Image of the day - 2012

They occur naturally here and the easiest method of propagation is to dig up a clump after it finishes flowering and the leaves die down.  The little bulbils fall apart in your hand and you toss them.  Where they land is where they are planted (just sort of scratched in).  Sometimes the squirrels do it for you.  I used to worry about that  but apparently they don't remember where they bury things and instead of Dicentra cucullaria diminishing, it pops up all over the garden.
I also use this method to distribute Eranthis hyemalis and now have a huge swath of it, most welcome in early spring.

Then I need the first clump! Actually I have one in a pot. Thought I should try to propagate it before I planted it out ;)

Nice, Michael.  I am thinking my Clematis culumbiana var. tenuiloba is a hybrid.  It vines up to 2.5ft.

The Leibnitzia anandria  beat even the Draba lasiocarpa this season.

Michel, do you grow your C columbiana in a pot or outside? Clematis is one of my favorite genera ;)

Rick, have you tried Leibnitzia outside? I have them at my summerhouse where they seem to live buy not flower much - not like yours anyway. Maybe they are longing for hotter days :-\

Leibnitzia anandria plants are hardy here, and most years I allow a plant or two in the garden.  But I have ever only noticed flowering on one plant in all those years (about 6 years?), and it was a volunteer in the the grass yard, not the garden.  In pots, flowering seems quite consistent. 

In the photos, the one pot with multiple plants is one where the original (not Leibnitzia) plant died and the Leibnitzia and Melica ciliata seeded in.  The flowers have been open three days now, and I have tried pollinating them with a paint brush.  I never see any pollen on the brush, though. ???

An update on the Clematis ochotensis

Rick, maybe the Leibnitzia need restricted root run and would do good in a crevice or rock garden.

Cohan, I hope the flowerbuds survive the weather and the trampling here now without snow cover! Pulsatilla vernalis is "mogop" in Norw. if you want to know ;D

My Leibnitzia has never produced a normal flower, just the non-petal form.  Can't show emerging foliage around here as most of the garden is still under snow.  This will be among the latest spring ever in my area.  The rest of North America has sucked every bit of heat from us!

Jim, glad to see you still have your Astragalus coccineus and that it's still loking fabulous.

Todd, you have my sympathy!

Jim, that Astragalus coccineus is something! What a colour :o

I visited my mum in Oslo today and had a few minutes to spare. I spent the time in the botanical garden at Tøyen. The spring was advanced and some trees, notable the Davidias, had started leafing out.
Here are a few pictures
Adonis amurensis, Erythronium sibiricum and Pulsatilla lutescens flavescens were outstanding among many, many others.

Wow, that lutescens is stunning!  very similar to my flavescens.

Half of my garden is snow-free again...still nearly 2 feet along the back fence.  Despite this, the spring plants want to flower....here is Helleborus Winter Moonbeam

Todd wrote:

Wow, that lutescens is stunning!  very similar to my flavescens.

Half of my garden is snow-free again...still nearly 2 feet along the back fence.  Despite this, the spring plants want to flower....here is Helleborus Winter Moonbeam

Todd, you make me blush  :-[ I made a mistake with that name! Mixed up names in the hurry. It is Pulsatilla flavescens!
Winter Moonbeam is a fitting name, isn't it?

Howey wrote:

Well, I'm quite excited after seeing 5 little hairy mushroom look-alikes - Saussurea nepalense - have popped up in the garden - overnight?  Was it you Trond who showed pictures of this in its first year which, like mine, didn't look like much?  But now, in its second year it looks very promising.  I'd send a picture but have just bought a new camera and haven't quite learned how to do these things with it.  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

Hi Fran, think it was Lori ;) I can't remember I did it . . .but I never know these days!

Hoy wrote:

Todd wrote:

Wow, that lutescens is stunning!  very similar to my flavescens.

Half of my garden is snow-free again...still nearly 2 feet along the back fence.  Despite this, the spring plants want to flower....here is Helleborus Winter Moonbeam

Todd, you make me blush  :-[ I made a mistake with that name! Mixed up names in the hurry. It is Pulsatilla flavescens!
Winter Moonbeam is a fitting name, isn't it?

Trond, call it a senior's moment!

Two days above freezing and Aethionema oppositifolia has managed to open a couple of flowers.

Todd wrote:

Trond, call it a senior's moment!

Well, I'm getting more of them than I like ;)

Todd wrote:

Two days above freezing and Aethionema oppositifolia has managed to open a couple of flowers.

Todd, the leaves are more Sedum-ish than kale-ish! An interesting plant.

Lori wrote:

Yeah, I hear ya - I've killed the small number I've bought or grown from seed.  According to Stephanie's article, for this one, (despite that we are already in a generally sunny and dry climate) think the sunniest, hottest, driest, best drained spot you can make!

Todd, at least the late snows usually melt fast... and you are ahead of us again!  There are a few Corydalis solida emerging as yesterday's snow melts:
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I am afraid I have killed a lot of seedlings :-\  I left them outside when I went on holiday (the forecast wasn't that bad) but I know we have had serious freezing some nights now - first in 5 weeks. . . I do not hope I'm back to square one :(

Lori, I think we are on-par.  Here is my Corydalis solida, along with Galanthus nivalis Flore-pleno, Crocus tomassinianus and Eranthis hyemalis.

Very nice plants, Merlin! Seems to be seeding around a bit too ;)

Lovely Erythronium...that species is very much a challenge in  my area.  dave, i can't think about the garden 'winding down'...I'm desperate for a 'wind up'!

Hepatica nobilis is just about there and the first Pulmonaria montana are just opening.

Tim wrote:

Perhaps the most beautiful plant in the garden when the flowers open like this - Adonis vernalis. This is slowly forming stronger clumps after sowing seed (from Jelitto) probably seven or eight years ago, and there is slight variation in colour between plants. Although it seems to set seed I have only ever had a few germinate.

This species perfectly illustrates the north-south divide, Tim ... yours in glorious flower today, mine just showing half an inch of reluctant foliage above the surface of the compost and still weeks away from flowering.  Beautiful image by the way.

Nice plant, Tiim.  Adonis 'Fukujukai' just finished here. 

Those townsendias really are splendid, Jim.  Isn't it just like lewisias to always want to seed in almost right under a rock.  ;D

Nice! Any scent? Do cacti flower have scent?

Todd wrote:

Lovely Erythronium...that species is very much a challenge in  my area.  dave, i can't think about the garden 'winding down'...I'm desperate for a 'wind up'!

Hepatica nobilis is just about there and the first Pulmonaria montana are just opening.

You are catching up with me Todd! Here (I'm home again) the weather is as it was in December, January and February: Cool and wet. It is almost standstill except for some plants that got a kick in the March warmth which has frozen in the cold nights last week.

Tim wrote:

Perhaps the most beautiful plant in the garden when the flowers open like this - Adonis vernalis. This is slowly forming stronger clumps after sowing seed (from Jelitto) probably seven or eight years ago, and there is slight variation in colour between plants. Although it seems to set seed I have only ever had a few germinate.

Merlin wrote:

It is delightful to be able to see how spring evolves in other people's garden all over the world. I really enjoy seeing the fine plants that people are able to grow. Spring came with a vengeance here today with temps in high 70's. I see that quite a number seedlings are coming on this year, some from seed sown years ago. I took a few pictures of some plants that are in bloom today(Easter Sunday).
Lewisia tweedyi, this a seedling that volunteered from a group that i had since moved(to their death, as it turned out)

Nice plants Tim and Jim! None of those are easy here - that is they are always short-lived. Haven't tried Townsendia yet though.

Jim, loved your photo of Townsendia mensana.  It's one of my favorite townsendias but it was never successful in the garden.  Once saw it in bloom on a trip to Duchesne County, Utah.  It was all over one area, an area that was unfortunately slated for a housing development.  There was also an unknown astragalus growing there.  Wonder if any of the plants are still growing there?

I have several Townsendia coming along, including mensana.  Good hints as to cultivation!  I expect only those used in our alpine house at work will survive our excess wet. 

Todd, I sure could use some of your excess water right now.  It's gray today and I thought perfect for planting, but gave it up.  Everything is dry as a bone and it's very windy.  No real rain in sight and all the plants are almost a month ahead.  I have phlox blooming.  Prime phlox time usually is May 7th to May 10th, but not lately.  Many things are budiing despite deep frosts at night still.

Todd wrote:

Two days above freezing and Aethionema oppositifolia has managed to open a couple of flowers.

Isn't that just exactly the sort of brave and exciting plant behaviour that so captivates us about alpine and rock gardren plants?
The magic of these little, frail-seeming plants to cope and thrive in harsh conditions... and be so darn cute as they do it! Who could resist?

The latest to open ...Iris 'Kathleen Hodgkin"

cohan wrote:

Hoy wrote:

Nice! Any scent? Do cacti flower have scent?

Some do- especially white ones for night pollinators! If this has  a scent though, I haven't noticed it- I haven't checked, but I'm pretty close when shooting...

I had one night flowering species once, I can't remember scent though, but that makes sense! I have more than once looked for the lesser butterfly orchid (Platanthera bifolia) in the evening following my nose ;)