some white/pink ones.

[quote=Hoy]

How tall are the Impatiens plants?

[/quote]

They had emerged in the 4 inch pot quite late for impatiens, at the end of May. (I. namchabarwensis is late, too.)  And I am embarrassed to say that I didn't get them planted in the ground until mid July, when they were only 5-6 inches, languishing, due to the pot size constraints.  They are almost 3 feet now, and from the looks of it, they would have grown to 6 feet, had I cared for them correctly!

How tall do they grow for you, and how is that in relation to I. glandulifera?

So, Rick and Trond,

What species are those impatiens?  I have namcharbarwensis but it's an annual for me.  I just let it seed into pots, put them in my greenhouse and the seed germinates at about 40 degrees (4. 5 C).  It then sits there at the cotyledon stage for months until it warms up.  

Jan, I think I have the common annual "weed"  Impatiens glandulifera which is the one which grows biggest (3m/9ft in good moist soil). It is several colour forms of that one.

I also have another annual which is much shorter and with a different kind of inflorescence and which branches more freely. It is only one but a deeper colour though. The seed pods are also a bit different, slimmer and longer. I don't know whether the last one is another species or just a form of glandulifera. I am not sure but I think they hybridize.

Both seed freely in the garden and pop up everywhere. Fortunately they are easy to pull when young.

I also have a perennial, Impatiens arguta which is well behaved. It is about 1ft tall and starts flowering in summer.

Another perennial, Impatiens omeiana, which is very pretty but very late in flower.

All impatiens are annual for me.  I don't know the species of the lavender one I just showed.  Trond sent me seeds labeled as Impatiens sp. when I asked for them.  They are certainly not closely related to glandulifera, which have whorled leaves and fat pods.  The lavender sp. has alternate leaves and and long,  narrow pods, like I. balfourii, which I also grow.  I only had namchabarwensis for a few years.  While the others reseed massively, namchabarwensis was quite sparse, and I just didn't keep it going.  Loved it when I had it, though.  I did have a problem now and then, with a "sudden death" symptom, like a wilt.  I've never seen it on any other impatiens, except namchabarwensis.  It does seem to need the warmth more than balfourii and glandulifera.  In the nine years I have had these two species growing amongst one another, they have never produced any hybrids.  I use to have the pink form of glandulifera (from a different source), but I kept weeding it out in favor of the white that I like far better.  Glandulifera grows 5-7ft in my not so moist garden.

This time of year is when the South African bulbs are stunning.

Here are mixed ixias

Babiana stricta

cheers

fermi

Stunning, indeed, Fermi.

Only the final dribs and drabs of bloom left here, as is normal for middling October.

Here's a little fall colour... mostly on the ground, though!

'Schubert' chokecherry leaves; birch, pear and apple leaves, against Ajuga reptans 'Mahogany'; wayfaring tree, Viburnum lantana:

Rosa spinossima (red) and Rosa rugosa cv.'s; dried flowers on Carlina acaulis: 

Seedling of Artemisia filifolius - hoping it winters over; a little fall colour on Draba ventosa and unknown Draba sp.:

Winter resting rosettes of Androsace spinulifera; Arabis androsacea with a couple of flowers; Androsace chamaejasme:

Rhododendron mucronulatum 'Crater's Edge':

Guess it's a foregone conclusion that winter is around the corner when the jackrabbits start to turn white... starting with the backs of the ears on this fellow:

Saruma henryi, one week after several freezing nights and one at 24F.

And Allium sacculiferum (past its prime - second pic 10 October)  and A. thunbergii 'Ozawas' and alba, still blooming nicely.

Hamamelis virginiana blooms in late fall and produces its seed the following fall.  Liriodendron tulipifera had the best fall color ever in 2014, but has now dropped its leaves.  Cotinus obovatus usually has spectacular fall color, first turning maroon, then red, then red-orange.  This year it was only red-orange, and only for a week instead of the usual 2-3 weeks.

Amazing colour for so late in the season.  Quite a difference from here, even in what was a mild, extended fall (except for the freak dump of snow in early September).

These abnormal seasons that we all seem to get now can really change the comparative growth chronology of species.  My Kentucky Coffee trees (Gymnocladus dioicus) seen behind the American Smoke tree (Cotinus obovatus) normally drop their leaves long before the Cotinus, but not this year.  For the first time in 24 years, my Tetradium(Euodia ) danielii  actually had some fall color.  Leaves always froze green on the tree in the past.  Who knows, maybe this spring I'll get some normal looking flowers for the first time.  Yet, the haskaps (Lonicera caerulea) had poor fall color, and the lilacs that usually hint of color in these long falls showed nothing this year.  Perhaps 5% of the leaves on my bamboos ( Fargesia rufa ) were deciduous this year.  That's never happened either, in their six years with me.  "Normal" for me is to have most of them dry up in early spring.

Here is a funny little fungus related to a puff ball -- an earth star that showed up under a big rhododendron.  It's the first time I've noticed one at home, though I have seen them in Greece on occasion.