Asperula

Hello folks, I have moved this topic from the "Family, Genera, Species" board to "General Alpines". :)

You raised the profile of this thread by moving it, Mark ... here are two images of Asperula sintenisii (from Mt. Ida in Turkey) ... the first growing in Anne Spiegel's beautiful garden in New York State and the second in the magnificent Allen Centennial Garden in Madison, Wisconsin.

ASPERULA SINTENISII

Fantastic specimens Cliff, if ever there was "plant candy", a well-flowered Asperula is it.  Yes, by adding my "topic moved message" it did indeed raise its profile, and it worked ;D  Both are wonderful plants, but the sheer number of blooms and buds on the one at Allen Centennial Garden is stupendous. :o

They are marvelous plants while in bloom in the garden and quite capable of making a "splash".  Most of them will take over a trough but do very well in scree conditions in the open garden.  The label was lost on the one in the picture, unfortunately, but it's very happy in the tufa garden, and currently duking it out with a daphne.  It will have to be trimmed back and hopefully propagated.  It would be nice to discover that it layered itself.  Can't wait until spring to find out.

Asperulas of various sorts have become an essential element in my rock gardens: I have grown over ten species, although at this point I am lucky to have a half dozen. A few of the stayers are shown below, beginning with a sort of overall shot of how they grow in the garden with Asperula pontica, the deepest pink and most vigorous of the species. Next is the very flashy A. sintenisii, and then the subtler A. nitida. The last another group shot of one along these same lines obtained as Asperula sp. ex Turkey (which gives a lot of latitude): I don't have any current pictures of Asperula daphneola, possibly the showiest species which has not proven very durable. I am also nuts for the arcadiensis types, which I don't seem to keep forever either. A great genus. I have grown huge cushions of Asperula gussonii at Denver Botanic Gardens, and a few other species, which I now realize we may have lost! I must check local gardens this spring and see if we can reintroduce them!

Really enjoying seeing these Asperula.  

Jumping on the Flickr photo galleries of Nick Turland mentioned by Panayoti in the Acantholimon topic (http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=340.msg6765#msg6765) I found an excellent photo on a choice Asperula I'm not familiar with, Asperula idaea, taken in Crete.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nturland/1344023559/

Super foliage, Lori.  The flowers are lovely, too.

Skulski wrote:

Hmm, I forgot that Asperula boissieri actually bloomed in the first year from seed last summer!  Not bad!
I wish all plants were so accomodating.  It's nice to at least see what the flowers look before I kill it.  :rolleyes:

Fantastic Lori, can't believe your plant could make such a sizable mound in such a short time, and with a sprinkling of flowers to boot; I'm envious of your alpine plant cultivation skills :D 

The foliage on these things look just like dwarf conifers... I'd grow them just for the nice foliage, except the flowers are great too (en masse, on established plants). Hopefully you haven't killed it as predicted, and you can give us an update this spring!

Asperulas really do well in tufa.  This one is actually planted in tufa in the tufa crevice garden and it's just covering the tufa.