Eritrichium howardii

I grew two plants from seed a few years ago, and after I planted them out, they overwintered and flowered the next year, and then came 19 days of rain. They didn't survive. The next year I placed seed directly in the open garden, and this year, three years later, I have 3 rather nice little plants which have bulked up considerably but which don't show any indications of flowering yet. Having survived two winters, I'm optimistic that I'll get some flowers next summer. It's a beautiful plant and flower, and one we don't see very often here in New England.

If it's made it three years for you, it's a keeper. This is usually a Great Plains species that has to put up with great extremes (including periods of wetness). The plant in the picture has persisted over ten years for me...this is the Eritrichium for gardens: I've collected seed in the wild but never seen it in full glory. A friend in Montana just sent me pictures (it's blooming there now)...wouldn't that be fun!

I grew these from NARGS seed this year...ended up with Lindelofia longifolia!  Oh well, at least its in the same family...but really, how could a person mistake one for the other?!

I dunno, Todd... the darnedest things can happen in seed exchanges and trades! 
I bought a little locally grown E. howardii at last year's alpine plant sale and it bloomed modestly in a trough this spring.

Since Panayoti mentioned it in his initial message, perhaps it's apropos to show some seedlings of Eritrichium pauciflorum ssp. sajanense, grown this spring?

The seeds were from Pavelka, and the provenance and plants described as follows:  "2000m, Sajan Mts., Russia; dwarf compact cushions, silvery-grey leaves, big blue flowers on scapes 4-10cm, stoney slopes, 2007 seed".  Germination was delayed in room temp conditions, so I chucked them in the cold room for a month, after which there was good germination.  Here are a couple of them snuggled into the new tufa bed.

Very interesting, Lori: just realized I collected a ton of seed and shared it with several growers and need to check up on my own seedpots...

Photo taken at end of June 2012 in my garden. The seed of this Eritrichium was collected just south and east of Ima Mine, above Patterson Creek, Idaho, on cold alpine tundra in 2009. The leaf blade appears to be narrow as in E. howardii, but, from my general observation, unlike the broader blade of E. aretioides as it is found on other mountain ranges (Bighorn;Wallowa). The cushion in nature is extremely congested. There appear to be flower buds: This plant already seems preparded for winter which won't come here for another five months! The second photo of the same plant was taken earlier in the season.

Here's Eritrichium howardii, bought from Beaver Creek this spring and (seemingly) happily ensconced in the tufa garden... so far, so good.  :D

Fine looking small cushion there, with howardii-esque looking narrow silver foliage.  I bet (and hope) you'll be showing us photos of this plant in flower next year.

I hope so too.  The one I mentioned earlier that I had in a trough has since expired...  :rolleyes:

Here's my best E. howardii right now. Now to tune in to precise flowering conditions; collect tons of seed and start a strain that is resistant to pestilence and is easy to grow.

I pictured this one a few weeks back. I'm surprised how well it is handling our climate. It was snowing in August when I collected the seed (Lemhi Mountains)! Any flowers that were forming aborted.

This one was grown from seed collected in the Wallowa Mountains in 2009. The Wallowa population produces lovely proportioned and large cushions, for the genus. It's a very pretty plant. It shares a wide leaf blade and hairiness with the next. The second photo was taken in April.
 

This one was collected in the Bighorn Mountains in 2009. This eastern form is the hairyest I know of. The rosettes are large but the tufts are small and parched looking even in habitat. It grows on west/southwest facing shale slopes that likely don't collect a lot of snow. The second photo was taken in April.
 

I hope to post all of these in glorious flower next year!

Great bunch, Michael- very nice to see the variations!

Here's a mid December 2012 update on the Eritrichiums in the garden I posted previously; Eritrichium howardii (same age as others -2009 seed); E. ex Lemhi Mountains; E. ex Wallowa Mountains; and E. ex Bighorn Mountains.

Michael Peden, Dec. 6, 2012

Michael, wonderful photos (and plants), in both seasons shown, but I am drawn to the fall/winter forms of plants as they prepare themselves for hibernation. Congrats on your success growing these treasures.

Fantastic Michael,  :o :o

Thoroughly enjoyed seeing your posts.

So much variation, Michael! Worth growing just for the foliage forms...

Looks like I forgot to return to this thread to post what Eritrichium pauciflorum ssp. sajanense looks like in bloom, so here it is.  Two seedlings in different conditions; there is repeat bloom throughout the season.
 

Does sajanense indicate a Russian species/form?

Yes, presumably.  The seeds were collected by Pavelka at 2000m in the Sajan Mts., Russia, according to his catalogue.

That's where I recognised the name Sajan from. lol- don't recall hearing of those mountains until looking at seedlists!

Isn't the correct spelling in English Sayan? The Russian spelling is Саяны, and the letter я should be ya in English (ja in Norwegian though ;) )

Seems to be a remote place anyway.

I don't know, Trond- I only know it from Czech seed lists!
A very quick google search, and Britannica says: 'Sayan Mountains, also spelled Sajan or Saian' so I guess however you spell it, the pronunciation would be more english y than j..  this is an occasional habit in modern english- to keep non-english spelling, leading to great confusion for pronunciation ..lol

Mostly I consider this name a good sign, since I figure if plants are from mountains in Russia, they have a good chance of being hardy enough here!

Greetings,

E. howardii is one of the most common plants where I live in Western Montana.  Virtually every limestone outcrop is covered with them.

Lovely photos Lori, Michael and Brian!!

To see them is to want them and I do!! :)

Wow, fantastic, Brian!  Sounds like it is as common there as Myosotis asiatica (a similar colour at least) is here!

Hoy wrote:

Isn't the correct spelling in English Sayan? The Russian spelling is Саяны, and the letter я should be ya in English (ja in Norwegian though ;) )

I dunno, Trond.  The Plant List (if you like it or any of the other taxonomic efforts out there!) does show it as Eritrichium pauciflorum ssp. sajanense... but says it's a synonym of Eritrichium villosum. 
http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/tro-4002198

Lori, the name of the plant is one thing, the English name of the mountain another ;D

Yes, Trond.  I see what you're saying:

cohan wrote:

A very quick google search, and Britannica says: 'Sayan Mountains, also spelled Sajan or Saian'...

I didn't even think to check that, I just referred to the collection locale as it was written in the seed list ("Sajan").  Geography is definitely not my strong suit!!

Hoy wrote:

Lori, the name of the plant is one thing, the English name of the mountain another ;D

So true:
omeiensis, omeiena, emeisensis, emeiensis ...
koreana, coreana, koraiensis ...
etc.

Hoy wrote:

Lori, the name of the plant is one thing, the English name of the mountain another ;D

As you can see from my post above, you can call it just about anything you want in English  ;D

Brian- wonderful! I hope we'll be seeing a lot more of your natives :)

I came to think about something - do you say you speak English or Canadian in Canada? (Not talking about French . . . )  ;)

I have to say something of the Eritrichiums too! They are very beautiful plants, like some refined form of forgetmenot. However I have never tried to grow any assuming they'll dislike the humid climate here.

There are occasions when we need to specify what sort of English, since we do of course have some different usage than U.S., various parts of Britain, Aus, NZ etc, so then we will specify Canadian English, but normally we just say English...

Pictured is Eritrichium howardii, which manages to get through our winters OK.  It will never look as it does in the wild. but the great news is that it seeded itself into a piece of tufa, where it has persisted for three years but has yet to flower.

It looks wonderful, Anne, and self-seeding yet too.  :o

Self perpetuating is extra good news, Anne :)

January 31, 2013 update on Eritrichiums here. A day of record warmth for the date here (55F.) has melted all the snow that was covering these. E. howardii is showing full normal winter dormancy. There's probably some significance to the few yellow leaves. The dormant growing point appears purplish and the outer foliage is obviously dead. The Lemhi Mountains plant remains largely green. The Bighorn Mountains plant pictured has changed little since December despite its respite under the snow. Ditto the Wallowa Mountains plant (not shown).

So nice to document these differences, Michael!

Do they all have the same exposure?

Eritrichium howardii (my garden) in late March 2013. They grow well in cool weather. It appears as if the flower buds begin in spring on these as opposed to fall, but I don't really know.

I think you're right, Michael.  I've never noticed any bud-forming in the fall.  Your plants looks really good.  Follow-up pictures, please.

Spiegel wrote:

I think you're right, Michael.  I've never noticed any bud-forming in the fall.  Your plants looks really good.  Follow-up pictures, please.

Yes, Anne, of course! I was out there just a minute ago and there has already been change in the plant since morning. I love rock gardening!

I used to grow E. howardii in a pot but have since focused on growing it in the open garden. we are a few weeks away from the garden plants flowering but here is one in a pot.

That is gorgeous.

Looks good in a pot too ;)

Brian_W wrote:

Greetings,

E. howardii is one of the most common plants where I live in Western Montana.  Virtually every limestone outcrop is covered with them.

Fantastic!  What a glorious gem!

Eritrichium howardii seems to have wintered over well!

Eritrichium howardii in bloom. I recently fed this African Violet food (high in P) as part of its regime hoping to get a truly pumped up specimen. This may be risky down the line and I'm not sure it makes a big difference on bud set -timing still undetermined.

The Bighorn Mountains plant got the same dose. It actually had two blossoms at about the time I dosed it. Now it is definitely "out of character". I think this not necessarily bad for plants growing in the (relative) greenhouse that is the northeastern garden. Precise conditions/feed will do this wonders but perhaps I won't!

Eritrichium from the Wallowa. No intention of blooming. Ever? Note the minuscule bug at right in the photo: It is a pest of these; eating flowers and perhaps pollen. Mmmmm....blue candy....

Eritrichium  from the Lemhi Mountains: Oops! Hope Y'all didn't go up onto the land of eternal winter in search of the rare Eritrichium with the tiny leaves. The Drabas got me! This wouldn't be the first time a small collection packet (of mine) had more than one species put into it. Good odds that this extremely tiny growing Draba came from up there in August winter.

Bundraba!

Michael, do keep us up to date on your fertilizing experiment.  I've never had the nerve to try it with this plant.  My big eritrichium news is that E. howardii has made two new seedlings.  I'll try taking a photo with a zoom.  The seedling from two years ago is still there in a piece of tufa but no blooms yet.

Okay, it wintered over and I see lots of buds tucked into those little rosettes... crossing my fingers...  ;)

Lori, it looks like a winner to be.  Mine didn't flower as well as last year but since it made seedlings it can be forgiven anything.  The others didn't flower at all but look good.

Seems Eritrichums are the ultimate plant for a dedicated gardener to keep alive during the winter! Then I wont try - not at home anyway - but maybe I'll give them (and me) a chance at my mountain cabin! They are great plants ;)

The start of bloom, with many, many more buds to go!  (I'll try not to be too big of a nuisance with these photos...  :D)

Awesome Lori, show us again when more flowers open, congratulations!

Hi Lori
great plant grown to such perfection,

Evidently, it's found the conditions to its liking so far, at least (though I've only had it a short time).  To answer your question from the other thread, Krish, it's a plant I bought in 2012 from Beaver Creek at the CRAGS plant sale.

Lori, your E. howardii is lovely.  If you got it from Beaver Creek you're halyway to success, because Roger's plants are always beautifully grown.
I promised Michael I'd take photos of my E. howardii self-sown seedlings.  I'm enormously pleased with them although I didn't do anything.  The first is three years old and was self sown into nearby tufa.  The next two I just noticed this year.  They're near the tufa but not in it.  The mother plants are in the tufa garden but not planted in the tufa itself.  Also self-sowing is Androsace villosa, just proving that if eventually you find a place where the plant is happy, it will do your work for you.

Lori wrote:

The start of bloom, with many, many more buds to go!  (I'll try not to be too big of a nuisance with these photos...  :D)

Don't let my teasing let you down Lori. Please bring as many pictures as you can!
But often when I am on my stomach looking at or photographing these green things my friends (and my wife too) think I am a bit nutty. Sometimes I agree.

Not to worry, Trond!  :D  I'm just trying to be a bit selective, rather than posting a picture for every additional flower that opens... I assure you I am taking a picture for every additional flower that opens though.  ;D

Put them together and make a movie!

That may tax both my photographic and computer skills, Trond.  ???
Here's a photo from this morning though... as I mentioned, lots of buds to come:

Good, strong-looking little seedlings there, Anne.  Yes, any congrats for growing my plant well go to Roger at Beaver Creek, definitely!  (I really haven't "grown" it yet; I just planted it in a place where it seems to be happy so far.)

Anne, they will self seed here too. I have one that I've been watching for a couple of years. It is growing slowly, if at all, and I intend to leave it right where it is! They can be long lived, even here. The plant I previously posted is still putting forth a scattering of bloom and a couple of seedlings (2009 collection) are blooming as well. I'm trying to amp seed set by hand pollinating but not seeing much pollen so will see how that goes. The African Violet food seems working well so far. Lori: great plant and you have the climate and soils. The Bighorn's Eritrichium has grown out around any seed set so I will not be collecting if they are there. I know some plants to do this; Vitaliana is a good example: plenty of seeds but finding them? -not so easy!

Lori, what wonderful bloom!  And very short stems, too.  I found that mine kept putting out flowers and the first ones lasted a long time, but the stems elongated a little bit. 
Michael, the little seedlings grow very slowly but the one in tufa has made a number of little rosettes after three years.  Still waiting for it to bloom.  Who says gardeners are not patient?

Update:

Lori wrote:

Update:

STUNNING!

Lori:  :o

Sensational. Lori.  Looks to be extremely happy with you.

Eritrichium howardii showing a scattering of new blossoms this morning!

:o

What a beautiful sight for a morning garden walk, congratulations Michael and Lori (and Jim and Anne too, looking through earlier posts in this topic) on growing super fine Eritrichium.

Seems I really have to try Eritrichum!
I have always liked to find the wild wood forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica) with flowers very similar to Eritrichum, but the rest of the plant is not!

http://www.kristvi.net/flora/S/skogforglemmegei.htm

Looks like your plant is more compact than mine, Michael - looks great!
Still blooming with stems elongating...

Lori, that one looks more like mine with the stems elongating a bit.  If the one that seeded itself in tufa would please bloom I could see if that made a difference. Mine are growing next to but not in, tufa.

Lovely little plant Lori, how does it cope with the winter wet please?

I only planted it in 2012 so it's early days, but I don't believe we really get anything here that you'd recognize as winter wet, David.  It's a pretty dry climate.  We do get a lot of snowfalls and melting (and sublimation) through the winter but no rain.  There's really no standing water ever, and the ground is only sodden for short periods mainly during the spring rains (June). 

Mmm. Thanks for that Lori, little snow and lots of rain are my problems.

Oh.... I posted this photo of it in bloome a few days later on one of the rock garden facebook groups.

PK replied something to the effect that there might be something silly going on over here. The man is spending WAY too much time in the garden  ;)

Michael, that is just a fantastic plant.  I've never seen it bloom like that in cultivation.  You're certainly doing something right because the northeast is not an ideal place for these plants.