Image of the day

My Cyclamen hederifolium are just starting to bloom. Seeing as it is the time of fall bulbs, here is my Acis autumnalis.

My Cyclamens are late to show this year and my Acis autumnale have disappeared altogether!
Nice to see the plants here.

Well here is my Image of the Day...no flowers but lovely foliage.  This is Impatiens omeiana.  I am amazed that this species survives as a perennial in my climate, but so far, so good.  Only wish I could get blooms but after 2 years, still none.  I guess our summers are not long or hot enough.  Nice woodland plant for foliage alone.

Todd wrote:

Well here is my Image of the Day...no flowers but lovely foliage.  This is Impatiens omeiana.  I am amazed that this species survives as a perennial in my climate, but so far, so good.  Only wish I could get blooms but after 2 years, still none.  I guess our summers are not long or hot enough.  Nice woodland plant for foliage alone.

I have this too, it is slowly spreading and cover now about 4m square. It manages to flower late October and continue till it freezes but the seedpods never ripen.
These pictures are from 11 November 2006.

As the pictures above not are Images of the day I dare post some pics taken today!

1&2) Acanthus mollis, a hardy perennial blooming in August - September here.

3) Fuchsia magellanica var molinae most years behave like a perennial.

Acanthus can survive here but Fuchsia does not...believe me I've tried it several times.  We would have had a killing frost by late Octover so I guess I'll never see blooms.

Lori, the variegated plant next to the Impatiens is Brunnera macrophylla 'Gold Strike'

An update on the crevice garden at work...I had to remove 3 cart-loads of plants that got much too large.  You can see the rocks once more!  I have a bunch of saxes, draba and several other cushions to put in the new gaps.  This pic was taken on Sept. 3.

Todd, I think it's looking beautiful.  If you plant very small plants you have a lot of bare stone to look at for a couple of years or so.  It's always tempting to try and hurry the process along.  Did you have any difficulty in the removal? i.e. plants that were firmly entrenched and not interested in leaving?

When I look at the rocks and the space, Todd, I want to have more land to build a real rock garden from scratch. Unfortunately it is no space left here and I  do not have the heart to remove what I have planted before - I like those plants too!

Anne, the plants actually came up very easily...they had restricted roots horizontally but some were deep vertically, but the soil is so well-drained and loose, they came up like carrots!  I was looking at the inventory of plant replacements I have available....4 species of small Dianthus, 3 Draba, 2 Androsace, 2 Saponaria, 4 Sax species, Onosma nana, 5 Primula species (all from the farinosae group), 2 Lewisia species, 2 small Penstemon species, Erigeron leiomerus, 2 Tetraneuris...a few others I can't recall.  Bottom line, the gaps will be filled quickly and at least they won't outgrow their space too fast.

Not really an alpine, but my Gaultheria miquelliana was looking quite nice today.

Cool species, Todd, and it makes me think of ice cream!  I had just assumed that all Gaultheria spp. had glossy, smooth surfaced leaves.  Silly me!

Have you tasted the berries, Todd?

They are quite tasty...classical wintergreen flavour.  They will whiten a bit more before they are properly ripe.

Seeing as there has been no plant posted for a few days I'll post this Alstroemeria pelegrina that is blooming in our Botanical Garden.  I tried this one outside but it did not survive our winter.  The stems are just 6" high with oversized blooms...it would be great for any rock gardening in a milder climate.  I grew it from seed sent to me from Chile.

Very cool, Todd.

Any tips on growing Altroemeria from seed?

I didn't do anything unusual...just sowed them at about 20 C and they came up within a month.  I've grown A. pallida (survived one winter outside), A. pelegrina, A. ligtu (the species) and A. violacea no problems.

Thanks Todd.  I haven't tried them yet, but I still have some seed from Ursala.

Lovely image Cliff!

I've been quiet as I have been cleaning up from Hurricane Igor.  It devastated the trees in our Botanical Garden....we lost about 200 along the trails.  The herbaceous plants themselves came through fine.  I escaped damage in my garden but there are major trees down all over St. John's.  Pretty much the same scale of damage as Hurricane Juan in Halifax a few years ago.  Quite sad to see 100 year old-plus trees destroyed.

Meantime, here is Gentiana 'Kingfisher'.

Todd, I've been meaning to ask how you've been after Igor.  Of course I thought of you, directly, when the weather news mentioned Newfoundland...  Sorry to hear of the devastation.

On another note, I never tire of you posting pics of Kingfisher.  Just love those stripes!

I certainly hope we don't get any more Hurricanes in my lifetime....this was enough to last me!

I am posting my Actaea pachypoda....took the pic the day before the hurricane.  All the berries are now blown off.

Sorry to hear that Igor hit you. But Igor does bring sun and nice temperatures here! (And you will have the same the next days too!)

I had A. pachypoda but it has disappeared. I do not know why. Other Acteas do fine. Have to sow it once more, I think, your picture does tell me I have to.

Inspired by your pictures I noticed these Sedum spurium with fall color in moss.
It's from my childhood's rock garden "Moss city". Only remnants left, the new owners don't care.

That's very healthy moss Trond!

Here is Sedum cauticola 'Lidakense' growing at our BG.

Todd, is this stonecrop flowering now? Then it is a late one and something to be at the lookout for.

Yes Trond, the plant was photographed yesterday.  Even later is Sedum sieboldii but it is so late here that some years it doesn't get to open.  Ours is just budding now.

Todd wrote:

That's very healthy moss Trond!

Here is Sedum cauticola 'Lidakense' growing at our BG.

That's a very beautiful plant and it's now on my wish list.  I'm attaching photo of Sedum cauticola growing in one of the walls here.  It seeds itself gently and has remained in the wall - that alone gives it good marks, but the color of your variety is far superior.

Bloom time is definitely winding down but we've gotten this far without a killing frost.  The temperatures are still above normal. I've attached a few pictures of things blooming now - not counting the odd blooms on daphnes etc,

Chrysanthemum weyrichii
Heterotheca jonesii
Cyclamen sp.
Rriogonum umbellatum ssp. porteri

Spiegel wrote:

but the color of your variety [Lidakense] is far superior.

Todd and I have both wondered  what the claim to fame is for Likadense, as we have grown them both the species and the cultivar and see no difference.  Perhaps I just had Lidakense both times and one was only labeled as the species...  It seems to be the only cultivar ever available.  Ann, if you ever grow them both in the same conditions, we would love to hear you comments regarding their differences.

RickR wrote:

Spiegel wrote:

but the color of your variety [Lidakense] is far superior.

Todd and I have both wondered  what the claim to fame is for Likadense, as we have grown them both the species and the cultivar and see no difference.  Perhaps I just had Lidakense both times and one was only labeled as the species...   It seems to be the only cultivar ever available.  Ann, if you ever grow them both in the same conditions, we would love to hear you comments regarding their differences.

Todd's form certainly looks enticing, not that there's anything wrong with Anne's attractive clump growing out of a rock wall, but the compactness of Todd's 'Lidakense' is desirable.  Ron Evans book 'Handbook of Cultivate Sedums" says of 'Lidakense': There seems little difference between this and the type, save in its habit which is rather more compact, and its leaves, which are flat, ovate to orbicular, obtuse at the apex, rounded at the base, faintly crenate at the edges, and rather smaller in size.

Well, I'm looking at a picture, but it does seem more condensed than what I'm growing and I'm most certainly not growing it in lush conditions.  When I find a plant of Sedum cauticola 'Lidakense', I'll certainly take notes (and pictures) for copmparison.  Either form is quite lovely.  It's probably the only sedum I grow voluntarily (and S. spathulifolium and S.nevii).  Sedums seem to piggyback on other plants and even after quarantine and close examination it's easy to accidentally introduce one into the garden, where it will cheerfully try and ramp over your choicest plants.  I like them in other gardens.  The three I grow are absolutely well-bahaved.

Anne, your cauticola looks very much like sieboldii based on the blue tinted foliage...could you be mistaken as to the ID?  All the cauticola I've seen have had purple-tinted foliage, as Rick suggested.

Thanks Mark.

Aren't Sedum sieboldii leaves arranged in whorls?  I don't know, but that's what I have always noticed.  Anne's plant doesn't have whorled leaves.

Todd wrote:

Anne, your cauticola looks very much like sieboldii based on the blue tinted foliage...could you be mistaken as to the ID?  All the cauticola I've seen have had purple-tinted foliage, as Rick suggested.

I'm pretty sure of the i.d., Todd.  But then there's one of my favorite quotes - "Always certain, often wrong!"  As far as I know, it's Sedum cauticola.

Spiegel wrote:

Todd wrote:

Anne, your cauticola looks very much like sieboldii based on the blue tinted foliage...could you be mistaken as to the ID?  All the cauticola I've seen have had purple-tinted foliage, as Rick suggested.

I'm pretty sure of the i.d., Todd.  But then there's one of my favorite quotes - "Always certain, often wrong!"  As far as I know, it's Sedum cauticola.

Initially I didn't take too hard a look, but now that I look closer, I agree with Rick and I believe your plant is S. sieboldii.  Doing google searches on both species clinched it for me.  Anne, maybe your plant came misidentified, it would be easy to get these two fall-blooming pink sedum mixed up.

I'll leave the Sedum trail for a while and show a picture of what I believe is a Clematis heracleifolia relative. I have several plants grown from seed and all are late bloomers but differ somewhat in leaf shape and flower size and color. They are not the most flamboyant of plants, but have a modest charm. They are best grown among other perennial and small shrubs being semishrubs reaching about 2 ft.

PS: The leaves and red stem is Neillia thibetica, a large suckering shrub. Don't plant it unless you have a lot of space!

So if Anne's plant really is a sieboldii(?), then what are all the whorled leaved sedums that are identified as sieboldii that I see everywhere on the web?

Trond, I like your Clematis heracleifolia relative; I think I might be a closet herbaceous Clematis fan :D  Most interesting!

In 4 months since the beginning of June, we had our 2nd day of rain yesterday... wooHOOOO.  In spite of the record drought, some plants are doing okay.  One of my favorite asters (Symphyotrichum) species is Aster oblongifolia.  I upload two views, one from 2006 showing a plant along the street in front of my property stone wall... it looked good for several years but then died out (don't forget, this area is "the street", it gets hit and scraped by snowplows, and way too much salt).  The second photo shows a cutting I took, now just starting to flower, not as impressive but it is still a great aster (glad I took cuttings!).

RickR wrote:

So if Anne's plant really is a sieboldii(?), then what are all the whorled leaved sedums that are identified as sieboldii that I see everywhere on the web?

The interesting thing is that I got the sedum (?) from two different sources as Sedum cauticola, and all my plants are the same.  The foliage is not whorled, the leaves have some purple (at the edges).  It's a mystery.  At some point some expert will visit and tell me what it is. 

McDonough wrote:

In 4 months since the beginning of June, we had our 2nd day of rain yesterday... wooHOOOO. 

Had I know that I could have sent you some of the 9 inches of rain we got from Hurricane Igor!  Overall, this has been one of the coldest and wettest summers on record for Newfoundland...so much for global warming here!

We are waiting for the former hurricane Igor here now. Fortunately much weaker than when it hit Newfoundland but still strong enough to be unpleasant. Monday is supposed to be the worst day.

Although the last winter was much colder than normal, the spring, summer and fall so far have been normal or warmer than normal. Now I am hoping that the weather behave itself the remaining months of the year.

I always hope for a warm summer, but not like yours, Mark!

The Aster looks nice, Mark, I have a couple of (nameless) asters myself and the late ones have started flowering now.

Blooming perhaps out of season but blooming the first year from seed is Hirpicium armerioides.  This species hails from the Drakensburg but I think I'll overwinter it in my basement window (mind you it is suppose to be hardy to zone 5-6).  Maybe I'll see one in real life when I get to the Drakensburgs in 2 weeks!

Love the pleats on the petals too.