General Forum

I don't think anyone has posted much about peonies yet?  Perhaps they are already done in most areas?  Here's the state of affairs on the peony front here:
Paeonia anomala:

Paeonia intermedia:

Hello
I am back to this group after a few years absence, I am building my second tufa garden in a new house and looking for ideas. The last garden was large boulders in a terraced front yard, this time it is a smaller area bordered by two edgest of patio and grass, in what can be best described as a quarter of an oval shape.

For almost a week, the NARGS Forum (and NARGS.ORG mail web page) has been phasing in and out of service erratically, at least my my location. It's the only web site I've been having problems with. The site will be unavailable for a minute or two at a time, then back in service, and do this all day long.

Any other forumists seeing this problem? If so, just post a quick response here saying "me too".

Thank you.

?For the more beginning gardener:
As has been said of Paeonia mlokosewitschii: "it flowers for about a week, but looks it's very best for 4 hours of that time". (I know this critique is much too severe, but I'm getting to my point+ it can have glorious early foliage)
Our flowering season in E Central New England USA lasts from about March 15 to Nov 1. Some flowers only last about 2 days, but I think the average plant looks really good for about a week. So to maintain flower interest in the garden, we almost have to have plants with 34 different bloom times.

If you ever have wondered how a plant looks in UV-light you can get the answer here - or at least for some plants.
Put another way, you can view the plants more in the way an insect does!

http://www.ultravioletphotography.com/content/

As rock gardening undergoes a bit of contraction and nurseries here and there close, I wonder about the preservation of commercially unimportant cultivars. Here I'm thinking about Daphne, Phlox, Penstemon and many others. Would it be useful to make a list of such cultivars, we wouldn't want to loose; and to try to find 2 people willing to maintain them? How many people out there might be willing to sign on as a cultivar foster parent? Wonder what the membership would put on such a list?
Charles Swanson. Massachusetts USA

Does anyone know of a source in the United States
for Leptinella dendyi? (It is widely available in the UK,
but we've not seen it in North America.)

During my planning of a new tufa garden, I've come across a variety of information sources on the design and construction of tufa gardens. I thought I'd share them here. My focus here is in-ground gardening, as opposed to container gardening.

Lowe, Duncan, Growing Alpines in Raised Beds, Troughs and Tufa. Batsford 1991. [I haven't actually seen this book. Have any of you?]

They are coming up everywhere. The bulbs are very deep. I'll destroy a lot of good plants if I try to dig them out. Is there an herbicide that works? I've tried Roundup. It doesn't work. Maybe the waxy leaves don't absorb it, as is the case with ivy.

Those of you who can't grow it should be grateful.

Hi all,
Re: Amianthium muscitoxicum
I noticed a USA mail order nursery listed this plant this year; but I can remember which. Did anyone see it?
Think was probably in WA or Or or BC
Thanks,
Charles MA USA